00:00Coming back was a mistake. I just, I want to meet the human that Scotty and I made.
00:07Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel, Reminders of Him, is hitting the big screen, bringing the
00:11emotional story about grief, forgiveness, and redemption to theaters. The Hollywood Reporter
00:17spoke to Hoover, along with stars Micah Monroe, Tyreek Withers, Rudy Panko, Lauren Graham,
00:23and Bradley Whitford, about bringing the beloved book to life, and why the story's central theme
00:27of second chances resonated so deeply with the cast. The film follows Kenna, a young mother trying
00:32to rebuild her life after serving time in prison and hoping to reconnect with the daughter she's
00:36never been allowed to raise, a journey that forces everyone around her to confront whether forgiveness
00:41is really possible. For Withers, who plays Ledger, the story shifted how he thinks about giving people
00:47another chance. Before this movie, I ran a tight ship. No second chances, none over here. But yeah,
00:53I think this movie has taught me so much about, you know, seeking empathy, being curious about other
00:58people's perspective. And my, my character is the epitome of that. Without him, the story doesn't
01:05really fold out. And yeah, I think we can always go that extra mile to, you know, gain an understanding.
01:12There's three sides to every story, their side, my side, and the truth. So yeah, I think it
01:20furthered my, my love for second chances with respect, because some moments you got to just
01:25cut it off. Sometimes you do, sometimes you do. For Hoover, adapting one of her most beloved novels
01:31meant balancing what readers love about the story while allowing the film to stand on its own.
01:35You go into it hoping that you're giving the readers what they want to see from the book,
01:41but also hoping that you're casting people who can bring those characters to life in the right way.
01:47And I think that's where we got really lucky getting these two because they just did such
01:53a phenomenal job. You said something that I really love. You said the movie's not a copy of the book.
01:58It's a compliment of the book. The emotional weight of the film is something co-stars Monroe
02:03and Withers say they leaned into early on, building trust through rehearsals before filming began.
02:08I think sort of immediately I realized that like, you know, you had my back, you know,
02:16I, yeah, yeah. You're just like, oh, everyone, stay away.
02:20Stay away.
02:20Um, no, but it was like such a safe space to be completely myself, uh, very vulnerable,
02:28like opening my chest up. Um, and it was just like, uh, yeah, but with also through that,
02:34we just like, I don't know. I think we'll be friends for life because we really bombed it.
02:39Yeah.
02:40The story also explores the complicated emotions of the family raising Kenna's daughter,
02:45played by Graham and Whitford, who must grapple with grief while protecting the child they love.
02:49Grace and forgiveness is meaningless if it's easy and it's never going to be easy and it's much easier
02:55to shut down. Um, but the people we've lost would not want us to shut down.
03:02In the end, Hoover hopes audiences walk away from the film holding on to its central message.
03:07I want them to walk away after having, you know, this beautiful escape into hope and forgiveness.
03:13And, um, yeah, just leaving with that feeling of, of hope.
03:17Reminders of him hits theaters on March 13th.
03:20For more on this story, be sure to head over to thehollywoodreporter.com.
03:24This is the Hollywood Reporter News.
