Minor spoilers for One Night Only are ahead!
One of the main reasons I wanted to see One Night Only right when it premiered on the 2026 movie schedule was because I’ve loved Will Gluck’s other films – the great rom-com Easy A and the 2023 box office hit Anyone But You. However, what I didn’t expect was for the stars of Anyone But You specifically to pop up in this new rom-com. So, with that being said, let’s break down how exactly Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney were involved in this film all about the one night a year where premarital sex is legal.
How Glen Powell Popped Up In One Night Only
It’s been a few years since Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney did a rom-com together, and yes, I still want another one from them. Well, they technically both appear in Gluck’s latest contribution to the genre. When it comes to the Top Gun: Maverick star, his image actually plays a pretty important role in One Night Only.
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I say that because the male romantic lead of this movie, Owen (Callum Turner), ends up on this adventure to have sex with someone and eventually falls for Allie (Monica Barbaro) because his girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke) says she wants to spend the night with their hot neighbor instead of him. That hot neighbor is played by Glen Powell, as shown in a photo on a phone in the movie.
Now, I gotta say, when Powell’s photo popped up on the screen, I legit gasped in the theater. It was almost a jump scare to see such a big star just as a photo in a movie. However, it was a very effective use of the actor’s good looks; it made for a great joke in the movie, and it served as a nice callback to his collaboration with Will Gluck on Anyone But You.
Sydney Sweeney Had A Blink-And-You’ll-Miss-It Moment In One Night Only
Much like Powell, Sydney Sweeney also only showed up in photo form. And also much like her Anyone But You co-star, her appearance had to do with Owen’s escapades.
After Turner’s character begins his quest to have sex with someone after his girlfriend essentially broke up with him, he goes onto a dating app that looks a whole lot like Tinder and starts swiping. Amid all the women he’s swiping on is Sydney Sweeney. It’s literally a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.
There Was A Desire For These Cameos To Be Bigger
Overall, Sweeney and Powell actually had some of the smallest cameos in the movie. While their images appeared, Pete Davidson, Ben Marshall, Jay Ellis, Bobby Cannavale, Nicholas Braun, Julia Fox, Este Haim and more all showed up in person. That happened because the leads of Anyone But You are simply very busy, as Gluck told ScreenRant:
I will say scheduling is a bitch. But yeah, so I always like to put other people from my other movies. All my movies, I almost always have people from other movies kind of pop up for fun because I just like being with them for a night, which is great, but they were nice enough to let us do what we did with them.
Well, at least they got to be in the film somehow, and their cameos certainly make for fun surprises in One Night Only.
Overall, One Night Only hasn’t gotten great reviews, with folks criticizing its lack of sex and its charming yet frustrating ending. However, the romance is cute, the story is fun, and these cameos are a delight. So, to make up your mind about Will Gluck’s latest rom-com and to see the quick cameos from Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney that pay homage to Anyone But You, you can catch this movie about the one night premarital sex is legal in theaters now.
If you’d like to go back and watch the film that features a whole lot more of Sweeney and Powell and created their connection to One Night Only’s director, you can stream Anyone But You with a Hulu subscription.