Roshni Ajmal asked Gayle Forman:

Are you inspired from Before movies ( Before Sunset , Before Sunrise)

Gayle Forman I LOVE these movies so much. They are so romantic and real and true. And yes, I am inspired by them, though in the ways you might think. I looked to Before Sunset for Where She Went (two former lovers reuniting, with a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it and a countdown clock ticking over their heads).

But for Just One Day and Just One Year, my movie inspirations were a bit older.

Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck is one of my all-time favorites. It's about a princess who lives a very constrained life and escapes the palace for a day where she bumps into a newspaper man. They each are pretending to be people they are not and are each transformed by this day together. They also fall in love. And spend a magical day together in a European city.

I also looked to the film An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, which is about a couple who meet on a transatlantic crossing and fall in love. But neither one of them is in a position to be with the other so they agree to meet a few months later, and then, well, there are some, um, accidents. (I don't want to say more.)

Just One Day and Just One Year are love stories, sure, but at their core they are stories about transformation. A look at how that one day in Paris catalyzed both Allyson and Willem to change their lives to be in a place where that they might be ready to be together.

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