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Lucy Hale stars in the Lifetime Television movie Sorority Wars. Now let's break that down: Lucy Hale is a talented and pretty fast-rising star who, at 20, has already guest starred on every tween-friendly show from Drake & Josh to The O.C. to Wizards of Waverly Place, and been a regular on both Bionic Woman and Privileged. Sorority Wars is a comedy – set to air October 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT -- that stars Hale as Katie Snow, a college freshman who starts the titular war when she turns her nose up at her mother's (Courtney Thorne-Smith) old sorority, Delta. A college-themed comedy on Lifetime? Really? Hale, during a breezy interview, explained it all to ScreenStar.com.
A lot of people think of Lifetime as the home of serious, mature dramas that makes them bawl. What was your initial reaction when you heard that Sorority Wars was for Lifetime?
My initial reaction was "no thanks," but I read the script and I gave it a chance. It was really funny and it was well written. I grew up with Lifetime movies. I love them. I love melodramatic stuff. But this movie is geared toward teenagers, so I guess they're trying to make more movies for that age group. It was fun and lighthearted and I worked with some great people. It was actually one of the best experiences I've had so far.
You're co-starring with a couple of cool actresses who've been at this a long time. How did you enjoy working with Courtney Thorne-Smith and Faith Ford (who plays Thorne-Smith's best friend and co-founder of the Delta sorority)?
They were fantastic. I think I was the first person attached to this project, and when I found out that Courtney was going to play my mom I was over the moon, and my mom was so excited, too. She's the sweetest, tiniest, nicest person I've ever met. Faith is the complete opposite. She's amazingly sweet as well, but she’s a character. She's out there and she's hilarious. They were completely different, but so welcoming to me. It was great to work with people who've been doing this for a lot longer than I have.
You have actually been in the business for a while now. You're a young veteran. We've all seen Hollywood devour and spit out way too many young actors. How do you not let that happen to you?
As a person, in terms of not getting sucked into the Hollywood lifestyle, it's all about who you surround yourself with. I was raised pretty well and I have amazing parents. My mom moved out here with me and got me settled in and we built a foundation out here in L.A. She still checks in. I think it's about finding other things that you love besides acting. I don't know, but I think if my whole life was acting and auditions and rejection I'd go a little crazy. So I find other things that I love to do. It's finding ways of escaping and finding a good balance between a real life and the job.
You just did an episode of Ruby & the Rockits and you're playing a 15-year-old runaway mother in an upcoming episode of Private Practice. You've also wrapped a horror film called Deep Cove. What's the set-up of that?
It's a horror movie about these five teenagers who go away to this island. People start dying and we don't know why, and then there's a big turn of events and we find out one of our friends has something to do with it and they're getting revenge on us. It's not getting released in theaters. I haven't seen it, but I want to say it's airing on TV, where you can pay to see it (on demand). Then it will be released on DVD later this fall.
And are you a scream queen in that?
I am. I got to do the whole screaming and being scared thing, and it was just as much fun as I thought it would be.
