Paramount Pictures' Regretting You is a deeply complicated romance film, based on Colleen Hoovers acclaimed book of the same name, that follows two complicated love stories as they unfold after a family tragedy, one that is entangled with betrayal and the potential to change everything.
McKenna Grace stars as Clara Grant, a senior in high school, who unexpectedly falls in love with Miller Adams (played by Black Phone 2 star Mason Thames). At the same time, Clara's mother, Morgan Grant, played by Allison Williams, finds herself questioning if she ended up with the right person—a sentiment that Dave Franco's Jonah Sullivan shares.
The Direct spoke with Regretting You star McKenna Grace (who we spoke to earlier this year at SXSW for Slanted) in an interview, where she got candid about the terrifying question of 'What If?'
The actress admitted that she "fall[s] into that all of the time," and how she's always asking herself, "What if I did this?" She added that she "just tries not to look back on it or in that way or regret it, or at least learn from it that way."
Grace further explained that "Everything that's happened in my life has made me who I am today, and that's something that I want to be happy with and proud of."
We were also able to speak with star Sam Morelos (Lexie) and director Josh Boone. The full interview can be found below.
Regretting You hits theaters on October 24, 2025
Star McKenna Grace Opens Up About the Terrible Question of 'What If?'
"What If I Pushed a Little Bit Harder?"
- The Direct: "One of the things that connected with me was that question of, 'what if things played out differently?' It's definitely a crux for me, personally. For you, is that something that you've ever gotten lost in and just kind of bogs you down? Because I feel like it's a deep hole to fall into."
McKenna Grace: All the time, and especially in this industry, where it's like, what if I got that role? What if I didn't do this? What if I would have gone out for that? What if I pushed a little bit harder? It's like, yeah, I could fall into that. I fall into that all of the time. I'm always like, what if I did this? What if this never happened to me?
My takeaway that I always keep on saying... is that I find, instead of, like, looking back on the what ifs and I regret doing this, or I wish this never happened to me, or all the things that I think back to that I'm embarrassed to ever make me feel icky that they happened, I try to think about them like—sometimes it's hard to say everything happens for a reason, but everything in my life that happened to me or that I've done, that I've been embarrassed of, or that I wish I would have done differently, I just try not to look back on it or in that way or regret it, or at least learn from it that way.
Everything that's happened in my life has made me who I am today, and that's something that I want to be happy with and proud of. And at this moment in my life, I am happy with that. So I'm like, everything that's happened, I can't look at it as a what-if, or I regret that... I've learned from it, and I am who I am today, and I'm happy with that.
Sam Morelos: I am a big overthinker. What-ifs are something that permeate my being. Like, oh my god, I had a croissant this morning. But what if I got that [other thing]? Oh, would I have enjoyed my morning a little more? There's that overwhelming question of did I make the right decision?
A friend once told me, I think you need to meditate away from that decision. It feels like the choice has been made. And like if you keep on asking all these what ifs, then you lose yourself in a timeline that never existed, rather than living in the present moment. That is something I struggle with.
But then there's also that gut feeling, there's always the opportunity to try again. If you are regretting a decision, something you did... Life is short, but also life is really long. So the decision that you make, there's always room to make a new one. Start over. And I think that's something that the movie really touches on. Yeah, you made this decision once you can start again. Life doesn't end at 20. Life is short, but life is also really long. Enjoy it. And yeah, I love that about this movie.
The Cast and Director of Regretting You Talk About the Film's Complicated Topics
"This Is a Romance Movie, But Also This Movie Is Tackling So Many Insane Traumas and Massive Events."
- The Direct: "The movie also asks some really hard questions and explores difficult topics, such as, the very real question of, did you end up with the right person? Can you talk about how the movie explores those tricky topics and how you feel it enhances the story that you are telling?"
McKenna Grace: This is a romance movie, but also this movie is tackling so many insane traumas and massive events. And I think that it just makes it more complicated and beautiful and more human, because life is so messy, and all of these relationships in this film are so messy and so complicated.
So, to me, I guess it makes it, obviously, not all of us can relate to how, like, how big of an event this is, but I think that we can all relate to feeling as messy and complicated as these characters feel in a lot of these scenes and moments and stories that play out... I thought that it was beautiful and beautifully written and told by Josh.
Sam Morelos: I feel like, because of so many specific things that are causing tension. Those are touchstones and touch points for such a big idea, because to touch on the general mother-daughter relationship, what does that look like? What does your first love look like? To then, like, having these big ideas being brought in and then tethered to these really huge betrayals and events like that, kind of gives a real nice structure...
Colleen [Hoover] is just a storyteller at her core. Like the way that she laced these things together, interwove these ideas together, was just so intricate and specific. And I think that the more specific you get, the more relatable things are, weirdly. But yeah, I think that it was such a lovely exploration of things that a lot of people can relate to, with an event that very few people can relate to
Josh Boone: Well, I mean, it's really just what enhanced Colleen [Hoover's] book... We were just really trying to do our very best job, to do a true adaptation of the book, so that fans will be happy. That we'd be happy. I tend not to like fan fiction.
So, I like books that you can actually do the book, for the most part. I'm just always looking for a balance between levity, which is like, I want people to have a good time, I want them to laugh, I want them to cry, but not just in a sad cry. I'd like them to happy cry at the end.
Then, you know, I wanted to make a movie for teenagers, because when I was a kid, five movies came out every weekend. There was a movie for teenagers every other weekend in theaters. There were love stories and family dramas and thrillers and science fiction movies, and it's so rare now that there are movies about people that are in theaters that are released by a major studio.
So, I'm just grateful that people are so obsessed with Colleen Hoover in her books that it gives you sort of a way to get a movie like this into a theater now that hopefully moms and daughters will go see, and will be a little bit of a different thing from kind of the other stuff in the theater, for the most part.
Director Josh Boone also voiced his excitement to be able to realize this story for the big screen:
Boone: I was excited... to find a story that kind of crystallizes that moment in a young person's life where they find out that their parents are fallible and human, and had dreams before they ever existed, and you know, just all those things that I feel like everybody has to deal with at a certain point in life with their parents.
The full interviews can be watched below:
