Allison Williams talks emotional risk with Taylor Swift
Allison Williams compares ‘Regretting You’ to Taylor Swift’s ‘Ruin the Friendship’, encourages courageous emotional choices
NEW YORK – Allison Williams has appeared in horror movies like “Get Out” and “M3GAN” and jumped around the stage in “Peter Pan Live!” And “Girls” made us laugh (and cringe). However, she didn’t think anyone would want to see her in a romantic drama.
“Regretting You” director Josh Boone helped change her mind.
“I never saw myself as a romantic lead,” Williams told USA TODAY in a sit-down interview. “I don’t know if I want to see myself get a guy or whatever. I don’t know if I want to be rooting for myself on screen. But I thought, if[director Josh Boone]thinks I can do it, maybe there’s something in my vibe that I can’t detect that might actually work in this medium.”
Based on the book Regretting You by Colleen Huber, the film stars Williams, Dave Franco, McKenna Grace, and Mason Thames, and is currently in theaters.
Williams, who also produced the film, plays Morgan Grant, a young mother who discovers that her husband and sister have been having an affair after they die in a car accident. Her complicated grief deepens the rift with her teenage daughter Clara (Grace), but Clara’s college dreams and new boyfriend (Thames) Morgan disapprove of it. Further complicating matters is the presence of Morgan’s late sister’s partner, Jonah (Franco), who had feelings for Morgan since their school days.
Movies that are ‘not too scary’ for Allison Williams’ friends
Williams says her performance in “Regretting You” is also an act of service to her friends. Her friends say it’s her project they’re most looking forward to.
“I know friends who live all over the country who do viewing parties, go with their girlfriends, have book clubs,” Williams said. “I’m glad I was able to create something that a lot of people in my life wouldn’t be scared to look at.”
Filming M3GAN 2.0 in New Zealand and Regret You in Atlanta a few weeks apart, Williams says, took some of the pressure off of creating the perfect romantic lead because he didn’t have time to “obsess” about channeling romance legends like Julia Roberts, Rachel McAdams and Meg Ryan.
The romance genre guarantees happily ever after. Even though “Regretting You” touches on serious subjects like grief and infidelity, you’ll leave the theater feeling warm and fuzzy. This is different from other films Williams has appeared in, which deal with serious themes such as racism, artificial intelligence, and sexual assault. But it helped her reframe the way she thinks about escapist romance films. These films also deal with universal and monumental issues.
“Honestly, it feels weird to do press for a movie that doesn’t talk about the big issues, but then I feel like I’m talking about the biggest issues, the issues that make other issues important: love and autonomy and loss,” Williams says. “The reason we fear AI is because we love humans and we fear loss of ourselves and human life. And the reason we hate the sexual assault and grooming that ‘The Perfection’ dealt with is because we love humans. We want to take care of them. We don’t want bad things to happen to them. These are the big issues that make other things worth talking about.”
Allison Williams talks about entering the world of Colleen Huber
With “Regretting You,” Williams enters the canon of yet another explosive Hoover film adaptation. “Regretting You” has so far survived without the same level of controversy (legal or otherwise) as “It Ends With Us.” Other Hoover novels, including “Reminder of Him” and “Verity,” will soon be made into films.
Williams himself is a Hoover fan, and says “Verity” is his favorite. After she read the script, she started reading the book “Regretting You.” Then began the “intimidating” process of bringing the beloved book characters to life.
“It always feels strangely intimate to secretly create the definitive version of something that so many people have imagined for themselves. It feels intrusive,” Williams says.
Boone’s faithful adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars eased her fears. Hoover also supported Williams’ Morgan.
“I also knew that Colleen loved the script, loved all the casting, was very involved in cutting the film, and was very happy with how it turned out,” Williams says. “I think that’s a good thing because she’s the ultimate authority on original work. It’s a great vote of confidence.”
Motherhood helped her on-screen relationship with McKenna Grace
Williams, who has an almost 4-year-old son with The Last Kingdom actor Alexander Dreymon, used her maternal instincts to create a mother-daughter relationship with co-star Grace, who plays her rebellious 17-year-old daughter. At first, she was worried about their compatibility. Going back and forth between “M3GAN” and “Regretting You,” Williams didn’t get the time he thought he needed with Grace.
“‘I thought you needed it’ is effective because it really just made an instant connection,” Williams says. “I think we have similar and fundamental qualities, and I also think she is incredibly talented.”
However, much of Clara and Morgan’s on-screen relationship is controversial. Clara, grieving in her own way, sneaks out without her mother’s permission, gets drunk and high, and meets her boyfriend. She has been suspended countless times. Meanwhile, Morgan is dealing with the loss of her sister and husband, keeping their betrayal a secret from Clara. There are several scenes where Morgan slams doors, yells “go to your room,” and crashes his car. While this wasn’t her personal anger, Ms Williams said she found that part surprisingly “cathartic”, adding: “There’s a reason why we have anger rooms.”
Will teenage angst make Williams worry about how she will one day raise her own children? She doesn’t know what will happen to him, but admits she loves the “anticipatory anxiety.”
“Becoming a mother has taught me, in a way, that I can and will worry about what’s going to happen, because it’s not the version that I’m experiencing, and I miss the opportunity to worry about the version that I’m experiencing,” Williams says.
Allison Williams has Taylor Swift songs playing in her head
Williams, a self-proclaimed Swiftie, thinks about Taylor Swift’s album “The Life of a Showgirl.” In one song, “Ruin the Friendship,” Swift sings about how she should have kissed her crush before it was too late. It’s the perfect soundtrack for “Regretting You” as Jonah and Morgan struggle to rekindle an old, untested flame.
She hopes the film will serve as a cautionary tale for young lovers, much like Swift’s songs.
“Choose things that feel authentic and be as nice to people as you can. We didn’t choose some of the characters in this movie,” Williams says. “The whole movie is kind of encouraging that kind of brave living, brave thinking, just being brave. And in another sense, what Morgan admires about Clara at the end is how brave she is, how she’s not put on the back foot. She’s not coming from a place of fear. She’s going for it, and I think Morgan envies that, admires that, and continues to try to emulate that.”
