Tonight is the final installment of Providence Falls on The Hallmark Channel. We’ve loved every minute of the first two movies and have loved how it’s kept us guessing who will end up with Cora.
However, as we wait for that to happen, we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with the stars – Evan Roderick, Katie Stevens and Lachlan Quarmby. They’ve all spoken about why they became involved, their roles, and their fate. And while it is something that we enjoy – hearing from the actors – we also love hearing from the people who decide to make the movie.
Producers are always interesting. How they find the book, why they loved it, what made them want to bring it to life….
Joanna Garcia Fisher is an actress whom I can say I have grown up with. I remember watching her on Reba and loving that show. Now it’s Steel Magnolias, and reading her website, The Happy Place. But either way – then or now – she’s been a part of my fandom life. Providence Falls included, as she’s a producer on the movie.
I asked her about why Providence Falls. It turns out that has to do with Hallmark – kind of. She was heading to Ireland to film the movie, As Luck Would Have It.
WHY PROVIDENCE FALLS
She said, “I brought the books with me to Ireland when I went to go shoot a movie for Hallmark, actually. I always have a book in my hand and just picked these off the shelf at Barnes & Noble, and I just completely fell in love. I loved the romance between Cora and Liam, but this idea that they’ve just always known each other, and there was this instant chemistry and spark and connection that I thought was so unique. Also, just loved the idea of love that lasts over lifetimes, the idea of second chances. Just all of those things felt like themes, like thematically I just felt very connected to it. I’m a huge romance fan. Jude Deveraux is a legend in that world. It was just all really incredible.”
Joanna speaks about it with such a smile on her face you can tell she genuinely loves the books. The project means something to her. When she mentions books, she’s happy.
I’ve definitely taken her book suggestions before. She suggests books on her website, The Happy Place. Don’t know about all of you, but sometimes finding a book to read is hard, so we definitely love suggestions.
CASTING
Bringing Providence Falls to life meant finding the perfect cast. Casting is not easy (I believe), and with this franchise, the three of them just fit the bill. The casting was great. So I asked about finding the cast and why they worked, “We had a lot of help from Hallmark, Jason Wood. Everyone at Hallmark just really had this vision of like– It was the same vision of what these faces needed– When they were coming to life, what they looked like.”
She continued, “Katie was someone that was on a list of people that they really wanted to work with. I just am a fan of hers, now even more, now that I know her, and I worked with her, and watched her bring Cora to life, which was a dream come true for me. We have some incredible talent in our movies. It was just a great partnership of being able to weigh in and talk about what our dreams were, and how they aligned, and finding the right cast. It was like lightning in a bottle, really.”
Time was going fast and in the corner of my screen, I saw the note to wrap up and so this was my last question.
SCRIPT
I asked, “Because a lot of time with time travel, or movies throughout time, I get confused like with, “Wait, where are they now? What are they doing?” I love how easily the script went back and forth, and it was just so beautiful. How much involvement did you have in the script?”
I had wanted to ask my question about fate, but sometimes what you want to ask and what you do are two different things. But this one, I was still interested in. She said, “It was really the creative and producing team, our creative partners at Hallmark, an incredible writer, and then our producing team, that really kept chugging away and making every– Just tweaking, making it all kind of– dialing it in, in each individual way. Making sure it made sense to our actors, too.”
The final installment of Providence Falls: Thief of Fate airs tonight on The Hallmark Channel.
I’ve loved these movies too!