Love Of Your Life Stars Explain Why Filming On Location Was Key To Prime Video's Romantic Drama

Published Oct 13, 2026, 10:53 AM EDT

As a graduate of Columbia University in New York City, Tatiana studied theater and comparative literature. She has been passionate about all manner of storytelling from Jane Austen adaptations to anime. Aside from writing for Screen Rant, she co-hosts podcasts: The Flash Podcast and Ladies With Gumption.

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Amazon MGM's new romantic drama Love of Your Life begins streaming on Prime Video on October 14, but its gorgeous views are worth viewing on the biggest screen possible. This is in large part thanks to director Rachel Morrison's own background as a DP, having previously become the first woman nominated for an Oscar in Cinematography (for 2017's Mudbound). Of course, her work behind the camera is enhanced by the incredible performances in front of it.

Margaret Qualley, fresh off her career-defining turn in The Substance, gives a beautifully understated performance as Maya in Love of Your Life. Maya is a young nurse who finds her perfect match in the gregarious Charlie (The Night Agent's Gabriel Basso), and their relationship seems picture-perfect until he passes away during the pandemic. Unable to cope with the loss, Maya cuts off her friends and family to embark on a soul-searching journey across the world, where she meets single father Felix (Lanterns' Aaron Pierre).

ScreenRant interviewed Qualley, Pierre, and Morrison prior to the release of Love of Your Life to discuss how Maya's journey from grief to healing is enhanced by the movie's on-location filming. The actors also shared more about their characters' onscreen connection, while the director explained why Basso's casting was the lynchpin of the story.

Margaret Qualley Explores What Comes After Grief In Love Of Your Life

ScreenRant: Margaret, this is the second film of yours I’ve seen this year that really deals with grief and loss, though obviously in rather different ways. I’m curious if similar things drew you to both Love of Your Life and The Dog Stars, or if you approached the characters very differently?

Margaret Qualley: They felt pretty different, I feel, in the relationship to grief. The character of Sima has a very natural optimism to her and a bravery to her heart, in that sense. Whereas I think Maya is a lot more fearful, a lot more guarded, and she has a harder time getting out of that hole.

ScreenRant: Despite Maya being so guarded, her romance with Felix feels genuine. As they both say in the movie, it’s real, and it matters. How did you establish their dynamic and what they each bring to the other?

Aaron Pierre: It was just easy. It was easy to work with Margaret. It was easy to communicate with her outside of the context of "action" and "cut," and it's easy to communicate with her within the context of the characters inside of "action" and "cut."

She's very available. I'd like to believe I'm the same, and in our own unique ways, we're ultimately available to whatever the moment will provide. I think that's what this film needed from both of these characters in that particular moment.

ScreenRant: The movie is shot in various locations, and it must have felt like a whirlwind vacation of sorts. Was there a particular location that spoke most to each of you?

Margaret Qualley: Portugal is pretty amazing. I'd love to go back to Portugal and spend more time there. We had two weeks there, and it was great because by the time we got there, the crew was really ready to jump in the ocean and let loose a little bit. It was fun to do that, and it was just beautiful. The food was amazing, and the people were so cool. I loved it.

Aaron Pierre: Lisbon is gorgeous, and it was awesome filming there. It was also really cool filming in London because, as the actor, I'm born and raised in London. It kind of felt like I could infuse that into Felix, like he was sort of showing Maya around. It was really cool.

Rachel Morrison's Background In Cinematography Was Crucial To Love Of Your Life

Screen Rant: Looking at a film like Love of Your Life, I can’t help but feel that your background in cinematography absolutely helped it look as beautiful as it does. How would you say it’s most influenced your new career phase as a director?

Rachel Morrison: I think it's a combination of things. When I read a project, I can usually see it visually because I have spent so many years honing that craft. I knew with this one the importance of shooting on location, so I was able to advocate for that, which is something that most films don't do in this day and age. By actually traveling to the places, I think I really was able to paint with the environment, so to speak.

I also think there's a naturalism that still is quite beautiful without becoming artificial. That may be something that I was able to bring to the project based on my background, even in documentary photography. How do you go into a real space and immediately shoot it in a way that's reflective of the character's journey?

Screen Rant: The film is primarily about charting Maya’s emotional journey, and Margaret Qualley is fantastic, but the supporting cast is integral to understanding where she is on that journey. Was there a character whose casting felt most crucial, or who you felt was unlocked once the actor was cast?

Rachel Morrison: Yes, it's the same answer for both: Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. Because if we didn't fully believe that this was her person, and the person who was going to take her guard down and allow her to be vulnerable and allow her to believe in possibility and in love, then the whole movie doesn't work. And if our heart isn't shattered when hers is? It's the same thing.

Charlie was critical, and Charlie was also the most elusive to cast. The character as scripted initially, I would say, has less in common with Gabriel Basso - even just in the physical descriptors. But then the second we saw him onscreen, saw their chemistry together, and saw his magnetism and his charm... He really is [that charming].

Everybody on the set - from the costume department to the makeup department - everybody fell in love with him. He was teaching me how to lasso on the side; there's nothing he doesn't know how to do. He's like that commercial with the most interesting man in the world. It might actually be Gabe Basso. He is fascinating, and he's lovable, and all of the things. So, we got very lucky there.

Screen Rant: Several years have to fit into less than 2 hours here - was there any scene that either had to be cut for time, or alternately a moment that you ended up lingering on longer because you felt it needed to breathe?

Rachel Morrison: It's a good question, and relevant. Unlike my last film, where the assembly cut was the movie and thankfully worked, for this film, the assembly cut [which means every scene in the order it was scripted] was 2 hours and 35 minutes. It was a good 45 minutes longer than the final film, maybe more.

I knew that with a film where you're feeling so many feelings, there's only so long we can hold the audience in that. There was a lot of killing your darlings, ultimately, in search of the most potent and also palatable version of itself. I don't know, in the end, that there's anything that I really miss. It's a testament to my editor, Jen Vecchiarello, that I feel like we picked all of the actual necessities, and we were able to lose any of the things that might have been gravy but probably would have just slowed us down.

Love of Your Life is now playing in select theaters before streaming October 14 on Prime Video.

Cast

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  Margaret Qualley

  Maya

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  Aaron Pierre

  Felix

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  Charlie

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  Patrick Schwarzenegger

  Jason