Sophia Bush is opening up about playing Milly, the free-spirited mother at the center of Summer’s Last Resort, ahead of the film’s premiere on Tubi.
In the comedy, Bush stars opposite Violet McGraw and Jerry O’Connell in a story about a tightly wound teen whose vacation spirals after she’s stuck with her mom’s new boyfriend, who also happens to be her vice principal. Bush plays Milly, described as a maternal storm of love and chaos who might forget it’s picture day but remembers all the magical moments.
Sophia Bush on playing an imperfect mom
Bush said one of her favorite parts of the project was getting to play a mother who doesn’t have everything figured out.
“That’s one of the things I think I actually enjoyed most,” she said in an exclusive interview with BLKCinema.com along with McGraw and O’Connell. “The first read of the script, I was just obsessed with the world, the family vacation of it all, the sort of world of Chevy Chase nodding to those traditions. But the second read of the script, one of the things I appreciated for myself was getting to play this mom who’s a great mom, but definitely doesn’t have it all figured out and who’s confident enough to be vulnerable with her kids and say that…to tell them about what she’s gotten right and what she definitely has not.”
She added that the character pushes back on the pressure placed on mothers to have everything under control.
“I think it helps take away some of the crazy pressure we put on moms,” Bush said. “I looked to some of my own girlfriends that are my age who had kids at 20, whose kids are graduating from high school now, and the rest of us with toddlers are like, ‘What do you mean you have a whole ass college student?’ It really is, I think, an amazing dynamic because they’re a parent and child, but also they’re friends.”
Building the mother-daughter dynamic on screen
Bush said the on-screen chemistry was shaped by getting to know Violet McGraw off camera as well.
“What was really fun for me on the movie, aside from just our chemistry as a mother and daughter character, was becoming your friend and also becoming your mom’s friend,” Bush said, addressing McGraw directly. “Existing in my own space between the two of you, I was like, ‘Oh, this is Millie. She’s kind of a mom, but she’s kind of also her friend.’ I think it really informed getting to spend so much time with you guys as your actual family — it informed so much of my experience creating our family on screen.”
When does ‘Summer’s Last Resort’ premiere?
Summer’s Last Resort premieres July 3 on Tubi. Watch the full interview below:
Leave a Reply