McKenna Grace and Mason Thames, stars of the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book “Regretting You,” reflected on the movie’s themes of grief and its production ahead of its release.
During a virtual college roundtable Oct. 19, the pair discussed how everyone handles grief differently and how their characters, in particular, Grace’s character, Clara Grant, processed their emotions in the film.
“Regretting You” follows Clara Grant and her mother, Morgan Grant, after a car accident kills both Clara Grant’s father and aunt, who had a secret of their own, which the pair discovers after the accident.
During the course of the film, Clara Grant becomes closer to Miller Adams, portrayed by Thames, who helps her process the loss of her father.
“That’s what I love so much about it — every single character makes a mistake in this movie, and at the end of the day, they’re not villains because of it,” Thames said. “They’re not bad people — they’re just people.”
Although regretting the past is a large part of the film’s premise, Grace has noticed a theme of reconciliation.
“[Thames] and I’s characters have our arguments that we talked about a lot and make a bunch of mistakes, but, at the end of the day, they talk it out and are there for each other and try to understand what’s going on,” she said.
The trusting relationship between Grace and Thames’ characters is actually what drew Grace to the film.
“It’s beautiful that they’re there for each other throughout that, even though they’re both constantly making all sorts of crazy decisions,” she said.
During filming, Grace kept an annotated copy of the book in hand, reviewing with Thames what details from the book they could include in their portrayals.
“I think that’s really important because the little things are what make these characters who they are,” Thames said. “If Miller didn’t have his sucker, who would he be?”
Since “Regretting You” was released in theaters Oct. 24, it marked the second Hoover book-to-screen adaptation.
However, following the on-set drama of her last adaptation, “It Ends With Us,” and its depiction of relationship violence, many wonder if Hoover’s books should receive screen treatment.
Thames and Grace view the message of reconciliation as a timeless one, making the book an important story to tell.
“I hope to make people who can relate to Morgan or Clara or any character in this film feel a little less alone,” Grace said. “I think that’s always my end goal with creating a film that deals with, especially, heavier topics such as grief and mourning the loss of your loved one.”
With its message of hope and encouraging people to become comfortable leaning on others during difficult times, she hopes those who watch the movie learn to not regret their choices.
“Learning from those mistakes or the things that we’ve done and not letting it eat us alive, and just kind of realizing that everything that’s happened to us has made us who we are,” Grace said. “Trying to be happy with that is what I took away from it.”
Adriana Gasiewski is the general assignment editor. Contact her at [email protected].
