Monica Barbaro is on the run for much of her new film \u201cOne Night Only.\u201d<\/p>\n
The romantic comedy takes place in an alternate reality where premarital sex is only legal in the United States for one summer night each year. Time is of the essence. Barbaro\u2019s character, Allie, joins thousands of other New Yorkers in sprinting from one bar to the next in pursuit of love \u2014 or a one-night stand, at the very least.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an absurd premise that director Will Gluck keeps afloat by focusing on horny shenanigans rather than what led to such a \u201cfascist\u201d law, as one character describes it. Allie overcomes a number of physical obstacles throughout the night, including dodging couples on the sidewalk as they lunge toward one another. At one point, she fights her eventual love interest (Callum Turner) for the last condom available at a store.<\/p>\n
But one feat rises above the rest: Allie manages to do all of this in stilettos.<\/p>\n
Once you notice the shoes, it\u2019s difficult not to fixate on Barbaro\u2019s physical prowess. Plenty of rom-com heroines have run through New York in heels, but this would be like if Carrie Bradshaw chased Mr. Big in her Manolo Blahniks from the Upper East Side all the way down to the Financial District. Barbaro, an Oscar-nominated actress, plays Allie as a woman so determined that she even runs over treacherous sidewalk grates to find a lover.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not the only one\u201d to remark on this athletic challenge, Barbaro told Gothamist in a recent interview. \u201cI think it was moderately triggering for some people.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did she do it? It might seem like a moot question as you gaze over at the high heels collecting dust in your closet as you continually reach for sneakers and ballet flats. New York is a city of practical footwear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best and worst place to break in a pair of shoes,\u201d Barbaro said.<\/p>\n
The actress lived here full time when she attended NYU years ago. \u201cI was perpetually getting blisters from shoes in this city,\u201d she recalled. It happened again during the two-and-a-half months she spent filming \u201cOne Night Only.\u201d But she said the culprits were loafers and a pair of kitten heels, never the stilettos.<\/p>\n
Step one to running in heels: Come up with an escape plan.<\/p>\n
Most people would think that the strapless design of Allie\u2019s heels would make them harder to move in. But according to Barbaro, that wasn\u2019t the case: \u201cIt actually feels less dangerous to be able to ditch the shoe than it does to be strapped into it,\u201d she said. Costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio noted that the shoes, which came from a designer called Black Suede Studio, originally \u201chad ankle straps. But I made them into mules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Step two: Make sure your body is up for the task.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of calf tension I had to work on after the film,\u201d Barbaro said. But this sort of issue isn\u2019t new to Barbaro. Growing up, she trained in ballet. She graduated from NYU with a dance degree. \u201cThere is a natural dexterity that my toes and metatarsals have thanks to years of dance where I can control a shoe like a flip-flop,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
This ability came in handy in a scene where her character strides across a cobblestone street to attend a speed-dating event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just about finding the stones that work,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re basically just walking on your toes.\u201d It\u2019s an awkward balancing act, where \u201cI\u2019m trying to look really good on top but I\u2019m, you know, hustling it below.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes some convincing at the start of the film for Allie to put herself out there. But once she commits to the task, she displays a surprising level of tenacity. Gluck is known for having directed breezy comedies such as \u201cEasy A\u201d and \u201cAnyone but You,\u201d but advised Barbaro to watch quicker-paced movies like \u201cUncut Gems,\u201d \u201cAfter Hours\u201d and \u201cMidnight Run\u201d as inspiration for the role. In this reality, hooking up is serious business.<\/p>\n
Step three: Be slightly delusional about the significance of the task at hand.<\/p>\n
It all comes down to your mindset. The adrenaline keeps Allie going, just as the promise of doing her story justice kept Barbaro running in those heels. Were the actress personally dictating Allie\u2019s behavior, she said, \u201cI would probably at some point take off my shoes and just walk on the sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the character will never quit those fabulous heels. You don\u2019t have to, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust give yourself a foot massage after,\u201d Barbaro said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monica Barbaro is on the run for much of her new film \u201cOne Night Only.\u201d The romantic comedy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-315417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}