Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Lucy Hale Almost Didn't Take Role of Aria on 'Pretty Little Liars'

Can you imagine anyone other than actress Lucy Hale playing Aria Montgomery from Pretty Little Liars? Lucy Hale was the perfect Aria, but she almost turned the role down. Lucy Hale had another pilot offer, but she went with her gut. Find out what Lucy Hale said about the creative appeal of Pretty Little Liars and why she chose to take the role of Aria Montgomery.

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Before Pretty Little Liars, Lucy Hale starred in CW's show Privileged. Lucy Hale played Rose Baker and Ashley Newbrough played her twin Sage Baker. The wealthy Baker twins were tutored by Megan Smith (played by JoAnna Garcia). The show was actually based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls by author Zoey Dean. Unfortunately, the CW canceled the show after one season.

Lucy Hale was in demand after Privileged ended. Besides Pretty Little Liars, Lucy was also offered a different pilot.

"I was offered another pilot, but my gut kept telling me to go towards Pretty Little Liars. There was just something about that name that kept replaying in my head and I knew that that was probably the right decision to make," Lucy Hale told Cosmopolitan.

"The script for PLL intrigued me. I loved the characters," she explained.

It was a hard decision to make, since the other pilot was with a bigger studio. It also had bigger stars and more well-known producers. On paper, it seemed like a really good decision to do that other project. For a while, she genuinely didn't know which show to pick. Ultimately, Lucy Hale wasn't swayed by the money or big names.

"It's very easy to get distracted by who else is involved, excited about the glitz and glam of something, or how much you're getting paid. My gut just kept telling me to do Pretty Little Liars. But I think the reason I made the choice for PLL was that creatively it really excited me."

It was a gamble for Lucy Hale to choose PLL. It was just a pilot and she didn't know if it would be successful. Not all pilots are picked up to series. "At the time, the smarter decision might have been to take this other project with another network. I went with my gut instinct."

It turned out that she made a good choice. Pretty Little Liars successfully aired on Freeform for seven season. "Thank god  I took that job because it changed my life! ... Pretty Little Liars was so universally successful."

Lucy Hale doesn’t know if the other television show ended up being made. "The other project that I didn't take, nothing every happened with it. I don’t even know if it got made, to be honest."

A post shared by Lucy Hale (@lucyhale) on

Lucy Hale's advice is to trust your instincts. It's good to get advice from others, but what matters most is listening to yourself.

"You can be advised by really great people, family, friends, agents, managers, publicists, hairstylists, whatever it is. People can advise you and people can help you to make a decision, but at the end of the day you're left with yourself. And I think that inner voice that you have is the strongest and most important."

Lucy continued, "Always follow what keeps you excited and keeps you on your toes. You're not always gonna make the right decisions, but trust yourself. Trust that instinct."


Great advice from Lucy Hale! So glad she listened to her gut and chose to portray Aria Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars. She was perfect for the role. Would love to know what pilot Lucy Hale turned down, but she's not going to reveal that information. She doesn't want to offend anyone.

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