For me, the supporting actors in any Hallmark movie always hold a special place in my affection. They are often the heart and soul of the story, and we fans grow accustomed to witnessing them on-screen regularly.  Peter Graham is one of those very extraordinary people. In fact, a couple of years ago, I had the honor of interviewing him for the first time. This past Christmas, I interviewed him yet again. Still, due to circumstances beyond my control, I am only now posting our engaging chat. I couldn’t be more pleased to feature such an incredible industry professional as Peter and share him with all of my readers!

RH: Peter, it’s so great to chat with you again. It’s been such a busy time for interviews.

PGG: Thank you for having me back, Ruth. I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me.

You’ve certainly been pretty busy since we last spoke. There was a new Christmas movie, and there’s been other things since then as well.

Wedding Bells with Christopher Russell and Tammy Gillis

Yes, and we could actually go back a little. I know people might remember the Christmas At Dollywood movie that was on this past season. While I didn’t make the cast for that movie, Hallmark fans might remember me from Wedding Bells with Danica McKeller and Bruce Boxleitner.

Oh yeah! I remember that movie quite well! That was when I really started paying close attention to the Hallmark stuff. And Tammy Gillis was in that movie too. I only vaguely knew who Danica and Kavan Smith were at that time. 

With Danica McKellar and Bruce Boxleitner on Wedding Bells

It was when I had just come off of a Hallmark movie called All Things Valentine with Sarah Rafferty from Suits. Then the same director put me in Love By Chance, which was with Beau Garrett. And when I was there, I met the Hallmark people, and they were like, “Hey, you know we really loved you in All Things Valentine, so we thought of you for this role.” Then right from that, they just gave me that other one. They called and said, “Look, it’s just an actor role. It’s just two days, but will you do it?” And so again, here’s the story with that one. I was just there, hanging around, and here I was suddenly in the Hallmark world. Before that, I hadn’t done much, but this got me immersed in it.

On the set of Over the Moon in Love

I’d like to take a moment and mention your movie from last year, Over the Moon In Love. I finally saw the movie on my DVR because I was away when it premiered last year. There were lots of mixed reactions to that movie. Many people said it was just not good, so while I planned to watch it, I was concerned. I’ve not heard a lot of positive things about it. In fact, that was the movie that Hallmark accidentally premiered almost a week early. We’re pretty sure someone made a mistake. It premiered at four o’clock in the morning. {laughter}

I know some people get upset about changes in the schedules, but what can you do? Lots of movies get pushed for whatever reason. I know there were other movies that were supposed to come out in the fall. Over the Moon In Love was supposed to premiere on September 21st of last year. Jessica Lowndes had a big thing to do, but then she had to make it a private party since they pushed it to October 5th. Everyone was kind of scrounging around.

Cast and crew Over the Moon In Love

I know people get very upset with all the schedule changes, and I’m not saying I don’t get upset, but the thing is, I know that other networks have done similar things. But with Over the Moon In Love, there are so many Vancouver people in it, and with Christie Will directing…I love her directing anyway. I love it when she’s attached to a project. And I think it’s also great that Jessica not only starred in it but wrote it herself too. I went into it with an open mind and gave it a chance. I really enjoyed it. 

With director Christie Will Wolf and 1st A.D Troy Scott

I happened to see the director’s cut of Over the Moon In Love. Unfortunately, several scenes were cut, which helped the film make more sense, but they had to be cut for whatever reason. There was some fun little stuff Jess and I got to do together that didn’t make the final cut. But that’s the nature of the business. There are cool scenes that were lost, but I don’t think it impacts the movie entirely, and things still make sense. But sometimes, the movie seems a little rushed without those scenes. It still stands as one of the nicest movies I’ve shot with Hallmark thus far as far as people, but there have been others this year as well that we will get too.

Over the Moon In Love

Jessica’s energy was just terrific throughout, and she was so much fun. She was so sweet and lovely. And Wes Brown and everybody was just having so much fun. And Miranda Frigon, of course. My feeling when I saw it–and I don’t know if it’s just because we were at a big party in LA or whatever–that it is quite sweet and that happy energy that everybody has was there. I think it’s a very simple movie. Maybe that’s why some people don’t like it. It’s not a huge cast. It’s more of a smaller cast. It’s like a two-hander, in a way, focused primarily on Jessica, Wes, and Miranda. If you prefer bigger productions like Christmas At Dollywood, then maybe you won’t like Over the Moon In Love as well. This one was lower budget, and she wrote a song or two for the movie. But I think it was actually quite sweet.

I agree with you. I loved the movie, and it was a perfect vehicle for Jessica. And you did some singing in the movie too. 

Identity Theft of a Cheerleader: Here’s one BTS pic with my real-life daughter (and actress) Sapphire Angeli, on my left (your right)and her BFF Gala Brolly.

Yeah. Jessica and I had a few scenes where we help her with her conundrums and issues. And the way my song ended up in the film, not on the soundtrack, was I was just rehearsing for a gig in my trailer. I was sitting in my trailer playing. I hadn’t even met Jessica yet, but I’d worked with these really wonderful hair and makeup girls on a lot of these shows.

I had just finished Identity Theft of a Cheerleader. I don’t know if you know the real story of that, but it was pretty heavy. This woman went back to high school in her thirties because she was bullied by all these horrible girls. She tried to make the cheerleader team, but she wasn’t popular. She was heavier, and she was raised by a really cruel mom and was basically laughed at in high school. So she goes back in her thirties in real life and impersonates a teen because she’s very young-looking and makes cheerleading, and manages to stay in high school for a while before they figure it out. And then she ends up in jail where you read her story. Now, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. This movie takes it a little further than the real story. If anyone does watch that movie, I advise them to look at the original story and see where she is now.

With Mark Brandon in between takes

Well, I was playing some music when I was on that movie, and these girls were like, “Yeah, that’s the guy playing her dad.” So when they went in to get my hair and makeup done, Jess had heard me singing and playing in my trailer, and she came and said, “Oh my gosh! That guy can play.” So she asked me…because as a writer, she was trying to figure things out as a writer. She was like, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if because you’re my dad, you just start off singing?” And as it turns out, it kind of matched the movie well. So in the version that Hallmark used, there’s only like five or seven seconds of my singing, but what really comes up is that this dad and daughter have this wonderful relationship. Well, the parents and the daughter too. She comes home, and he’s trying to cheer her up.

That’s great, Peter! I have come to really like Jessica. I wasn’t sure at first, but as I’ve been watching Jessica in recent years, it’s clear that she wants to be a part of Hallmark. She’s not just doing it for a paycheck. I think she’s really coming into her own. 

With Jess at a screening party

I met her dad, her uncle, and her aunt on set. They’re just the nicest people. She put her dad and her uncle in the movie as musicians. She talks about what an inspiring guy her dad is. He’s really athletic. He’s the youngest teenager to ever run across Canada. He ran across Canada in eighty-one days. He sends her a tweet or a text every morning, specifically for her. His message is always something like, “No matter how you’re feeling today, just get up and do what you need to do.” She talks very eloquently about her family, and I witnessed that. I think she is really a family person. She talked about her mom, who is a piano teacher. I didn’t know anything about her, but my niece’s daughter was so excited because she knew her from 90210. And when I met her, she is so nice and sweet. She kind of tried to make it work for me to have my song in there even though she had to rearrange things a bit. So my experience with her has been terrific.

What I noticed with Jess is that one time when we were shooting a scene…she was wearing a lot of hats, and you think she gets to call the shots. But she doesn’t. And at one point, she was told, “Well, we’re out of time, and we’re going to have cut this here and there.” So Jess was acting in the scene. She had this emotional scene to deliver, and then she’s just been told that this next thing has to be totally cut and gone from the movie that she wrote. I could just see her almost well up. It looked like she was gonna cry, but then I saw her breathe in really deep and go, “Okay, yep. Whatever needs to be done. We’re making my movie. This is great, and let’s move on.” She just moved past it, and I thought, “Wow, that would be tough to do.” Someone else might have been there fighting, saying, “This scene is really critical.” But with making these movies, you can’t run over twelve hours in the workday because then you get into prohibitive cost. It’s different if you have an unlimited budget. I think lots of times, people would think, “Oh, you wrote it, so you’re totally responsible.” But sometimes you have very little control over anything. You’re the star, but Hallmark is very specific about what they want.  At the end, there were supposed to be all these couples that she matched up over time, but they couldn’t do it. They had to change it and make it work. By this time, it was three in the morning.

That is one reason I am so committed to always being as positive as possible because I know what goes into these movies. You might see a movie that you don’t think is all that great, but remember that no one who is a filmmaker sets out to make a bad movie. There are so many circumstances that affect the final product. We don’t always know what’s gone on behind-the-scenes. We may never know why they made this choice or that choice or why the film was edited in this way. So maybe there’s a movie that is not my favorite movie, but it doesn’t mean that I need to go out publicly and start bashing it and saying how horrible it was. The thing is that these people actually went out and did something. They said they were gonna make a movie, and they did it. And in Jessica’s case, it got picked up by a top cable network. I’ve never done that. And I don’t think the people criticizing have ever done that either. 

Have you ever seen the documentary about Debra Winger and why she left the business?

No, I haven’t.

You remember her, right?

Yeah. 

She was high up, but again, it’s like this Harvey Weinstein thing. She was being harassed by all these horrible male filmmakers that wanted her to do this or that. It’s a great documentary. It’s all female actresses talking about the hard things in the business. This was made like fifteen years ago. In it, Jane Fonda talks quite eloquently about being a female in the business. And also, she says, “Maybe there’s five films I’ve done in my entire life where I felt like I actually got to where I was hoping to get in the character because there’s just too many factors.”  That was a great eye-opener for me because it’s so true. You set out with this stuff, but it’s not like the theater where you go in night after night, and some nights you just really hit it, and other nights, it falls flat. When you get to do it fifty/sixty/hundred times, you’re bound to get it right. But with Hallmark, you don’t get lots of takes. You do it, and you might get it close to what they’re looking for, and that’s it. It can be one take. I know that people are very quick to judge, but it’s a good lesson.

I was glad I got to see it for myself and make up my own mind. It was a cute film with lots of nice moments. It wasn’t as bad as anything I heard. It wasn’t bad at all. So you had a new Christmas movie come out last year too. I noticed Kevin McGarry was one of the stars.

With Troy Scott
Random Acts of Christmas

Yes, that’s right. Random Acts of Christmas.

I’ve met him a couple of times, and I really like him. It’s been a while since we’ve chatted, but he’s a super nice guy. 

Yes, Kevin was in this one. I also sang in that movie.

Now, this wasn’t a Hallmark movie like we thought it might be, but it was on Lifetime and had a lot of Hallmark regulars on it. So in case someone didn’t see it or doesn’t remember, what can you tell us about your character and how he fits in with the overall story?

It was a small role, almost like a cameo in some ways. I’m just kind of there. I really like the premise of it. The idea of the film is random acts of kindness. You do acts of kindness without telling people you’re doing them. We think that Kevin’s character is doing some of the things. I’m just involved in one of those acts. Christmas music plays a big part in the film. It’s a sweet little film.

So we’ve got Kevin, Erin Cahill–she’s huge in Hallmark as well. Patrick Duffy was in this movie, and he was in a Hallmark Christmas movie last year as well. And then Jaclyn Smith was in this movie too! She’s been in a Hallmark movie, but not recently. 

Yeah, it was a great cast. And I have to say that Erin was just so wonderful. And the makeup girls were beyond everything. They would blast the music. So when I met Erin, she came running up to me and said, “Oh my gosh, you’re Pete! Everybody’s been talking about you! You’re going to be in this movie!” And I was like, “Really? I’ve only got a tiny role. I’m only on it for today.” She was like, “I know, but they’re all saying such nice things about you. I just had to meet you.” We were in a scene together, but we don’t have any lines or anything together. But she couldn’t have been less star-like. There’s just not a pretentious bone in her body. She’s so genuine. I was glad to see that because I didn’t know anything about her either.

So glad to hear this, Peter. I think Kevin helped draw all the fans of When Calls the Heart over there. He is so huge in the community. You were also in Project Blue Book, I believe. 

Yes, I had a really lovely time on that show. The director, Wendy Stantzler, I really like her. Really neat lady. If you’re a Michael Moore fan…she produced and/or edited two early films for Michael Moore. She’s known for Sex In the City. She’s known for lots of big series. She’s directed eight episodes of Arrow, I think. I didn’t know her; I’d never worked with her. I didn’t meet her at the audition because I was camping with my family, so I just sent a tape. Luckily, it worked out. She was wonderful to work with. Very clear about what she wanted while also giving the cast lots of room to contribute. There were some terrific guest stars, and everyone was really nice to work with.

It’s a big-budget show, so there was lots of time to do the work, really finesse and realize the scenes properly. And I genuinely loved working with Jerod Haynes. Terrific actor, had lots of good thoughts on the scenes, always about making it better. And a genuinely nice guy – we connected well on and off camera.

Project Blue Book

I loved the series. I was sad when they canceled it. I was on the fence about it first, but I really enjoyed the mixture of history and science fiction, which made it really fun for me.  And I loved the fact that at the end of every episode, there’s a historical tie-in that inspired that particular episode. It caused me to do a lot of research. And I really do think some of what they show in this series could actually have been happening. I mean, the more we keep learning about the government, it seems the more plausible that some of this could have been happening.

Yeah, that’s the thing. How far was the government willing to go?

I love that it also took place in the 1950s. My dad loves classic cars, so even he would catch a scene now and then. He’s one of those people who can look at a classic car from before 1960 and tell you what year it was made. He really thought they did a great job of recreating that time period in the show.

It really is something what they did for this show. They built a studio just for the show. Just the costume department alone. The car I got to shoot in was really cool. My brother’s like your dad too. He’s married to a Mennonite gal, and they live near the Winnipeg/North Dakota border. He’s always got the old trucks and cars, and he can tell you the make and model.

Love In the Forecast

Love in the Forecast was a fun one. The whole group just really got along well, and Cindy Busby is very talented – a truly fine actress. Also very funny and nice. She led the way with her positive energy.

With Nelson Wong

My fave moments behind-the-scenes were when Nelson was doing a series of shots where he delivers flowers, gifts, etc. to Cindy. He was just making up silly stuff that was very, very funny, and myself and Jennifer Copping, a fine actress who plays Cindy’s mom, had to enter right after Nelson finished each time. So we were hidden just a foot from him and watched it all go down. Nelson is very good at improv, so Christie had him change it up each take. We were cracking up, and somehow Cindy never broke character, but you could see her close to laughing each time – or more likely, she’s such a sharp actress, very present, so she just reacted genuinely with amazement and surprise. That was a very special day, made even better when Nelson delivered real flowers to Cindy on the last take – flowers sent to her for Valentine’s Day by her not-so-secret admirer.

Love In the Forecast

I understand one of your songs made it into this movie.

Love In the Forecast

During the pandemic, I know you did some online/home concerts. Could you tell us about that?

playing in our driveway with my band and Livestreaming

So I played a bunch of shows, raised money for causes dear to me, and we had some great laughs and connection with all those attending, on a gallery view on Zoom. It was actually quite intimate – I could see and hear everyone, take requests, people could sing along… it was like a coffee shop or small-venue show. Very much needed in those first few months of isolation, and the reception was strong because people were just really needing to see each other and connect. And my band and I recently played two livestream shows on Facebook, again for community, and the last one to support an upcoming youth forum on anti-racism at Speak Up Youth Forums. We rocked hard – by distance, with all of us playing six feet from each other. We had a small live audience each time, as we played outside – the audience was social distancing too, which is critical right now, as you know.

SuperFun Stiltwalking Family

Our family has also been performing music on stilts in our neighbourhood each week to bring some joy to especially seniors and the differently-abled folks who can’t get out. Check out this pic of our SuperFun Stiltwalking Family

With Viva on my fave mountain, Hollyburn, in West Vancouver

I was actually fairly busy despite no acting work. We perform as a family at festivals all over, and so we were asked to livestream a performance for World Buskerfest United. We taped two shows for online festivals, places we perform annually that have gone virtual. I wrote another song for Love in the Forecast that never made the cut, but I learned a lot about home recording and trying to upload files, haha – whew! Too much tech for me. I also recorded solo many of my own songs live from the park or beach nearby and posted them to share with family and friends. And most importantly, I’ve been discussing and learning about racism, anti-racism, checking my privilege, and making changes in my life. I’m sure you’ll agree, with all the violence against Black, Indigenous and Asian people and People of Colour, many people in Canada don’t realize just how much racism also exists here. So listening, learning, taking action.

Playing nursing homes solo by distance

Finally, besides hanging with the fam and reading a lot, my favourite thing has been playing extended care homes by distance. So far, I’ve played three. I pull a wagon with my gear and set up outside the windows of a home, play a set, then wheel my wagon to the next side of the building and just keep going. Play 4-5 sets per gig, singalong songs – and the best thing is the residents on their balconies waving, singing along, dancing. I can’t express to you how beautiful this is. It is magic, and I am so grateful to get to do this. My mom was in a home for the last five years of her life, and music was so important. I can see and hear how much it means to them, and I actually feel that this is an essential service. For many, this is the last part of their life.

Filming the new song for the film

At one home, one woman was 107! I also celebrated two birthdays for a 101- and 103-year-old! Imagine how lonely that isolation must be for those folks, especially those who aren’t well. So these shows have been a true gift to me, and I can’t wait for the next one. My stepfather passed recently, and spent the last two months of his life alone. It must have been incredibly sad for him to be alone at the end, and it was sad for us not to be able to visit. I couldn’t fly home to say goodbye or help in any way, and this is a very common story right now. So, I am offering what I can.

Goofing with Matt

The second film is called My One True Love; don’t know too much about it, but it will also be for Hallmark I believe. Just got the script, and it’s a fun role – a Phil Dunfy-type dad, so room for some physical comedy, which I love. And another female director, which is excellent to see!

The Good Doctor

I also heard from The Good Doctor, who are starting filming again here. They cut my scenes and storyline for the episode I shot in January, but said they really loved working with me and hope to have me back on in another role. Hopefully, an even better part : ) So I am excited about that – I loved working on that show with Will Yun Lee and Freddie Highmore – they were both so nice, and we had a lot of laughs.

So overall, everything is looking very positive here. I am so genuinely grateful to be back working, and that we can do so safely here. And I truly hope others will be back soon too. I know we are ahead of the curve here, and I am hoping for my dear friends and family in hard-hit places like Los Angeles, Toronto, and New York – well, everywhere where things are still bad – that they can stay safe and get back to doing what they love and seeing and being those they love – safely – very soon.

When it comes to patience, I’ve just got to state that Peter has been unbelievably patient with me this year! This interview is something I’ve planned to post for quite some time, and every time I turned around, I found myself bumping it for various reasons, and Peter was as kind as could be.  However, what thrills me to no end is that this year, Peter is unquestionably receiving the sort of absolutely ideal roles for him (at least in my opinion).  Hallmark and other networks have relished in featuring him in various roles; still I think it’s safe to claim that he plays such an impeccable father that I hope Hallmark will continue to utilize his gifts in this capacity for decades to come! And since I’m a musician, it also energizes me to observe the networks permitting him to use his songwriting acumen, his guitar skills, and his vocal abilities in numerous ways in these sweet movies. 

If you have not had the opportunity to watch Over the Moon In Love (showing again on October 6th) or Love in the Forecast (showing again on September 9th), do yourself a favor and look up both of those films as soon as possible. And while you’re doing all this investigative work on behalf of Peter, why not check out all of his links below and consider following him where applicable? You never know what gems he might share next, but I can tell you from experience, his social media shares are invariably uplifting and thought-provoking and sometimes downright hilarious! I am delighted for all the success Peter is experiencing during this time in his career, and the fact that he persists in thinking outside the box and raising money for charities and causes close to his heart make Peter one of the most amazing working actors and humans alive in this world today. My perpetual gratitude goes to Peter for the phenomenal humanitarian he is, and I can hardly wait to see these two new films later on this year (hopefully)!

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Recording new song with Jessica for the film

 

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