At Midnight Almost Featured Diego Boneta Singing Multiple Songs [Exclusive]

Watch out, Hallmark Channel, Paramount+ is coming for your holiday romance movie crown. Like all streamers these days, Paramount+ has been building up its original movie catalog, and it's set to expand its repertoire further this Valentine's Day with "At Midnight," a rom-com starring "Rock of Ages" actor Diego Boneta and "Top Gun: Maverick" breakout Monica Barbaro.

"At Midnight" comes out around Valentine's Day, but it's not actually set around the holiday. The story actually takes place on holiday, when Barbaro's celebrity character Sophie heads to Mexico to hide out in the wake of a cheating scandal surrounding her more-famous boyfriend Adam ("Workaholics" comedian Anders Holm). It's there that Sophie meets Alejandro (Boneta), a hotel manager with whom she makes a connection while attempting to lie low. The pair agree to meet for a midnight dance, and the rest is rom-com history (and the title of the film).

/Film's Jenna Busch recently spoke with Jonah Feingold, the director of "At Midnight," and inquired about whether or not the film, which features a dance sequence, ever had plans to include original music from castmate Boneta. The actor's breakout role, after all, was opposite Tom Cruise in 2012's "Rock of Ages," where Boneta played a bartender-turned-music star. Boneta featured prominently on the film's jukebox soundtrack, singing songs like "I Wanna Rock," "Here I Go Again," and "Don't Stop Believin'." He also had a musical career before he took to the big screen, releasing a debut album in 2006 and a follow-up in 2008.

According to Feingold, Boneta actually had two songs in the works for "At Midnight," but the final version of the film didn't end up including them. "There's an unreleased opening," Feingold tells /Film. "For the opening credit sequence, we originally wanted two minutes of titles." A longer title sequence would have allowed time for a musical moment, but apparently, Paramount wasn't willing to make it happen. "Paramount said no, which is understandable; it's a streaming movie." While Feingold says he's "very thankful" for the credits the film ended up with, which are 45 seconds total, Boneta actually had a song lined up for the longer version.

"Diego was going to sing an original song as the opening number," Feingold reveals. "And then, during [the] 'At Midnight' montage, he was also going to sing a song that my composer, Grant Fonda, had written that was half English, half Spanish, and it's all about meeting at midnight." According to Feingold, the song had "very 'Cinderella' vibes," but it ended up getting cut as well. "Ultimately, we decided it wasn't best for the tone and for the pacing of the film," Feingold says. "But it was a conversation, and I'm trying to get him to sing in the next movie."

Hopefully "the next movie" means that the Paramount+ rom-com universe will keep growing and Boneta will get the chance to return to his musical roots, preferably in a sequel called "At Noon." For now, though, fans will have to be satisfied by seeing his character, Alejandro, fall in love with Barbaro's Sophie the old-fashioned way: while hiding from paparazzi at a Mexican beach resort.

"At Midnight" hits Paramount+ on February 10, 2023.