Everything We Know About Netflix's Next Big Teen Rom-Com, Along for the Ride
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Netflix has carved out a niche for itself as the go-to destination for rom-coms and teen movies. To All the Boys I've Loved Before is the intersection of these two categories, a teen rom-com that's resonated with viewers in a big way. The movie, and its two sequels—To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and To All the Boys: Always and Forever—are based on the YA book series by Jenny Han and have built a diehard fanbase. It's no wonder then, that Netflix is looking to the YA world again, now that the third (and presumably final) TATB movie has premiered.
The streaming giant's next big thing in the YA rom-com world is Along for the Ride, and here's everything we know about the upcoming film.
It's based on a novel by an acclaimed YA author.
Along for the Ride is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Sarah Dessen, who has penned 15 books in the genre, many of which have been highlights by the American Library Association (ALA) as "Best Fiction for Young Adults" selections. In 2017, Dessen received the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors authors who have made a "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
"I’m beyond happy to finally share this huge news about a book that is so dear to me," Dessen wrote on Instagram when the news broke. "So much to say but right now I am speechless. So grateful! Yay!!!"
Along for the Ride will be written and directed by the screenwriter behind To All the Boys.
Sofia Alvarez, who penned the screenplays for To All the Boys I've Loved Before and its sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, has been tapped to adapt Along for the Ride. Alvarez will also helm the movie, which will be her directorial debut.
The cast includes rom-com veterans Kate Bosworth and Andie MacDowell.
Netflix has announced the main and supporting cast for the film and the lineup includes a mix of relative newcomers and actors with established resumes in the romantic comedy world, like Kate Bosworth, Andie MacDowell, and Dermot Mulroney.
Emma Pasarow, who will appear in the upcoming Dakota Johnson movie Am I OK?, and Belmont Cameli, who plays Jamie Spano in Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot, will star in the film. They're joined by Bosworth, MacDowell and Mulroney, as well as Laura Kariuki, Genevieve Hannelius, Samia Finnerty, Paul Karmiyran, Marcus Scribner, and Ricardo Hurtado.
The movie is filming in North Carolina.
Filming of the movie kicked off in April in North Carolina in the Carolina Beach area.
"It’s really the showcase of the story," Brandon Goertz, a location manager on the film, explained, according to Port City Daily in Wilmington, NC, where the production team was approved for permits to film on multiple days between April 26 May 10. "I knew right away we would want to be down in this area because it has the look and feel....they’re looking for, for this particular project."
After Memorial Day, the Port City Daily reports, "the production is expected to move largely out of Carolina Beach to shoot scenes in Wilmington and Oak Island."
The movie is about a teenage insomniac.
Not many details are known about the Along for the Ride (and how loyal it will be to its source material) just yet, but Netflix's initial log line for the movie confirms that it will follow the novel's basic plot. The book and movie both focus on Auden West, a teenager who suffers from insomnia, during the summer between high school and college.
"The summer before college Auden meets the mysterious Eli, a fellow insomniac," Netflix's log line for the film says. "While the seaside town of Colby sleeps, the two embark on a nightly quest to help Auden experience the fun, carefree teen life she never knew she wanted."
This is similar to the description offered by the novel's publisher, Viking Children's Books, which offers the following tease-y blurb about the book on its official site:
"Nights have always been Auden’s time, her chance to escape everything that’s going on around her.
Then she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac, and he becomes her nocturnal tour guide.
Now, with an endless supply of summer nights between them, almost anything can happen. . . ."
The story was actually inspired by Dessen's early experiences with motherhood.
Inspiration for art can come from anywhere and anything and the connection between a novel and the moment or feeling that inspired its story isn't always obvious or direct. That's the case with Along for the Ride, which was released in summer of 2009, just a year after Dessen's previous novel, Lock and Key—not long after the author welcomed her daughter, Sasha Clementine, in late 2007.
In a post on her official website, Dessen explained that many people were surprised by the timing, including her.
"I wrote Lock and Key while I was pregnant, and edited it in the last few months before my daughter was born," Dessen explained. "Writing and editing is never that easy for me, and when you factor in the hormones and all the other fun stuff that comes along with carrying a baby, it was quite a wild ride. Suffice to say, I was more than ready to take a big, long break from writing to focus on being a mom. Or so I thought."
As it turned out, the sleepless nights that came with motherhood had a big impact on Dessen, who was inspired to explore the idea through the perspective of a YA character.
"About three months after she was born, though, this idea started to come to me, bubbling up in my sleep-deprived mind," Dessen continued. "I was up at all hours, feeding the baby, trying to sleep or trying to stay awake, and it got me thinking about the night, and how it can seem so long or so short, depending on what you have waiting for you in the morning. I’d look out my window at three or four a.m.—times I was never coherent before motherhood—see a light on in the distance, and wonder who else was up, and why. There was a whole other world at night, one I’d been completely unaware of, and it made me start thinking about the people who chose to live in it, and how they found themselves there. That’s where Auden’s story began."
Netflix has optioned other Sarah Dessen books, too.
Along for the Ride isn't part of a series like To All the Boys, but if viewers connect with it in a big way, they may be able to look forward to more similar stories from Netflix. The streaming service has also optioned several other books by Dessen, including The Lullaby, Once and For All, and the author's most iconic book, The Truth About Forever.
You Might Also Like
