Interview: Mollee Gray talks Lifetime’s A Night To Regret and thriller The Reliant

In a recent interview with Mollee Gray, we discussed the young actress’ upcoming roles in the films, A Night To Regret, The Favorite, and The Reliant.

Disney Alum’ Mollee Gray is best known for her roles in The High School Musical and Teen Beach movies but she’s quickly making a name for herself outside of the Disney arena. Gray has already taken on roles in No Strings Attached and Lifetime’s Double Daddy but she’s not stopping there. She’ll make her next appearance in A Night To Regret, followed by her featured role in the action-packed thriller, The Reliant later this year.

When we sat down to discuss these projects with Gray, the first topic on the agenda was A Night To Regret. In that movie, she’ll be playing Chelsea Bilson, a young woman who is the target of a mysterious stalker. A mishap with a friend’s webcam will put Chelsea in his view and the obsession will grow from there. But before Chelsea becomes the object of Jake’s obsession, she’ll reconnect with her childhood friend, Milla.

How will Chelsea Bilson (Mollee Gray) escape from her stalker’s grasp?

According to Gray, her character, Chelsea, reunites with Milla after a long break from one another. They were once the closest of friends but with Chelsea’s life headed in a different direction than Milla’s, they went their separate ways. Gray goes on to explain that as kids, Chelsea was always getting in trouble with Milla but because she wanted something else from her life, Chelsea stopped hanging out with her altogether.

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In the present day, Chelsea runs into Milla again and the two find some common ground. They manage to reconnect but it’s due to this reunion that Chelsea finds herself in more trouble again.

Apparently, Chelsea will venture to Milla’s house for a visit and find a webcam installed in the latter’s room. When Chelsea fiddles with the device, it leads Jake (Kevin McNamara) right to her. Gray doesn’t give too many specifics on the scene, but her comments seem to imply that lucJake is the aforementioned stalker.

It’s unclear how the two come into contact with each other, though it seems as if Chelsea invites him in. Gray doesn’t say so herself but the logical explanation is that Chelsea introduces herself, not knowing she’s speaking to a sociopath.

In any case, Chelsea’s interactions with the stalker don’t bode well for her, or her mother. The two will have to fight for their lives if they want to be free and it won’t be an easy task. Luckily, Gray considers Chelsea to be the survivor-type so we should count on her successfully eluding the stalker.

Mollee Gray embraces the action in The Reliant

For the next portion of our interview, we asked Gray about her role in The Reliant wherein she’ll play Sophie, a 19-year-old badass who has to care for her brothers and sisters in the woods when society collapses. Gray will star in the film, showing off a side of her acting prowess not seen before.

While Gray has plenty of acting credits to her name, she doesn’t hold much in terms of action. The Reliant, however, is heavy in action and Gray will show off her skills here. The good news is that Gray was confident and ready for anything the director threw at her.

When we asked Gray to elaborate on her prep for the role, she stated that her prior experience with gymnastics and dance helped a lot with the active portions of shooting which made it easy. However, Gray went on to explain that she did require training for the gun-handling portion being that it’s a skill her character has to utilize in the film.

Mollee Gray will also be featured in The Favorite (2018)

To close out our interview with Mollee Gray, we asked her for a little background on the character she’ll play in The Favorite (2018). Gray answered by confirming that she’ll be portraying the fictional Ashley Walters.

While The Favorite is inspired by the story of Luke Benjamin Bernard’s life, some of the characters in the film were made for it. Gray’s character, specifically, is one of those originals. Ashley Walters is reportedly a gymnast who becomes romantically involved with one of the Bernard brothers. It’s unclear which one, though it seems likely that Benjamin will be the one — the film centers around him after all. Of course, we should keep our minds open to Ashley Walters (Gray) having a more substantial role than just being a significant other to Benjamin.

Check out the fully transcribed version of our interview with Mollee Gray below:

Hidden Remote: Mollee, for A Night To Regret, you’re playing Chelsea Bilson. In the movie, your character reportedly reconnects with her childhood best friend, Milla. What can you tell us about Chelsea’s friendship with Milla?

Mollee Gray:  Chelsea and Milla were great friends when they were younger, hanging out all the time! Often times, Chelsea found herself getting into trouble while hanging with Milla, which caused them to separate and not stay close throughout the years.

HR: Follow-up question. If you can answer this, what made Milla estranged? The synopsis for A Night To Regret indicates that she’s estranged. What separated her from Chelsea?

Gray: Milla had a hard upbringing with distant parents and would act out for attention. Because there was no one there to really show her love and guidance. I think Milla naturally just looks out for herself any way that she can.

Chelsea stopped hanging out with Milla because she didn’t want to get in trouble. She had dreams for a bright future and knew making poor decisions or hanging with the wrong people wouldn’t get her there! Chelsea thought that Milla had moved since she hadn’t seen her in so long, only to find out she is living a whole different lifestyle.

HR:  Is there any bad blood between them?

Gray: Absolutely not! I think there are hesitations on the friendship coming from Chelsea but there is no animosity, at first.

HR:  Can you tease how Chelsea will react to Milla installing a secret webcam in her room?

Gray: Well actually, Milla didn’t install a webcam in Chelsea’s room. Chelsea went to Milla’s house, where she found out about the webcam and I will say Chelsea did not see what was coming. If she had more control of her mind at the moment, she definitely wouldn’t have made that decision.

HR: What can you tell us about the mysterious watcher that becomes obsessed with Chelsea?

Gray: Jake is your handsome and sweet on the outside, and absolutely crazy on the inside guy! He is very good at living his double life.

HR: As far as your decision to take on the role of Chelsea Bilson goes, what drew you to the part?

Gray: When I started reading the script, it grabbed my attention the first page. That’s how I knew it was going to be a great read! I chose to take on the role because I admire Chelsea. She is strong, intelligent, and a survivor. Who wouldn’t want to play such a powerful role!?

HR: Apart from A Night To Regret, you’re also featured in a new movie called The Reliant. What, if anything, can you tell us about your role as Sophie in the film?

Gray: I am so excited for everyone to see The Reliant! One of my favorite characters I’ve played. Sophie is a faith-driven, proud, realist who cares so deeply for her family and the word of God. When the dollar crashes and riots begin, she is forced to pack up her siblings and survive in the woods, with countless obstacles being thrown at her.

HR: Was the experience shooting for The Reliant any different from your past roles? What I mean is that there’s seems to be a fair amount of action in The Reliant and you haven’t taken on too many roles with an action backdrop. Did you do anything different to prepare for this role? And was any training required of you to be in the action portion?

Gray: Yes, for sure! We filmed pretty much everything outside in the woods, and the film is packed with action. Fight scenes, stunts, and so much athleticism! I have a background in dance and gymnastics so I was so ready to tackle anything they threw at me. I did have to do some training with guns, learning how to load a mag, proper ways to hold the gun and what type of recoil different gun types had.

HR: For our final question. In The Favorite, you’re playing Ashley Walters, a fictional character in a story that’s based on Luke Bernard’s real life. How did you react to the role?

Gray: When I read the story of Luke’s life and then the script, I thought to myself “wow, this is a real-life miracle” and I wanted to be a part of such an inspirational story. When I accepted the role, Luke called me and we sat on the phone for so long just talking about his life, story, and what it meant to him, I honestly couldn’t believe we were having such an in-depth conversation and he was in such a horrifying accident. The Favorite is so beautiful and I needed to make sure I gave Luke justice.

Next: Interview with Charmaine Bingwa on Little Sista web-series

A Night To Regret premieres on Lifetime on June 24, 2018. The Reliant’s release date is TBA. The Favorite is also TBA.