Mothers do know better sometimes. This is true in real life as well as for Sofia Carson’s character in the upcoming movie The Life List.
Carson (Carry-On, My Oxford Year) was in a meeting shortly after Purple Hearts was released in 2022 when he got an email with the subject line “The Life List.” Although she didn’t have time to read the script at the time, the actress and producer were aware that it was one. “Stop whatever you’re doing and read this script,” her mother texted her a few minutes later. She’s very happy that she did.
Carson quickly threw herself into the role of Alex Rose on The Life List, a young lady who is stuck in a rut and doesn’t know how to get free. Her mother, Elizabeth, played by Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights, Zero Day), is the only person who can inspire her to become the person she was destined to be. She sends her daughter on a posthumous journey to finish the bucket list Alex made when she was 13 years old, promising her a pre-recorded DVD for each item she crosses off. Although Alex finds the task intimidating, her mother is confident that it will help her rediscover herself.
Producer Liza Chasin (The Lost City, Stillwater) recalled, “Sofia chased the movie.” “She became passionate about the script as soon as she read it.” After three pages, Carson texted her managers to ask them to immediately arrange a meeting with writer and director Adam Brooks (Definitely, Maybe; Imposters). The following morning, they got together. According to Carson, “it was like two old souls who knew each other in a previous life melting into each other.”
Carson wrote down some things she wanted to discuss with Brooks as she was getting ready for their meeting. “Alex Rose is all of us,” I said. At some point in our lives, I believe we have all been asleep—alive, but not living. Alex brings us back to life. She leads us on the path of life itself, which includes hurting, losing, laughing, crying, forgiving, healing, smiling, and falling in love again.
Carson hoped that she had influenced the director by leaving that phone call. She was able to cross “getting cast as Alex” off her bucket list the next morning. Nearly three years have passed since then.
Connecting to Alex
Brooks has never met Carson until The Life List. He remarked, “I saw Purple Hearts and thought her performance was fantastic.” However, Carson is not at all like Alex Rose, whose life is in disarray. She connected with something fundamental to the character. It was about family and the relationship [between] a mother and her daughter. For her, it was very personal.
After their initial encounter, producer Chasin was so impressed by Carson’s calm and maturity that she questioned whether she could portray someone like Alex, who is so lost. “She is shattered. She has untidy hair. Half the time, she doesn’t wear the appropriate makeup,” Chasin remarked. “It’s likely that she avoids wearing high heels because she could trip.” However, Carson was eager for the chance to make her a reality. “And man, man, man.” That girl does the labor, after all.
Carson acknowledges that Alex is very different from the person you would expect “Sofia Carson” to be. She remarked, “And yet we were so deeply connected.” The feeling that we have all been Alex Rose at some moment was what most captivated her as she read the script. According to Carson, “I, myself, felt that I had once been a little lost in my life.” I truly felt that I could be her and that it would be an immense honor to do so after discovering her inside my heart. that I would simply treasure her and do everything in my power to keep her safe.
Mother-Daughter Bonding with Connie Britton
Carson acknowledges that Alex is very different from the person you would expect “Sofia Carson” to be. She remarked, “And yet we were so deeply connected.” The feeling that we have all been Alex Rose at some moment was what most captivated her as she read the script. According to Carson, “I, myself, felt that I had once been a little lost in my life.” I truly felt that I could be her and that it would be an immense honor to do so after discovering her inside my heart. that I would simply treasure her and do everything in my power to keep her safe.
Despite the limited number of scenes they shared, Brooks observed Britton and Carson settle into a cadence with ease and speed. “Watching it happen was heartwarming. The director remarked, “The intimacy of it.” “And for some reason, they immediately established that mother-daughter bond, which is something you’re envious of if you don’t have it with one of your own parents.” The fact that “she was just so available and passionate about the project and wanted to have that connection between us, and I just love that” was something Britton saw as a credit to Carson. “She’s a really openhearted actress as well as a really openhearted person.”
Carson is appreciative of Brooks’ consideration when he filmed the scene where Alex views the first DVD her mother left her. When filming a scene where an actor is on the phone or on camera, they frequently need to pretend to be on set even though they aren’t. Thus, Carson was unaware that Britton would be visible on her screen. “It was really lovely and emotional to see Elizabeth Rose talking to [Alex] for the first time since she lost her mother, and a lot of what you see in the scene was my genuine and honest reaction,” Carson remarked.
Alex Rose awakens us all to life, on different levels, however we need to be awoken.
Comparing Herself to Alex
The core of Alex’s identity in The Life List is her love of teaching. Carson clarified, “That’s why it killed her so much and hurt her so much when she failed.” That mindset is similar to Carson’s attitude to her work. “My work and my love and passion for music, movies, and art are so much more than just what I do. “That’s who I am,” Carson remarked.The core of Alex’s identity in The Life List is her love of teaching. Carson clarified, “That’s why it killed her so much and hurt her so much when she failed.” That mindset is similar to Carson’s attitude to her work. “My work and my love and passion for music, movies, and art are so much more than just what I do. “That’s who I am,” Carson remarked.
That’s the reason it’s all so frightening. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear,” my mother usually says. And that struck a chord with Alex’s current situation. We all need to be awakened, but I believe Alex Rose awakens us to life on various levels.
Carson also accepted Alex’s capacity to let go of authority and be a “beautiful mess.” “I overprepared for this role, so I decided going into it that I was going to let go of any other way that I had ever prepared for a role before,” Carson stated. Both of them sobbed when she told Brooks about her strategy, saying, “I just kind of want to be her.” “I believe that’s the ideal approach,” he remarked. For me, that surrender was quite healing.
Finding the Right Chemistry
No one on The Life List is a direct enemy in Alex’s quest to find herself, not even her romantic suitors or her older brothers (Fredico Rodriguez and Dario Ladani Sanchez). Brooks stated, “It was important that everyone had their flaws, but I didn’t want there to be any bad guys.” It was crucial to establish a solid foundation for Alex’s relationships with her brothers, parents, and several boyfriends. Because everyone is so human, I think the film works.
When Carson’s character and Garrett (Sebastian de Souza) cross paths on a train, they fall in love right away. However, it turns out that he is simply not her type. Adam greatly humanizes everyone. In a sense, there is never a villain, Carson remarked. We also found Sebastian’s character to be really significant because, often, in these kinds of movies, there is always one relationship that is clearly superior to the other. … It is possible that you will see Alex and Garrett together at some time in the movie.
To Alex’s astonishment, however, Bradley Ackerman (Kyle Allen), the Rose family’s young lawyer, turns out to be a dependable confidant. He even turns out to be the man who can answer all four of Elizabeth’s true-love test questions; in one of her DVDs, Elizabeth acknowledges that it was difficult for her to find someone who could do that. Because Alex and Brad’s relationship is the type of ridiculous friendship that develops into love, Carson remarked, “Kyle and I kind of immediately had this goofy chemistry, which worked well.” “They do begin as friends and then [become] best friends, so it’s a beautiful kind of love.”
Embodying The Life List
According to Carson, creating The Life List was one of her most rewarding life experiences, she told Netflix. “I will always feel privileged and appreciative that Adam and Liza thought of me as their Alex Rose. And it was a pleasure to be led by Adam. Observing us at work was like witnessing a ballet, according to my mother. It was so lovely that it seemed as though we were dancing together every minute of the day.
The Life List is now available solely on Netflix.
