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Author Emily Henry had some words of wisdom for Emily Bader and her People We Meet on Vacation costar Tom Blyth, the actress says.
The upcoming movie, based on Henry’s 2021 bestselling novel of the same name, follows Alex (Blyth) and Poppy (Bader), who meet in college and start a yearly tradition of taking a vacation together. After a disastrous stint abroad leaves them estranged, the two don’t speak for years — until Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last jaunt.
People We Meet on Vacation has a loyal reader base, with many fans anxious to see what the book will look like onscreen. But Bader, 29, tells PEOPLE that Henry relieved any pressure she and Blyth may have felt about stepping into their characters’ sizable shoes.
“She was really supportive, and set us free with her approval in some way,” Bader says. “She came to set, and I think she was involved [in] pre-production a lot with [director] Brett [Haley] and Yulin [Kuang], who wrote the script. She basically showed up and said, ‘I’m happy with this decision. You guys are them. Have fun. Be yourself.’”
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“I think that is such an amazing thing to have,” the My Lady Jane star adds. “It’s like a gift from the originator of the characters.”
Bader says that she didn’t read the novel before taking the role, but introduced herself to Poppy’s character throughout the audition process. She was also hooked by the story, which features a friends-to-lovers slow burn romance.
“I’m such a big fan of romcoms. I think there’s elements that I miss about some of the early 2000s, ’90s romcom genre, and I felt like this had a little bit of that,” Bader says. “There’s something grounded about these two characters’ slice of life. It was exciting to get to read that.”
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Bader was also drawn to Poppy’s “really fun” personality, which allowed her to try something new as an actress.
“It’s my first time I’ve done comedy at this extent. I did a show where there was a lot of comedic elements, but I was the straight woman in it. It was really fun to just fall on my face a lot with this character,” Bader says.
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“I think that was the only way I knew how to even get in,” she adds. “I was like, ‘I just have to make some very silly decisions, and follow my gut.’ And that’s a very fun way to film a movie. I had a great time.”
Filming People We Meet on Vacation was also a fun experience for Blyth. The actor, 30, tells PEOPLE he was excited to join the project after a string of more serious roles, like playing young Coriolanus Snow in 2023’s Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
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“I was just eager to do a romcom,” Blyth says. “I was just eager to do something light and fun, and a bit sexy. I’ve been doing a lot of serious films back-to-back. So I was ready for something a bit more light. This came along and I realized what a big deal Emily Henry was, and I wanted to get onboard the Emily Henry train.”
People We Meet on Vacation premieres on Netflix on Jan. 9.
