Canadian actor Dan Jeannotte chatted about his new Hallmark film “Sweeter Than Chocolate.”
‘Sweeter Than Chocolate’
Jeannotte stars alongside Eloise Mumford (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) and Brenda Strong (“Desperate Housewives”).
This new original movie will premiere on Saturday, February 4 on the Hallmark Channel as part of the network’s annual “Loveuary” programming event.
“It’s great, it’s a really lovely and fun movie,” he said. “What really intrigued me about it when I first read it is that it doesn’t just focus on the love story between the two leads.”
“We actually get to see little snippets of a lot of different couples’ love stories, and that’s really special because it adds to the magic of the movie,” he added.
The film is based on the book of the same name by contemporary author
Lizzie Shane. This is the fourth book from Hallmark Publishing to be adapted into a Hallmark Channel original movie.
The synopsis is as follows: Lucy Sweet’s (Eloise Mumford) chocolate shop has become a Valentine’s Day mecca ever since the rumor spread that eating one of her special Cupid chocolates on February 14th leads to finding true love. “The legend is that you might fall in love soon, and we get to see all the different love stories that happen around these chocolate Cupids,” he said.
“There gets to be a great diversity of love stories, we have older people falling in love and same-sex couples. There is a nice diversity and that means a lot to me,” he said.
This rumor is exactly what intrigues local TV reporter Dean Chase (Dan Jeannotte) who is determined to debunk the local legend. The last thing Lucy wants is to let anything threaten her shop, so she reluctantly agrees to take part in his investigative research, joining him in interviewing key couples who swear they have fallen in love thanks to Lucy’s confections.
As Dean interviews couple after couple, he gets to know Lucy better. Although they both have experienced broken hearts, Lucy still believes in the power of love while Dean has lost faith in it; however, being around Lucy forces Dean to wonder if his take on romance is completely wrong.
When Dean’s boss gets excited by the developing story, she insists Dean do a live feed from the chocolate shop on Valentine’s Day while trying one of the infamous Cupid chocolates himself. Interest builds in what is being hyped as the truth about Lucy’s store.
Meanwhile, one of Lucy’s happy couples ends in disaster, and Lucy begins to wonder if Dean hasn’t been right all along. Is she really misleading everyone with naïve faith?
When the chocolatier is ready to wave the white flag and admit defeat, Dean comes to the rescue, convincing her that putting more love into the world is a good thing even if there might be some heartaches along the way.
“Working with Eloise Mumford was great,” he said. “We had great chemistry and that was super important. She’s a great actor with a great range, and I feel like I won the jackpot with her.”
“Sweeter Than Chocolate” is a Hallmark Media Production. Kristofer McNeeley is executive producer, along with producer Charles Cooper. David Weaver directed the movie from a story written by Kim Beyer-Johnson and Tracy Andreen, which is based on the book of the same name by Lizzie Shane.
“Love and chocolate can come in a lot of different flavors,” he said about the film.
The digital age
On being an actor in the digital age, he said, “I think that there gets to be an audience for more kinds of stories, even though it has made the business more complicated. The audience can find what they are looking for thanks to streaming. There is a wider variety of the stories that we tell and more opportunities for people. I am all for it.”
Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, Jeannotte said, “New Horizons.”
Success
On his definition of success, he said, “Success means where your ideals and your dreams meet up. You want to do things that inspire you and spark you. Success is being able to balance your responsibilities with your aspirations.”
To learn more about Canadian actor Dan Jeannotte, follow him on Instagram.
