Kyle Faticoni / Junket Productions Inc.
“Regretting You,” based on Colleen Hoover’s 2019 novel of the same name, is the latest Hoover adaptation to hit theaters. Directed by Josh Boone, “Regretting You” focuses on the fallout between Clara Grant (Mckenna Grace) and her mother, Morgan Grant (Allison Williams), after the sudden passing of Clara’s father, Chris (Scott Eastwood), and her aunt, Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald), in a car accident. As Clara and Morgan navigate their grief, Clara explores her newfound romance with Miller (Mason Thames) while Morgan attempts to move past her anger alongside her brother-in-law Jonah (Dave Franco).
Prior to the film’s release, The Hoya was able to attend an Oct. 19 college roundtable with stars Grace and Thames, who shed more light on their characters, their love of romance films and their experiences filming.
Thames and Grace said they were both drawn to the project for the chance to work together — particularly on a romance film — despite neither being familiar with the original source material.
“I got the script and I talked to Josh Boone, our director, and I mean, I just kinda fell in love with the story,” Thames said at the roundtable. “And I knew Mckenna was signed on, so it was kind of a no-brainer.”
“I was really stoked to do Miller and Clara because I’ve never done a romance,” Grace said.
“Regretting You” depends, in part, on the chemistry between Grace and Thames as the film’s primary romance. Despite the whirlwind of emotions that often emerges for actors working on romance movies, the pair felt at ease with each other throughout the process.
“It was pretty easy,” Grace said. “With anybody else, I think it would’ve been a lot scarier, so I’m very lucky and grateful that I got to have my first real on-screen romance with somebody that I love and trust so much.”
Thames said Boone, who previously directed “The Fault in Our Stars,” is no stranger to the romance genre and helped guide the pair throughout filming the romantic drama.
“We all just trusted Josh and we all did our best to serve his vision and serve these characters,” Thames said. “What I love so much about Josh is he sets us down this path, and then we get to play with things a little bit.”
“We’re actors, so it’s fun — we love being dramatic,” Grace said. “Working with Josh made me feel very safe to play around with that and get to lean into the melodrama of it all and get to not worry about those things.”
Thames said the film’s romantic elements were particularly important in scenes that leaned less heavily on dialogue.
“My favorite one is the promposal when we’re not saying anything and you’re watching the video, and my back is faced towards the screen,” Thames said. “I’m just looking at Clara, and I think a lot is said between a couple of those looks.”
Grace said the drama of various scenes — such as one in which Miller holds Clara after she cries — was equally important to developing the film’s emotional gravitas.
“There’s also a scene that’s very intense and dramatic,” Grace said. “We’re just laying there and I feel like that’s such an intimate feeling.”
But “Regretting You” is not only romantic — it is also a story about healing from grief. As Clara gets to know Miller, their love for one another becomes a strong support system in the face of hardship.
“I think that they’re both very strong characters on their own, but I think what’s beautiful about them coming together is it’s not like they’re really taking or adding parts to each other,” Grace said. “It’s just they’re kind of there for each other.”
“The most important thing about Miller and Clara is they were both broken people,” Thames added. “No matter what one person has going on, they’re there for each other and they understand and they listen.”
Grace and Thames both said they expect to, in the future, look back on the process and see how much they’ve grown since.
“Just the past two years have been really crazy in my life,” Thames said. “I think a lot has changed. Clara and her mother and how their relationship was and how this tragedy brought them closer, I think — as you grow up — it’ll distance you from people and bring you closer to some.”
“It’s about taking the things that we regret and letting ourselves feel that, and learning from those mistakes, or the things that we’ve done and not letting it eat us alive and realizing that everything that’s happened to us has made us who we are,” Grace said.