The 'Last Letter From Your Lover' director shares the hidden parallels between Ellie and Jennifer that you probably missed

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The original opening scene of '<keyword id="1331321" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Last-Letter-from-your-Lover">The Last Letter From Your Lover</keyword>' got cut during edits. </li><li>In the deleted sequence, Ellie went out on a blind date and ended up going home with the bartender. </li><li>They edited it down to her waking up in his bed because the original plan "dragged out the opening."</li></ul><p>Ellie Haworth makes her entrance in Netflix's "The Last Letter From Your Lover" the morning after a one-night stand, waking up groggy and disoriented.</p><p>"I have to sort of start getting ready for work, so I might have to ask you to, um - if you don't mind," the London Chronicles writer (played by <a href="https://insider.com/category/felicity-jones">Felicity Jones</a>) tells the man lying in bed next to her as she gestures to the door.</p><p>He replies, "This is actually my flat."</p><p>In one fell swoop, she hops out of bed, fuddles her host's name, and declines his offer to swap phone numbers. The film offers little backstory on how the journalist, fresh out of a "soul-destroying" breakup, ended up there.</p><div type="image" title="last letter from your lover felicity joned wakes up next to stranger" height="900" width="1200" msid="84708149" hostid="261"></div><p>During a recent interview with Insider ahead of the <keyword id="6356021" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="movie">movie</keyword>'s Friday release, director <keyword id="6741555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Augustine-Frizzell">Augustine Frizzell</keyword> revealed that the initial plan was for the audience to meet Ellie at a different moment.</p><p>Before the scene got shaved down in edits, it showed the events that landed her in the stranger's bed. </p><h2><strong>It all started with a blind date gone wrong</strong></h2><p>In the original opening scene, Ellie leaves work to primp for a blind date, Frizzell said. Her two friends, who still made the final cut and appear when Ellie rolls into work the next day, give her a pep talk.</p><p>"They're like, 'You're going to do great!'" the director recalled. </p><div type="image" title="ellies friends in the last letter from your lover" height="900" width="1200" msid="84708151" hostid="261"></div><p>Ellie, heartbroken and cynical about love after the end of her eight-year relationship, goes on the date and "ends up hooking up with the bartender" instead of the person with whom she was set up.</p><p>The bartender, Frizzell clarified, is the man she wakes up next to the following morning. </p><h2><strong>The blind-date scene got cut during edits</strong></h2><p>After reviewing Ellie's first scene, they decided that the extra context wasn't necessary for her story. </p><p>"We just kind of set all that up, but we realized that we just didn't need it," Frizzell said. They decided it "dragged out the opening of the movie."</p><div type="image" title="felicity jones in the last letter from your lover" height="900" width="1200" msid="84708154" hostid="261"></div><p>Showing Ellie in bed next to a mystery man attempting to kick him out of his own apartment gave the audience a sufficient idea of who she is as a character - fiercely independent and closed off from romantic connection. </p><p>"It just made sense to come in where we come in, which is where she's waking up at the guy's house," Frizzell said. </p><p>She went on, "We didn't need the other stuff to set up who she was. That scene was like, 'OK, we get who she is. We get it from the minute we meet her."</p><h2><strong>Axing the original opener meant one actor's role disappeared from the film entirely</strong></h2><p>Unfortunately, losing the early section of Ellie's story meant actor Vilhelm Blomgren, who had been cast as her blind date, was no longer included in the film at all. </p><p>"The hardest part is always having to lose actors that I love," Frizzell said.</p><div type="image" title="Vilhelm Blomgren on red carpet" height="3567" width="4757" msid="84708157" hostid="261"></div><p>The director became a fan of the Swedish actor after seeing him portray Pelle in the A24 horror film "Midsommar" (2019). </p><p>"He's just so funny and so good," she said, continuing, "It was an interesting version of him that we hadn't seen. I was so bummed to lose it, but it just didn't work."</p>

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' originally had a different opening scene, the director says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The "Last Letter From Your Lover" director said the script reminded her of her own love story. </li><li><keyword id="6741555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Augustine-Frizzell">Augustine Frizzell</keyword> briefly dated her now-husband before they went their separate ways. </li><li>They reunited eight years later and began handwriting letters to each other.</li></ul><p>For director Augustine Frizzell, "<a href="https://insider.com/category/the-last-letter-from-your-lover">The Last Letter From Your Lover</a>" felt personal. </p><p>The <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> movie, released Friday, follows journalist Ellie Haworth (<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/felicity-jones">Felicity Jones</a>) as she uncovers letters from the 1960s written by illicit lovers Jennifer Stirling, an American expat stuck in an uninspired marriage, and Anthony O'Hare, a divorced foreign correspondent.</p><p>Heartbroken from the loss of her own eight-year relationship, Ellie finds renewed hope in the pages in front of her. After learning that Jennifer (<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/shailene-woodley">Shailene Woodley</a>) and Anthony (<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/callum-turner">Callum Turner</a>) never found their way back to each other, she grows determined to orchestrate their reunion - 40 years later.</p><div type="image" title="felicity jones as ellie haworth in the last letter from your lover, in a newsroom taking phone call" height="2682" width="4022" msid="84691523" hostid="261"></div><p>When producer Pete Czernin sent the project to Frizzell to gauge her interest, the 41-year-old Texan was taken aback by the parallels between the dual-narrative story and her own relationship with filmmaker David Lowery, now her husband of 11 years.</p><p>"When I read the script, I was like, 'Oh my God, it's us!'" she told Insider.</p><h2><strong>Frizzell and Lowery briefly dated before parting ways </strong></h2><p>Frizzell and Lowery first met in 2001 after she <a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2018/august/augustine-frizzell-never-goin-back/">appeared</a> in his short film "Still." They briefly dated but went their separate ways not long after. In the eight years that followed, they lost touch.</p><p>"I never, ever wished that we would have been together those eight years because we had so much growing to do and so much learning and life to live," Frizzell told Insider.</p><div type="image" title="david lowery and augustine frizzell standing on the red carpet" height="1495" width="1994" msid="84691529" hostid="261"></div><p>The couple's hiatus put Jennifer and Anthony's four decades without communication into perspective for the director.</p><p>"If it had been 40 years and I reacquainted with him, I probably would have been like, 'Oh god what have I done? I wish you would have been here all this time,'" she said. </p><h2><strong>When their paths crossed 8 years later, they began writing letters to each other </strong></h2><p>Nearly a decade later, Frizzell and Lowery's paths crossed again. He invited her to a showing of his film "St. Nick" at the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, she previously told <a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2018/august/augustine-frizzell-never-goin-back/">D Magazine</a>. Frizzell accepted, and they met in person "one time." </p><p>"We went and had dinner just as friends," she told Insider. </p><p>After that night, they began swapping messages over email. </p><p>"We didn't talk for months," Frizzell recalled. "We just wrote letters." </p><p>Emails came first, followed by mixtapes, which eventually led to handwritten letters and care packages filled with "little things that made us think of each other." These exchanges were all happening "under the guise of friendship," Frizzell said with a laugh. </p><div type="image" title="shailene woodley in the last letter from your lover sitting on beach during sunset" height="2581" width="3872" msid="84691538" hostid="261"></div><p>Unsure how their relationship would play out, the director remembers telling herself: "I'm 100% in love with him, like desperately in love with him. I can't tell if he just thinks of me as a friend, but I just don't even care. I'm going to go for it. It's going to either destroy me, or I'm going to meet the love of my life when we reunite in person."</p><p>Lowery flew to Dallas to visit Frizzell, and they got engaged two weeks later, she told <a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2018/august/augustine-frizzell-never-goin-back/">D Magazine</a>. They were married the following year. </p><h2><strong>Frizzell, like Ellie, fell in love while reading about another couple</strong></h2><p>Her story coincidentally ties back to Ellie. Like the features writer, who grows fond of an archivist named Rory (Nabhaan Rizwan) as they sift through Jennifer and Anthony's letters, both Frizzell and Lowery fell in love while reading about another couple: Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. </p><p>"When he and I were writing letters to each other over the course of those months we were coreading the 'Twilight' series," she said, joking that she and Lowery "love all types of books" and aren't embarrassed by it.</p><div type="image" title="the last letter from your lover felicity jones and  Nabhaan Rizwan reading a letter in the archives" height="2681" width="4017" msid="84691558" hostid="261"></div><p>The experience of reading Stephenie Meyer's "gothy," "romantic" novel with Lowery connected her to Ellie, who becomes entranced by Jennifer and Anthony's passionate affair and, as a result, opens herself up to a future connection with Rory.</p><p>"It felt very much like the way that the letters had influenced Ellie," she said. "We had had a similar thing where we were reading these books about love and falling in love."</p>

The 'Last Letter From Your Lover' director describes the behind-the-scenes romance that led her to the film

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="810200" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shailene-Woodley">Shailene Woodley</keyword> speaks French in the new <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> romance "<keyword id="1331321" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Last-Letter-from-your-Lover">The Last Letter From Your Lover</keyword>."</li><li>The director told Insider that Woodley memorized the script since she isn't fluent in the language.</li><li>Because her character grew up in the US, the director said she didn't have to "perfect" the accent.</li></ul><p>In the early "The Last Letter From Your Lover" scenes set in the '60s, American expat Jennifer Stirling (<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/shailene-woodley">Shailene Woodley</a>) takes a picturesque trip to the French Riviera.</p><p>Elegant and well-educated, she rattles off French numerous times while communicating with locals. </p><p>"Aucun problème," she tells the buttoned-up waiter after he delivers news that her snobby husband Laurence Stirling (<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/joe-alwyn">Joe Alwyn</a>) fled lunch without so much as a goodbye. </p><p>And after a Hotel Mar i Vent staff member phones the room where foreign correspondent Anthony O'Hare (Callum Turner) is staying, she mutters a quiet "merci" before ascending to his quarters.</p><p>While Woodley's French is certainly clean and easy to understand, any Francophone is sure to detect a slight American accent in her words. It's to be expected considering the "Big Little Lies" star doesn't actually speak the language. </p><p>In a recent phone call with Insider ahead of the Netflix film's July 23 premiere, director <keyword id="6741555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Augustine-Frizzell">Augustine Frizzell</keyword> said she had multiple behind-the-scenes conversations about just <em>how</em> proficient Jennifer, a young woman that grew up in the US before getting married and moving to London, should be in French.</p><p>On a more logistical level, she was trying to gauge how much time and energy Woodley was going to have to dedicate to nailing the accent. </p><div type="image" title="shailene woodley and callum turner in the last letter from your lover" height="2642" width="3963" msid="84674578" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>The director decided that Jennifer's French just had to be good enough to 'get by'</strong></h2><p>Fortunately for the lead actress, who also served as an executive producer on the adaptation of Jojo Moyes' novel, Frizzell decided that Jennifer doesn't necessarily have to be a native speaker after considering the protagonist's backstory.</p><p>"I don't know that she's had enough time. She grew up in the US and she's done a bit of traveling, so she just has enough to get by. That's how we went at it," Frizzell told Insider, continuing, "She doesn't have to perfect the accent. She doesn't have to be fluent, but she knows enough to get by."</p><p>As for Woodley, the actress was "great at just memorizing" her translated lines, Frizzell said.</p><div type="image" title="the last letter from your lover callum turner and shailene woodley on a walk" height="2529" width="3953" msid="84674580" hostid="261"></div><p>As an acknowledgment of the actress' lack of fluency, Frizzell made sure there were flirtatious, self-deprecating quips about her and Anthony's attempts at mastering the romance language in their early letters to each other. </p><p>After the British journalist promises to keep Jennifer "laughing with my terrible schoolboy French," she suggests that they "spend a few hours commiserating over our mutual inadequacies with the local language."</p><h2><strong>Woodley lived in France for 2 years before working on the film</strong></h2><p>Prior to her time shooting "The Last Letter From Your Lover" in 2019, the California native had a decent exposure to the French language.</p><p>As a teenager, her family hosted two foreign exchange students from France. However, she said during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRP_nJnE_rg">promotional interview</a> for "Insurgent" in 2015 that the visitors only taught her how to say "really nasty, sexual things."</p><div type="image" title="shailene woodley in the last letter from your lover sitting on beach during sunset" height="2581" width="3872" msid="84674584" hostid="261"></div><p>Woodley actually moved to France at one point, residing in Bordeaux and then Paris for a total of two years before eventually returning stateside.</p><p>When Ellen DeGeneres asked the actress if she speaks French on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTZKcZaUh4">2019 episode of her talk show</a>, Woodley replied, "Um, no, I don't, which the French don't love."</p><p>"I get it," she followed up. "If I were French I would probably feel the same way."</p>

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' director explains why Shailene Woodley has a less-than-perfect French accent in the film

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The 'Last Letter From Your Lover' director says the sailing scene was the most difficult to film. </li><li>There was a windstorm the morning they were supposed to shoot, so they were left with one afternoon.</li><li>Fortunately, actors <keyword id="4446310" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="callum-turner">Callum Turner</keyword> and <keyword id="810200" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shailene-Woodley">Shailene Woodley</keyword> "nailed" the scene in only three takes. </li></ul><p>Callum Turner and Shailene Woodley's trip to sea in "<keyword id="1331321" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Last-Letter-from-your-Lover">The Last Letter From Your Lover</keyword>" is arguably the film's most breathtaking moment.</p><p>Two strangers temporarily removed from the realities waiting from them back on land, Jennifer Stirling, a young American woman played by Woodley, and Anthony O'Hare, a foreign correspondent portrayed by Turner, freely discuss love and regret against the backdrop of the open water. </p><p>But all of its beauty aside, the scene was a logistical nightmare to create.</p><p>"It was the most difficult," director <keyword id="6741555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Augustine-Frizzell">Augustine Frizzell</keyword> told Insider of the boat scene ahead of the film's Friday premiere on <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>, emphasizing, "It was <em>so</em> hard."</p><h2>The sailing scene marked a turning point for Jennifer and Anthony</h2><p>In the adaptation of Jojo Moyes' novel of the same name, Anthony is assigned to profile Jennifer's arrogant husband Laurence Stirling (Joe Alwyn) during a trip to the French Riviera in the mid-'60s. </p><p>After Laurence abruptly leaves their annual summer holiday on business, Jennifer gravitates toward Anthony, eventually falling in love with the writer.</p><p>Their first in-depth conversation takes place in an almost comically romantic setting: a sunset sail overlooking the coast of Corsica.</p><div type="image" title="the last letter from your lover boat" height="900" width="1200" msid="84677232" hostid="261"></div><p>Lounging on the hull, Jennifer reveals the story of how she and Laurence met, finding herself unable to answer Anthony's question about whether she's ever truly loved someone.</p><p>"I'm married," she replies instead.</p><p>He, on the other hand, divulges his past infidelity, sharing that his former wife divorced him and then forbid him from seeing their son.</p><p>The entire scene - from the setting to the actors to the overall pacing - comes across as serene, but Frizzell remembers the day leading up to filming it as anything but. </p><h2><strong>A windstorm hit Mallorca, their filming location, the day they were scheduled to shoot</strong></h2><p>Jennifer and Anthony's early scenes take place on the French coast, but the movie was actually <a href="https://www.kftv.com/news/2019/10/16/the-last-letter-from-your-lover-begins-filming-in-majorca">shot in Mallorca</a> in late 2019. </p><p>Going into production, Frizzell was conscious of the movie's "low budget" and aware that she was working with a limited number of days to shoot.</p><p>"It was all super tightly scheduled," she said.</p><div type="image" title="shailene woodley as jennifer on the boat in the last letter from your lover, side profile" height="900" width="1200" msid="84677233" hostid="261"></div><p>Extreme weather upended their plans on the one day they had set aside to film Jennifer and Anthony's boat scene.</p><p>"There was this huge windstorm that came through, so much so that we couldn't even get out to the boat to shoot," she recalled. "Even if we would've been able to get out there, it would have been insane."</p><p>The team had no choice but to wait it out until the wind passed. By the time the weather cleared, they were left with just one afternoon to get the right take.</p><h2><strong>Woodley, Turner, and the camera crew nailed the scene in only 3 takes</strong></h2><p>From the moment the cast and crew were finally able to set sail, they were in a race against the setting sun.</p><p>"We had like three takes," Frizzell recalled.</p><div type="image" title="the last letter from your lover shailene woodley callum turner on boat" height="900" width="1200" msid="84677237" hostid="261"></div><p>Luckily, the director had previously worked on the scene with Woodley and Turner, recognizing its importance as the first time their characters connect on an emotional level.</p><p>The trio conversed about what, exactly, they wanted the audience to take away from the intimate conversation about Jennifer and Anthony's pasts. When it came time to perform the scene in front of the cameras, Turner and Woodley delivered.</p><p>"They just nailed it. They had a few takes to get it," Frizzell said, adding, "They just nailed it."</p>

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' actors were running out of daylight while filming the sailing scene. They nailed it in just 3 takes.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Angus Cloud has died aged 25, his family confirmed to Insider Monday.</li><li>The actor was known for his role as Fezco in the hit HBO series "Euphoria."</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-star-angus-cloud-fez-says-he-loves-cows-milk-2022-2">"Euphoria" fans</a> are mourning the death of popular star, Angus Cloud, who has <a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-actor-angus-cloud-dead-at-25-2023-7">died at the age of 25.</a></p><p>Cloud played Fezco, <a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-cast-real-ages-versus-characters-2022-2">a kindhearted high-school dropout</a> and drug dealer who befriends the lead character, Rue (Zendaya).</p><p>Fezco quickly <a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-zendaya-is-rue-dead-season-1-finale-cliffhanger-interview-2022-1">became a fan-favorite in season one</a> and received <a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-season-2-finale-unanswered-questions-2022-2">even more praise in season two</a> as the show developed his backstory, as well as his relationship with Rue's best friend, Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow).</p><p>However, Cloud's casting alongside popular stars like Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney was something of a fluke.</p><p><a href="https://www.gq.com/story/angus-cloud-euphoria-spotlight">Cloud told GQ in 2019</a> that he was discovered for the role — his very first acting job — while walking the streets of Manhattan, New York.</p><p>Cloud grew up in Oakland, California, where he attended the Oakland School for the Arts, but focused more on technical theater, not acting. After school, he moved to New York, where he began working in a "chicken and waffle joint" while living in Bushwick.</p><p>In 2018, while walking down the street in Manhattan, Cloud said he was approached by a representative for a casting company, who asked him to audition for a new TV series.</p><p>Cloud said: "I was confused and I didn't want to give her my phone number. I thought it was a scam."</p><div type="image" title="Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow) and Fezco (Angus Cloud) in Euphoria." height="700" width="933" msid="102338746" hostid="261" sizebytes="31896"></div><p>It turned out that Cloud was auditioning for the <a href="https://www.insider.com/sydney-sweeney-says-dad-grandpa-walked-out-after-seeing-euphoria-2023-6">"Euphoria" pilot.</a> </p><p>"I had to change it a little bit. To make it sound real, like how <em>I</em> would say it," the actor said of his first audition.</p><p>After passing a second audition with the pilot's director, Augustine Frizzell, Cloud was flown out to Los Angeles to shoot the Sam Levinson-created series.</p><p>Cloud said he had to stay in numerous Airbnbs in LA because he couldn't find a place to rent.</p><p>"Nobody was trying to rent me a spot. I don't have any credit and they didn't believe I was a real actor," he recalled.</p><h2>Angus Cloud's prominent scar was incorporated into his 'Euphoria' character's backstory in season two</h2><div type="image" title="Angus Cloud at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party and as Fezco O'Neill in &quot;Euphoria.&quot;" height="900" width="1200" msid="102338748" hostid="261" sizebytes="61274"></div><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/angus-cloud-how-he-broke-skull-scar-surgery-explanation-2022-8">Cloud had a prominent scar on his head, which was written into Fezco's backstory.</a></p><p><a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/features/angus-cloud-broken-skull-euphoria-icon-1235336673/">The actor told Variety last year</a> he got the scar after falling into a construction pit that was at least 10 feet deep when he was a teenager.</p><p>"I woke up 12 hours later at the bottom," he said. "I was trapped. I eventually climbed out after — I don't know how long. It was hella hard to climb out, because my skull was broken, but my skin wasn't, so all the bleeding was internal, pressing up against my brain. But they wasn't gonna find me down there. I found myself. Or God found me, whatever you want to call it."</p><p>Despite his injuries, Cloud said he took the bus home and his mom took him to a children's hospital.</p><div type="image" title="Mason Shea Joyce as young Fezco in &quot;Euphoria.&quot;" height="628" width="838" msid="102338750" hostid="261" sizebytes="18922"></div><p>"I would have died," he said. "She gave me some water, and I started throwing up hella mouthfuls of crimson red blood. Shit was crazy."</p><p>Cloud said the hospital staff saved his life.</p><p>"They cut my head open, they put some screws and a plate over where I broke my skull and — shit, sealed me back up, and that was that," he said.</p><p>A flashback in the "Euphoria" season two premiere explains that Fez got his scar after being accidentally hit with a crowbar as a child.</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/euphoria-season-2-fun-facts-behind-the-scenes-details-2022-2#angus-clouds-real-life-scar-on-the-side-of-his-head-was-written-into-fezcos-backstory-3">Cloud told Insider in 2022</a> that he was "stoked" that his character's history was explored in season two.</p><p>"The opening scene is just a work of art in itself," he said. "But just how they added in how I got my scar, they made up a whole reason in my backstory of how I got this scar and I was like, 'Damn, that's sick.' It's a real scar."</p>

You Searched For "Augustine Frizzell" and got 6 results

The 'Last Letter From Your Lover' director shares the hidden parallels between Ellie and Jennifer that you probably missed

Claudia Willen

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' originally had a different opening scene, the director says

Claudia Willen

The 'Last Letter From Your Lover' director describes the behind-the-scenes romance that led her to the film

Claudia Willen

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' director explains why Shailene Woodley has a less-than-perfect French accent in the film

Claudia Willen

'The Last Letter From Your Lover' actors were running out of daylight while filming the sailing scene. They nailed it in just 3 takes.

Claudia Willen

Angus Cloud had no acting experience before 'Euphoria.' Here is how he was discovered by chance for his breakout role.

Ayomikun Adekaiyero