‘Me Before You’ stars Emilia Clark, Sam Claflin Celebrate Film Premiere in NYC, Admit Pranking each other on Set

‘Me Before You’ lead stars Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin celebrated their film's premiere in New York City before the scheduled U.S. premiere on June 3. The two admitted to pranking each other on the filming set.

According to the Daily Mail, Clark and Claflin attended the gala screening of their film at AMC Lowe’s Lincoln Square in Manhattan on May 23. Clark turned heads in a ruffled lilac gown with white lace panels from Chloe. Claflin was the dapper gentleman in a charcoal blue suit as he greeted his co-star with hugs and smiles.

Clark plays lead protagonist Louisa Clark, a bubbly yet seemingly unambitious small-town girl from a working-class family who loses her job at a local café and is forced to make ends meet by taking care of a disabled yet wealthy Londoner. Claflin plays her on-screen love interest William Traynor, an intelligent and wealthy quadriplegic whose impairment left him an angry and bitter man keen on ending his life.

The two actors admitted on Us Weekly that there had been some playful pranking on the filming set. Clarke revealed, "Sam stole all the furniture out of my room and left me with just the books… I put fish in his socks and a fart machine in his wheelchair."

Meanwhile, director Thea Sharrock talked about her intentions for the film adaptation. She admitted, “I wanted to stick to the universal theme of the simple and yet wonderful way these people fall in love, while creating a space for people to think about what matters.”

She added, “I wanted to get across how rare it is that we allow someone into our lives and trust them to show us a different way to exist… Crying in the cinema can be quite a release anyway, especially if there are a couple of laughs as well… It is so easy in modern life to lose sight of how we feel about things.”

Her big-budget film adaptation is slated to hit the big screen next month in a bid to become summer’s biggest romantic blockbuster. It is produced under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, New Line Cinema, and Sunswept Entertainment with Alison Owen, Karen Rosenfelt serving as producers. Sue Baden-Powell is executive producing.

The film is based on the romantic novel authored by Jojo Moyes, who also prepared the movie adaptation’s screenplay.

According to an article on The Guardian, her novel became a bestseller and sold over six million copies to date. The book was first published on January 2012 in the United Kingdom under Penguin Books of publishing powerhouse Penguin Random House. A sequel released on September 2015 through Pamela Dorman Books.

‘Me Before You’ is an upcoming romantic drama film directed by Thea Sharrock with a screenplay by Jojo Moyes. It is scheduled for release in the United States on June 3, 2016.