Rachel Boston – Stop the Wedding

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) You seem to play strong, resilient and richly layered women who are fierce, but flawed. How do you go about creating them within your own projects and why it is so important to feature these types of women?

A) I think what I’m drawn to is stories of the women that I know and the people that are in my life. I have so many strong women that inspire me. I left home when I was seventeen years old to move to New York. I was alone living in Manhattan and I think when I read a role about a woman who has gone out into the world and tried something new there will be so many ups and downs. It is such a roller-coaster to figure out where you belong. So, I think it is just what I relate to is what I see in life. It’s accepting all the different sides of you: the parts that make you strong, the parts that make you vulnerable and the parts that make you dive inside and question what you want out of life. Those are the types of roles that I like to play. More and more we’re seeing things shift to where the focus is on these complex, interesting, dynamic women that you maybe didn’t see as much of before. They just have this beautiful fullness of what they are going for in life.

Q) Talk to us about the character you play in Stop The Wedding.

A) I play a woman who has been deeply hurt by love. For her to be able to find the courage to open her heart again and explore what she wants in life…that she would like to have a supporting loving partner. It is a big transition she has to enter into in order to find out and to live the life that she truly thinks she would like to have. I play a very independent woman who is a divorce attorney. She is skeptical about love so when I find out that my aunt is engaged to a man she has just met I am shocked. I get on a plane to fly home with a mission to stop the wedding. In my mission to stop the wedding, I met my aunt’s fiancée’s son who has had similar experiences with love. In this experience, we really open up to what they have been having and trying to show us it is possible. I think we are able to realize this is a pure relationship. This really is a second chance for two people to start again. They are our guides (in a lot of ways) to open us up to what we actually want in our own lives.

Q) Where do you connect and relate to with this character?

A) I relate to her independence, for sure. She is really trying to tap into her potential and with work what she is capable of doing as an attorney. Then, I think I really relate to her vulnerability with love and kind of looking at all aspects; maybe questioning it too much and being too cautious in certain areas. That’s what I enjoyed exploring. And having the family around her in this movie…Family really does come together to help her see she can have it again and that she can open her heart again and that she is safe.

Q) What was it like working with Niall Matter on the film?

A) I’ve never worked with him before. This is our first movie and it was really fun. We had so many adventures! We go from hiking to this fancy gala to Vegas and everything in between. So, we got to explore a lot of different places together.

Q) The movie is set in so many different locations. How was juggling filming in such different places?

A) The hiking location took place in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. It was right along the coast in Vancouver and it was just beautiful! So, every day we would wake up and they would take us to this new location. It was phenomenal to be all over Vancouver and I was blown away when I saw the movie with how realistic it looked, even when we went to Vegas what they were able to do.

Q) The location does add this extra character to it.

A) The spontaneity of getting on a plane with someone you barely know just adds this element of surprise and joy.

Q) What are some of your most memorable moments from filming?

A) There is this one scene where Clay and I open up to each other about our pasts for the first time. I thought it was this beautiful moment because we are out in the woods together and to sit down with someone who you barely know, but are just starting to understand and for the first time see his vulnerability and see that there is something behind all these layers he puts on when he goes out in the world to protect himself. By being out in nature it kind of peels all that away so we are able to see deeper into who he really is.

Q) So many of your films balance heart and humor and love and levity. How do you keep that balance so well?

A) This one came to me really fast. I got the script and a week later I was on a plane to Vancouver. I got to set and the producers filled me on the novel it is based on by Stephanie Bond. Nina Weinman, who wrote the screenplay, came up to set. So, I had a lot of support around me. I think falling in love and all of the great adventures and all the great adventures the human heart can go on is really funny. If you step back from how dramatic we all can be…Especially with this film, with people who are being put in such interesting circumstances, when you step back from it it is looking at the areas where you can laugh at yourself. I think then with any romantic comedy it makes it really relatable.

Q) What do you love about attending weddings?

A) When you know the people that have found great love and you know their story and what they’ve bene through and how resilient they are…To see two people who have found a soulmate when it is really pure is so beautiful to celebrate and witness. At this last experience, in Florida for my cousin’s wedding, to have my whole family there…My cousin was there when I came home from the hospital when I was born. He’s a little bit older than me and that I’ve known him from the start and for him to find this beautiful partner was just a fun celebration.

Q) You also got to work with the legendary Alan Thicke. Was there anyone you haven’t worked with that you would dream cast in one of your movies?

A) Alan Thicke is hilarious so I very, very much enjoyed worked with him. Susan Sarandon is a woman that has always blown me away. Her strength and unbelievable courage to speak up for what she believes in would make her a dream.

Q) The mark of a good movie is that it makes you laugh, cry and teaches you a lesson. What do you hope viewers take away from watching Stop The Wedding?

A) I love making Hallmark movies because I feel like the world we live in where there is so much entertainment trying to push the envelope in all of these different direction to find a home where the focus is on the heart, spirit and what people really want when they get quiet and dive inside, what they want for their lives and exploring family and where you come from. So, I think with this movie what I hope people take away from this movie is the hope and faith in second chances. No matter what you’ve been through, if you keep your heart open love will find its way in. That’s what I took away from filming it.

Q) We loved seeing you in Ice Sculpture Christmas and all the holiday centric movies of Hallmark. Are we going to be seeing another holiday movie from you?

A) I don’t know. I’m actually developing a series of movies right now with Melissa de la Cruz, who wrote the Witches of East End So, we have an idea that we are working on. But I love holiday movies. I’ve always loved Christmas movies. Growing up, that’s how we would kick off the Christmas season. We’d all get together to watch It’s a Wonderful Life so to be able to be a part of the holiday season is something I really enjoy. And we film them in June and July so singing Christmas carols in the summer is always a blast.

Q) We saw a recent photo of your “Witches of East End” cast. You often seem to do a lot of “family reunions.”

A) That’s what it feels like! Everyone came over to my place and we were going to go bowling but we ended up just catching up on life. We ended up in a sauna. There were all kinds of adventures! [laughs] It was just wonderful seeing everyone. We really were a very tight group and it did become family. So, to have a group of people that you respect and enjoy working with that are so supportive in each other’s lives is really rare and deeply appreciated by everyone that we found such a good group. We went through a lot together on the show, even the storylines of what we were exploring on the series. To have people that you trust while doing work like that, it adds so many layers to that relationship. We are still very much in touch and still very excited to get together, makes it the experience have some extra magic as well. To be able to share it with people who followed us on the show, little glimpses of our personal relationship is really special.

Q) Is there anything else be sure to share with fans about your film Stop The Wedding?

A) Just the message of second chances. It’s the thing that touched my heart. When I read it, it made me just have faith in the power of love. June weddings…I love that Hallmark is doing that now because they are just having the summer every weekend with a new take on the journey of two people find each other. And I very much enjoyed being part of it this year.