It is at all times a pleasure talking with Lucas Bryant, and after a two-year hiatus, he is again with one other Christmas film, Hallmark Film & Mysteries 5 Minutes Extra: Moments Like These.
Within the movie, he performs Matthew, a good friend of Kaitlyn’s (Ashley Williams) husband, who had handed away years earlier.
It is a story about love, loss, and discovering new connections to carry you in from the chilly.
Should you questioned the place Lucas has been of late, he and his household spent the madness of COVID blissfully unaware of the world’s stress close to his spouse’s residence in Australia.
Whereas the remainder of us had been locked inside our properties, the Bryant household was working on the seashore, sand squishing between their toes.
“We ended up staying a yr and a half on this tiny city on the coast that was beautiful and unbelievable. All of it felt like a dream. I did not ship many images again as a result of I felt like an actual jerk as a result of all my Canadian associates had been nonetheless in lockdown in the midst of winter.”
However goals aren’t ceaselessly. “I have been again virtually a yr now and glad to be again in LA, however I do miss my dream life there on the seashore,” Lucas stated wistfully.
After I final spoke with Lucas for The Angel Tree in 2020, he regaled us with tales of Australian Christmas, and he and his household are desperate to make the journey again to the sunny locale as they do yearly for the vacation.
With Hallmark’s ever-expanding horizons, they integrated a Bayou Christmas celebration into their lineup this yr, and Lucas is not averse to firing up the barbie and laying down some Balmain bugs for an Australian Christmas film.
“I believe you in all probability simply set out the subsequent six months of my life,” he laughed.
“I’m within the means of throwing all types of fantastic concepts at Hallmark, and that’s going within the pot for certain.”
It is fantastic information that we’ll be seeing extra of Lucas sooner or later. He hoped he’d get the decision for a Christmas film when he received the script for 5 Extra Minutes: Moments Like These.
“I used to be honored to be requested to be part of it,” he stated. “And Orly Adelson, who was an EP on this, she and I’ve a beautiful historical past. So she reached out to me once more, and I used to be on board in a second.”
Many individuals will not know that Lucas has a thriving enterprise outdoors of performing, and it looks like destiny was calling for him to step into Matthew’s footwear.
“Properly, to begin with, in a wierd mirroring of artwork meets life, proper now, after I’m not working as an actor, I am usually doing constructing stuff. And so I am working proper now on a renovation that must be accomplished by Christmas.”
That is proper, Lucas is a real-life Hallmark character.
“Proper! In order that they had been like, ‘Properly, this man’s a contractor.’ And I stated, ‘Properly, as a lot as I can play any form of character, that is in my wheelhouse.’ I used to be proper on board. And the director, Kevin, thought it was hilarious that the issues that I used to be most explicit about had been once we had been doing numerous set up methods.
“And so I used to be identical to, ‘That is the other way up. This must go the opposite approach. Should you had been hitting this, you’d hit it from right here. And I am not going to make use of a wrench right here after I want a hammer.’ And I simply wish to guarantee that I am a plausible builder.”
If you’ve received two worthwhile professions, you would definitely wish to painting each in one of the best gentle. What would anyone consider his development work if he could not deal with the instruments correctly on display screen?
He laughed, “So I used to be my very own technical advisor when it got here to my contractor work.”
Within the story, Matthew is a neighborhood contractor with ties to Kaitlyn’s household who finds himself enjoying intermediary between a developer and Kaitlyn for the house she shared along with her husband and son.
It is “particular as a result of it was the primary home that was designed by our lead character’s late husband, who was an architect. So it is a sensitive state of affairs, clearly, however Matthew has coronary heart and soul and a relationship with the household. So he is simply making an attempt to navigate that transaction with out being insensitive to the wants of the household.”
There is not one among us who has misplaced somebody who hasn’t wished for 5 extra minutes, and the film cleverly addresses how these minutes could come even when we do not instantly acknowledge them.
It is a heavy movie with a light-hearted, loving throughline, and so they did speak about how significant the request for these minutes actually is.
“Every thing concerning the shoot was about steadiness,” Lucas stated. “I imply, Ashley is so fantastic, and he or she’s an excellent proficient and succesful actress, and he or she’s emotional and hilarious. The comedy comes simply to her.
“In order that was one thing we had been speaking about quite a bit was the best way to stroll that line and lean into the stuff that was enjoyable whereas nonetheless sustaining the required gravitas and the center of the story.
“We talked about it quite a bit, she and I. And our director, Kevin Honest, was nice at serving to us discover moments that may very well be gentle and the best way to carry the humor and lightness into extra dramatic and doubtlessly troublesome emotional conditions. I assumed Ashley was a grasp at strolling that line, and I am simply actually there for help.”
It was the primary time Lucas and Ashley had labored collectively, however their on-screen presence made it appear to be they’d accomplished it many occasions earlier than.
“I am glad to listen to that. She was really easy to work with, aside from when she was being significantly demanding, however she was fairly straightforward in her demandingness as effectively,” he laughed.
If there is a chance for a joke, Lucas at all times takes it, and the way he describes Ashley makes it appear to be an on-screen match in heaven. Lucas agreed, saying that they had a good time on set.
“She does not take herself too significantly in any respect, however she needs to do one of the best work attainable, and he or she’s simply open and straightforward and playful and so emotionally out there. It is spectacular,” he stated of his costar.
As you snuggle in and put together to observe 5 Extra Minutes: Moments Like These, Lucas hopes you’ll “buckle up and benefit from the enjoyable and heartfelt journey.”
5 Extra Minutes: Moments Like These premieres on Hallmark Films & Mysteries tonight at 10/9c.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a workers author and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Alternative Affiliation, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of tv and movie with anybody who will pay attention. Comply with her on Twitter and e-mail her right here at TV Fanatic.
