47 Things You Didn't Know About To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Lara Jean (a.k.a. Lana Condor) had crushes on a bunch of different dudes in To All The Boys I've Loved Before, including instant fan-favorite Peter Kavinsky (Centineo). But Centineo almost played another one of Lara's crushes, Josh—that is, until director Susan Johnson saw how much chemistry Condor and Centineo had from the onset.

"When we did chemistry reads, I knew I loved Israel, and I knew I loved Noah, but I wasn’t sure who would play which role,” she told IndieWire. “I initially was thinking of Noah for Josh, because I thought, ‘Oh, he seems like boy next door,’ but then once I saw Lana and Noah’s chemistry I knew we had to go that direction. Israel was great with Janel. I thought that fit really well.”

Hollywood has been preaching the importance of representation for quite some time, but it wasn't until recently that we finally started to see a turning point. From Black Panther to Crazy Rich Asians and even TATBILB joining in with an Vietnamese-American lead. However, author Jenny Han revealed in an essay she wrote for The New York Times that producers tried to coax her to whitewash the characters.

"Even before the book came out in 2014, there was interest in making a movie. But the interest died as soon as I made it clear the lead had to be Asian-American," she wrote. "One producer said to me, as long as the actress captures the spirit of the character, age and race don’t matter. I said, well, her spirit is Asian-American. That was the end of that."

There's a scene in TATBILB where the camera focuses on Lara's iPhone l0ckscreen, which shows a photo of her and Peter napping on a couch. As perfect as that photo was for the scene, it turns out it wasn't intended for the movie and was an IRL shot of Condor and Centineo on set.

"The two of them were in the green room on set at the high school location, in the area where we put the actors," Johnson said to ET Online. They actually were sleeping on the couch in that room like that, so we just stood over them and took that picture and it’s so friggin’ cute."

The steamy hot tub scene, you know when Lara leaps over to Peter and gives him a big ol' smooch, seemed almost too perfect and that's mainly due to the characters' off-screen chemistry.

"We went to the hot tub all the time in our apartments and stuff," Condor said to People. "The transition was super easy to bring to the camera. I’m so blessed to have worked with him—he’s an awesome guy.”

The on-screen lovebirds also strengthened their chemistry by attending hot yoga classes when they first met.

"Very early on in the stages of production, we went to yoga together. It was hot yoga and I feel like that maybe was the moment where we became friends outside of work as well," she recalled. "You know, doing yoga with a person is kind of intimate so I think doing that [at the beginning of] shooting, really helped us connect and feel comfortable around each other."

In the scene when Lara and Chris arrive at the ski lodge, they begin to discuss Chris attending an EDM concert, which was never written in their script. Arthur (Chris) told Shine On Media that the scene was "ad-libbed."

Centineo's character, Peter Kavinsky, was almost played by Jordan Bruchett, who ended up playing Lara's model UN crush John Ambrose McClaren in TATBILB. However, the character was recast for the sequel.

The cast members of the film had a lot of room to improvise in their scenes, including the scene where Kavinsky had a pillow fight with Lara Jean's younger sister and moved the bowl of popcorn on the floor. Everyone knows that pillow fights can get messy, and Peter Kavinsky made sure his (fake) girlfriend and her sisters wouldn't have to do any hard labor afterwards. A MAN.

Remember Lara Jean's first rule in the contract? No kissing, but Peter is allowed to put his hand in her back pocket, à la Sixteen Candles. The two go on to make their (fake) couple debut in the school cafeteria, where Peter adorably spins Lara Jean around by her back pocket to face him. It's one of their cutest moments in the movie, and Centineo totally improvised it. According to the film's director Susan Johnson, "He did it in the rehearsal and I was like, 'That is beautiful, we’re going to change the shot around!'"

Kitty Covey is one of the film's cult characters for her spunky personality and good-natured teasing of Lara Jean. And it turns out the youngest Covey sister is a budding feminist too. Throughout the movie, Kitty wears what looks like a bar necklace, but it's actually the word "feminist" dangling in golden script.

As with all great movies these days, To All The Boys I've Loved Before had its inception as a novel. The book was written by Jenny Han and published by Simon & Schuster in 2014 as a 421-page novel in the young adult fiction genre. Two more books were written too, leaving plenty of material for more films.

If Lara Jean's fictional love letters felt real to you, there's good reason. It turns out To All The Boys I've Loved Before's author has a habit of writing letters (and then not sending them) to get closure from ended relationships. She disclosed this in a screenshot of a 2010 email to a colleague that she posted to Instagram, where she also revealed she knew the title for To All The Boys I've Loved Before before she knew the plot.

In the scene where Dr. Covey takes Lara Jean to the diner, he explains that they were sitting at the very table where he and Lara Jean's mother used eat all the time, and where she'd play the same song over and over. It's the same table where Lara Jean and Peter later enjoy a cherry coke and a chocolate shake.

When asked how she got into character for her girl role as Peter's ex, Gen, Baranac told Shine On Media: "I just thought I am Regina George."

They may bicker onscreen, but the Covey sisters are ride and die—just like the actresses in real life. Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, and Condor expressed just how excited they were to be working together again with an adorable triple Instagram.

The "To All The Boys I've Loved Before Get Ready Pack" was designed to help the Condor get into character and included Korean snacks, sheet masks, candles, a diary, and stationery.

While on set, Han and Condor reportedly formed a deep connection, bonding over similar upbringings and adolescent experiences. "From the very beginning, I told Lana I want her to keep working and for this to be a great stepping stone for the rest of her career," Han told Glamour. "Young white actresses, like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Watson, who are at the helms of YA franchises go on to have these big, amazing careers. I just wanted Lana to be able to have those same kind of opportunities. I didn't want it to be just a one-time thing for her to be the lead of a romantic comedy."

Before Netflix picked up the project, To All The Boys I've Loved Before was a book trilogy—as in three books! Immediately after the success of the first movie, fans started begging for a sequel. In December 2018, Netflix confirmed the rumors with a holiday-themed promo. The film is set to release on the streaming network on February 12—so get your popcorn ready.

Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Anna Cathcart, Janel Parrish, John Corbett, Emilija Baranac, and Madeline Arthur will all be in the TATBILB sequel.

The sequel's trailer shows the two main character’s navigating their first real relationship without a contract after faking their relationship in the last movie.