Interview With Actress Rebecca Staab, “The Irresistible Blueberry Farm”

By Ruth on October 2, 2016 in Interview, movie, television
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When it comes to certain actors and actresses, if they are featured in a movie or show, I almost don’t care about the title, the network, nor anything else as long as they are appearing in it. And that is exactly how I was introduced to the talented and vivacious Rebecca Staab. Ali Sweeney was tweeting about a new film in which she had been cast with Rebecca, and I decided to follow her although I was completely unfamiliar with her work. Upon closer scrutiny, I realized what an amazing career this woman has had, and I immediately asked her for an interview. Although the woman is considerably occupied, she made some time just this past week to chat extensively with me about the origins of her career as well as her two upcoming films of which she is incredibly proud.

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RH: You are certainly one busy lady.

RS: You know, I’ve kind of always been like that. I like to be industrious. You know, that’s the thing being an actor. When you’re not working, you’re actually working harder. Actually working is easier than not working. When you’re actually on set and have something to do, the hours are long and everything else in your life has to go on the sidelines. So many people are asking me now, “What are you doing now that your projects are done?” They seem to think I’m sitting around all day eating bon bons. But that’s actually when you keep as busy as you can, and I always go through the “I shoulds.” “I should be doing this.” “I should be doing that.” “I’ve got time off. I should be doing…” You know, I always add stuff to the list. I’m never like, “Oh wow, I got to the bottom of my list. Now I have some free time.” I haven’t had free time since I was in kindergarten. {laughs}

I think I somewhat relate to that, at least to a degree. 

Well, that was the interesting thing with meeting Alison Sweeney. I do not know how she does everything that she does. And she does it with such ease. Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anybody so level and comfortable in this uber productive life. It’s like every time I look online, she’s doing something else, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh! I’m lazy!” And she has young kids too! And I’m just like, “Holy crap! She’s a phenomenon!” I love her. When we were shooting, she was extra busy because she was also producing it. And when you’re the lead–she was in practically every single scene–so we didn’t have as much down time together as I would have liked because when she wasn’t on set, she was doing fourteen thousand other things. So I really, really hope I get another chance to work with her. She is just amazing.

alison-sweeney-and-rebecca-staab.jpgI have heard that from everybody who has ever worked with her. 

Until I met her, it wasn’t really like a joke, but it was like, “Oh my gosh, what is she doing now?” Then you meet her, and she is just as grounded as anyone. She just has a way of–I don’t know–marketing things that interest her in real life. She’s been able to harness what interests her and make it interesting to others too. But she’s really cool about everything. I don’t know how she does it. I would be more of a wreck if I was doing what she was doing.

I wanted to thank you. You have been so supportive of all the stuff I’m doing. Every time I turn around, I see you retweeting this or that, and you found me on Facebook. It’s neat when that happens because I’m so used to promoting everybody’s else’s works, and it’s so nice and unexpected when those people–like you–in turn support me. I have several people who do this, but it was like, “Man, I haven’t even interviewed her yet, and she’s doing this!” 

Well, thank you. It’s always nice to have a fuller, rounder, deeper understanding and appreciation. And you know, your work is really good. What I’ve seen–I haven’t even seen that much. But what I have, I was like, “Wow!” So you know, it’s all you.

Well, thanks. And then one of my friends noticed you were doing that, and then she said, “Oh, I’ve got to go follow her.” So you picked up at least one follower because of that. Probably more. My followers often think it’s cool when actors do that as well. {pause} Before I forget, John Tinker sent me a message to give you. He said to be sure to ask you if he were to find a great role for you on Chesapeake Shores, would you be willing to do it?

Oh, absolutely. I actually had auditioned for the show for a love interest for Treat {Williams}. Treat and I are really old, close friends–we go way back. So I had auditioned for his love interest, which was really interesting. She was going to come on the show for episodes seven and eight. Then they decided at the last minute that if he has a love interest, they were going to wait for season two.  So whether it’s that role or anything else…and it could set itself up nice because they have the character living up in Massachusetts, and he’s taking off on the weekends and seeing her, and everybody’s like, “Where ya goin’ Dad?” They could build the history back into the story that they’ve actually had a history. It’s not some new gal. And so she finally decides to come to Chesapeake Shores. And what I thought was interesting is that his daughter has the Bed & Breakfast. So it’s the perfect set-up where my character could come and live. She lives there in town. She’s got a place. So it ties her in, not only with him, but with another family member. I’m really good friends with Treat and with Barbara {Niven}, and it’s so beautiful over there on Vancouver Island. And it’s just a nice show. So I hope they get their second season. And I hope John brings me on, whether it’s in that capacity or something else. It lends itself to give it a little spice. She’s an outsider and she has a history with him. So I think there’s a lot of potential if they go ahead with that. gallery4_web.jpgSo tell John I’m sittin’ here by the phone. {laughs} Get me while I’m available. He’d better hurry up.

As I looked through your credits, you really have had quite a career and some amazing roles. There’s probably a good chance I’ve seen you in things and didn’t realize it. So what is your story about how you became an actress?

My whole story is kind of situation and circumstance. But it kind of rolls a little bit back before that to when I was in college. I grew up in Nebraska, and when I was in college, I did local modeling. I was with an agency there, and at the end of every year, they have a kind of fashion show/competition which you had to be in because you were part of the agency. I never really anticipated a career in modeling because I’m not particularly tall. I’m just under 5’7″–well now, I’m 5’6″–which is still really small for modeling. And to make a hugely long story short–which probably won’t be short–I ended up winning this competition, which qualified me to go to a competition in New York. Which again, I hadn’t planned on doing the competition in New York, but since I won, I got to compete in this series of events in New York, so I went ahead and did that, and I placed really, really highly. And I was thinking afterwards, “Wow, if I had really tried at this, I would have placed higher.” But I wasn’t really that serious about it. I never really thought about it for a profession. I was just like, “Hey, this is a free trip to New York.” I did my best in the competition, but it wasn’t life or death for me. So I ended up placing so high that the agents in New York, Paris and Italy–everybody–was interested. So I got with an agent in New York, who has a sister agency in Paris, and they usually send all their beginning models to Europe because that’s where you work more. So I was like, “Mmm.” I had French in high school and college, and so I felt comfortable with the language as well as Paris geographically because I had studied it. And this was a chance to go to Paris. And I’m like, “I can go for three months, and I’ll just postpone the first semester of school for my last year, and I’ll just go back to school in January. I’m not gonna give up the opportunity to go to Paris.” So it was kind of like, “Why would I say no?”

So I went to Paris just thinking I was going to go to Paris and not be a model. I started working, and I stayed there and worked and worked. And I did a ton of editorial, which is all the stuff in the fashion magazines. A lot of girls just go and end up doing a lot in the catalogues. Catalogues are great ’cause that’s where you make your money and do all of your exotic traveling, but the prestige is really in editorial. I booked so many. I worked at Elle probably three days a week. I had covers and was doing all this stuff, and I was like, “Wow, I never thought I’d be doing this.” But I was reliable and a hard worker, and I was kind of in the right place at the right time. I worked a ton, and after those three months were up, I had planned on coming back to college, but then I had bookings in February and March and April. My agent caught on how to keep me there; they started booking me on location shoots because they knew that what I wanted to do is travel. So every time I was ready to go back home to school, they were like, “Well, you’ve got this booking in Greece. And right after that, you go to St. Mark’s. And then you’re going to the Canary Islands.” And so I went to Paris for three months, and I stayed for three and a half years because I was working all over the world. So that whole modeling thing came out of left field.

While I was in Paris, there was this young girl I knew who had gone to New York, and she started working on Ryan’s Hope back on ABC when that was on in the ’80’s. And it was a kind of a thing in the back of my mind like, “Hah, I could do that.” So literally after three and a half years, I went to New York, and while I was still under contract with my modeling agency, they were like, “Do you act?” And I was like, “Yes.” Because I had been in theater in high school and college. And so they were like, “Go upstairs and talk to Mike because we’re just opening a theatrical division.” He had an audition for me from Loving, which it was ironically just across the hall from Ryan’s Hope. That was my first audition. And so I went on Loving, and that character was only supposed to be on six episodes. She was this little punk rock teenager, and it was right in that Cyndi Lauper/Madonna thing in the ’80’s. So I went on that audition–my very first one–and I got it. And it was like, “Wow!” It was really the perfect first role for me ’cause I didn’t know much, but I could play that character inside out ’cause she was just totally free. She had this attitude, and I would just go in these scenes and I could kind of do whatever I wanted with this character because nobody ever told me that I couldn’t. So it was kind of the best way to start, and sometimes it was funny ’cause I would be in scenes, and I would look at the script for the day and ask, “Why do they have me in this scene? I’m not even in it.” And they were like, “Yeah, you are.” And I’m like, “I’m not even in the script.” And they said, “Well, they know you’re going to go on and do what you do anyway. So yeah, you’re in that scene.” And I was like, “Oh, okay.” And it was funny because that character was only supposed to be on for six episodes, and it just totally caught on.

bntm6xaieaesa2v.jpgI was on there for six months, and I was actually still on that show playing that character when a role came up on Guiding Light, which was the complete antithesis. It was the ex-beauty queen, victim of a stage mother. A perfect, perfect, perfect girl who always did everything right. And they just literally swooped me over ’cause I wasn’t under contract with Loving. So I went over to Guiding Light, and I started there the very next day. And then I was on there for two years, and in the meantime, I was auditioning for some of the biggest stuff in New York at the time because that was during the whole “Brat Pack” era, and I was just on the cusp of that. So yeah, I was really busy in New York at the time and always coming back and forth between LA for auditions. And then I thought, “Well, rather than going back and forth, I think the time has come to move to LA.” I made the move, and LA has been home ever since.

It was always in my head and my heart since I was a child, I wanted to be an actress so bad. My dad did local theater and was always in the choir when we were really little kids. When I was three or four, my dad was in Camelot in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was this little tiny town and this little tiny theater. And I remember this one time, we were going to pick him up from rehearsal, and instead of just waiting in the car, we went into the theater and sat down. That’s why I know I had to be really young ’cause I never had been in a theater. I’ll never forget walking down that aisle and all these empty seats. And they were just rehearsing on stage, but I remember sitting in that chair. And every scent caused sensory overload. That cushion on the chair, the curtains, and the lights, and what was going on onstage. It’s just such a profound memory. But then as a kid, I was really, really, really shy in public. But at home, you couldn’t shut me up. I had to sing. I had to dance. I was constantly putting on shows and costumes and tap dancing down in the basement when I didn’t even know how to tap dance. But I would just make up all my own dances. So I was always that performer. And watching TV. I was always wondering, “How do you get to be on that show, Mom?” But this was in the ’60’s and ’70’s in Nebraska, and what are you going to do? Get up the next day and go to school.

As a dancer, I was the kid who went down to the mall and took tap and ballet, and I was very serious about it. I wanted to be a dancer. And then when I was in high school, I was in choir. And because of being in dance and being able to sing, I would audition for the big musical every year. So I was always in the big musical every year. I was always singing, dancing, and acting all through high school. And in college, I didn’t major in theater, but I always had theater classes. I was always in plays on the side. So it was always there, but it was never a realistic career choice. And then, all of a sudden, it was. It was funny, when I lived in New York and I was on the soaps, my mom would come to visit me, and I would always take her to different plays all the time. I remember specifically when I took her to see Chorus Line on Broadway, she sat there and said, “Becky, this is where I always thought I would see you. This is where I envisioned you would be.” So all these years later, I’m very blessed to still be doing it. There’s a hundred million things I’d go back and do over again, but it’s just amazing. It’s always been great, and it’s always been my job. And maybe that’s why it’s endured all these years because I didn’t really think of it as a job. I really enjoyed doing it. I never imagined doing it as work. It was never about fame. I was always really good with budgeting and investing. I was really good with managing my money so that when you have the downtimes, you still live a really secure life. I think the fact that after all these years I’m still working, it just has a lot to do with all the practicality and discipline of it as well.

fb_img_1475356054913.jpgI love hearing everyone’s story, and in your case, it sounds like it found you. You didn’t go searching for it. And I hear that so much. 

Well, I think the thing is that some people will say, “You’re so lucky.” But I really think the thing is there’s a lot of big decisions and there’s a lot of big risks and bravery because there are a lot of times I had to walk through a lot of doors where it’s completely unknown on the other side. And I think the very, very first opportunity when I was in New York and had the chance to go to Paris and model, I was sitting there looking up at that door, and you go, “Here’s a door. I can go through it. I don’t know the first thing about what it takes to go through that or what it’s going to be like on the other side, but I know what I have to come back to.” And I think that’s where I was fortunate because I had a really stable life and a stable family and a stable education. So I felt like taking a step into something new would be okay ’cause I could always come back. I wasn’t going to lose anything. But I think that’s the biggest difference. A lot of people will not go through that door.  They won’t. They get scared. ” I wanna go back to school.” “What about my boyfriend?” “My mom and dad need me.” “Well, I’m just gonna finish this.” “I’ll go next year.” And people have a lot of excuses and a lot of reasons to not just step blindly and take that risk. And I did it over and over and over again. Things don’t just happen like you wake up in the morning and they’re in your lap. I had to go. I went to Europe. I went to New York, and I started all over again. Then I went to LA, and I started all over again. And even the difference from going from modeling to acting. And it was like, “Well, I’ll take that step.”

fb_img_1475356150773.jpgAnd even now as recently as February this year for as old as I am and as long as my career has been, I left. I had to leave my home, leave my husband, leave my dogs, leave my security, leave my very happy life. I was really happy at home, but I knew there was so much more work up here in Vancouver. There’s more I need to do. But I had to get in my car, drive twenty hours, and come up here and find an apartment and start going on auditions with casting directors I didn’t know. And it’s constant. I did it all over the world, and it’s funny, even now, I really had to do this again for this chapter. And I think that is one of the biggest keys that when those doors are there, you’ve got to walk through them. If you don’t walk through them and your life continues, pretty soon, you’ll forget that there ever even was a door there. Like if I never stepped through that first door and I stayed in Nebraska and finished that last year of college, I probably would have married my college boyfriend. And I know I would be really, really happy now there in that life, and it would be a completely different life. And I never in that life would dream that this life was ever possible. But because I made that one choice one time–and the other thing too is sticking with it and committing to it.

I was talking with the director of this movie I just finished, Living Like Line, and he was talking about how people will come to LA, New York, Vancouver, wherever they’re gonna start their acting career, and they’ll be like, “Well, I’m gonna give it a year.” He said it always baffles him when people say that because it’s like, “You must not obviously really want this.”  First of all, it’s gonna take a lot longer than a year. It’s just something you have to get in and be in and stay in and just commit yourself. So when people go, “I’m gonna come out to LA and try it out for six months,” I’m like, “You know what? Don’t waste your time or money because nothin’s gonna happen in six months.” It’s really a lifetime of constant decisions and commitment to really keep it going.

fb_img_1475356014939.jpgI think it’s admirable in your position at this point in your life and career that you took this risk and made this move. I don’t think a lot of people would have. They would have stayed in their happy life. 

Yes, I’m really lucky that my husband is so supportive. That’s huge. We’re used to this ’cause we kind of used to do this the opposite way. I would stay home, and he would come up here for three, four, five months a year and work on a bunch of stuff. Thankfully, we had that time early in our relationship that we were used to this when he was in Vancouver. We were used to this being together, but being apart. And it’s a real testimony to the stability of our relationship that you can have a life together and individual lives and that it makes it all stronger in the long-run. So since we had done this before, it made this flip a little bit easier in one way. But on the other hand, it’s funny. He works so hard on his show and the time commitment it takes every day, day in and day out. It’s one of the hardest jobs an actor can have. The sheer volume of work on soap operas, most actors cannot handle. So he’s got a phenomenal amount of work, but everything about our home life that I did full-time pretty much dropped in his lap too which is the house and the yard and the dogs. And we’re really active in dog rescue. And so he had a gigantic plate to deal with now, and he was just like, “That’s okay. You go. You need this. This is your time for your career. Just go. I’ll take care of this.” And without him doing that, I never could have come up here to do this. A lot of mates, whether it’s the husband or the wife, they flip and take turns, and that’s a really important component in this.

fb_img_1475355983713.jpgI have found that the most–I wouldn’t say successful as far as some people might see success–but the ones who are happiest even in this career of acting have a supportive husband or wife or boyfriend/girlfriend–however it may be. They have someone in their lives who is committed to supporting them. The ones who are not as happy that I’ve talked to usually don’t have that. They might have someone in their lives, but they’re not always that supportive. Then it’s really a struggle. 

Right, they may have a really great career, but they don’t have any home life. I’m really blessed. He’s rare. He’s a keeper. He’s a good one.

With The Irresistible Blueberry Farm, is this your first Hallmark film?

It is. I’ve been dying to be in the Hallmark family ’cause they do so much programming. and it’s just so nice. So I’m very, very happy that they trusted me with this, and I’m very proud to be in my first Hallmark film.

fb_img_1475356067285.jpgYou talked about Ali Sweeney. Also Shirley Jones was in this. Was that your first time to work with her?

Yes, but unfortunately, I don’t have any scenes with her. It was great that she was in the film. Shirley Jones plays my mom–it’s incredible. So no, we don’t have any scenes together. Growing up, it was her and Julie Andrews when I was little–oh my gosh! Oklahoma! and Carousel–that was the Shirley Jones I really loved, the musical theater Shirley Jones. Of course, Partridge Family, but it was those characters. When I sat down and talked to her, it was like, “Oh my gosh!” I wish that I had had the chance to work with her, but at least I got to meet with her and talk with her. We would talk in the make-up trailer and go on and on and on. She’s just an icon.

Yes, and I’m with you as far as the musicals go. I think the first thing I saw her in was  Music Man. Then I saw Oklahoma! later. So then it was many years later when I heard about and watched Partridge Family. I had missed that show ’cause I grew up on all the musicals since I was a music person. {pause} Well, maybe they’ll bring Shirley Jones back for a film, and you can be with her in another film.

I hope so. And that’s the great thing about Hallmark. They have really great casts. They’re getting a lot of really talented actors, and so I can only hope.

ctnkuwawcaaipmmI know a lot of people were excited about Shirley Jones being in the cast, but they really have quite a cast in general for this film.

Yeah, Marc Blucas who plays Ali’s love interest. He’s incredible. We sat in the first table reading, and five minutes into it, I was looking at him like, “I love you!” I think this film is going to be really wonderful because he is so dreamy, but he is such a good actor and so smart. And I was just so impressed at that very first read-through. Even the way he and Ali were reconstructing scenes and the confidence and commitment to the material in the situation to make this story really real, good and poignant. There’s a lot of lazy actors out there who just say, “Well, that’s what it says on the page.” And Marc is just an architect. It was interesting for me to watch him ’cause we didn’t have a lot of scenes together, but whenever we did… it was so funny. I always love coming away from a day learning something ’cause he made everything so real. The situation wasn’t like, “This is where I come in. This is what I say, and this is where I leave.” He had full-blown scenarios up one side and down the other for every little tiny thing that happened. Which, we all should. But I’m sitting there watching him going, “Man, I must be kind of a lazy actor.” I was just in awe. I’m dying to see it ’cause those two together have the most incredible chemistry, and personally I think, everybody’s gonna fall in love with him. And Ali’s just so adorable and so funny.

fb_img_1475356131114.jpgAnd that’s the nice thing about this Hallmark movie too. There’s a lot of humor in it, and it’s just that dry, flat humor that I love. She’s really funny. There’s a lot of good stuff. And Kavan {Smith} who plays the paramour, the one that my character believes she should marry, he’s great too–without giving anything away, you just go, “Wow, she’s in a tough position!” She’s got the guy she’s supposed to marry, and the new guy that she needs. And even though that’s in a million stories, it’s really poignant ’cause both of these guys are really great, and so you really empathize with her. How does she make this decision? So it’s not just your generic Hallmark movie. It’s really good. And then the element that Shirley adds…the whole rest of the cast that inhabit this town are just really rich. I’m really proud of this one. I haven’t seen it, but knowing the script and knowing the cast and having seen what was shot on days that I was physically there, I’m dying to see it. And it’s always so neat when you are a part of something that you’re so excited for and you’re proud of yourself and you’re anxious to watch yourself. And it’s not just like, “Okay, I’m on this show and it’s on on Tuesday…” It’s like I’m dying to see this! I can’t wait. So that part really does feel good.

fb_img_1475356037873.jpgWell, that’s great. Once I saw the cast, I was already sold. I knew nothing about it, but with that cast, I am sure it is going to be good. 

The director, Kristoffer Tabori, oh my gosh, you gotta give this man so much credit. He is brilliant. ‘Cause again, he is not like, “Well, this is what’s on the page, so I gotta get it in the can.” There was a lot of stuff changing before our eyes all the time. Even all of my scenes, I would come to set and be like, “What? Wait a minute. This is all different now. Okay.” But Kristoffer Tabori gets so much of the credit for really making this move flow and be real, and there’s nothing staged like, “This is where they sit and talk.” It’s so real, you know? This is what real people do. And this is how they move and this is what moves them. He really makes it three-dimensional. He really brings it to life, and that was always exciting going to work too because there’s just nothing stagnant or predictable about it. It really keeps you on this journey–you’re moving all the time.

So now I’m even more excited about the film. I love it when the actors are genuinely excited about it. It’s not that they try to act like they’re excited about it, but they actually are excited about it. 

You know, when I posted I was gonna be in this Hallmark thing, they’ve got the hugest following–a really loyal audience that loves them. So when they had the very first post that I’d booked this film with Ali, I’ve gotten more reaction from that. It’s really neat that everybody looks forward to it. Hallmark has an incredible audience. I’m glad they are continuing to put out more and more products ’cause people want it.

There is no doubt about it. And they are very loyal even to someone like me who does all these interviews. It’s great to be able to tell the people I am interviewing that I have a very loyal following who reads anything I write. I put something out, and so many of them drop everything and read it.

Oh, that’s great!

fb_img_1475356113874.jpgI agree! And what you’ll find is that many of these fans will follow you even to your works that are not Hallmark. They’ll see what else you’re doing, and they’ll follow you. {pause} So is there anything else upcoming that you can mention besides this film?

Well, I just finished another film too called Live Like Line. Oh my gosh, this is gonna be incredible! It’s a feature, so it will be in theaters. They’re actually trying to get a spring release, which is actually a pretty quick turnaround. This is gonna be the movie–oh my gosh–it’s called Live Like Line. It’s a true story that happened in Iowa City in 2011. I’m not giving anything away because everyone knows or can find out what happened. It’s a girl’s volleyball team. It’s about this girl who is the captain of the team. What happens in real life is this girl’s mother who had been really active in the small community was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. The mother is dying, and out of the blue, the seventeen-year-old girl gets killed in a freak moped accident. And that’s pretty much the beginning of the film. It’s a vast story in real life about the town and the family and the father who not only loses his daughter but ten days later, loses his wife. As sad as this all sounds, the story is about this girl’s volleyball team who is also devastated because she was their best friend, but also their setter for the team which is not an easy position to reassign. The girl who was killed in the accident–her name is Caroline. The reason the title is Live Like Line is this girl went by Line, short for Caroline. Her best friend, Kelly, was always the follower because Caroline was the flamboyant and loud one that everybody loved, the life of the party, one of those girls who could do anything and was magnetic, loving and charming. The movie is kind of seen through Kelly’s point of view, who has to take her friend’s place as the setter of the team. img_20161001_135345.jpgI play Kelly’s mother. William Hurt plays Ernie Found, the father of Caroline and the husband of the wife who died. And Danika Yarosh plays Line, the girl who passes away. Helen Hunt plays the coach of the team. Erin Moriarty plays Kelly, who is my daughter. It is the most incredible story. If you look it up online, you’ll see that Bres, the coach in real life, kept a journal during this whole thing as a kind of therapy dealing with this grief and sadness. As the girls play on the team, it’s really the feelings of the team that come out as well as the phenomenal story. And it is the coach who wrote a personal letter to a sports writer at ABC News, and through unbelievable circumstances, that writer got the letter. He came to Iowa City and did a documentary story, and HBO/ESPN did a documentary on this story, and when that came out, everybody went flocking to Iowa City because they all wanted to do this story.

Everybody was courting them to do the feature film. It’s a very personal story and very close to their heart, and it’s a very small community. Caroline and her mother Ellen were these unbelievable people. It took Ernie, the dad, a little while to decide that it was okay to make a movie and find the right people to do it. Thank God the producers of the film are some of the most incredible people on the planet. They are the same ones who did Soul Surfer, which Helen Hunt was in as well. So they knew that their heart would be in the right place. I’m choking up literally. I can’t talk about this movie without crying. Ernie and Bres, the coach, came and were there, and I just got to be really great friends with them, I think because I’m from Nebraska, and I was on set, and they were from Iowa. Like I’m from Nebraska; I’m your neighbor. Therefore we became really good friends. It was decided that we would be. But this movie is going to be phenomenal. They wanted it to come out in the spring while school is still on. The message of life and hope and the honor as a seventeen-year-old girl. Imagine coming to set and a film is being made about your daughter’s life. And it’s one of the only films with female sports.

There’s HoosiersRemember the Titans–you can name all the football, basketball and hockey movies. There’s not really a girl’s sports movie. There was A League of Their Own, but that really wasn’t about the sport. It was the setting and situation for the story. I think of any project I’ve ever worked on in my entire career, this is the one I’m so proud of.fb_img_1475356088458.jpg People always ask, “What’s your favorite thing?” or “What are you most proud of?” I finally have a definitive answer. This movie is going to be so incredible. If you watch these documentaries or read about it, you’ll be bawling your head off. When I very first auditioned for this and was doing the research, I was like, “Oh my gosh!” I actually booked this job on my birthday. I had been praying for a month. It had been about three weeks from the time that I auditioned to when they actually booked me for it. As it got closer to my birthday, I was like, “That’s the only birthday present I want. Please, God, please, let me just book this.” And we did the deal on my birthday, so that was no accident. It really was not a big budget film. And I usually find that the less money there is, the more cohesive and collaborative the project ends up being because everybody is really dependent upon each other. It was such an incredible group and spirit because it was a true story, and everybody wanted to do such honor to these people. Caroline and her mom are no longer with us, but everybody else still is. So this is going to be a really important film when it comes out.’

fb_img_1475356121646.jpgI’m so glad I asked you about it. And what’s great is that Hallmark fans are going to want to go to the theater and see it.

Absolutely G-rated. It’s so family-oriented and has a wonderful spirit. Victory, life, and love. It’s just so good. I’m so excited for this film, and this audience will love this film and you know, everybody will. It’s not just teenagers. It’s not just women. This is for everyone.

I have loved our entire conversation. It’s so neat to hear how passionate you are about things and how excited you are about everything. Your positive spirit is something so great to get to hear about. 

Aww, well, thank you.

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After speaking with Rebecca and hearing the unmitigated enthusiasm that emanates from her innermost being, I could not help but be gripped by her infectious zeal and joie de vivre. She is indeed one who has found the secret to being happy and remaining positive. She doesn’t permit the negative thoughts to waft haphazardly into her thinking, and I would venture to say that on the rare cases when pessimism attempts to permeate her mind, she nips those thoughts in the bud. Rebecca is one of those people that from the moment she and another person begin connecting and conversing, it is as though she has known them all her life. At times, it was so pleasant for her to manifest genuine interest in me as a person and as a writer, and while it is not possible to always have those kinds of exchanges in interviews, when it does happen, it is rather magical. Rebecca is one who adores her work so much that for her, it’s not even work. She is one that probably will not slow down until the day she breathes her last, and as it stands now, that will be an immeasurably long time coming. Rebecca lives fully in the present and effortlessly bounces from one excitement to the other, and her effervescence undeniably must affect everyone wherever she goes. Her buoyant spirit may sometimes disconcert those who are unhappy and depressed in their worlds of missed opportunities, but for those who permit it, her words of deep and abiding joy can reach out and begin to mend the most broken of hearts if the person will be attentive to what she is offering. While splendid opportunities have no doubt been sent Rebecca’s way, she has had to actually take the risk and step out in faith, believing that this was what she was destined to do in this life. While she could always backtrack if things didn’t work out, Rebecca does not strike me as a quitter. In my view, she would always be able to take a negative or bad situation and somehow find a nugget of rapture, no matter how far beneath the surface it is buried. Please be sure to turn your channel dial to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Network on Sunday, October 2nd, so that you may watch her very first Hallmark film, The Irresistible Blueberry Farm. And please take a second and check out the links below so that you will be equipped to follow her career in this new chpater of her life.

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About the Author

RuthView all posts by Ruth
“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” — Franz Kafka Ruth is an inspirational entertainment journalist who instinctively sees the best in all and seeks to share universal beauty, love and positivity. She is an artist who leads with her heart and gives readers a glimpse of the best of this world through the masterful use of the written word. Ruth was born in Tacoma, Washington but now calls Yelm, Washington her home. She lives on five acres with her parents, a dog, two miniature goats, cats and a teenage daughter who is a dynamic visual artist herself. Ruth interviews fellow artists both inside and outside of the film/television industry. At the core of all she does is the strength of her faith.

4 Comments

  1. Joan October 6, 2016 Reply

    This movie was so sweet and heartwarming! I loved everything about it. 🙂 It made me cry tears of joy in the end when they got together. The movie transported me back to the moment when I fell for my husband…when they held hands…exactly like we did. This movie made me believe in love again. I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. The journey was definitely worth it with Alison and Mark. Hallmark hit it ‘out of the park’ again.

    Thank you Ruth for sharing these fabulous interviews with your readers.

    Take care,
    Joan

    • Author
      Ruth October 6, 2016 Reply

      Joan, I am so glad. I plan to continue to share. Glad you loved the film. I did too.

  2. MCS October 2, 2016 Reply

    I really enjoyed the interview! Look forward to seeing both of these films!

    • Author
      Ruth October 3, 2016 Reply

      Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your support.

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