Director Will Gluck explains why there is almost no on-screen sex in his new movie "One Night Only"

The director of the comedy hit "Anyone But You" has returned with a bold new romantic comedy and explained why modern cinema audiences have become more "chaste," Variety writes.

Director Will Gluck doesn't want you to overthink the logic of his new movie. His latest project, "One Night Only," is a raucous romantic comedy set in an alternative reality where premarital sex is legally permitted only once a year.

The lead roles in the film are played by Monica Barbaro ("A Complete Unknown") and Callum Turner ("Eternity"). According to the plot, their characters accidentally run into each other on the streets of New York City during 12 hours of chaos gripping the city.

"It takes you out of the movie": Why all the explicit nudity was cut from the film

Many studies show that Gen Z and Gen Alpha do not want to see explicit scenes on screen. According to Gluck, the problem runs deeper—it is about a shift in the consumption habits of society as a whole.

"I went through this on two movies and I have long pages of empirical data about it. But I don't think it's just Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I believe it's been a societal shift from taking nudity in adult situations and putting them on your phones at home for everybody. Now it's more of a private, intimate thing that people don't want to see when they're in a shared experience. Whenever people now see nudity or very adult situations in a big theater, they get uncomfortable."

The director admitted that the film initially featured many more background scenes with naked extras on the streets. However, a curious effect became clear during test screenings:

"It's a physical thing. They turn to who they're with... You're engaged in the characters and what's going on, and then you pan over and there's two naked people having sex, and you watch the audience... The benefits do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it. So we just kept editing it out until we got a balance, and those comments went away."

By the way, a professional intimacy coordinator worked on set, and the background extras consisted of real-life couples—ranging from spouses to people who got together or broke up right during production.