Little did Imani (Krystal Pleasure Brown) understand how a lot her life was going to vary simply by being stranded within the diner through which she works attributable to a snowstorm in Heaven Down Right here. Along with her had been her boss Dan (Richard Harmon), native pastor Felix (Juan Riedinger), and, most significantly, hospice nurse Clara (Tina Lifford), who went on to introduce her to somebody who would change her and her kids’s lives.
Imani seen that Clara had a photograph of her as a child (and the birthmark to show it’s her), and the opposite girl requested what she knew about her adoption. “My mother and father by no means gave me a lot data. Once I received older, I pushed, however they weren’t forthcoming. I figured it was one thing ugly like I used to be deserted, so I didn’t press.” Clara revealed that she knew who her grandmother is: her employer Nancy (Phylicia Rashad), whose daughter — Imani’s mom, Noelle — died. Noelle had a child lady named Denise Imani. “Your mom put a Star of Bethlehem on all of her paintings identical to the one beneath your collarbone,” Clara instructed her.
Imani struggled to imagine it, however “you weren’t undesirable, and also you actually weren’t deserted,” the hospice nurse instructed her. “You got to a loving household, and your start household has by no means stopped pondering of you. You’re beloved.” She then took Imani and her children to fulfill Nancy, who, at first look, thought she was taking a look at her daughter.
“It’s so loopy as a result of I at all times really feel like life is stranger than fiction. So the twist that occurs just isn’t one thing I don’t imagine that would actually occur, when she finds out that Tina’s character has been working together with her organic grandmother,” Brown instructed TV Insider. “It’s such a revelation as a result of I imagine that Imani has felt sort of the outsider for a very long time. She was adopted by mother and father who had been Scandinavian, so there was lots of cultural and societal variations that she couldn’t actually categorical and really feel, however she is aware of she was very beloved and given many alternatives by being adopted.”
She continued, “however having misplaced so many individuals in her life after which figuring out that there’s somebody there that she will be able to join with and that her children can have a reference to is completely main. And it couldn’t occur at a greater time. It’s by no means too late to restore one thing which will appear damaged. And so the truth that she finds this out and that that connection is made and a brand new household comes from that’s, to me, simply heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, and delightful. And naturally, fantastically masterfully executed by Phylicia Rashad. She is simply so magnetic and really easy to, I imply, love, clearly, however really easy to attach with in life and on digicam that it was the present of items.”
Kailey Schwerman/Hallmark Media
And so whereas the twist may be a stunning one, “that’s what religion brings. That’s what holding on can deliver,” Brown identified. “I’ve had crazier issues occur to me, so it was actually lovely, and it appears possibly even farfetched, however stranger issues have occurred.”
Nancy additionally gave Imani a letter her mom left for her: “Dearest child lady, it has been the privilege of my life bringing you into this world. I write this letter to let you already know just a few issues I want in your future. First, I want that you just develop up in a household full of affection. I hope you embrace the whole lot this world has to supply and that you just get to expertise the miracle of motherhood. Even for this temporary second of time, it has reworked my life in methods I by no means anticipated. I really like you, my candy.” Nancy defined that the personal investigator she employed stored working into useless ends, however now that they discovered one another, she needed to make up for misplaced time by having Imani and her children transfer in together with her.
“I believe this film has a giant theme of loneliness, and there’s simply a lot of those folks coping with their loneliness or feeling caught or feeling misunderstood or feeling annoyed, and to have the ability to break down these partitions and simply open up and nonetheless discover connection, I believe is basically, actually highly effective and actually one thing that’s wanted, particularly in occasions this,” Brown shared. “Folks get actually unhappy through the holidays lots of occasions, which is why I believe Hallmark at all times has these hits as a result of folks need that goodness and to recollect that there’s pleasure and lightness and romance that surrounds their lives, and that’s potential for them.”
Hallmark introduced some hope into Brown’s life in 2020 when she filmed One Royal Vacation, one of many first productions up and working after the pandemic shutdown. (She’d been doing Hamilton on Broadway when the whole lot stopped.) Not solely was she grateful to be working however the film additionally gave her a neighborhood amidst the isolation, testing, and quarantining (all of which she needed to do to shoot the movie).
“To have the ability to soar in and begin engaged on one thing that seems like a salve and a balm to the spirit, simply speaking in regards to the holidays and romance and love and connection, it was very surreal in a method as a result of we had been dwelling in such a devastation and a tricky time, then to have the ability to go and be like, ‘Oh, I’m in this type of wonderland bubble,’” she recalled. “However then the end result is with the ability to share that with different folks through the holidays and having them hopefully really feel a bit little bit of pleasure and aid from a number of the isolation and chaos that was the pandemic.”
As for what Brown wish to do subsequent if she does one other Hallmark film, “I would like there to be magic,” she mentioned. “We go from very gritty and actual to, I don’t know, she finds out that she has magical powers on Christmas Eve, the flexibility to grant needs or one thing. I’ve at all times needed to do one thing a bit bit magical in that method. So that will be a enjoyable hybrid.”
