Katrina Law – Christmas with the Darlings

By starrymag | November 8, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) We’ll be seeing you shortly in the Hallmark Channel movie Christmas with the Darlings and we know a lot of your powerful, physical work that we get to see in so many diverse series.  This is kind of a slower paced type of project and I wanted to ask what drew you to this project and the change of pace?

 

A) I love being the in the Hallmark family and the fact that they have asked me to come back for a third movie makes me feel so honored and I am so happy to do it, especially since my sister-in-law Tracy Andreen also wrote this movie.  She wrote Snow Bride, the very first Hallmark movie that I was in.  So, getting to kind of team up with some of my favorites again was just a no-brainer and a very quick easy yes for me to say to this project.

But, yeah, slowing down the pace a little bit and taking a lot of the violence out is actually quite a wonderful thing.  Getting to be upbeat and just generally happy is a lot of fun compared to a lot of the angst and drama I have done in the other roles that I do, which I appreciate just as much but it is always nice as an artist to be able to change things up.

The thing that I love about being a part of the Hallmark movies is that you feel good when you watch them and it’s a family friendly channel.  My dad, I am not even joking, has it on twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.  I feel very safe watching movies with him and my mom.  Also, with my daughter watching television, I know that there is not going to be any crazy violent unpleasant surprises for her that I have to later explain.

It’s just really lovely to be a part of something that makes people feel good. And because the holidays are coming around, the Hallmark movies are some of my favorite. I just love watching them because they make me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

Q) Christmas with the Darlings isn’t your typical Hallmark meet-cute movie.  You get this assistant who gives her final notice and then ends up with the wealthy boss’s brother.  It’s not your typical set we see from Hallmark.  I wanted to talk a little about how that element still adds to the warmth and hallmark of Hallmark films.

 

A) I play Jessica Lew who is the assistant to her wealthy boss and CEO of the company because she has finally finished up her law degree.  She’s not leaving the company, but she’s going to be working for the company in a different capacity as an attorney.  She has given her two weeks and she is going to go off and do her Christmas break and then come back in January.

But then she finds out that her boss’s nieces and nephews who have been orphaned and have been living in Australia with relatives are now coming back to the states and will be staying with them. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, they are being shipped off to boarding school during the holidays.  Of course, Jessica thinks this is a horrible idea, so she ends up volunteering to watch the kids during the holidays even though this is her only time off because she feels compelled to do so.  Something about her just makes her really want to do this.  Unbeknownst to her, the younger brother Max (who is played by Carlo [Marks]) suddenly jumps in and volunteers to watch the kids with her – which is quite surprising.  So, all of a sudden, she finds herself in this situation of watching three kids that aren’t her own with a man who has basically been kind of a man-child to her and who is the annoying lovable charming younger brother of her boss.  She is now suddenly in this position with him and then, of course, you see them unfold and become this family. Then, she starts to view him in a different light. You find out that he has always had a crush on her the entire and then sparks fly.

 

Q) What is it about your role as Jessica that you connected with?

 

A) I love how confident she is as a person.  So, this is one of the roles where she isn’t pining for love. She isn’t looking for love. She isn’t in need of something to fulfill her.  She suddenly comes across something she realizes adds something to her life that she didn’t even realize was missing.  So, it’s very lovely to see a woman who isn’t going, “These are my responsibilities. This is my path in life. This is what I feel like I am supposed to do.”  She is super loyal to not only Charles Darling, her boss, but to the company for everything when they stood by her and helped her through as she was working as the personal assistant.  As the movie progresses you start to get this feeling of maybe she is only pursuing this trajectory of her life at this point because of loyalty and because of her sense of duty.  Not because of her passion or what she really wants to do in life.  You see her struggle between loyalty and taking care of herself.  You start to see her make the shift and eventually what ends up pushing her over the edge is her love of the children and her newfound of love of Max.  Also, the blessing from her boss Charles whom she looks up to in almost a boss/fatherly/older brother capacity.  Everything kind of clicks into place for her and she finds herself on the path that she was always meant to be on.

 

Q) She has this great ambition and suddenly this clicks for her this isn’t exactly what she wants and why she wants it.

 

A) Yes, exactly.

 

Q) It’s so wonderful to hear the personal and professional connection that has been fostered for you with Hallmark.  What kind of spirit did it fill with you for the holidays even though it wasn’t filmed at that time?

 

A) Unfortunately, during this movie for Hallmark it was shot during the summer and we were wearing very thick coats and lots of layers.  But because it was Canada it was a lot cooler where we were at in Big Bear and at snow rise it was about ninety degrees and we just sweat the entire time.  That aspect of it isn’t always the nicest part of filming a Hallmark movie out of season, but I am not going to lie. And having an entire set of Christmas decorations and Christmas trees and random set cookies that you are not supposed to eat and try to wait and eat them during the scene, it’s quite magical.  I feel really lucky.

 

Q) Certainly, the holidays are going to look a lot different for a lot of us this season, what are some of your favorite holiday traditions and favorite things that you are looking forward to and maybe have to modify this year?

 

A) Well, I am definitely going to have to modify Christmas parties and family gatherings and just trying to find ways to either see people one on one on a socially distant kind of way and have it be more a safer set up.  Or possibly having to skip it depending on what the numbers are looking like around the country.  One of the things I am looking forward to, which I know we can still do, is getting in the car and just driving around neighborhoods and just looking at Christmas and Hanukkah decorations.  I will be taking my daughter around for the first time and having her really be able to understand the lights. I think that will be a lot of fun.

 

Q) Are there any fun behind the scenes moments from filming that you have taken away from being a part of the movie?

 

A) There was a scene where it was my character, Carlos’ character and the three kids and we were all drinking hot chocolate.  Just the way that it was set up, there were so many angles to shoot because there were five of us and everybody had a line.  It took a lot longer to shoot that tiny little scene than I thought.  The amount of hot chocolate and whipped cream that was consumed was nauseating.  The next day they brought out another can of whipped cream that they had for something and I actually kind of gagged a little bit.  Even the kids, you saw them getting ramped up and then they just crashed so hard to the point where even the one little girl was like, “I never thought I would say this, but I can’t eat anymore whipped cream.”  We were like, “What is happening right now?!”  So, yeah, everybody kind of overdosed on whipped cream in that scene and then, of course kids being kids, the amount of candy canes and whipped cream and hot chocolate was all down the front of places and hands.  It was a mess.  It was a hot mess.  I will look at that scene fondly knowing we probably look angelic and very well put together, but we were sugar crashing.

 

Q) We often see you play these complex, richly layered and complex female characters.  What is it about these strong female characters that have left an imprint on you and what you carry with you from portraying them so poignantly?

 

A) I think the female characters that I play that are strong are a lot more opinionated than I am I think in general.  I kind of just go along with life and I make fun of myself for being able to see both sides of the story and I coast along the line most of the time and I am just trying to have a good day.  And these characters that I play are strongly opinionated about whatever they are thinking and they go after those goals.  I think that’s one of those things that I have been trying to bring into my life a little bit more.  Just be a little stronger and take a stance on things in one way or the other versus, “Well, I can see your point and his point and being that annoying person.”

I think I see them as just being who I would really like to be, but I am not.

 

Q) Is there anything else about the film that you’d like to say to fans to look forward to or are there any other projects you have coming up?

 

A) Just want to say thank you for tuning and checking out Christmas with the Darlings. I hope that you enjoy it.  Be safe and stay positive.  We are all going to get through this pandemic together.  Enjoy the holidays as much as you can and just stay safe.