I Love the Smiths AI Elevator Scene

What is the I Love the Smiths trend?

The I Love the Smiths trend takes one short moment from (500) Days of Summer and puts new people in it. Tom stands on the left in a grey cardigan and a striped tie, with headphones and a shoulder bag. Summer stands on the right in a white sleeveless blouse. She hears his music, tells him she loves the Smiths, sings one line of the song and walks out when the doors open. Tom, alone, says "Holy shit."

The I Love the Smiths trend has come in two waves. In mid-2023, real couples filmed their own take of the scene on TikTok, often captioned "I said I love the Smiths". In November 2026 the AI wave started, with faces swapped into the film clip itself. On 9 November 2026 the #ilovethesmiths hashtag on TikTok had 13,220 videos and 317 million views, and that count includes the 2023 posts.

The I Love the Smiths AI videos copy the shape of the first viral posts: about 21 to 24 seconds long, in widescreen, with the film's own sound. The earliest one we could find is a 24-second Instagram reel posted on 5 November 2026 by @notlalalisaaa, captioned "made with Higgsfield Genjutsu". It had 5.27 million plays on 9 November 2026.

Where "I love the Smiths" comes from

"I love the Smiths" is a line from (500) Days of Summer, a 2009 film and the first feature directed by Marc Webb. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote it, and Fox Searchlight Pictures, now called Searchlight Pictures, released it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hansen and Zooey Deschanel plays Summer Finn.

(500) Days of Summer premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 17 January 2009 and went wide in North American cinemas on 7 August 2009. It runs 95 minutes and took $32.4 million in North America.

The elevator scene comes about ten minutes into (500) Days of Summer. Tom and Summer aren't strangers. They work in the same office, and Summer is the new assistant to Tom's boss. The elevator ride is where she notices his music.

The official title has the number in brackets: (500) Days of Summer. Most people search for it without them, as "500 Days of Summer elevator scene". It's the same film.

What song is playing in the elevator scene?

The song in the I Love the Smiths scene is "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths, from their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. Tom is listening to it on his headphones, loud enough that Summer can hear it.

The line Summer sings is "To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die", from that same song. Some TikTok posts tag the scene with other Smiths songs, like "This Charming Man" or "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now". Those are wrong.

Many 2026 AI posts use a different song on top: "ghostin" by Ariana Grande. That song isn't in the film. People added it to fan versions with Ariana Grande and Mac Miller, and tutorial accounts copied it from there. Our template keeps the film's sound.

The I Love the Smiths dialogue, line by line

Here is what's said in the I Love the Smiths scene, in order. Summer says the famous line, not Tom.

Summer: "I love the Smiths." Tom, pulling his headphones off: "Sorry?" Summer: "I said I love the Smiths."

Summer: "You have... You have good taste in music." Tom: "You like the Smiths?" Summer: "Yeah." She sings along: "To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die." Then: "I love 'em."

The doors open and Summer walks out. Tom, alone in the elevator: "Holy shit."

"I said I love the Smiths" means just what it says. Tom has his headphones on and misses it the first time, so Summer says it again. That repeat is the line the 2023 TikTok versions put in their captions.

I Love the Smiths trend timeline

1986: The Smiths put "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" on their album The Queen Is Dead.

17 January 2009: (500) Days of Summer premieres at Sundance. It goes wide in North America on 7 August 2009.

17 July 2019: VICE runs a piece called "Why the Elevator Scene in '(500) Days of Summer' Still Pisses People Off 10 Years Later".

July to October 2023: real couples act out the scene on TikTok. @itsjuli4_ posts on 15 July 2023 (3.18 million plays by November 2026) and @jaimeadler on 29 October 2023 (4.19 million).

1 February 2024: Searchlight Pictures posts the elevator clip on its official TikTok, captioned "I LOVE THE SMITHS". It reaches 5.7 million plays.

5 November 2026: the earliest AI version we could find, @notlalalisaaa's Instagram reel made with Higgsfield Genjutsu. The first AI versions show up on TikTok the same day.

6 November 2026: @notlalalisaaa posts an Ariana Grande and Mac Miller version, which has 13.96 million plays on Instagram by 9 November. On TikTok, @yairrag's version of the same pair becomes the most played, at 6.06 million.

From 7 November 2026: tutorial accounts take over, with captions like "How to make the viral I Love The Smiths scene trend?". Many of them use ghostin as the sound.

9 November 2026: #ilovethesmiths has 13,220 videos and 317 million views on TikTok. #ilovethesmithstrend has 711 videos and 2.96 million views.

The I Love the Smiths template, shot by shot

We pulled frames from our 25-second template and timed each line against the sound. Most of it is one waist-up shot of the two of them side by side, then a wide shot at the end.

0 to 4 s: Summer hears the music and says "I love the Smiths" twice.

About 4.5 to 9 s: no talking. You hear the song from Tom's headphones while they stand there.

About 9 to 11 s: "You have good taste in music" and "You like the Smiths?"

About 13 to 16 s: Summer sings "To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die."

About 17 s: "I love 'em." The side-by-side shot lasts until about 20.5 s.

About 20.5 to 22.5 s: wide shot. The doors open and Summer walks out. Then it's Tom alone, and at about 23 to 24 s he says "Holy shit."

The 6-second version is the start of the scene. Summer says "I love the Smiths" at about 0.5 to 1.2 s, starts "I said..." at 2.5 s and finishes "...I love the Smiths" at about 3.2 to 4.2 s. You get both lines for 5 credits.

The full 25 seconds covers the whole viral TikTok cut, which runs about 24 seconds, plus the end of Tom's "Holy shit". Nothing gets cut off.

Who plays which role

Photo 1 replaces Summer: the one on the right in the white sleeveless blouse, who says the line, sings and walks out. Photo 2 is optional and replaces Tom: the one on the left in the grey cardigan and striped tie, with headphones and a shoulder bag. With one photo, Tom stays as he is in the film.

Roles go by upload order, not gender. We tested this on 9 November 2026. One photo of a woman as Summer: she was swapped in correctly and Tom stayed the same. A man's photo as Summer and a woman's photo as Tom: both landed in the right places. The full 25 seconds with two photos: both people were swapped in, all the way through.

Clothes can follow your photo. In the test with the man as Summer and the woman as Tom, both kept the sweaters they wore in their photos instead of the film outfits. Your hair comes from your photo too, so you won't get Summer's bangs and hairband.

How people play the I Love the Smiths trend

Most I Love the Smiths AI videos keep the elevator, the timing and the sound, and swap both people. Nearly all of them put in famous couples: footballers and their partners, pop stars, TV couples. The Ariana Grande and Mac Miller version is the one that spread furthest.

Our site doesn't allow photos of celebrities, public figures or children, so the version you make here is you, and someone who said yes. It works best with two people who know each other: your partner, your best friend, the coworker you always talk music with. The 2023 wave shows it doesn't need famous faces; those were regular couples doing their own take.

I Love the Smiths AI vs Higgsfield Genjutsu, CapCut and other sites

The first viral I Love the Smiths AI reel was made with Higgsfield Genjutsu. Genjutsu swaps characters in a clip you upload yourself: a reference video of 4 to 30 seconds and up to 30 images. It isn't a ready-made template, so you find and trim the scene yourself. Its page doesn't list a price; it uses Higgsfield credits and shows the cost before you generate. It's the better pick if you want to swap more than two people or use your own clip.

CapCut has had "i love the smiths" edit templates since before the AI wave, and many TikTok posts carry a "Use this template" link. We didn't check what those templates cost. If you already edit in CapCut, that's the easy route.

Other AI sites have I Love the Smiths templates too, and they differ a lot. On 9 November 2026: Starrd makes 15 seconds from two photos for 150 credits, and its smallest pack is $4.99 for 100 credits, which isn't enough for one video. Flowlio makes 24 seconds in widescreen with the dialogue and the song, needs both photos, and charges 1,150 to 6,200 credits depending on resolution. MakeViral makes 15 seconds in vertical 9:16 without the Smiths song or the film's sound, and the smallest pack that covers one video is $39.99. RemakeYourMeme makes 11 seconds in 16:9 at 1080p from one or two photos, at $8.90 for a single 100-credit buy.

TrendTemplate uses the film's elevator scene with its own sound, from one or two photos, with no subscription: 6 seconds for 5 credits (USD 4.99 with the Try pack) or the full 25 seconds for 15 credits (USD 9.99 with the Starter pack). We are not affiliated with Higgsfield, CapCut or any of these sites.

Put your dog or cat in the elevator

Switch photo 1 to Pet and your dog or cat takes Summer's place. In our 6-second test on 9 November 2026, a golden retriever stood on the right in Summer's white sleeveless blouse, with its own face and fur, and turned to look at Tom just like she does. Tom stayed exactly as he is in the film. Pet versions are something our template does; the TikTok trend itself is almost all people. Same price as a person.

Photos that work

The I Love the Smiths scene is shot from the waist up, so your face is big in the frame. The two of them also glance at each other a lot, which puts faces in profile. Use one clear, front-facing photo per person, with even light, no sunglasses and nobody else in the shot.

Your face and hair come from the photo. Your clothes might too, as we saw in our tests, so if you want to look closer to the film, wear something simple in your photo.

Why it's 16:9, and how the 25 seconds is made

The film is wider than 16:9. We cropped the elevator scene to 16:9 (1280×720), the same widescreen shape as the viral posts. It posts fine to TikTok and Reels with bars at the top and bottom, or you can crop it in any editor.

The AI model renders at most 15 seconds at a time. So the 25-second version is made in two parts, 14 seconds and 11 seconds, cut at a moment where both of them face forward and barely move. We join the parts and lay the original sound over the whole clip, so you don't hear the join.

Rendering takes a few minutes. You can leave the page; the video shows up in My videos, and you download it as an MP4.