After hanging out with a couple of book friends at a special pop-up oasis in the middle of New York City, my Lyft picked me up to take me to Metro Private Cinema in Chelsea where a special surprise was waiting for the 100 lucky guests who managed to RSVP fast enough to make it on one of the hottest lists in town.
Every room in the underground hallway could fit less than a dozen people, which allowed for the ultimate intimate movie watching experience as we all got ready to catch People We Meet on Vacation on the big screen. However, before the film even started playing, we propped our door open to hear the screams coming from the other rooms as none other than Emily Henry stopped by one-by-one to say hi to some of her biggest fans.
In honor of the film's premiere, Lyft and Netflix partnered up for special screening in NYC that included a iconic appearance from the People We Meet on Vacation author herself. Emily signed copies of the book and even took some selfies as she stopped by to thank fans for catching the film, which is now available to stream on Netflix.
We got to catch up with Emily Henry as the film started to roll to chat all about new adaptation, her ultimate vacation vibes, and what it's like to allow others to take your story and give it a new spin.
The movie is finally here! How has it been getting to see people react to it?
It has been incredible! My inbox and text messages are all absolutely bananas right now. And it's very embraced by the readership. I feel like they went into this hoping and planning and expecting to like it, and have been really open to it. They knew that there are changes, and they're understanding the difference between the movie and the book and why those changes had to happen. I just feel very lucky to have the exact readership that I do.
Also, it's terrifying. I was telling my agent that it feels like when my second book came out, because when your first book comes out, you're just excited! With your second, you're like, Oh no, people are gonna read this. It feels like that even though I did not write this and I did not direct it. I love it so much that I really feel close to and connected to it. I was very involved in all of the conversations around it, so it still feels like my baby, even though it's more for these other people. So I'm really excited that it's finally here! I'm unbelievably proud of everyone who worked on it. I think they did an incredible job, and that they all made the movie that they wanted to make, which I think is a really hard thing to do.
It's fascinating because writing is such a solitary experience, but this is very much the ultimate group project!
The good news is that development takes forever. I had almost five years to get used to how this works. The reason that I was open to adaptations is because I love what a collaboration can do. I love writing books. I love the solitary act of creating something and it's your exact vision. When you have an editor or a reader who gives you notes on it, they know your vision, and every note is for the goal of moving this toward your exact vision. I love that whole process. I think it's magical.
I also think it's magical what can happen with this collaboration, because you will never make the same thing that you would make on your own. When you team a group of people up, if it works, it's a different kind of magic and I was very excited about that from the jump. It was really frustrating at times. There were times I had to take a step back. There were times I did not think this was going to happen, but I honestly can't believe that I'm sitting here with you and they all made the movie that we wanted to make. So, to me, it was really worth it. It set a very high bar for how these other group projects should ideally go. In my opinion, it's to make something that new viewers will be excited about, but that is really there to honor the readers.
This Lyft event is more of an intimate event, but how has been to get to meet fans in a different capacity than what you're used to?
It's magical, but it is really intimidating, too. I'm walking into this room and I know that they're here because they love the book. And I'm telling them, I hope you love this new thing that I love. It's okay if they don't, they're not obligated to you. So, it's scary, but it also is a little bit like Christmas morning!
It's a different kind of trust you're giving the audience.
An adaptation is meant to be this whole new thing that takes what was a solitary act and turns it into something that can only happen with hundreds of people putting blood, sweat and tears into it. If it's not perfect for them, that's okay, because the book will not go anywhere.
You have already revealed that there won't be a new book in 2026, but with the way that publishing goes, that means you'll actually be in edits this year and last year was your vacation year. In the spirit of People We Meet on Vacation, what kind of vibes did you go for then?
I actually am hoping that I learned some balance last year, because I saw so many more friends, I went so many more places, I took so many weekends. I also wrote five scripts, an essay and a short story. So it was not really a year off, but a year to try something new. It's important to have experiences in order to be able to write.
I'm hoping I will be doing some more traveling with friends and just soaking it all in. Honestly, after this year, I'm so so so excited to get back to writing books. I haven't felt this excited to be back in novel writing since I wrote a book in college. It's been so long since it's felt new.
Obviously, no spoilers, but what's a location that you haven't written about that has inspired you recently.
Last year, I did so much more travel than I really ever have in a year. I went to Scotland, and Switzerland, and France, and all of those were uniquely inspiring. I obviously already wrote about Palm Springs, but every single time I'm there, I feel so inspired that I am confident I will have another Palm Springs book eventually. It will be very different. I kind of think I know what the premise for that one is, but it might be a couple years out.
You have more exciting adaptation projects in the works! Has this experience changed what you want to do differently in the future?
It totally has, because I've realized that there are some things that you can only do in books. I want to take more advantage of that. I feel like I've approached my novels like, more or less, the way that I would have approached screenplays. There's a lot of internal monologuing that does not make it to a script and there's a lot more backstory than can make it. Watching this whole adaptation process and then starting my own journey of doing it has really brought into focus the limits of each media.
There are point of view things you can only do with a novel. With a film there are these bigger set pieces. People We Meet on Vacation is a good example. The team of writers and the director did a great job of crafting these bigger set pieces that could bridge gaps where we had to truncate things from the book and to get the same inside jokes much more quickly. There's enough grounded-ness to make these silly, bizarre situations that the characters find themselves in still feel like that actually could happen. That's not the way that I think at all when I'm writing a book. I was raised so thoroughly on the Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner school of romance where it's just two people talking for two hours. I love that so much. But also there are these other rom-coms that I love that are hookier, more high concept, and have a few more gags while still staying grounded. I would love to find some space for that.
We're in the midst of what feels like a revelation for romance. Even just seeing how quickly these screenings sold out or how people are excited to watch in their homes, what has that meant for you as a person who has championed this genre for so long?
I think the biggest thing that it means for me is that we are starting to take things that tend to be for women more seriously. Not that romance is only for women, by any means, and not that all women love romance. But, growing up, I really felt like romance was almost like a dirty word and it was embarrassing to like it. Even all through college, I still felt like it wasn't cool to like romantic comedies. It wasn't cool to admit that love was a priority to you or something that you craved. Relationships for women—whether it's romantic or friend love—aren't given the same gravity as a story about male friendship.
Publishing has come so far. It still has a long way to go, but it's come so far in making space for women's stories and understanding—from a financial point of view—that it pays and benefits them. There's obviously a long way to go for equity, as far as making sure it's not just straight women and not just white women. Hollywood is starting to make those same strides. With Heated Rivalry, I imagine two years ago every studio would have been like, That could never work. But they're wrong. The people who love these kinds of stories know that, but those people are not in those rooms. These stories kind of have to succeed without the traditional avenues of support first to justify larger support from these industries that have not taken romance seriously. So it's very heartening to me.
I just love the genre, and I think hope and optimism and joy are all essential parts of the human story. So why would we not privilege those stories as worthy of merit and artistry and as part of the larger picture? I think it shows a shift of women being willing to just embrace what they like and not really care as much whether it makes them seem intellectually superior or whatever. I hope that it makes more room for everyone of any gender to feel like it's okay to passionately love what they love, and other people don't get to to demean it.
We're almost out of time! Can we do somer really quick book rapid fire? Hardcover or paperback?
Hardcover. But if I can get a mass market paperback, that's my favorite!
E-reader or physical copy?
I've become e-reader fan because you can make the font huge. That's an age thing. And reading in the dark too! It makes it so much easier. It just is good for eye strain and I also have chronic migraine, so being able to make it huge with like the flat white, it's a game changer. It took me 15 years to get on board. But I love my e-reader now!
Heroes or villains?
Villains who are heroes in their own mind.
What's the last book you read?
I've been rereading a lot of historical romance. One of the last books I read I actually reread for the billionth time: Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas. I talk about it constantly. It's one of my favorite historical romances.
And the book that inspired you when you were younger?
The Giver by Lois Lowry. Reading that in third or fourth grade, whenever it was assigned, was when I realized that a book could change the way that you saw the world. I genuinely remember being eight years old and realizing that. It felt like a magic trick to me.
People We Meet on Vacation is now streaming on Netflix.
Original photographs by Lidewij Mulder for Lyft.
