Hallmark Andie MacDowell in "The Way Home"
Andie MacDowell, 64, is more excited about growing old than she is about revisiting younger versions of herself. But going back in time is part of the job on her new Hallmark series, “The Way Home,” premiering on January 15, 2023. The legendary actress has said that element of the role was a little “scary.”
According to Hallmark press materials, the drama features MacDowell as Del, the matriarch of a family of “strong, willful, independent” women, with Chyler Leigh playing her daughter Kat Landry and Sadie Laflamme-Snow in the role of her 15-year-old granddaughter, Alice Landry. When Del welcomes them back to the family farm in rural Canada, the women work through the emotional wounds of decades-old traumatic events in their family, which involves “a bit of time-traveling mysticism.” Here’s what you need to know:
Andie MacDowell Describes Transforming Into Younger Version of Herself
GettyChyler Leigh, Andie MacDowell and Sadie Laflamme-Snow at the Hallmark Channel preview of “The Way Home” on January 11, 2023
MacDowell started out as a model in the 1980s for iconic brands like L’Oreal and Calvin Klein, and then rose to greater fame as an actress, starting with 1989’s “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” and 1990s comedies like “Groundhog Day” and “Three Weddings and a Funeral.”
In “The Way Home,” time-traveling scenes required her to undergo physical transformations so she could play a younger version of herself. In a January 6 interview with Parade, she described the process and how she embodied her character in the past.
“It was scary,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I was also thinking about how my neck looked, those kinds of things. The wig helps. And the director of photography used a softer lens to add a certain ambiance. This was a time before my character experienced so much pain, so I made sure to keep my voice lighter and happier. I changed my posture, too.”
One of the reasons MacDowell has said she said yes to the new Hallmark series was the chance to portray a strong, aging woman.
“Hollywood informs our social ideas and our culture,” she told Parade. “We’ve bought into the idea that men can age but women cannot. And we didn’t have a choice. It’s the sad truth. And like every other woman, I was affected by that. But I do think that concept is slowly changing. It’s a very slow process. Men are still glorified as they age, and women are not.”
MacDowell made headlines in the summer of 2021 for letting her famous curly hair go gray. In the October 2021 issue of Interview Magazine, MacDowell said the decision symbolized her stepping into the next chapter of her life and career.
“Honestly, it’s exhausting to have to be something that you no longer are,” she said. “I was finally like, ‘You know what? I’m not young. And I’m okay with that.’ I hate the word ’embrace,’ because it always sounds like you’re having to accept something, and I don’t feel like that. We’re beautiful at every age and glorious in our own way, and we have so much to offer. I feel so much more comfortable. It’s like I’ve taken a mask off or something.”
Andie MacDowell Reveals She’s a First-Time Grandmother
GettyAndie MacDowell attends the Hallmark Channel preview party for “The Way Home”
In her January 6 interview with Parade, MacDowell said she loves her new Hallmark role in part because she gets to play a dynamic, vibrant grandma.
“I wanted to play a real grandmother like my own grandmother—a beautiful woman who was fearless, vital, dynamic, mature and interesting and who embraced her age,” she said.
Five days later, just hours before the show’s New York City preview event on January 11, MacDowell revealed on the TODAY Show that she just became a first-time grandmother herself.
In a June 2022 Instagram post, MacDowell revealed that her son Justin and his partner Nicolette were expecting their first baby. MacDowell, who has three grown children with her ex-husband Paul Qualley, wrote at the time, “My job, my work is wonderful but my children are my life. I cannot wait to meet my sweet new grandchild.”
When TODAY’s Al Roker congratulated her on becoming a grandma, MacDowell said, “I just spent Christmas with her. I’ve never had somebody look into me and see my soul like that. It was definitely a soul-to-soul connection.”
The actress added that she hasn’t been given a nickname yet since her granddaughter can’t speak yet, saying, “I’m thinking Nana or Grandma. Not Granny. It’s up to her.”
“The Way Home” premieres on Hallmark Channel on January 15 at 9 pm Eastern.