Monica Barbaro has had quite the run in Hollywood. After making an impression as Phoenix in Top Gun: Maverick, the actor stepped into the awards conversation with her portrayal of folk icon Joan Baez in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown. The performance earned Barbaro her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as the film went on to receive eight Oscar nominations overall.
Now, Barbaro will be seen in Will Gluck’s One Night Only, where she plays Allie, a hopeful romantic who finds herself navigating one particularly chaotic night in New York. The film is set in a world where single people are allowed to have sex only on one night of the year. Allie, however, is looking for something more meaningful than a fleeting encounter when she crosses paths with Owen, played by Callum Turner.
For Gluck, who directed romantic comedies including Easy A and Anyone but You, casting Allie was about finding an actor who could balance confidence with vulnerability. And Barbaro’s performance in A Complete Unknown ended up playing an unexpected role in that decision.
“I had just seen Complete Unknown, and when I met Monica, she was so different from that character,” Gluck says. “I realised very quickly what an incredible actress she is. Monica has this natural confidence, and in our movie, she uses it to play someone who I wanted to have an incredible lack of confidence. She makes you just want to jump through the screen and root for Allie.”
Besides Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, One Night Only also stars Maya Hawke, Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton, among others.
The film will be released theatrically on August 14.
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