New York Times bestselling author Anna Todd knows a thing or two about telling amazing love stories. And she also knows her way around a film studio. Fans of the After book and film franchise have been excitedly awaiting the release of The Last Sunrise, based on her latest book. And now it’s here. Fans of her work also know this story is a bit different from her previous work.
The Last Sunrise is a story about a young American woman named Oriah who is living with a chronic illness. While spending the summer in Mallorca with her mom, she finds unexpected romance with Julian, a charismatic local. Because this is such an important story for Anna, we know the casting was one of the most important parts of bringing her story to life as she intended.
Fangirlish had the pleasure of speaking with Anna about the casting process and how therapeutic it was writing this story.
More: Is Anna Todd’s ‘The Last Sunrise’ Film Getting A Sequel?
Casting is one of the things that can make or break an adaptation, but Anna has a track record of finding the right people. Seriously, if you’ve seen After, you know Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Josephine Langford were literally Hardin and Tessa. We really think Anna could add casting director to her resume at this point.
The process of casting Fernando to be Julian was probably the most unconventional way to do it, but it worked in Anna’s favor: “I’m very adamant about my casting…I found Fernando on Instagram. I didn’t even know if he spoke English. I was like, this is Julian for me. We went through lots of auditions, and I just kept telling the other producers we’re just wasting our time because it’s going to have to be Fernando.”
Anna trusted her gut instincts, and we’re glad she did. Fernando was the right choice. The casting for Maia was similar: “Maia was immediate. I didn’t meet with any other actresses; we didn’t have anyone else tape because they both have this special thing you can’t describe. I was like, these are my leads.”
More: ‘The Last Sunrise’ Stars Maia Reficco and Fernando Lindez Talk Bringing Anna Todd’s Book To Life
That led us to our next question. Anyone who has followed Anna for a while knows that she is the mother of a child dealing with a chronic illness. In fact, her son’s diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis inspired her to tell this story. That’s why the casting mattered so much. We asked Anna what it was like to tell this story and if she found it therapeutic.
“There are so many people that struggle with chronic illness, and I was getting a little bit tired as a reader and a viewer of it always having a sad ending. I love a good tearjerker, but people deserve to have happy endings no matter what they’re dealing with. I wanted to write about a character with epilepsy for a long time. This one came to me so fast and so vividly.”
For Anna, telling this story was, in fact, therapeutic. It also gave her the chance to acknowledge the weight of everything she was dealing with. And it brought forth emotions she never really allowed herself to unpack.
“When I was writing it [The Last Sunrise], I had to take a little bit of a break. I usually am in the mind of the character. I started being more in the mind of Ry’s mom, Isolde. And I started unpacking things that I had never taken the time to because I had just been so go-go-go with my son since his diagnosis. I’ve never really taken the time to unpack how this has been on me emotionally. I haven’t ever taken the time to even pat myself on the back for doing so much at such a young age with my son…It was twofold. It was therapeutic. It was so good to represent this in a happy, hopeful way. But it also was heavy at times for me just as a mom with a son with this condition whose is more severe than Ry’s, but it felt good.”
We’re so glad that telling this story has given Anna an outlet and an opportunity to channel her emotions. And we know The Last Sunrise is a story that can help people who may be experiencing the same things.
Before ending our interview, we had to ask Anna if there was any truth to those rumors that we’re getting a sequel to The Last Sunrise.
“I can’t confirm or deny, but I can say that I’m very excited at the idea of a potential expansion of the world, and I love these characters so much and I feel like their story has so much more to tell.”
The Last Sunrise is available to stream on Prime Video.
