In the new Amazon Freevee romantic comedy “Love by Chance,” Alexa from Brenda Song and Jason from Aaron O’Connell vie for a promotion at their advertising firm, falling in love with each other via text messages without knowing who is on the other end of the line. The film directed by Peter Sullivan explores unconventional relationships born from one text to the wrong number.
Song’s acting career blossomed thanks to her appearances on the Disney Channel as London Tipton in the films “The Life of Zack and Cody” and “Life on Deck”. She has also starred in films such as “The Social Network” and “Secret Obsession”, as well as in the TV series “Doll Face”. O’Connell, a veteran of many Hallmark Christmas movies, counts other roles in the series The haves and have-nots and in the 2018 film “Black Water”. The film “Love by Chance” also starred Denise Richards, Maxwell Caulfield, Brooke Newton, Pedro Correa and Gib Gerard.
Song and O’Connell talked to Screen Rant about Alexa and Jason’s unlikely romance and how the events of “Love by Chance” affect their characters’ decisions.
Warning: this interview contains SPOILERS for Love Accidentally.
Screen Rant: Both Alexa and Jason are simultaneously going through a breakup and trying to get a promotion at work. Brenda, how does texting with this supposed stranger help Alexa cope with everything that’s going on in her life?
Brenda Song: The thing is that something that starts out as a random mess, like the excitement that you wrote someone something very vulnerable that you don’t know, turned into something that made it easier for her to pour out her soul to someone she doesn’t I knew. I find it really interesting when you can let your guard down, and sometimes it’s easier to let your guard down in front of someone who has no idea who you are, who has no idea what your past is. There’s something liberating about it, and I thought it was really, really fun.
Also, it’s juxtaposing with this while arguing with [Jason] at work, wrapping up and sending a message, “I had the worst day because of this person,” and not understanding what they were saying about each other, I thought it was really, really fun and kind of as a response, at least for me, when I started dating someone new and getting these text messages, and your heart just jumps when you get these text messages from them. Then playing this with the fact that you’re arguing with the same person you’re getting these text messages from, I thought it was really fun and I really enjoyed it.
I was surprised at how confident Jason was in telling Alexa that he loved her, only shortly after finding out that she was “her.” Aaron, what does this say about his character and what these correspondences gave him?
Aaron O’Connell: I think his girlfriend threw him somehow high and dry and he didn’t expect it to happen. He has work friends with whom he can open up a bit, but it’s still his buddy. He is uncomfortable opening up completely. So when he started getting these text messages, it was really a way for him to open his heart and try to get some of that healing so he could move on and stop him from focusing so much on the past and really focusing on what the future might be and what he wants.
I think, Jason, he’s so competitive at work. We had all these jokes, all these crazy things going on at work. As Brenda said, we turn around looking for a way out, and it turns out that she is at the other end, without even knowing it. So, watching everything unfold, even though I knew what was going to happen, was so much fun just watching the banter, but also the development of this stranger relationship at the time. It happened at the perfect time for both characters.
Brenda, do you think Alexa made the right decision to leave Perry and stay with Jason at the end? How does she weigh this decision?
Brenda Song: Obviously, of course. First of all, I think her relationship with Perry was more about the relationship she thought she wanted and needed. She was so absorbed in these goals and markers that were in her life that she needed to achieve in order to be happy, to be successful. I don’t think she was really herself in that relationship because she thought that was exactly what she needed to do, and Perry is a great guy, but he’s not the right guy for her, and it took him to tell her that. to realize this.
I think the most interesting thing about the relationship with Jason is that they got to know each other at a level where it wasn’t romantic, where there were no expectations. They always say that when you start dating someone, they show their best side. Jason and Alexa have brought their most vulnerable sides to the fore, so they really need to open up to each other on a different level, which I don’t think Alexa has done before, period— even to her friends.
I think that’s what really mattered.
