Lovergirls newest obsession arrives in the form of Colleen Hoover’s latest book-to-film adaptation, “Regretting You,” which features young stars Mckenna Grace and Mason Thames in this melodrama surrounding first love, second chances and grief.
Fans have been blushing since the start of the film’s production, with promotional TikToks and cast press interviews building anticipation for the chemistry between actors.
Directed by Josh Boone, the star-studded romance deals with the complexities of family and grief, emphasizing its slogan, “When life pulls you down, love lifts you up.”
The film follows the emotionally immature Clara Grant (Grace) as she navigates a budding romance with popular sweetheart Miller Adams (Thames) amid the sudden and scandalous loss of her father and aunt that leaves her mother Morgan Grant (Allison Williams) and uncle Jonah Sullivan (Dave Franco) to speculate what the two were doing together at the time of their death.
In a roundtable interview with Grace (“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Gifted”) and Thames (“How to Train Your Dragon,” “The Black Phone”) Grace told The Phoenix about the personal experiences she drew from and used for her first leading lady performance.
“Being a girl and having a mom, I feel like I could definitely relate to Clara and Morgan, and so I definitely pulled from that a lot,” Grace said. “In Miller and Clara’s relationship, it’s two people that are going through a lot that are there for each other, and I’ve experienced that in my life, and I think that it’s one of the most beautiful experiences that you can have.”
Despite the tragic and steamy premise of the film, Thames said he didn’t find any scenes too intimidating.
“Nothing was really too challenging, I think we all just had a lot of fun to be honest,” Thames said. “I’ve always wanted to do a movie like this. I’m a hopeless romantic at heart, so the fact that I get to do something like this, and do it with Mckenna, it was a lot of fun and I was living a little dream of mine.”
Following the scandal and lawsuit that ensued involving actress Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni after the release of the previous film adaptation of a Hoover book, “It Ends With Us,” Grace and Thames said they weren’t hesitant to take the film.
“Going into it, I didn’t know it was a book,” Thames said. “I got the script and talked to Josh Boone, our director, and I fell in love with the story. I knew Mckenna was signed on, so it was kind of a no-brainer, and after that I read the book, and I thought it was fantastic and made me fall in love with these characters and the story even more.”
Grace similarly said she hadn’t read the book prior to signing on but was enticed by the dynamics the script provided.
“I was really excited at the aspect of getting to portray Morgan and Clara’s dynamic, but also I was really excited about getting to do our stuff,” Grace said, pointing to Thames. “I was really stoked to do Miller and Clara because I’ve never done a romance, and neither had Mase. It was such an exciting opportunity and then to get to do it together was just really special.”
The genre is vastly different from what they typically star in, Thames having worked on horror films like “Black Phone” and Grace on action dramas like “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and the upcoming “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.”
Both stars said they learned how to navigate this new on-screen intimacy by watching rom-coms together for inspiration.
“We watched ‘The Notebook,’ we watched ‘10 Things I Hate About You,’ ‘The Fault in Our Stars,’” Grace and Thames said in unison.
Grace reflected on the intricacies of portraying characters in love and in intimate moments.
“With anyone else, it would’ve been a lot scarier,” Grace said.
“Regretting You,” rated PG-13, is in theaters Oct. 24.