By Debra Wallace
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 11/28/24 – Hallmark’s Rachel Boston is eager to spread some magic, with some miracles sprinkled in this holiday season.
After more than a dozen Hallmark movies, many with a Christmas theme, Boston is starring in Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle, a Thanksgiving night Hallmark special presentation.
The hope of the holidays comes to life when Rachel Boston (Field Day, Dating the Delaneys) stars in Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle, the fifth installment based on the beloved character created by beloved author Debbie Macomber.
At Christmastime, Charlotte (Pascal Limothe-Kipnes), Benedict (Matthew James Dowden and Henry (Max Lloyd-Jones) are estranged siblings who return to their childhood home following the death of their beloved grandmother.
They only have until Christmas Eve to overcome their differences and mutually agree on which of them will succeed their late grandmother on the board of their family’s company. The homecoming also marks a reunion between Charlotte and her first love, Austin (Tanner Novlan), whose father was the caretaker of the estate.
Enter Annie Merkle (Rachel Boston), a heaven-sent visitor who arrives to help close out their grandmother’s estate. In the process, she helps Charlotte, Benedict, and Henry reconnect and reevaluate what they want in life as they come to surprising decisions and start down the path to new beginnings.
“I think so many of us can relate to life not always going as we planned or hoped for. I think what’s so special about this story, is that Mrs. Miracle comes in and she helps guide people on their way,” Boston explains.
“The grandmother allows them to work through problems when they aren’t able to find a solution,” she said. “You can see that people make things more complicated often than it has to be, and she empowers people to embrace a better life, to make better choices, and to open their hearts up to the future and not get so stuck in the past. I think that was the overall message that we were hoping to convey in this story.”
Why were you attracted to this particular movie and this particular character?
Rachel Boston: It’s such a joy to step into a world that I’ve heard so much about. I was extremely familiar with the books; I had seen the trailers for the movies that Hallmark has made over the years. To be part of this story and to bring Mrs. Miracle to life in a whole new chapter was exciting.
Did you watch the Doris Roberts’ Mrs. Miracle movies?
Right before I went to film this, I watched a little. Then I was very careful and I thought I would watch them as soon as we were done. I knew they wanted to bring something different. I had seen the trailers for it so I understood the storyline, I knew a lot about Debbie Macomber’s work and what it was based on.
Peter Benson, the director, said when I got to set, “I want to make sure that we had a brand-new perspective,” which is what we were going for. But I have so much respect for Doris and my goodness she’s amazing in this role so I knew it was big shoes to fill.
Do you believe in miracles? And in what way, if you do?
I do believe in miracles. I believe people come into our lives for a reason for sure. Even just the little things. I ran into a friend from high school at the grocery store that I had not seen in a long time. You’re like if I had left my house ten minutes later, I would not have reconnected.
You don’t know why certain things happen. I also see on a larger scale that I can feel my grandmother’s presence. Certain things have happened that I just kind of look up to the sky and I’m like, “Thank you. Thank you so much.” I do believe there are forces beyond what we can see.
As we hear in the movie, is there anything that Mrs. Miracle can’t do?
There is a line that I love so much where I am asked that and she stops and really takes time to ponder it. She’s like, “I’m not sure. I don’t know.” She’s not sure of all of her powers. I just thought it was such a funny moment in the movie when she genuinely has no idea what God has gifted her. I just love that they just leave it open to that we’re not sure.
This movie has a lot of joy and inspiration and uplifting aspects, but the family is also grieving the loss of their beloved grandmother and the previous loss of their parents when they were young. So, it’s kind of a balance between the love and the loss and the joy and the grief? How do you balance all that?
I drew a lot upon my grandmother, Elvia Billingsley, who lived to be 103 and I thought a lot about what we all were going through. In this movie, the entire family comes back to her house. [I thought about] the time I spent at my grandmother’s house and the conversations that came up. There’s one thing Mrs. Miracle talks about a lot, which is that often the way people grieve is in a different way than you would expect.
So, you see all the family members going through just a very unique experience where one conversation that I’m able to have [is] with one of the brothers, he’s looking at these old photos and he’s reliving his life with his parents. [There are] things that he hasn’t processed that his grandmother has now brought to the surface.
Looking to the future is what Mrs. Miracle’s trying to guide them all to choose love in the future over fear. I think there’s a lot of – at the beginning of the movie people are more stuck. They’re just in these stuck places in their lives trying to find how to take those strides and those steps forward.
One of the lines I liked was, “Everyone who comes into our lives is a blessing or a lesson.” Does that resonate with you?
Oh, absolutely. So many times, when we don’t know why we’re going through what we are, then you look back and you’re like, “Oh, that prepared me for this.” Or the person that comes into our lives and leads us to this new version of this new chapter. I think when we’re in it, though, it can often be really difficult. That’s why the miracle of having a woman who truly works miracles come into the household, makes it a very fun storytelling aspect.
You mentioned your grandmother. Your mom’s or your dad’s mother?
My mom’s mother. We were extremely close. So, to be able to see just her spirit and her essence. She was still traveling up until she was about 100 years old, still getting on airplanes. Just watching her embrace a whole new chapter of her life, it really was just such a gift to have.
Have you ever done any matchmaking, since that’s one of her roles in this movie?
Not the way she has. Not with the full understanding. I think that would be much easier if I did have the whole backstory from the source up above to be able to come in. But I definitely have supported people finding their way.
Was there any other research that you did for the movie?
I tried to just really be as present as possible, of course, when I was filming. My two-year-old daughter came to set a lot, which was wonderful. The way she just embraces everything in life, I think there is a little of that being a parent of a toddler. Every day you see how excited she gets about these – there are things that we get used to. I think I did embrace that a lot, just the joy that can come from the most basic. Making breakfast in the morning, just the little, simple tasks that she finds such joy in. Then I read a lot. Just looking at some old books of Billy Graham on angels, things like that inspired me.
What are a couple of reasons why you want my readers to watch this movie?
There’s so much hope. The title has joyful in it. I think Hallmark, the season this year is all about bringing joy to your world. I definitely feel like we were able to achieve that with this story. It’s a family movie. It’s a story about families coming together and even in extremely challenging times working together to find a way to move forward. I think it’s very relatable and hopefully, it will bring a lot of joy to Thanksgiving night.
That’s a pretty good spot to be in in terms of programming, huh?
It is really exciting. When we got the date, I just thought how special that so many families would be together to see this family movie. To be able to have this come into people’s homes it’s wonderful.
Let’s talk about the grandma in the movie, who even though she’s not there she’s there. What kind of messages do you think she was trying to relate to this often-fractured family?
I love that the grandma set this up. She set up my pact before she passed away and so, the story I come in with [is] including a letter from her. Of course, that was orchestrated from up above. Knowing that that was her hope for her family, she understood that she may not be able to do it in her lifetime, but passing on that she wanted her family to come together. And that they had to work together to make these decisions. I thought that was powerful, that she had the faith that they would be able to do it. Thankfully they did.
Talk about the car from their childhood that your character drives to the house in for a little bit. Are you a classic car person?
I had so much fun driving that car. I enjoy them. I have not driven them in my own life outside of I was on a ‘60s show when I first started called American Dreams. It was an NBC show. So, I drove a lot of cars from the ‘60s. I always enjoy getting to know the owner.
They always have the person whose car it is there to teach you how to drive it. I always enjoyed the passion behind keeping up a car with that history. It reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of my grandparents. It was really – it’s so special, I think, for that family when I pull up because that’s the car that they have seen before. It just brought up a lot of the memories that made them realize who they were before all of these things happened.
How often do you watch your other Hallmark movies, like A Christmas Carousel, which is one of my favorites?
It always takes me back to the period when we made it. I’ll have so many just personal memories of how we filmed this here if I hear about it. Seeing my daughter embrace these movies now, her favorite one because I make family entertainment that’s what’s so special about having her on set. Then if she is interested in them. She loves this movie called Field Day which was written by Julie Sherman Wolfe. It just cracks her up. It’s so funny that that’s the one that she goes to. Getting to share that with her is special.
I love Field Day; she has good taste.
She loves that movie so much. The song comes on in the beginning and seeing her little face light up, she asks me, “Mommy, can we watch Field Day?” and it kind of melts me. Whatever it is in that she really understood it and she just loves it.
When you meet fans, either in person or on social media, and they tell you what your movies and your performances have meant to them, what is that like?
It’s often people, I’ve found recently, that have gone through – I think what’s so beautiful about Hallmark and having uplifting TV, the stories I hear of people that have been in the hospital, or they were going through really challenging times in their lives and they say, “This is what I watch to help pull me through this period.”
That’s really profound, to be able to be a light in a dark space. I think that’s something that we heard a lot on this cruise that we just went on, the first-ever Hallmark Christmas Cruise. Just hearing people’s journeys of this is what kept me going when I was in the hospital or whatever their home circumstances were, I think that’s nice to know you’re putting something positive out in the world, especially today.
Tell me what’s was going on behind the scenes.
We were filming in Victoria, British Columbia. It was summer, so it was not cold. We had so much fun. It was such a great cast. I met Tanner, he has his whole family there, also. I met him in the hallway of the hotel. That was really fun to meet him with his kids and our kids fed the fish together at the hotel. They had these little fish ponds.
So, there were sweet moments like that. Then I knew I had big shoes to fill. When we first started filming people came up to me and they were like, “Have you played this character before?” just thinking that we had made many of them in the past. That gave me some confidence to keep going. We had such a great team and I was so thankful that we were all able to come together to tell this story.
What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?
Family time. I’m so looking forward to the fact that my baby brother is coming this year, so I’m going to get to see him. He’s a professor so his schedule keeps him very busy. I think getting everyone coming together and sharing it with my daughter now, I’m looking forward to it. Then now we have entertainment that night all set up, so that’s exciting, too.
Are you cooking?
I am in charge this year. I got very little responsibility, which I’m excited about. I’m in charge of the salad. That I feel really good [about]. That was all I was given. I said, “You tell me what to do,” and that is my responsibility. We’re doing it at my parents’ house.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?
My grandmother used to make a very southern fruit Jell-o that has marshmallows on it. That just takes me back to being ten years old at my grandmother’s house every time I see it. So it’s about very specific things like that.
Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle debuts on Hallmark on Thanksgiving at 8 p.m. ET.
