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In the Netflix film Purple Hearts, Sofia Carson stars as Cassie Salazar, and Nicholas Galitzine appears as Luke Morrow. The movie shows Cassie and Luke entering a marriage of convenience so Cassie can have access to Luke’s military healthcare benefits.

In an interview with Cherry Picks, Purple Hearts director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum revealed the first scene Carson and Galitzine filmed was Cassie and Luke’s wedding scene.

[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Purple Hearts.]

A joined photo of Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine
(L-R) Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine | Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix; ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine filmed the wedding scene in ‘Purple Hearts’ first

In Purple Hearts, Cassie is a struggling singer-songwriter who was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Because of Luke’s looming deployment, Cassie and Luke have to get married quickly after only knowing each other for a short amount of time. It turns out this plotline reflected the order in which scenes were shot.

Speaking with Cherry Picks, Rosenbaum revealed that Carson and Galitzine’s first scene together was their characters’ wedding scene.

“And then, when we started to prep, Nick was still in England, and we did a fair amount of rehearsals over Zoom. We had a cast dinner the night before we started to shoot and then, the next day, Sofia and Nick had to get married! Because we weren’t on a large budget, we had to schedule the movie all out of order in order to make it affordable,” Rosenbaum shared.

A ‘love triangle’ plot was cut from ‘Purple Hearts’

Purple Hearts primarily focuses on Cassie and Luke falling in love after Luke is wounded while overseas. In the interview with Cherry Picks, Rosenbaum also revealed that the movie almost included “a love triangle.”

“The scenes that I found most difficult to direct, interestingly, were the ones you’ll never see because the movie ended up being a little too long. We’re not entirely sure why, but some of it was because there’s a lot of subtext between the words. There was also originally a love triangle that didn’t end up having the real estate to remain in the story,” the director told Cherry Picks.

She continued, “There were other scenes that I struggled with as well, and I think the reason why is because they didn’t serve the story. Ultimately they didn’t end up in the movie, which is part of filmmaking. In some ways, it’s really sad, but in another capacity, it is sort of like sculpting. You know you’ll find the pieces that need to be on the surface and to tell your story.”

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Sofia Carson appreciates ‘Cassie and Luke’s love story’ in ‘Purple Hearts’

Cherry Picks also interviewed Carson about her involvement with the film. For Carson, expanding on “Cassie and Luke’s love story” was a highlight.

“Cassie and Luke’s love story takes place in a unique way, as they begin to fall in love after they get married,” the actor said.

Cassie and Luke entering a marriage of convenience is not the only unconventional thing about their marriage. The two also have very different political views, so initially Cassie and Luke do not get along at all.

“I fell in love with their story so deeply because they are two people from such different worlds, two separate colors, red and blue, and all they see, at first, are each other’s differences rather than any connections. Yet through the power of love, they start to see each other as human beings and begin to fall in love, coming together in a beautiful shade of purple,” Carson told Cherry Picks.

Fans can stream Purple Hearts on Netflix.