At Midnight's Monica Barbaro On Dancing, Superhero Films, And Top Gun: Maverick [Exclusive Interview]

It's almost Valentine's Day, and just in time for the holiday, Paramount+ will release the new romantic comedy "At Midnight." In the film, Sophie (Monica Barbaro, "Top Gun: Maverick") is an actress starring in a superhero film alongside her boyfriend Adam (Anders Holm, "How To Be Single") when she finds him cheating on her. Their joint agent (Whitney Cummings, "Whitney") tells her to keep the incident quiet, or it will mess up her career. When the production goes to Mexico to shoot, Sophie is not in a good place ... until, that is, she runs into ambitious hotel manager Alejandro (Diego Boneta, "Father of the Bride"). The two begin secretly meeting at midnight, and love is in the air. 

I recently got a chance to chat with Barbaro about the film, what it was like to speak with her co-star about their work with Tom Cruise (Boneta starred with Cruise in "Rock of Ages"), how her background in dance changed the film, and the mention of Martin Scorsese's comments on superhero films that ended up in "At Midnight." 

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Sophie has this really great moment in the film where a young fan says, "I want to be like you, not your superhero character." It really struck me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that moment.

Well, that was just a beautiful moment that I think came out of a lot of conversations about empowering this woman and not creating a situation where she's running out of one guy's arms and just into the other's. Not running away from her career and into a life of simply romance or being so career-focused that she can't have a relationship. 

We had a lot to balance in terms of making her sort of get what she wants in the end, and I think she's presented this miraculous opportunity [for] what she thought she always wanted, but then also realizing that she's maybe lost sight of herself in the process. I think the little girl, in a way, represents a person that, she sees herself in her, and that she can look up to herself, and that being just a really empowering moment for her in the end there.

I love that you have a dance background and dance ended up in this movie. Jonah [Feingold, writer/director] told me that it wasn't in the script to begin with. How did that all happen?

The scene originally was — some music starts, and she goes, "I'm really bad at dancing." And he's like, "Me, too." And I was like, "I'm sure Diego's good at dancing," but I wouldn't have said anything. They found out that I have a dance background, and we talked it out, and they really wanted to lean into this whole dance scene. So we found a choreographer who I'd worked with, and he just did a great job with the original composition from Grant [Fonda]. Desi [Jevon, choreographer] and Grant sort of collaborated really well and, yeah, a lot of rehearsing, and it was a lot of fun. 

There were couple times we rehearsed it pretty heavily before we started shooting, and then we weren't shooting it until much later in the process. So there were a couple of afternoons where we practiced on a sunset patio, and it was like, "Well, this is beautiful. Can we just film it now?" So yeah, it was really fun. I kind of wonder if we remember it now, if we had to, would we remember the steps? I don't know.

I love that you and Diego both worked with Tom Cruise. Did you guys share any stories while you were filming this?

Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. He worked with Tom at a really formative time in his career and learned so much from him, and it was also a really formative age for him. And I worked with Tom later in my life, but also at a very formative time. Tom works like such a mentor. He really loves to take people under his wing and give the incredible wealth of knowledge that he's developed over the years because I think that some of the greats did that with him. And he got to be very curious [about] Paul Newman and Jack Nicholson and all kinds of phenomenal artists. So he's always, I think, wanted to give that back to a younger generation, and he's definitely done that.

Were there any really fun stories from that set?

Oh yeah. I mean lots, endless stories. I mean, we just really bonded. We became such good friends, and it's kind of just amazing to get to see each other over and over. They'll write in articles that it's a "Top Gun" reunion at these events, and we're like, we hang out all the time, we see each other all the time. But it's just a treat to get to see your friends smiling and looking all gussied up on red carpets. So we're having a good time with this very exciting moment for the movie.

There's this great moment in "At Midnight" where Sophie mentions that comment from Martin Scorsese about superhero films not being cinema. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I thought that it was so great that that was in there.

That was actually — I didn't know about that. I sort of read it, and then someone told me, "Oh yeah, he said that about Marvel movies," I guess, or just superhero cinema and or not cinema. And it was just something that was really funny. And we also had one take where Diego — Alejandro said, "What does he know?" And we kind of played with it where [Sophie] goes, "A lot." Because it's in all due respect to Scorsese and all of his work. But yeah, it is interesting how the superhero genre has become a bit of a divisive point. People sort of use it as this pillar of something that can't lose, and I don't know, I think they sometimes make some really incredible movies that are really poignant and societally relevant in some way. And sometimes they're just entertainment, and that's fine, too.

"At Midnight" will begin streaming on Paramount+ on February 10, 2023.