Kevin Mazur/WireImageThe big-screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey could have been Pretty different, if things had gone a certain way.
It turns out that Lucy Hale was one of the many actresses who read for the part of Anastasia Steele, the female lead role that, with much hullabaloo, ultimately went to Dakota Johnson.
So, uh, how was that for the Pretty Little Liars star?
"Awkward," Hale told MTV News about auditioning for the steamy romantic drama, which wrapped filming in February and is due in theaters Feb. 13, 2015.
"It actually was just me," Hale recalled, noting that she didn't have to audition in front of any potential Christian Greys.
"It was a two-page monologue of exactly what you would think it would be. Very uncomfortable, but it was sort of one of those things where you just had to go for it or you're just gonna look lame—hopefully, I didn't look lame."
Surely she looked great, but if she felt weird...
Probably best that things worked out as they did.
It was certainly "unlike any audition I have ever done before in my life," she added. "Let's just say I don't want my grandmother watching that audition tape!"
Asked if she was particularly keen on being a part of the Fifty Shades phenomenon, the 25-year-old Hale said, "I think any girl in my demographic would have loved to be a part of it. Mainly, I was just interested in doing something risky and doing something a little different than my character on PLL, so it took me out of my comfort zone."
Instead, Hale's change of pace came in musical form, her debut album, Road Between, having dropped earlier this month.
"Up until this point, I've been focusing on the acting," she told Billboard in March. "Now, it's at the point where we're juggling both. I knew what I was signing up for when I decided to do both. I knew it was going to be a lot of long hours, and I knew I was going to be tired, but I had a gut feeling that right now was the right time to do it."
"I just want people to see a different side of me," Hale said. "With the music, I think they will get a clearer understanding of who I am, and will spread the word about what I'm doing."
And that different side, as of now, remains fully clothed.