Lucy Hale claims to be bad at elevator pitches, but she immediately won us over with this description of her new Amazon Freevee romantic comedy Puppy Love: “Storyline-wise, it’s basically Knocked Up but with dogs.”
Premiering this Friday, Aug. 18, on Amazon’s ad-supported streaming platform, the movie stars Pretty Little Liars vet Hale as the free-spirited Nicole and The Flash alum Grant Gustin as the socially anxious Max. The two connect on a dating app and go on a diasterious date that ends with them parting ways for good — or so they think. Their dogs actually get along all too well, resulting in a surprise pregnancy that forces Nicole and Max to come together as doggie co-parents.
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Puppy Love combines two of Hale’s favorite things — dogs and rom-coms — so “originally, when I read the script, I was like, ‘This is the same premise as Knocked Up but not with humans. This is great,'” the actress tells TVLine, adding that she thinks viewers are “going to be surprised” because, like the aforementioned Katherine Heigl-Seth Rogen movie, Puppy Love is “a little raunchier than people would expect it to be.”
Below, Hale talks about her experience working with Gustin and Fancypants, the dog who plays Nicole’s pup Channing Tatum, and the rom-com she would like to star in.
TVLINE | There’s that infamous saying: You should never work with children and animals, and here you are working with not one dog but two. How was that experience for you?
I’ve worked with children before. I’ve worked with a few animals before, but I’ve never done a film about animals or where there’s more animals than people. Now here is what I’ll say: In general, I tend to like animals a lot more than most people. So I was like, “This is the easiest ‘yes’ ever. I get to do a rom-com with dogs? Yes!'” I’m a dog owner, I rescue dogs… I will say it takes more time, obviously, but these animals are so smart and so well trained that they were better behaved than some actors I’ve worked with before. So my experience was amazing. There should be a whole other show about the dog trainers. They’re incredible, how they interact with the animals is amazing, and I genuinely bonded with the dog who plays my character’s dog in such a special way. So I’m here to tell you that working with animals, at least the ones I worked with, was a very pleasant experience.
TVLINE | Switching to the humans, how would you describe the love story in this movie?
Here’s my elevator pitch: I’m always bad at describing things, but you meet my character Nicole and Grant Gustin’s character Max. They’re in the age of online dating. They’re both looking for love. They go on a date that is disastrous, and they’re like, “Screw you. Never want to see you again.” [They] have nothing in common, they’re polar opposites. But it turns out our dogs had a bit more of a love match than we did, and so we come together to co-parent until Grant’s dog Chloe has puppies. It becomes a story of bonding with these dogs, but also bonding with each other and realizing that Nicole and Max, although they’re polar opposites, they actually bring out the best in each other and they bring a little balance to each other’s lives.
TVLINE | Can you talk a little bit more about Nicole and Max’s personality dynamics and how they mesh or don’t mesh together?
Nicole is a free spirit, a little chaotic, if you will. Her life is just a little messy and rough around the edges. She’s an interior designer, she’s really artistic. She loves to go out and party. I kind of view her as a love avoidant. She’s kind of avoiding all these good things in her life, and she just feels like she’s in a rut and can’t get out of it. When we meet her, that’s where she’s at. And at least how I perceived Grant’s character Max, he’s a little more high strung, very anxious, openly deals with anxiety in the movie and doesn’t want to leave his house, is afraid of having experiences, living his life. So you can imagine both of them under the same household results in some pretty comedic moments and chaos. It’s just like a sweet story of sometimes opposites attract. I think Nicole needs a little more order in her life, and Max needs a little more chaos in his life. So by the end, they kind of meet somewhere in the middle.
TVLINE | Had you and Grant met before this movie? I know you were both on CW shows at one point.
No! We actually thought that was so bizarre that we had never met before because I think I was on two separate CW shows [Katy Keene and Life Sentence] while he was still doing The Flash. But it was our first time meeting each other, first time working with each other. We had a such fun time doing this movie.
TVLINE | Was there anything that you did to kind of build up the chemistry? How did you get the right vibe for the two characters?
It’s so interesting with these movies. Usually, you meet and you don’t have time to get to know someone, and you just immediately go into filming, and that was kind of the situation here. Luckily, he’s a pro. He’s such a good actor. I think our sense of humor in life is the same, but we also work the same way. Like, our professional mindset was the same, and it worked out. I think it translates in the movie, and he’s a great guy. But no, we had no time to sort of get to know each other or hang out or anything. It was just like, “Well, I hope we get along, and I hope that it translates,” and yeah, hopefully, it did.
TVLINE | I know you both can sing. Did you know that he could sing? [Gustin sings in the movie.]
I did know he could sing because the hair and makeup team on the movie was obsessed with Glee. Whatever performance he did on Glee, they were playing it on repeat. And Grant’s an amazing dancer.
TVLINE | Yeah. He tap-danced during an episode of The Flash.
What?!
TVLINE | Yeah. There was a Flash/Supergirl crossover episode, and it was a musical episode.
Oh, The CW loves to do a musical episode. I didn’t know that. He’s talented across the board.
TVLINE | Do you consider yourself a rom-com fan? And is there one in particular that you’re a big fan of?
Yeah, I love romantic comedies. I love all the Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl ones, but I think When Harry Met Sally is probably an all-time favorite or You’ve Got Mail. Sleepless in Seattle, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days… All classics. Especially like When Harry Met Sally, there’s just this nostalgic feel that you don’t always find in movies anymore. There’s something about rom-coms where you know the formula and you know the ending, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a feel-good movie, and I like to feel good, so I like them. And even the people that say they don’t like rom-coms, I actually don’t believe them. They might just like them in secret. We all want to smile and have a happy ending sometimes.
TVLINE | Is there a rom-com, either a movie or maybe a book because I know you did The Hating Game, which I watched, that you would like to be in, like an adaptation or a remake?
I have a few, but there’s one in particular. I don’t want to jinx it… It’s a pretty popular book. I feel like I would be right for it, and I’m not going to say it because…I’m a little superstitious.
TVLINE | Can you say the author?
No.
TVLINE | I read a lot of Romance novels, so I was wondering if maybe I know it.
Maybe next time we talk, maybe I can give you the name. But what’s funny about The Hating Game is I had read that book, and I was like, “Oh, this feels like me,” and then sure enough, that worked out. My mom just got me — I’m not saying that I would be right for it in any way, shape, or form — but Happy Place [by Emily Henry]. That was the latest one I got.
Press PLAY above to watch part of TVLine’s chat with Hale, then hit the comments to let us know if you’ll be checking out Puppy Love.
Note: This interview took place before SAG-AFTRAofficially announced a strikeon July 13.
