If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I adore the show When Calls the Heart, and my favorite couple is Lee and Rosemary. It was not until I met Daniel Lissing that I became more enamored with Jack (I already enjoyed Elizabeth), but the Coulters will always have my heart. Last year, I had the opportunity to speak with the delightful woman who brings this character to life, Pascale Hutton, and this year, we decided to do it again! Therefore, in keeping with tradition, enjoy my recent chat with this resourceful, quick-witted, gifted woman before you watch the season five finale tonight.

Photo by Kyle Cassie © Copyright 2012, Kyle4Reel

RH: Pascale, thank you so much for making the time to chat with me today. I know it’s a really busy time.

PH: Ruth, it’s great to talk with you. And yes, it’s been a crazy busy time as we’re in the middle of filming The Perfect Bride 2. The filming schedule is really intense sometimes for these movies, but it’s all good.

I’m glad you’re filming it, but I can imagine how crazy it is as you try to do all that stuff in a relatively short period of time.

Exactly.

We have reached the finale of When Calls the Heart season five, but I’m so glad we can go into the finale knowing that there will be a season six.

I can’t believe how fast the season has gone.

I know exactly what you mean. It’s been very interesting to see Lee and Rosemary this season. Of course, they are still my favorite couple and my mom’s favorite couple too. So how would you describe the way Rosemary has changed this season?

I think with Rosemary this season, you see an extension of what was starting to happen last season, which was really Rosemary embracing her new role in life, her new place in life of being a wife. But also…she likes to be an independent, creative, ambitious person in her own right. So you’ve seen her go on this journey of starting up this business and yet still being a present and loving wife. But she’s also a businesswoman and is also a real presence in the community in a very, very positive way. I think it’s less of a surprise anymore when she rises to the occasion and opens her heart and allows that beautiful, vibrant spirit to just spill forth into the community. I think that used to surprise her because she’d never really been a part of a community before and now it’s just second nature to her. Now you see her say, “Oh, this couple could need me and I know exactly what to do. I’m not gonna stop until I think that they’re happy, fulfilled, and have everything their heart desires.” And the same thing with Jack and Elizabeth’s wedding. I mean, it just spills out of her.

I agree. It’s really nice to see her caring about people, and you can see her heart so much this season.

Absolutely. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s just uninhibited, and it comes spilling forward…this generous spirit and with a tenacity that is unparalleled by anyone else.

Definitely. And of course, it’s refreshing to see Rosemary and Lee who have this wonderful marriage, but they have their ups and downs as any marriage has.

That’s been really neat to get the feedback from fans and Hearties on social media that they really like seeing a marriage that has those ups and downs and how they weather it with humor and with understanding.

I know people raved about the episode where the children were going to the observe the adults at work. That was such a fun episode. And everyone loved how Emily got to go to the dress shop.

Oh, that was so fun. It was a really neat pairing because Rosemary hasn’t really been paired up with any of the kids thus far for a whole storyline. And it was such an odd pairing honestly to have Rosemary and Emily paired up. I can’t think of a single scene in previous seasons when I’ve had a scene with Gracyn {Shinyei}. So it was really neat to see these two personalities in a scene together. I always find it quite exciting to get to work with an actress I haven’t worked with before on the show. Of course, I love having my scenes with Kavan {Smith} as well as my scenes with Erin {Krakow} and Lori {Loughlin}…those are the ones I have most of my scenes with. But it’s neat to see new and interesting pairings, and it’s amazing what you learn about your own character through those pairings.

Yes, we could see Emily being the next Rosemary.

Yes, she took on the flair of Rosemary with quite a zest. {laughs}

While I have known her and her dad for a while now, it was even a surprise to me because I hadn’t seen her do something like that. 

Yes, she had so much fun.

I remember in past seasons you have been instrumental in inserting your own ideas into how the scene plays out even if it wasn’t necessarily written down. But they let you try it, and it worked. So I’m wondering if anything like that happened during this season.

Well, that particular scene you mentioned…we came up with the idea. It actually wasn’t written in the scene with Emily and Rosemary in the dress shop that she starts mimicking Rosemary’s mannerisms. That was something Gracyn and I came up with together that we thought would be really funny. ‘Cause Rosemary has such distinct mannerisms, like the way she moves and the way she uses her hands and the way she uses her voice. So we thought it would be really funny if Gracyn was mimicking that. And it was. It was really funny.

That’s probably why that scene worked so well because you both came up with your own idea, and it worked. I had a suspicion that you two might have had something to do with that. 

{laughs} Yes, we did. And it was a lot of fun to film. We’re so glad the Hearties liked it.

Our finale for season five has arrived at last, and while I don’t want you to give away anything, is there anything you can tease about the finale without giving anything away?

I think what I would say is that it is our most emotional episode so far, and what you really see at the core of it is the heart of Hope Valley. I think that’s the strongest theme and the core of what is going to carry this episode.

Since we know that the show is coming back for another season, do you have any hopes for your character for season six?

Well, I’ve been saying this for a while now. I think Rosemary needs to find a way…you know, Rosemary is one of those people that she will create passion wherever she goes. She’s got an abundance of it, and she will let it flow forth into any project that she decides to take on. But she’s really a performer at heart, and I think people who are performers in their heart and in their core never lose that. They can write for the newspaper. They can design dresses for the dress shop. They can take on all these other projects that are exciting and creative, but they’re never going to scratch that itch in the same way that performing does. I think Rosemary needs to find a way to incorporate or marry her life that she’s chosen to live by being in Hope Valley with her performer side. I think I’ve always been saying that I would like that to happen. I don’t know what that looks like, but I would love to see how she tries to figure it out. And I think that would be really neat and fun if she found a way to do it herself, but get other people kind of swept up in the excitement of performing as well. So that’s one thing.

The other thing I hear literally hundreds of times every single week that fans wanna see Rosemary and Lee have a child, and that feels like a very natural progression for a very loving couple. Obviously, there’s been all these kinds of funny little hints in the rocky road towards parenthood. You might have Rosemary talking about the “sticky children” and Lee wanting to have so many children. I think with the two of them, you would see a lot of humor in becoming parents. And I think it would be really neat and fun to see a woman who is so passionate, creative, and ambitious and how she finds a way to be a successful mother as well as those other qualities. As well as having her ambition and her creativity fulfilled at the same time. I think that would be a fun story that people would really relate to.

I know the fans are wanting it. And I think you’re right that I could see it happening next season. Well, I’m hoping it happens next season. 

Right, and you’re not the only one.

Going back to the performing thing you mentioned, with all the networks doing special musical episodes, I think it’s time for When Calls the Heart to do a musical-themed episode. 

And honestly, there is so much musical talent on our show. Not Kavan. He’s gonna have to be the stage manager. {laughs} But Erin is an amazing singer. Paul Greene can play the piano, play the guitar, and sing. I’m a singer. Lori can sing. There is a lot of singing talent amongst the cast. It would be so much fun. I feel like Rosemary should rally the troops and get them to put on a musical play with the kids. Gracyn is an amazing singer and dancer. And so many of the kids have musical talent. I think it would be great fun. We just have to convince the writers.

Well, the musical episodes are always so successful on other networks. So I’m in agreement with you. I would love it personally, and I think a lot of the Hearties would too. So maybe the fans can put some pressure on the writers to make it happen. I could see Rosemary heading it up, and I’m sure Lee would be happy to be the stage manager. He wouldn’t want to perform anyway. He’s not like that.

{laughs} That’s right.

So you’re now filming The Perfect Bride 2. I think they have an actual title for it in IMDB.

You know, when we filmed the first one, we went through about three or four titles while we were in production. They finally settled on The Perfect Bride. So I am going to keep calling it The Perfect Bride 2 because I’m not sure what the final title will be.

I remember how both you and Kavan really wanted this sequel to happen. I know you talked with the writer for quite a while about it. 

That is correct. We were almost in discussions while we were in production with the first one. We started talking about it and it seemed like it was natural groundwork for a sequel. It just felt like all the pieces were in place, and we just had to get on the same page with everyone as far as what the next chapter for these two characters actually looks like. We started talking to Rick Garman, who wrote the first one and now the sequel. We started talking to him way, way back in like September or October, and he had some ideas, and we had some ideas. We were kind of bouncing them back and forth. Then back in January, Kavan and I met with Michelle Vicary and Randy Pope and Samantha DiPippo from Hallmark about doing a sequel, and they were totally on board and totally supportive. By that point, we had kind of streamlined our ideas, and they were really good about going through them and putting their stamp on them. And then it was just fast and furious because, of course, it’s going to be a part of June Weddings just like the last one was. So if it was going to happen, we needed a script and we needed to get it into production really quickly. So from January to this point has been really rapid. We had the first draft, second draft, going into productions, locations, and all that stuff which happened really, really quickly. Sometimes these things can stretch out for a long time, but this one came together really fast.

Well, that’s great. But both you and Kavan were rather proactive about it.

We were. Kavan and I were looking for opportunities to work together, and this just seemed like a natural and obvious one.

So you both are coming back, and you have the same writer. Are there other returning cast members as well?

Oh yeah, so many actually. The character of my sister, Lisa, who is played by Leanne Lapp. She comes back with her now-husband. If you remember in the first one, they were engaged and then it ended with their wedding. So Lisa and Rennie are back. The couple that got married at the beginning of the movie, Elizabeth {Hayley Sales} and Brendan {Casey Manderson}, they come back in a much more prominent role in this sequel. Then Mark Dacascos, who was the gym owner who owned the place where Molly worked, his character is back. So we’ve got a lot of people returning, which is great. And that’s kind of what you want in a sequel. You want to have those relationships that really worked well and had a lot of chemistry and a lot of spark. You want to bring those back and highlight them. So I think we’ve really been able to do that in this one.

Do you have the same director?

Sadly, no. I mean, we’ve got an amazing director. It’s Alex Wright. He’s directed a number of movies for Hallmark {Once Upon a Prince, The Mistletoe Inn}. But our director we had last time, Martin Wood, he was unavailable. He’s filming another movie for Hallmark in Fiji. {laughs} So he is out of the country.

Well, that happens sometimes, but it sounds like you’ve got some great people returning as well as a fantastic director.

Yeah, we all really loved the actors who played Brendan and Elizabeth in the first one and we thought they gave those characters such a vibrancy so that they really popped off the page. So it’s great to bring them back in a more prominent role.

Without giving anything away, what can we expect from this sequel?

Well, it’s the next chapter in these two people’s lives. The two characters, Molly and Nick, they’re in love and in a very solid relationship. The movie starts near the beginning with them getting engaged. I don’t think that’s giving anything away. So right at the beginning, we get engaged, and that’s an interesting journey to see Molly, who has become quite an expert in supporting and encouraging other brides as they journey down the aisle towards marriage to then be taking that journey herself. And of course, she’s got all this baggage from having been left at the altar and having had this failed attempt at getting married before. And Nick as well with a failed engagement. They’re very committed to not making those same mistakes. But if you commit so hard to not making those mistakes, you’re probably going to make a whole new pile of mistakes. Which is what happens with the two of them. It’s not a smooth ride to getting married, and there’s lots of bumps and twists and turns along the way.

Sequels and movie series seem to be happening a lot in Hallmark. In fact, I think the whole month of June is nothing but sequels, if I remember right. So why do you think these sequels have become so popular?

I think what it is is these characters get introduced and people fall in love with them, and they’re not ready to say goodbye to them. The actors aren’t ready to say goodbye to them, and more importantly, the fans aren’t ready to say goodbye to them. The fans want to see what the next chapter is. They want to see what happens after happily ever after. What does it look like? And of course, it’s not happily ever after. That doesn’t exist. So now the couple is in love or engaged. Or the couple has gotten married. What happens next? The people want to see that. There’s a strong desire to see that.  And of course, it can go on and on and on. The chapters can go on and on.

I was actually wondering if this sequel would be the end of The Perfect Bride.

You know, right now, it’s hard to say whether we would go for another one, and if we did, what would that next one look like? The fans definitely love these two characters and so possibly.

You never know. We’ve got Jack Wagner and Josie Bissett in Wedding March 4 coming up. And then Brennan Elliott and Lacey Chabert in All of My Heart. 

That’s exactly right. The possibility does exist.

With you and Kavan, you’ve been working together all these years now, so it’s got to be so much fun to work together and easy. I mean not easy in that you both still have a lot of work to do, but…

Yeah, but I totally get what you mean. Absolutely, in one sense it is so easy because Kavan and I–and I can only imagine the others like Jack and Josie and Lacey and Brennan–you just have a shorthand that comes with having worked with the same person for so many years. It’s a shorthand for work and it’s a shorthand for your personal relationship. It’s streamlined. You’re not trying to figure each other out anymore. It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s something that can literally only be achieved with time.

What you and Kavan have certainly works on-screen. And I know that even off-screen, you guys are really good friends. You guys banter back and forth and are very supportive of each other.

Yeah, it’s really wonderful.

Now I’m just making sure. In addition to When Calls the Heart and The Perfect Bride 2, is there anything else upcoming for you?

Well, I know that there is talk of starting filming When Calls the Heart season six earlier this year. They really want to maximize on the good weather. Logistically, we often can’t start filming in terms of scripts and such until the end of August or September, and that means we’re usually filming all the way up till Christmas. Some years, we’ve even had to straddle Christmas and come back for a few weeks in January. Vancouver at that time is just miserable, quite honestly. There’s so much rain and it’s cold. It’s not the most picturesque or beautiful time to be filming on the property where we film the show. So there’s been a really strong push to try to start filming earlier. Now we’ll see if that comes to fruition. There’s a lot of pieces in play that have to fall into place to make that happen, and a lot of things need to align if they want to make it happen. So fingers crossed.

That sounds like a great idea, so I hope it does happen for the show. I guess it’s really on the shoulders of the writers. They have a tough job to make that happen.

Yeah, they have to write a script, get it pumped out and approved and ready to go in time.

But there’s nothing else for you on the horizon?

No, honestly right now, I feel like there’s so much that I can’t take on anything else right now with filming The Perfect Bride 2 and looking toward When Calls the Heart season six. I feel maxed out right now.

That’s what I assumed, but I just wanted to ask just to make sure.

Thank you, Ruth, that’s sweet of you.

After all, you still have a family and kids.

Exactly. I feel very fortunate. As soon as we wrapped on When Calls the Heart season five, which was literally a couple of days before Christmas, I’ve been off until we started filming The Perfect Bride 2. I took all of January, February, and March off. I was home and a full-time mom. I’ve always said that’s the greatest benefit of working as I do. When I’m working, it is full on and the schedule can be pretty intense. And the hours can be pretty intense. But then it affords me the opportunity to just stay at home and be one hundred percent at home with my kids and my husband doing all those normal things that moms and dads do.

Oh, that’s right, you DO have a normal life outside of acting, don’t you? I think most people are catching on to the fact that most actors don’t live the life of the rich and famous. Or at least, my readers know that because I consistently point that out in my interviews.

Yes, our lives are really normal here in Vancouver. You know, it was really funny actually. In my life in Vancouver here where I live, I don’t get noticed or anything. But recently, we went to go visit some family in Calgary, Alberta, the next province over from BC. I was there with my kids, and it was so crazy. I had no idea that we have a really strong Hearties fan base in Calgary. A lot of the fans were like, “What are you doing here?” And I was just doing regular, normal things with my kids. And they were like, “What? Are you Rosemary?” {laughs}

{laughs} Oh, boy, yes that’s always an experience. I’ve had a tiny taste of that at the last Hearties Family Reunion. Many people were coming up to me and saying how they loved my interviews. 

Of course! The Hearties are such fans of your column and they faithfully read it. And there you are in the flesh.

It’s an unusual experience, and I still hear from people who were so excited to meet me.

That’s what I love about social media today. I’m glad we have that tool. I honestly have no complaints about it. The connection I have with fans through social media is so overwhelmingly positive. I think it’s just so wonderful.

I’m so glad, Pascale, that you have that positive experience with social media. And I’m grateful to you for taking the time to chat with me today. We are very excited to see the season five finale, and of course, The Perfect Bride 2.

Ruth, your support and the support of all the Hearties means so much to all of us, and I thank you yet again for taking the time to speak with me. I hope everyone really enjoys the finale and The Perfect Bride 2. We have the best fans in the world, and we cannot thank everyone enough for their support.

While I do not claim to be nearly as accomplished and talented as Pascale, whenever I speak with her, I always appreciate her direct way of expressing herself and assessing every situation with a glint of positivity because I attempt to approach my life in much the same manner. Meeting Pascale at HFR3 is one of those moments I shall always treasure (along with meeting Kavan, Paul, and so many others), and the intensity and vibrancy she brings to every role (on and off the screen) are virtuously reputable and refreshingly straightforward. In a world where assertive women are still often told that in order to maintain their femininity, they need to tone down their self-confidence lest they appear domineering and unappealing, Pascale makes no excuses for who she is: an intrepid woman who adroitly manages to retain her sweet spirit, her alluring physique, and her incomparable uniqueness. Pascale is the very epitome of the modern, creative spirit, and I find her life an inspiration and a reminder that in a sense, women can do it all as long as they have unmerited support and unconditional understanding along the way. Pascale is surrounded by so many who value and encourage her, and in turn, she has become a beacon of hope and light to a myriad of women and mothers who cherish her characters and on-screen interactions as well as the way she chooses to live her personal life.

I hope that every person tunes to the Hallmark Channel (USA) or the Super Channel (Canada) tonight (April 22nd) for the epic finale of season five of When Calls the Heart. I sincerely trust those same fans (and more) will tune in this June to see the sequel to one of the most charming movies Hallmark produced last year, The Perfect Bride. Additionally, I would practically expect that all my readers will visit each one of Pascale’s links below and consider following her on social media where possible. Again, she is one who is extremely engaging with her fans on social media, and she posts a lot of fun behind-the-scenes shots (including candid ones–almost all pictures posted in this interview are from Pascale’s social media accounts). I am honored to be acquainted with this extraordinary woman and support her dynamic projects, and from one mother to another, I applaud every choice she has made in her career. She can count on me for my consistent support, and I hope that all Hearties and fans will do exactly the same as we rally behind one of the unofficial national treasures of Canada!

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