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Tom Blyth is loving the transition from darker roles to becoming a rom-com leading man.
“I think I was just ready to do something fun,” Blyth, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly about starring in People We Meet on Vacation, while attending the film’s premiere on Tuesday, January 6. “I’m ready to do something light.”
Before playing Alex in the romance based on Emily Henry’s bestselling novel of the same name, Blyth starred in The Hunger Games prequel film The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes as the young version of the villainous Coriolanus Snow. Blyth also played the titular character in the western series Billy the Kid and most recently appeared in 2025’s Plainclothes.
“I had done a lot of serious stuff back to back and I was kind of ready to do something that was going to lift up my soul a little bit,” he explained.
Unlike his previous projects, People We Meet on Vacation, which premiered on Netflix Friday, January 9, is a light-hearted story of unlikely best friends Alex and Poppy (Emily Bader) who become travel buddies. But as life becomes more hectic, their dynamic changes and and feelings begin to escalate.
While preparing for his first-ever rom-com role, Blyth decided to channel classic leading men of the genre.
“All the old ‘80s classics were my inspiration,” he told Us. “Billy Crystal in [When] Harry Met Sally, you can’t help but notice the kind of homage that we were playing with the car scene [when Alex and Poppy first meet].”
Blyth was also inspired by Tom Hanks’ performances in You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. (As for his dream costar? Elizabeth Taylor.)
According to the actor,a good, old-fashioned rom-com is exactly what the world needs “right now.” He added that it was refreshing to have a change of pace in his career and get in the mind of a more lovable character.
Matthew McConaughey. Heath Ledger. Tom Hanks. Hugh Grant. You’d be hard-pressed to find an A-list actor in the ’80s, ’90s or early aughts who didn’t dip his toe in the rom-com pool. Films like You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days dominated the film landscape, garnering box office […]
“I think we can take ourselves really seriously sometimes. And I certainly have been guilty of that at times,” Blyth told Us. “And I think it’s really worthwhile to do something fun once in a while and remind yourself that what we do for a living is playful and fun and a luxury and to lean into that, and lean into the love.”
Bader, 29, echoed similar sentiments about bringing the rom-com back into the pop culture zeitgeist.
“This genre means a lot to a lot of people. I think that we can ask something from all genres of film. And I think that the rom-com genre can be complex and have real character development and make you feel a lot of things,” Bader exclusively told Us. “I hope that looking at the greats that we take so much inspiration from, that we can get anywhere near close to the feeling that I got as a kid watching those for the people watching this movie, then I’d be happy.
People We Meet on Vacation is on Netflix now.
