.jpg)
“It's my favorite of the franchise so far,” Hero Fiennes-Tiffin says about After We Fell, the third movie in the After series.
He, Josephine Langford, and the rest of the cast and crew made After We Fell and After Ever Happy back-to-back last fall, under the guidance of a new director: Castille Landon. The result is a movie that lingers in its darkest moments, providing new insight into the torrid, complicated relationship between Tessa and Hardin. Their love story is rarely even, rarely healthy — but they're working on it, and themselves. It's a romance, but After is fundamentally about growth.
Now, the highly-anticipated movie is in theaters and available on demand, much to the delight of After fans everywhere. Meanwhile, Hero and Josephine sat down together with Teen Vogue over Zoom to discuss the changes in After We Collided, Hessa's relationship, and what they'll take from this experience into their future acting careers.
TV: What was it like filming these two movies back to back?
Hero Fiennes Tiffin: I feel like shooting a movie is tough enough, so to do two movies back to back, in the middle of a pandemic, definitely comes with its challenges. But big well done to the crew for sticking it out that long. There was a lot of COVID popping up here and there, people having to go away for a little bit and jumping back in, all in the name of safety. We got there in the end, and I’m super proud of everything we’ve done. It came with its challenges, but I’m proud of us.
Josephine Langford: I agree, I think Hero said it all. I’m grateful we got to shoot in a pandemic, and it had its challenges but also its silver linings.
TV: How did it feel to wrap up this series essentially, at least the parts you will play?
HFT: Bittersweet, is a good way to describe it. You’re obviously proud and happy with the work you’ve done and it’s a lot of work, so it’s nice to reach the end because you’re looking for that end goal. But also obviously really sad, because you enjoy the process and you get to know the people you’re working with so well, and you have to say goodbye.
TV: What felt different this time around? You had a new director for these two, Castille Landon. What kind of energy was she bringing on set?
JL: Every director brings something different to a film, and I think tonally these ones are different. Stylistically, they’re a little darker. I like that a lot of the scenes are given room to breathe, it’s a little slower. [Castille] probably brings her sensitivity coming from an acting background to these movies.
HFT: Yeah, Jo said it perfectly. But Castille had a really great balance of bringing her own style to the film, which was really welcomed and supports the nature of both characters having grown up a little bit. It’s just a bit more mature. Also the meticulous planning and preparation allowed us to continue to play the characters in the same way we had done before. I feel like it’d be quite easy for a new director to come in and say, “I want to change this, this, and this.” She changed the things she needed to without hindering our ability to continue doing what we’ve done. She facilitated us in a really great way.
TV: A few months ago, Castille talked to Teen Vogue about how it was really important to her to make sure Tessa’s portrayal felt like an authentic portrayal of a young woman going through this messy relationship. Jo, I was wondering what you thought about that. Do you think these movies show a more sincere portrait of who Tessa is?
JL: Yeah, I think that with the third and the fourth films, we got a really close adaptation to the books. Which is nice because it’s very difficult adapting these enormous books into films. I think there’s this sensitivity and sincerity and authenticity, this feeling to the third and the fourth which are really nice. I would agree with that. We get to, like in the first film, we get to really see what she’s thinking and how she’s feeling in certain moments.
TV: You guys got to work with some new faces this time, with Chance Perdomo taking over the role of Landon, and Kiana Madeira coming in to play Nora. What was it like working with them?
JL: Kiana is such a sweet, beautiful, sensitive soul. And Chance is hilarious. So whenever I was doing a scene with Chance it was very fun, and whenever I was doing a scene with Kiana, she’s just the most wonderful person and a very giving actor. I think the best of both worlds is when we all got to do a scene together. There’s one scene in a bar and a lot of us were involved, and it was such a fun day.
HFT: I think recasting is always something we know is not ideal, but it is what it is and it happens a lot and it happens for reasons you can’t always do anything about. We’re just lucky that everyone who played any role in this before or if they had to bring another person’s character back to life with a new actor, they’ve all done it justice in a great way. Similarly to the benefits of having different directors with different styles, you please different fans who have read the book. Hopefully these different actors offer different things so everyone somewhat gets what they want. But it was a real pleasure to work with everyone on this, genuinely.
TV: Sometimes it feels like Tessa and Hardin are taking two steps forward, two steps right back. Where do you think their relationship stands at the end of After We Fell?
HFT: Two steps forward and 1.99 steps back. They’re making progress, but I hear you completely.
JL: I think what Hero said, they’re making progress even if it’s 2 steps forward, 1.99 steps back, which is great. They just have to continue making this progress despite all of the obstacles that are thrown their way.
HFT: What would I do without Jo? Thank you.
.jpg)
TV: There are more After movies coming, a sequel featuring Tessa and Hardin’s children, and a prequel focused on Hardin’s life before meeting Tessa. What would you want to see in that prequel film, what should it touch on?
HFT: I feel like maybe school and social life. We’ve done a fair bit of family life, but maybe that social life before moving to the States and what it was like growing up in that area and what his friends are like. There’s a bit in number three when he goes back home, he passes some people, and that always made me think about what if we explored Hardin’s social life before he moved to America. That’d be interesting.
TV: With the sequel, what do you think Hardin and Tessa are going to be like as parents?
JL: Ooh. I think they’re going to be good parents. They struggle to get to the point of being able to have children, at least that’s lore in the books. By the time they do have kids, they’re older and there’s a maturity to them, and they’ve dealt with a lot of their problems and trust and communication. I read something that was like, if you want to be a good parent, the best thing to do is look at yourself. Because you can read this or do this, but kids grow up and they’re going to be a reflection of you. They’re going to act how you act. If you want to be a good parent, the best thing is to work on yourself. And because they’ve worked on themselves, they’re probably going to raise great, happy kids.
HFT: I feel like with parenting it’s just so tough. There’s so much to understand. You can watch your parents… but there’s that thing of if one parent does one thing one way, the kid’s going to do it the other way. It’s also like, you can’t practice parenting really. The first child, the oldest child is almost the experiment where you’re learning to have kids. I understand that parenting is not an easy job, but I have faith in Hardin and Tessa. As Jo said, they’ve learned so much from their own past and become aware about the effects of parenting, hopefully they’ll make an extra effort to get it right.
TV: Imagining the future a little bit, how do you think you’ll look back on this experience? What do you think you learned about yourself as you worked on these movies?
JL: I’ve learned a lot from doing these films, because I think experience is really the best teacher. Career stuff and personal stuff and even behind the scenes things, certain parts of how a movie is made, like, “Oh, so I’m actually meant to do this.” A lot of this job people don’t tell you. We have acting schools but they don’t really teach you what you’re gonna do on a set if this happens in a situation. As time passes, I’m probably going to realize and discover more things about how influential and impactful this period was in my life in teaching me those lessons.
HFT: I feel like this is such a pivotal turning point in your life anyway. But career-wise I feel like it’s always going to be the start of it all. The big catalyst that set me on my way. I feel like the fans have been so supportive in the other projects I’ve done and have even said to me they plan to be in the future. I don’t think I’m going to look back and be like, "Oh my god, I forgot about that.” I’m going to be so aware of it the whole time, it’s going to be with us and we’ll be with the fandom and the franchise forever. We’re not going to leave anyone in the dark, we’ll go on with our careers with them and with their support, which is lovely to think.
After We Fell is available everywhere on Digital HD and on demand October 19.
Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Fear Street's Kiana Madeira on Queer Stories, R.L. Stine, and “After We Fell”
