Benjamin Hollingsworth – Love Under the Olive Tree

By starrymag | June 20, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) We will be getting to see you in Love Under the Olive Tree, and with all Hallmark movies, it really provides a great escape and a little bit of a destination getaway. Where does the movie transport us to?

 

A) This is going to take us into Northern California with a beautiful backdrop of rolling hills where there are two beautiful neighboring olive producing properties next to each other.  They kind of have a little bit of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story, in a sense.  Their families are very competitive and finally my character Jake returns home after being gone for years and years getting his law degree and passing the bar and becoming a big-time lawyer in San Francisco.  He returns home to find that Nicole (Tori Anderson), his boyhood crush, is still living in the same city that he grew up in and is working to take over the neighboring olive oil company.  Jake is sticking around for a little bit as he finds out there is a bit of a discrepancy on the property line that divides the two properties. Within this legal battle they agree to have the winner of this year’s olive oil competition getting the land during which time old childhood crushes kind of reignite and you have this playful connection between people who are rekindling their childhood romance.

 

Q) Hallmark movies are known to have these traditional meet-cute moments. This film stays in their formula with a balance with sense of heart, humor, and love; yet deviates from that at the same time with the competition being the center stage for the film.

 

A) One of the things that I think is great about the film is, I feel like most people can relate to this, their first crush.  Growing up it wasn’t like you went up to someone and said, “Hey, I have a crush on you.” When you’re a kid, you put gum in their hair and it was very much a competition in a sense that you kind of showed that you have affection for someone and that certainly was the case between Nicole and Jake.  Things haven’t really changed much in the twenty years that they haven’t seen each other.  They fall into the old routine of being competitive and taking things too far and all of this around this property dispute.  There is the same sense when we were a kid.  Also, through this competition it sparks a bond where they realize the other person really has more to them than what they thought they did.

 

Q) The movie also has kind of a theme of second chances as well. 

 

A) Yeah, absolutely it does.  All of these feuds are based on misunderstandings and lack of communication.  I think the thing that everyone can take away from this film is, most things can be settled through talking to one another.  The only reason why this particular feud has lasted for generations, it didn’t start with them when they were younger, is because no one sat down and talked to each other.  Through this rekindling of this childhood love they figure out that it actually just came down to misunderstandings and that the other person isn’t as bad they were made out to be.  It’s something that I actually think is very relevant now.  As divided as the country can be, something that unites us is love and it’s also communication and dialogue and conversation – that can really be the most powerful thing.

 

Q) I always love the energy that Tori Anderson brings to her roles, there is a depth but this charismatic ray of sunshine simultaneously. Talk about how you cultivated the dynamic and chemistry between the two of you.

 

A)  I agree, Tori is a phenomenal actress and an even better person.  She and I got along since day one and by two days into it we were really good friends.  As one does with these films, you go through a very intense shooting schedule and you spend a lot of time with each other and you really get to know the person.  Tori, I don’t know if you know this, is a very tall actress.  I am not short. I am about 5’10” and I did have to stand on apple boxes during shooting.  We called them “olive boxes” on set.  I pulled a few Tom Cruise moves out in a few close ups. [laughs] She’s amazing.  Every day, even though they were long, was so much fun because of her. We would joke around on set. She and I are both competitive people, I don’t know if they knew that when they were offering us the job, but the competition was happening on and off camera for sure.

 

Q)  I was going to say, what does the spirit of competition bring out in Nicole and Jake, but what did it really bring out between you and Tori then?

 

A) I was thinking about this, why is it that competition breeds respect and love?  Because it does.  You see people shaking hands at hockey games or football games.  There is a mutual respect after going through a competition for your opponent.  It doesn’t need to be a serious competition for you to have that respect.  I think that’s why people love playing board games so much.  It’s not necessarily to win; it’s the fun you have along the way whether it’s egging on the competition or maybe a little bragging.  That’s what we live for.  We live for that.  We’re not just competing for olive oil throughout the movie, we are really competing for each other’s hearts.  We are also competing for little fun games as we go. Through the competition we lose this generational rivalry as we start to see each other as people and that’s when the relationship starts to form.

 

Q) How much about olive oil did you end up soaking up literally and figuratively?

 

A) There was a lot of olive oil consumption happening.  Olive oil was coming out of my pores, so the makeup team had to do a little more work than they normally do. [laughs] A lot of it was consumed and I read a lot about it.  You never really think twice about olive oil. You just kind of pour it on things and sauté things with it.  I have always been a big fan of cooking and a I do a lot of cooking. And I just thought that olive oil was olive oil.  I learned about taste and different ways that it is made and how different olives affect different flavors.  It’s as complex and interesting as wine tasting or curated art because the whole thing is a craft.  Right from the start, picking the olive to pressing it and infusing it with whatever you are infusing it with.  Every bottle is somewhat different because of that.  I did find myself kind of romanticizing the nostalgia and atmosphere of olive picking and the whole olive oil making process.

 

I have an olive oil collection now.  I have had people bring me back olive oil from Italy and from all over the place.  I am going to live tweet with everyone when the movie comes out and I will present a piece of the set that I was able to take home with me.  You’ll have to hang in there to find out what that is. Although, I think you might have a good idea.  We’ll just have to wait until then to see what it is. There may be some cooking involved; that’s all I am going to say.

 

Q) Do you have any other really memorable moments from filming?

 

A) In the movie you’ll see kind of like a bicycle or go kart race that happened and that was a lot of fun because Tori, essentially, was beating me at most other things like riding a bike and other little competitions that we kind of had throughout set.  This came along and I was like, “This is my thing.  I got this.”  The day came around and it was just boiling outside. We were going around this corn maze and I thought, “This is great! Tori is going to be eating my dust. Literally and figuratively. This will be really fun.”  We ended up filming it and instead of her eating my dust it was me with the big mouthful of dirt and at the end of the day really needing to take a shower.

 

Q) Is there anything else about the film we didn’t touch on that you would like to make sure to mention or about any other projects that you have coming up as well?

 

A) I am on the series called “Virgin River” on Netflix. It’s actually a great series for anyone who enjoys Hallmark movies because it definitely has a wholesome side to it and has a lot of the spirit that a lot of the Hallmark movies have.  It takes place in kind of a small-town community. Martin Henderson and Alexandra Breckendrige are the two leads.  Annette O’Toole and Tim Matheson are also leads in the show as well.  It’s full of fantastic actors and I am a series regular as well on the show.  It’s a lot of fun.  I get to play a lot darker than I usually do as a Marine who comes home struggling to reintegrate himself into society. There are a lot of fun things that I get to do. You get to try to figure out if my character is a good guy or bad guy.  The first season you can stream now on Netflix and the second season, which will be coming out later in 2020, we already filmed it.  I encourage anyone who is starving for content right now to go onto Netflix and check it out because it’s a fantastic series.