Ever since the world premiere of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix earlier this month, Noah Centineo — aka Peter Kavinsky — has literally become the Internet’s new boyfriend.
A lax bro with a heart of gold set on making his mean girl ex Gen (Emilija Baranac) jealous, Kavinsky pursues a fake relationship with Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) after her love letters for every boy she’s ever loved — including Kavinsky — are mysteriously mailed out.
Spoiler Alert: these two fall head over heels for each other and it’s SO cute.
“There is so much angst, hatred, and distrust in the world right now, and this movie is sweet, and joyful, and optimistic,” director Susan Johnson told Celeb Secrets exclusively. “The main themes in the movie are love, family, vulnerability and trust.”
It seems that the themes of this film resonated with the cast members off-screen as well, as Noah told us that working on this movie helped him get over his ex and a fresh start when it comes to love.
“My personal favorite theme in the movie is to not to be afraid to love in the first place or again,” the 22-year-old heart-throb shared with Celeb Secrets. “We get our hearts broken and we feel like we’re never going to recover from that, but you can and you will. You just have to love yourself and work through it.”
“I did learn this from my past relationships, but when I was working on set, it was a time in my life where in that specific point I really learned how to be alone and how to love myself while I was alone,” he continued. “That was really powerful for me to move on and get started with my life again.”
In league with rom-com classics such as 10 Things I Hate About You, 13 Going on 30, and She’s All That, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before have paved the way for Lana Condor and Centineo to easily become the Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Andrew Keegan, and Jennifer Garner of this generation.
Authenticity drives a timeless movie, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before brings a well-need truth to our youth today with the perfect approach of empathy on present day culture. Featuring an Asian-American female lead, TATBILB will truly inspire our culture with Susan Johnson’s vision of an optimistic world.
“It’s completely surreal and very much a dream come true,” creator Jenny Han told us. “Never in my life have I seen an Asian American girl star in a teen movie before, and I’m so happy to be a part of this moment, and of this movement.”
