Brett Goldstein’s ‘All Of You’ Started As An ‘Illegally’ Filmed Short

(Left to right) Imogen Poots and Brett Goldstein in ‘All of You.’

Apple Films

Brett Goldstein is now a household name thanks to acclaimed work, including Ted Lasso and Shrinking. However, when the British comedian, writer, producer, and actor made the short film ten years ago that has become All of You, it was a different story.

“Ten years ago, it was nothing and nobody,” he says with a laugh as we chat over Zoom. “We made the original short film, which is essentially the first ten minutes of the feature, with three people: me, Will Bridges, and Laura Haddock. We went on the streets of London and just shot everything illegally.” Bridges co-wrote All of You with Goldstein and returns as director for the feature version.

“Will had his camera really far away from us, so it didn’t look like we were filming anything, and they did it all with a long lens. We just walked around with him filming us and wearing little secret mics. That’s how we did the short film. We made it for something like fifty quid altogether. The film we made in two days for basically no money really felt special. I did other things, bigger things, but kept coming back to this short, and it was like, ‘There’s something really special about it.’ The more we went on, the busier we both got. I did Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and Will did Black Mirror and Stranger Things, but we’d still talk all the time. We keep talking about this short, this story, and these two characters, and eventually, we finally got the chance to write and make it.”

Brett Goldstein Clicked With Imogen Poots Over Zoom

All of You is a science fiction romantic drama that has Emmy Award winner Goldstein and Green Room’s Imogen Poots playing a man and woman called Simon and Laura, who are the best of friends, but secretly have deep feelings for each other, even after taking a special test to match them with their soulmate. All of You will be available in select theaters and stream on Apple TV+ starting Friday, September 26, 2025.

“I was sent the short and the script before meeting with Brett,” Poots reveals. “It was so great, everyone was so wonderful in the short, and it was such an interesting idea. With the script itself, the feature was great to read, as it presented a piece of original writing with a unique idea and characters whom you sympathized with in different ways. It just felt complicated in a way that was really intriguing and exciting to play.”

The first time she met Goldstein was over an informal Zoom call, and, much like their characters, they clicked immediately.

“We just had a really great conversation, and we spoke about the movie, but of course, what the film throws up are your own experiences, how you feel about the world, what you’ve learned, and we just really felt like we’d known each other a long time. After that Zoom, we then did a more professional thing where we read through parts of the script, and it was really great. Zoom is often almost impossible to establish a connection with somebody; you don’t know where to look, so we had all of that against us, but it still worked.”

Goldstein adds, “Even on the Zoom, when we did that reading to show the producers and the finance people, even on a Zoom where Imogen is in one corner, I’m in another corner, and our eyes aren’t even looking in the right direction, you could still see this works. Imogen brought everything to the table. I didn’t know Imogen, but I knew she was a brilliant actor, and I was intimidated to work with her because she had done so much great work. I get embarrassed to talk about it because it’s all very sincere, but she was so wonderful, and like, ‘You’re safe with me, I’m safe with you. We can be vulnerable with each other, so let’s do it.’ We did, and it was trusting, being present with each other and staying connected, and all of that.”

Vivarium‘s Poots continues, “Laura and Simon activate something. There’s no Laura without Simon, and vice versa, in the context of this story and this script. There could have been many different Lauras and Simons, whatever they might have been, and each would have been its own thing. It ultimately distilled down to whatever we share as actors together in a scene that’s sort of ineffable, maybe.”

While parallels can be drawn with shows like Black Mirror, which All of You’s director and co-writer Bridges worked on, and films like Sliding Doors and Four Weddings, due to the film dropping in and out of characters’ lives at various points in their lives, those weren’t the film’s inspirations.

“I love both of those films but they weren’t references, if I’m honest,” Goldstein confirms. “Our lookbook stuff was more; it’s probably more like Before Sunrise and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In terms of what I wanted from Simon and Laura, it is the feeling of Don’t Look Now I love that film, and I particularly love it because of Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. What they’re doing in that film makes me believe they’re married and have known each other forever. I believe everything about them, and there’s something so natural about how they touch each other and interact with each other; that’s what I wanted with Laura and Simon. I wanted it to feel real. Obviously, it’s a very different film.”

Brett Goldstein Loved Getting Back To Basics For ‘All Of You’

Both leads, who are no strangers to starring in films and shows with considerably more budget than All of You, relished stripping away everything and getting back to basics. Goldstein says it made the movie more authentic.

“I knew on day one, when we did the first scene,” he recalls. “It was the one where I pick her up in the car to take her to the hospital, and because of the way it was, there were cameras rigged up, but no one else was in the car, so it’s just me and her. There was no room for anyone else. All we had was a walkie-talkie with Will telling us ‘Action’ and ‘Cut.’ We’re driving around London, and it’s the first time we’re acting together. I remember feeling so emotionally affected when the thing happens, and I really was like, ‘Oh, fuck. I feel like I could cry,’ but I thought, ‘Oh, well, this is great.’ That’s all Imogen. She made it brilliant.”

“When you’re making something smaller, and physically smaller in terms of people involved, everyone leans in. Every member of the crew is there because they love the thing. They’re not there because they’re getting a big payday. They’re there because they believe in the thing, and that really spreads. You can feel that, and it makes magic.”

Poots continues, “It’s so rewarding because everybody there wants the best for the project. The best part about pure collaboration, and what Brett says about really trusting each other, is that it also accords great importance to honesty. No one is sensitive in their professional life on a project like this, because you have to make the most of your days, and it has to be the best it can be, and get as close to the truth as possible. So with this kind of filmmaking, everything is pure and passionate.”

A great example of making choices that enhance the film despite challenges is the remote cottage location used for All of You’s finale. “It’s perfect. That was such a good find,” Brett Goldstein concludes. “The problem was that it was so secluded that we couldn’t take any trucks down or anything. We had to carry all the equipment down these cliffs to get to it. It’s fucking great though. I loved it.”