'After' Star Josephine Langford Spills On Bad Boys, Steamy Sex Scenes and That Harry Styles Drama

From Cosmopolitan

There’s only one thing that Josephine Langford ever loses her cool over...and it’s shoes. After we both waste a few minutes oohing and aahing over the Louboutin booties she’s still wearing after her Cosmo photo shoot, we sit down to chat about After, the majorly buzzy movie she’s starring in. Except, as soon as I turn on my recorder, she points at my feet and exclaims, “I’m so sorry! Really quick. Air Force Ones?!” and we dedicate another quick moment to footwear.

When it comes to everything else-fame, sex scenes, and flying across the world each time she's finally adjusted to a new time zone-Jo is the total embodiment of NBD, even as the lead in a movie that’s got plenty of seriously dedicated stans. As a Wattpad story (and piece of Harry Styles fan fiction), After racked up 543 million reads. (The Kissing Booth reached 19 million before it was taken down when it was published by Penguin Random House. After is still accessible on Wattpad.) From there,After became a book series, and Harry became "Hardin" for legal reasons.

After is about Tessa, a college freshman who falls for typical bad boy Hardin...even though she has a squeaky clean boyfriend back at home. Fans eat the series up for Hessa's extremely tumultuous relationship.

“It makes you want to do a good job, because you know there are a lot of people who are really passionate about the story. You want to get it right,” says the 21-year-old. “You could say there’s a bit of pressure or expectation, but personally, I’ve never really felt that.”

Jo says fans welcomed her casting with open arms, and have been supportive ever since. Even with an entire fandom trying to ship her and her co-star, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin or pry for information about her famous sister, 13 Reasons Why star Katherine Langford, she remains grounded.

For the record, she's reluctant to open up about either topic. As far as Jo is concerned, fans will "ship anything" and it's simply a coincidence that she and her sister both act. If anything, being actresses has distanced the Australian sisters, as they rarely get to see one another with their always-packed schedules. It's all very normal to her.

“If things start to get really crazy when the film comes out, it might hit me. But right now, it hasn’t hit me yet. I’m just in a room...talking to you.”

Despite Jo's super calm vibe and After's takeover, the book (and film) have caused a LOT of drama, especially from One Direction fans. I sat down with Jo to talk about all of the controversies, the tight seal on her private life, and what it was like to film her first sex scene.

On all of those pesky After controversies:

Let's start with that Harry Styles drama. There are hardcore Harry fans who believe that the series is exploiting the former One Directioner’s image. When After was originally written for Wattpad, author Anna Todd named Tessa’s love interest Harry Styles, and each of his friends after the rest of the 1D boys. But the names were just that: names. The story has absolutely nothing to do with boy bands and there's no Larry Stylinson fanfic to be found.

“It has nothing to do with Harry Styles,” Jo tiredly explains. “Anna used his name and face for inspiration. But it has nothing to do with him, and it doesn’t seem to matter how many times that comes out. [Hardin] doesn’t have the same personality. They’re very, very, very different people.”

Ultimately, Jo believes that the 1D drama will fizz out once people see the movie and begin to disconnect the story from its original fanfiction roots. She’s also not worried about the controversy around Tessa and Hardin’s relationship that some say is abusive and problematic.

“That was obviously something I was highly conscious of coming into this. It’s such a complicated discussion,” she says. “The books are so different to the film in so many different ways. I’m very, very confident that there is no way anyone is going to come out of this movie and think that in any way, shape, or form.”

On safe sex...on set:

Highlighting consent was a priority throughout the filmmaking process. Director Jenny Gage’s script revisions emphasizing safe sex are actually part of the reason Josephine was so drawn to the role.

“It was tiny little things that she did. She always made sure to show two hands, and she added a condom in a sex scene. Safe sex is so rarely represented on screen, so that made me really want to work with her.”

Jo explains that a week was spent rehearsing intimate scenes, practicing each hookup like a choreographed dance. This was her first time ever filming a sex scene, which turned out to be a much chiller deal than she was imagining. Still...Josephine kept her eyes covered during her own steamy scenes at a screening, and probably won’t ever watch them.

“I’ve always liked to watch myself on screen because that’s how I learn. But doing this movie...I’ve learned that sometimes it’s important not to watch, to not get self conscious.”

On good girls and bad boys:

Besides the intentional intimacy scenes, Jo was drawn to After for Tessa’s layered character. “I loved that she wasn’t faithful to her boyfriend, and she wasn’t demonized for it. In reality, girls make mistakes, and it’s not fair to keep presenting this narrative that they’re perfect.”

Actually, she’s put lots of thought into the whole bad boy, good girl trope. “It’s quite a vast oversimplification. What makes a girl good? She wears button up collars and doesn’t have a lot of sexual experience? Well, she can still be a bitch! You know what I mean? And what makes a guy bad? He drives a motorbike? I liked that Tessa was real.”

On social media (even though, she rarely ever posts):

Josephine tends to keep a low profile on social media, which is where most of the fandom action plays out. Although her mentions are stacked, posts from @josephinelangford are few and far between. There’s a captionless Instagram where she’s posed in front of a wall that says “I will not take any more boring photos” that sets the vibe. When I ask about her quiet ‘gram habits, she cackles.

“It’s a bit of a dilemma, being an actor. I know that,” the star admits. “But otherwise, I’m a relatively private person. I feel like when you get into this industry, it’s so important to have your boundaries. That’s just something I’m trying to do at the moment. Maintain boundaries.”

Her friends, on the other hand, are having a bit of fun pushing those limits.

“I don’t tell my friends what to do online, because I feel like that’s inappropriate,” she says. “A lot of my friends are getting DMs [from fans], and one of them got a message like, ‘Do you know Jo?’ And he very jokingly said that we were engaged, because he thought it would be hilarious. And then everyone started to think that we were.”

Fake engagement rumors would probably frazzle some actors, especially in a world where your partner is essentially an extension of your own brand, but not Jo. The fame and drama that comes as a packaged deal when starring in a big summer movie doesn't register for her.

“It’s not good to have a huge ego. I took the role because I’m an actor, and I was doing a job. So whatever the response is afterwards, it’s not like, ‘oh, this is my movie, I should be getting attention.’ I don’t want it!”

'After' has officially hit theaters, and you can grab tickets here.

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