Andrea Brooks Talks A Lifelong Love, Motherhood, & the Actor She Admires Most

It is at all times so pretty to talk with Andrea Brooks, who’s finest identified for her function as Religion in Hallmark’s When Calls the Coronary heart, and she or he took outing of her schedule to go to with TV Fanatic about her new film.

Whereas we did chat concerning the sequence, which can be coming in a later article, she was on the promotion circuit speaking about Hallmark Films & Mysteries, A Lifelong Love.

Within the film, Andrea performs Annika, an aspiring poet who’s thrown collectively together with her ex Ryan (Patch Might), to doc her grandfather’s journey to discover a long-lost love, and, after all, she and Ryan uncover their very own previous sparks reigniting within the course of.

As a Canadian actress, Andrea just isn’t part of the SAG-AFTRA union and isn’t on strike, however out of respect for her assist of her US counterparts, I needed to make be aware of the interview’s timing.

Please benefit from the first half of our dialog under, which has been edited for size and readability.

Hello Andrea. How are you?

I am nicely. How are you?

I am doing very nicely. Thanks for asking. A Lifelong Love was such a candy film. What appealed to you about enjoying Annika?

Oh gosh. How did it really feel to play Annika? I really like that she was an excessive sort A, and I do know that that is a little bit of a basic trope in Hallmark, however I really like that her organizational expertise are the factor that defines it. It is her defining characteristic and will get her the place she desires to go.

However on the identical time, I actually like how this film explores how a lot it may power her to regress. I do not know. She was, she was quite a lot of enjoyable. She’s spunky. She has quite a lot of vitality. I really like that I received to play this character off of Patch Might once more as a result of she’s so humorous, and he is so quirky.

He is so good at coping with her eccentricities. I additionally love that she’s a author and a bit on-line poet. That was one thing that I had by no means achieved earlier than. And, and yeah, it was simply, it was a, a thrill.

You understand, I seen that you simply performed a goal-driven character in Romance to the Rescue and now a perfectionist in A Lifelong Love. You are getting typecast in these motion pictures, Andrea.

I do know. You understand what? You are proper. I do not know what this says about me.

That is what I used to be questioning. What does it say about you? How do these roles replicate who you might be?

This can be a characteristic I can determine with. I do not suppose I am as crippled with my sort anus as a few of the characters I’ve performed are. No less than, I wish to hope I am not. Since turning into a mother, your organizational expertise have to be intact each second.

Since you by no means know if you’ll must have a bandaid available or a snack or water bottle. You need to be prepared for all the things. That is one thing I have been enjoying up in my characters just lately. And I undoubtedly perceive.

I perceive the strain of feeling like you must ship at each given second, and you must be collectively and work in your targets. I get that. I actually get it.

So having a toddler actually influenced you as an individual? I do know it does everyone, however you are adjusting to it otherwise than how a few of my buddies did.

Yeah. Oh, my goodness. It adjustments all the things. It upends completely all the things in your life. Since turning into a mother, my roles, particularly within the Hallmark motion pictures, have meant a lot extra to me.

There’s one thing to be stated about household values and the leisure area. My three-year-old can watch one in all these motion pictures, and she or he does; she does watch episodes of When Calls the Coronary heart. She watches items of the flicks that I do, and that we will share that have is wonderful.

It makes all the things extra vital. I recognize my time on set much more. I recognize my time attending to work with different inventive folks much more as a result of, you realize, life is so chaotic when you have got a household. It makes all the things higher as a result of, on the finish of the day, there’s somebody ready for you who wants you.

And that is the mission. That is why we do what we do. That is why we work — for our household. So it is simply enhanced each side of my life. I do know that is a really long-winded reply.

No, that is, that is a superb reply. For the longest time, Hallmark did not have mother and father. I imply, the principle characters, they, they did not have children. So a predominant character would have mother and father, however they did not have kids of their very own. However that has modified. Have you ever performed any of these?

No, I’ve by no means performed a mom. I’ve achieved quite a lot of motion pictures the place, like, as you stated, the main man may have a niece or a daughter or a toddler concerned, however yeah, by no means my very own in a film. And that might be a lot enjoyable.

I do know. I guess it will be actually enjoyable for you — particularly listening to how you might be addressing all the things in your life — to deliver your expertise of motherhood right into a film.

Completely. I really like the instructions Hallmark goes in nowadays. There’s simply a lot extra alternative for stuff like that. However I hadn’t actually considered it, however enjoying a mother could be tremendous rewarding, particularly if it is in a lead function. It is superior.

So in your complete historical past of movie, do you have got a personality that you simply suppose most displays the individual you might be?

Oh my goodness, that’s an incredible query. I am positive I’ll butcher it as a result of I’d most likely want to take a seat for 3 days and actually give it some thought.

You understand what’s humorous is, with characters, I really feel like there are such a lot of that I’ve through the years aspired to wish to be recognized with or perhaps hoped I might play at some point that I’ve by no means actually considered it in reverse of characters that could possibly be a mirrored image of me.

One character actor that I’ve actually recognized over the 12 months with through the years and the best way that she performs characters. My primary is actors Reese Witherspoon; I really like how she tackles her characters. She’s additionally somebody who performs quite a lot of kinds of high-strung, intense persona characters.

And she or he’s somebody who, from a really younger age, [I’ve admired]. I keep in mind the primary time I noticed Legally Blonde, and I used to be like, who is that this actor? She’s unbelievable. She has vulnerability and depth to her, however she will additionally hammer out her traces. She’s hilarious. And she or he has that, like we have been speaking about that sort of factor, like dialed to a T.

She’s somebody I’ve at all times regarded as much as in each side of her profession. Particularly now she’s Seduces, and she or he’s so good, and her ebook membership, I do not know, simply as an entire, she’s somebody I’ve simply 100% admired. She could be my primary.

I could not cut back it to a task as a result of she’s performed so many implausible ones. Simply basically, the best way she assaults these characters is one thing I might solely aspire to emulate at some point as a result of I feel she’s implausible.

And she or he’s received such an unlimited presence now within the trade. She took her ability and expanded it past what anyone most likely ever thought that she would do. And I really like that she expects.

Oh, me too. And all these tasks, like Huge Little Lies, are so implausible. After which you’ll be able to return to early in her profession, Merciless Intentions. Wild was so implausible, and that was simply out of the left area for her profession. Yeah. Once more, I might write a paper trigger I’m such a fan.

Oh, that is good. That is good. Nothing incorrect with that. What have you ever discovered about life and love from enjoying totally different characters?

You understand, what I’ve discovered about myself is I’m nowhere close to the romantic that I are likely to fall into within the Hallmark world. I am a really sensible individual. I really feel like there is no time for love. You simply should sort out life. However enjoying these motion pictures makes me understand that there is room for softness and room for these motion pictures.

I do know this may sound so tacky, however many of those motion pictures have achieved a superb job exhibiting me that I must open my coronary heart a bit extra, be extra obtainable, and be open to spontaneity. All of those motion pictures do a superb job of reminding me of some primary components of existence, as foolish as that will sound.

No, most individuals most likely watch them for that very same purpose — as a result of we do not have quite a lot of romance in our life and have a tendency to go about life virtually. And but I feel our dream is to have that. And take a look at Annika; she most likely would not have gone in that route although she was a poet.

True. She wasn’t it like that. She’s writing about love and life, and she or he did not actually expertise it.

Completely the norm. Do you have got any buddies swept up in romance? I do not.

You understand what, only a few. And perhaps there are occasions for sure buddies and other people if you first meet and have a whirlwind romance. You meet somebody whereas touring, however you are proper; you fall again right into a routine on the finish of the day. That is an excellent level.

That is what all of us should be taught from these motion pictures. So that you must decide your characters in order that we’re watching the proper ones. That is your job, Andrea. [laughs]

Yeah. Yeah. [laughs]

So humorous. What was your favourite factor about filming this explicit film?

Oh, filming this one. This was one in all my favourite filming experiences as a result of I received to reunite with Nicholas Humphrey, an expensive buddy who I’ve labored with earlier than as a director. My producing buddy Lexi Lewis was on this, and she or he’s simply received essentially the most implausible eye on the subject of placing these motion pictures collectively.

After which additionally getting reunited with Patch Might. So this was mainly like a faculty reunion, all of us simply confirmed up collectively, and we have been like, yep, we have achieved it earlier than. Right here we go once more. That was so particular and a present as a result of there’s at all times a studying curve each time you begin a film.

You need to tiptoe and sense how the director likes to do issues if that is the primary time you have got labored with them, how the producer likes to do issues, and the way your co-lead wish to work. And typically it may be tough, typically it may take just a few days to essentially determine to, you realize, discover your group.

And there is not quite a lot of time in these motion pictures. We shoot them in 15 days or much less for essentially the most half. So three days of attempting to determine one another out is a big portion of the film. Uh, and the actual reward with it was, this was day one, we have been all laughing, making jokes.

Uh, we nonetheless, we have been recollecting of, of our earlier experiences working collectively, and we simply jumped in. In order that made this one very particular. And in addition, you realize, we have been in Winnipeg in the course of loopy snowstorms. I had my total household with me as a result of I had a three-month-old child.

In order that was loopy and wild. But it surely was additionally particular trigger each evening I might come house, my mother was, taking care of my toddler, and, so, there was a really healthful, enjoyable high quality to this film that I am at all times going to recollect.

You may get your probability to see A Lifelong Love on Friday, July 21, at 8/7c, solely on Hallmark Films & Mysteries.

Preserve a watch out subsequent week for the second half of our dialog, the place we sort out When Calls the Coronary heart, which premieres on July 29!

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a workers author and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Selection Affiliation, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of tv and movie with anybody who will pay attention. Observe her on Twitter and e-mail her right here at TV Fanatic.