Lucia Micarelli and Michael Rady join Chelsie Overocker from House of Hallmark to talk about their new film, The Christmas Bow, premiering Sunday, November 8th, on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel.
The Christmas Bow is about a young woman named Kate [Lucia Micarelli] a promising musician whose lifelong dream is playing in the Rocky Mountain Philharmonic but put on hold when she injures her hand. While staying in Colorado she reconnects with her childhood family friend Patrick [Michael Rady] and his young cousin Gavin [Kenneth Cummins].
While recovering at home she starts to have a connection with Patrick who is her doctor and knows she will be able to play the violin again.
What makes this Hallmark story even more special is Lucia can connect with her character Kate in the movie. Lucia is also a violinist and just like Kate she injured her hand where she couldn’t play for six weeks and was nervous if she would be able to play again.
Lucia:
“When I saw the script I was five pages in and I got goosebumps. This is really freaky. [laughs] This scene in the doctor’s office kind of gave me flashbacks because I had that scene in my real life of me possibly not being able to play again. I don’t know if it was written based off of me but certainly the parallel was uncanny.”
Wow we can only imagine playing Kate and going through the emotions of having a storyline parallel to what you have experienced in real life must have brought back a lot of flashbacks of what you went through.
Lucia:
“Yeah of course! I severed three nerves in my left hand and I had to have reconstructive nerve surgery. I was in a cast for six to eight weeks and spent that whole time wondering if I was ever going to ever play again or if I was ever going to play at the same level or if my career was just over. As soon I was able to get out of the cast I threw myself into physical therapy. Similar to Kate and pushed really hard.”
Michael added
“It made this movie pretty wild that you had so many similarities. I think that contributes to the chemistry you spoke about. It just all helps to have so much truth involved in the story telling and that’s what we try to do every moment to tell the story as truthfully as possible. With that kind of stuff there is no faking required at all at that point because it is all real. But I’m pretending to be a doctor. We established that.” [laughs]
We agree with Michael. Experiencing a situation so similar to this storyline definitely makes this movie more authentic which the audience will enjoy. Plus, your on screen chemistry was amazing in this film.
Michael:
“I had so much fun working on this. One of my favorite jobs I have worked on!”
Lucia:
“Me too! I have had the best time with you. I felt like everything with you was so easy and so fun. We just laughed so much.”
What was your favorite scene while filming the movie?
Michael:
“I think the train scene I remember vividly laughing extremely hard.”
Lucia:
“We had so much fun on the train!”
Michael:
“It was so beautiful. The location they found to shoot this Christmas market and this Christmas train in Provo, Utah Salt Lake City. It was this magical realism.”
Lucia:
“It was a cross between a renaissance fair and a wonderland. It was almost like an amusement park in Provo and we just took it over.”
Michael:
“Yeah it was in the middle of a neighborhood and we went in and it’s a wonderland. They threw everything that Hallmark Christmas has. So there was a train that was going around and around. It was a night shoot and I remember getting especially giddy.”
Lucia:
“Yeah that was part of it I think. It was four in the morning” [laughs].
The train scene is one of our favorites too and we have an exclusive clip from Hallmark.
What made that scene so special was Patrick’s little cousin Gavin who picked up on Kate and Patrick’s chemistry right away. He was always playing matchmaker. He had to be an awesome co-star to work with.
Michael:
“He was like cheating. Whatever they gave him to say he would hit it out of the park. [laughs]. Our producer and director Claire Niederpruem would throw lines at him..he would hit it like a grand slam. Every single time. Another wonderful great piece of this story.”
Lucia:
“Kenneth is such a superstar. There is nothing that he can’t do. He also learned how to play the violin in like two weeks. He is super smart. He sings. He’s amazing.
Lucia also shared that Kenneth has 10 siblings and one of his older brothers was in the movie!
Lucia:
“Doesn’t Kenneth’s brother play little you?”
Michael:
“Yeah! Kenneth’s older brother plays little me.”
How adorable! We won’t give too many spoilers away but we like how the younger version of Michael’s character ties into the story.
There was another favorite scene that Michael enjoyed filming and gave a special shoutout to Lucia.
“Chelsie let me go back. You asked me about favorite scenes and I thought of another one. It was special because I felt how special it was for the entire cast and crew. They rented out the symphony hall in Salt Lake City and it’s beautiful.They filmed all of her [Kate’s] audition scenes and she has been working full steam in these audition scenes for weeks preparing. Her character had to play the best thing she has ever played in her life. She didn’t just pick something she could crush which most people would have done..she said ok what can I play that will be really hard that I will have to practice. We shot these scenes and I remember sitting there and all of these crew members coming to work. We had a nice lovely calm set and got to come to work and hear Lucia Micarelli play all day long. Everyone was so touched.”
Lucia:
“You are so sweet.”
That is so nice of you Michael and we agree! Lucia plays the violin beautifully and the audience is really going to enjoy those scenes when she is playing in the symphony hall. We can only imagine hearing her play live. We need to have you both in another Hallmark movie soon.
Michael:
“Christmas Bow 2!”
What would you like to happen in Christmas Bow 2?
Michael:
“We will call it the Christmas Stern . [laughs] What should happen? Anything can happen! I can be a doctor again. [laughs].
Lucia:
“Don’t you think they should travel the world because you’re a doctor and I can play all over the world with you.”
That would be a good storyline for a sequel. Fingers crossed we get a Christmas Bow 2.
You two are good friends and can always joke around with each other There were a lot of heavy scenes in the movie. Were any of them difficult for you to shoot?
Lucia:
“They weren’t difficult to shoot..but I cried every single take for like 28 days in a row. Then every time I would cry you would tear up.”
Michael:
“I didn’t tear up once. [laughs] But in the last take. Normally on the last day you are playing catch up on everything they haven’t gotten yet. So you need to get your schedule for that day meaning shoot the scenes you need to shoot. Our brilliant first ADR assistant scheduled that scene first up for the day. They normally shoot the big final scene last because it has that feeling that this is the finale and it’s done and it puts a bow on the experience for everyone. We did that scene first and we took as much time as we needed to get that scene beautifully.” Michael explains, “It made doing a scene like that so enjoyable.”
Lucia:
“I have to say too and I know Michael will agree. This particular crew, the vibe on set every day was just unbelievable and it felt so united. It felt like a collaboration all the time. It felt like everyone knew we were making something together. We never had a moment that I wasn’t aware of on set where things got tense or somebody lost their temper. We were in this together..across the board some of the best and amazing people I have ever worked with.”
That is great that this has been one of the best sets you were on. Hopefully we see you both in another Hallmark film soon. Since the cast and crew had great chemistry working together the audience is going to pick up on that while watching this film.
Watch the full interview here!
Thank you Lucia and Michael for coming on House of Hallmark to talk about The Christmas Bow and fans make sure you all watch the premier this Sunday on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel 10pm/9pm c.
To keep up with more of their projects you can follow Lucia on IG @theloosh and Michael @michaeljrady.
For more Hallmark related content as well as interviews with different artists that inspire and elevate be sure to follow The House of Hallmark on Instagram @homeofhallmark and Twitter @houseofhallmark.
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