Melissa Joan Hart On A Return To Sabrina The Teenage Witch Or Clarissa Explains It All - Exclusive
Melissa Joan Hart has been acting since she was 4 years old, according to IMDb, but some may not realize she's also a director. This holiday season she's back directing Lifetime's "Santa Bootcamp," a Christmas rom-com starring "The Walking Dead" star Emily Kinney and "West Side Story" icon Rita Moreno.
The movie follows Emily (Kinney), a woman hired to plan the most impressive holiday gala, featuring the perfect Santa Claus. In search of her St. Nick, Emily attends a Santa Bootcamp, run by the ever-mysterious Belle (Moreno). There, Emily meets a whole host of interesting characters training to become Santa, including a very dashing chef. But will she find the perfect Santa Claus in time for her gala?
In an exclusive interview with the list, Hart opens up about Lifetime's "Santa Bootcamp," and reveals whether she'd ever return to her iconic roles in "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" or "Clarissa Explains It All."
Rebooting Sabrina or Clarissa
Having acted for most of her life, Melissa Joan Hart has starred in a plethora of popular TV series, including "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Clarissa Explains It All." Hart is now extremely busy balancing her directing career alongside acting and her family life. As for whether she'd ever consider a return to either of the popular characters she played when she was younger, Hart tells The List, "We tried. 'Sabrina,' that ship might have sailed, but 'Clarissa,' we tried to bring it back and there was an upheaval at Nickelodeon and it didn't come to fruition."
While the "Clarissa" reboot didn't end up happening, Hart has a lot of plans for the future. "I like moving forward and I'm loving my directing career, but I am still auditioning and developing. I might be acting in a movie next year. I'll definitely be acting in a Lifetime Christmas movie, but I might be in an actual movie next year, [and] I haven't done one of those in a while." While fans would love to see Hart reprise some of her most famous characters, the director told The List she is very happy with where her career is headed right now.
Revisiting popular shows 'in the right way'
Directing holiday movies for Lifetime is just one of the things keeping Melissa Joan Hart busy these days. "I like to mix things up, but I don't necessarily want to go back to doing something I did before," she says. As for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Clarissa Explains It All," Hart explains, "I love those characters dearly, but I need to let them lie, in a way."
Hart also points out that rebooting any show has its challenges, as she tells The List, "It's red tape and the bureaucracy of the industry and trying to figure out who owns what and who's going to pay for it and where are we going to put it and who wants it and what's the audience."
While "Sabrina" and "Clarissa" reboots might not be on the cards right now, Hart teases that there's one way she'd consider returning to one of her classic characters. "I will say if Steven Spielberg calls and says he wants me to redo 'Sabrina,' maybe I'll do it," she says.
Noting that it's "hard to go back to things," Hart tells The List, "If you do it in the right way, it's brilliant. If you do it in the wrong way, it's trash." Fans will most definitely be holding out hope that either "Clarissa" or "Sabrina" gets the reboot treatment with Hart at the helm one day in the future.
Watch "Santa Bootcamp" on Lifetime.