Emmy-nominated actress Kim Matula (“The Bold and The Beautiful”) chatted about her upcoming Hallmark film “Ghosts of Christmas Always.”
‘Ghosts of Christmas Always’
She stars alongside Ian Harding (“Pretty Little Liars”), Reginald VelJohnson (“Family
Matters”), Lori Tan Chinn (“Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”), and Beth Leavel. “I truly had the best time making this movie,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into it because it was my first Hallmark movie but everybody was so nice and welcoming. Our director gave us the freedom to make the script our own,” she elaborated.
“My character was fun to play, and I loved that I was able to jump back and forth between the 1950s persona and this present-day persona. That was fun to explore. Ian Harding and I hit it off from day one so we were able to make it our own. It was delightful,” she added.
This new original movie will premiere on Sunday, October 30 on the Hallmark
Channel as part of the network’s annual Christmas programming.
In “Ghosts of Christmas Always,” Katherine (Kim Matula) works for the Department of Restoring Christmas Spirit as a “Ghost of Christmas Present.”
She loves her job, visiting Earth every Christmas to help one unsuspecting
soul rediscover their Christmas spirit. But this year has something unusual in store for her.
Along with her co-workers, Ghost of Christmas Past Arlene (Lori Tan Chinn) and Ghost of Christmas Future Roy (Reginald VelJohnson), their assignment is a man named Peter (Ian Harding). They’re not sure why they’ve been assigned to him because, unlike their typical cases, Peter’s Christmas spirit is on point. “I was so excited to meet Reginald VelJohnson because I watched a lot of ‘Family Matters’ growing up; Reginald is so well-loved, and he even did ‘Die Hard’,” she said.
When it appears that Katherine and Peter just might be fated for each other, their
assignment starts to head down an unusual path toward none of them could have expected.
“Ghosts of Christmas Always” is from Hallmark Media. Ryan M. Murphy is the executive producer. Rich Newey directed the film from a script by Zac Hug and Annika Marks.
On being an actress in the digital age, Matula said, “I kind of love it because it means that there are more jobs available throughout the entire year. It is a really good feeling knowing that you have opportunities more often.”
For young and aspiring actors, she said, “It’s a really hard job and sometimes it feels like your creativity is being stifled or that you are not moving fast enough. You need to stick with it if this is your passion in life. If it makes you happy, then you just have to keep doing it. The opportunities will always be there, it’s about sticking with it long enough until the opportunities present themselves to you.”
Regarding the title of the current chapter of her life, she said with a sweet laugh, “Open Season.”
‘The Bold and The Beautiful’
Matula recalled her time on the hit CBS daytime drama “The Bold and The Beautiful,” for which she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for playing Hope Logan. “Getting that Emmy nomination was such an honor,” she admitted. “I have done some of my proudest work on that show, so I was really grateful to have that work recognized.”
When asked how she handles being dialogue-heavy, she responded, “To me, that feels so natural. On a soap you only get one take, and then you move on.”
Matula had great words about working with such actors as Sean Kanan (who played her onscreen father Deacon Sharpe), Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer), and Darin Brooks (Wyatt Spencer). “Scott Clifton is a gem. I love that guy,” she exclaimed.
“Darin and Scott are both so delightful, and they are awesome people. They are both such talented actors and they are both so different. I felt like I was getting something different from each man so it was fun getting to play that love triangle. It made the push and the pull of the love triangle make sense,” she elaborated.
“It was really fun getting to work with Sean Kanan,” she added.
If she were to have any superpower, she revealed that it would be “mind control.” “There are a lot of minds that I would like to change,” she said.
On her definition of the word success, Matula said, “Doing something that makes you happy and can also pay your bills.”
She concluded about “Ghosts of Christmas Always,” “Life can present you with opportunities or throw you curveballs and maybe that is okay. In the end, you can find something that you never knew you needed.”
To learn more about Kim Matula, follow her on Instagram.
