It takes a special kind of movie to open with a dead mom and end with Patrick Ewing. But The Life List, now on Netflix, somehow pulls it off—cramming childhood trauma, New York romance, indie rock needle drops, and a basketball cameo into a warm, charming spiral that never completely dissolves into Hallmark sap. According to its stars, that balance is thanks to director Adam Brooks, who clearly had one very specific vision and one hell of a playlist.
“I’ve so enjoyed it,” said Sofia Carson to kick things off, who plays main character Alex Rose, a woman on a mission to finish the bucket list she made as a child—one assigned to her posthumously by her late mother. It’s a premise begging for emotional manipulation. Instead, it’s a movie that has Sonic Youth t-shirts, Spoon in the soundtrack, and a rollerblading Labrador of a love interest. (We’ll get there.)
“That was all Adam Brooks,” Carson said of the movie’s unexpectedly light tone. “Music was such a huge part of the life and the story and the world of The Life List. He created this playlist almost a year before we started filming.” That playlist included the Ting Tings and New Pornographers—yes, this is a Netflix movie where the characters know good bands.
Brooks also handpicked Alex’s wardrobe. “I didn’t go home with anything,” Carson admitted about her Sonic Youth and Wet Leg shirts. “Isn’t that tragic?” Apparently, the director made off with them. Artistic vision doesn’t come cheap.
Kyle Allen, who plays the guy in the rom-com equation, who we all agree has total Labrador retriever energy. “That’s just me,” he laughed. “When I was a kid, people would say, ‘Kyle, you’re like a dog.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, like a wolf, right?’ And they’d go, ‘No, like a puppy. Like a golden retriever.’” Allen leaned in. Literally. He rollerbladed to his first cast dinner. “It was very cold and very rainy.”
Sebastian De Souza plays Garrett—aka Not The Guy. “Am I the baddie?” He’s not. Just the wrong one. But the Mac the Knife-singing, book-writing De Souza apparently wanted a little more edge.
“He’s quite singular in his approach to life,” he said of Garrett, “and she is not. So, yeah. Maybe there’s something a little dark in there.”
Wait, back up. Book-writing?
Yes, De Souza is also a published novelist. “It’s called Kid: A History of the Future. I'm not plugging it—it came out a long time ago,” he said, before being thoroughly dragged by Carson and Allen. “He’s very talented,” Carson emphasized. For the record, De Souza has not read Moby Dick. But don’t worry—he might join Carson’s kid-lit book club for the abridged version.
Speaking of high-stakes scenes: Patrick Ewing appears in The Life List, and Carson had to shoot a layup with him. She was terrified. “I can’t play sports. The language of basketball is not one that I speak.” She said it took nine tries. “No, but you nailed it,” Allen insisted. “He was so sweet. He was coaching me through it,” she added. “Like, ‘Okay, okay kid, now try this.’”
They kept the one she made.
As with any rom-com worth its rental fee, The Life List ends with love. But not in the manic, “we just met and now we’re kissing in the rain” kind of way. “They were friends. And they still are,” Carson said. “They’re best friends that fell in love.”
It’s the kind of sentiment that almost makes you forget the movie starts with a funeral. Almost.
Watch the full interview above and then check out the trailer below.
