Erica Durance Embraces the Importance of Different Relationships in "We Need a Little Christmas"

quotSometimes we39ll focus purely on the romantic space of love and that kind of intimate relationshipquot she continued quotThere39s a place for that and that39s awesome but there are a lot of us at different places in our lives and we have different types of relationships We don39t often see stories about struggling to connect with your child or somebody that is grieving the loss of someone I found it all relatable with so many different relationships and interactions that were all so different and so sweet I just felt this had a little piece of something for everyone who watchesquotDurance portrays Julie a recently widowed mother juggling a business and a grieving son Gavin Azriel Dalman pictured above as they enter their first holiday season alone Having recently moved Julie is trying to hold onto as many family Christmas traditions as she can to make things easier for Gavin but soon realizes she can39t do it all by herself Enter her kindly new neighbor Irene Lynn Whitfield pictured below also a widow who volunteers at the Christmas day camp Gavin is attending As Irene and Gavin form a special bond Julie creates her own unique bond with Irene But when Gavin begins confiding in his new friend Julie realizes the traditions she39s clinging to might not be in her son39s best interestquotIt was interesting to play the relationship with Lynn39s character the relationship with my son and with the character of Peter Patrick Sabongu whom Julie works withquot Durance said quotJulie is trying to find who she is and has this surprise experience of finding this wonderful neighbor who has a shared experience she can get advice fromquotDespite its heavy subject matter We Need a Little Christmas highlights the sweetness than can come from forming new relationships and making changes quotI think sometimes we do get stuck in this older spacequot she shared quotThings like 39Well this is the tradition and what we always do39 Change is a big theme that39s coming up for me in my life and for people I know Often we don39t make room for changes in our lives and the fact that we have to build new relationships and the joy that comes from finding them The film also questions things like who is our family Is it the people we39re born with or the people we choose as we go along What I hope we created is that as we may grieve the loss of a specific relationship like my character is there39s the idea that there39s hope in finding new relationships and new family It doesn39t always have to be the same You just have to be open to itquotIn doing the film Durance added two new relationships to her life that she39s thrilled to have quotLynn Whitfieldquot she exclaimed quotI39ve watched her work over the years and was over the moon to work with her In my first scene with her I was pretty starstruck It was challenging as I lost my lines a few times and just got lost in her eyes She is the loveliest person on the planet When you39re that starstruck you give a person their space but she reached out with wonderful conversation and so much advice It was such a special experience for me selfishly because of thatquotAnd Azi who plays my sonquot she added quotWhat a gem of a human He39s so talented and like this little 100yearold man in a young body He had to put up working with me a lot He was so patient and chill I have a big monologue in one scene and he asked if I wanted to run lines with him We did and he says 39Erica can I give you some advice39 He goes 39If you could just simplify things you39re trying to complicate the lines and they39re actually a lot simpler than you39re making it39 I replied 39That39s the story of my life I complicate everything39 He just goes 39Yeah39 He39s amazingquotAs a selfconfessed Christmas devotee Durance is happy to be back in the fold and spreading some joy quotI39m at a stage in life where I want a lot of hope and positivity and to tell stories that bring thatquot she reflected in closing quotI pick my projects in an isolated way depending on what it feeds me at that moment and this one felt authenticquotWe Need a Little Christmas will be telecast Saturday October 22 at 10amp160pm on Hallmark Movies ampamp Mysteries as part of their Miracles of Christmas programming eventClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Erica Durance Embraces the Importance of Different Relationships in "We Need a Little Christmas"

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Steve Gidlow

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Erica Durance Embraces the Importance of Different Relationships in "We Need a Little Christmas"

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Steve Gidlow

TAGS:

Cookies