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Hallmark actors Ashley Williams and Paul Campbell are starring in a new movie this fall that has a deeply personal meaning to Williams. “Falling Together” is about a woman who joins the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and finds love around the same time. The movie has a special meaning to Wiliams, whose own mother died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
Shortly after her mother’s death, Williams wrote that she was angry and couldn’t find joy in the experience. But now she’s partnering with her sister and Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach to host a costume dance party that’s raising funds for Alzheimer’s research.
‘Falling Together’ Premieres on World Alzheimer’s Day
“Falling Together” premieres on September 21, which is World Alzheimer’s Day, according to a Hallmark press release shared by The Futon Critic. The movie is about a woman who finds purpose when she begins volunteering for The Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Hallmark will also sell wardrobe and accessory items related to the movie, with the proceeds benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association.
The synopsis for the movie reads: “Natalie (Williams) just relocated to Pittsburgh for work and is eager to become part of her new town. While exploring her surroundings, she comes across the perfect opportunity for involvement and joins the Walk to End Alzheimer’s as a volunteer. Meanwhile at home, her efforts to bring the building residents together as a community have fallen flat, and Mark (Campbell), the prickly super, advises her to leave well enough alone. As the two spend time together while Natalie continues her quest to win over her neighbors, she and Mark become close and a spark begins to grow. But just when it looks like building harmony has been restored, things unexpectedly unravel. Disheartened, Natalie focuses her time and energy on the Walk which just may be the path to healing and happily ever after.”
Williams and Campbell previously starred together in “Holiday Hearts” on Hallmark in 2019.
Several Real-Life Experiences Inspired the Movie
Williams said in a press statement that a number of real-life experiences inspired the movie. She said The Alzheimer’s Association helped her family when her mother battled dementia. She also had trouble finding community herself when she first moved to New York.
“I threw a ‘chili party’ in my apartment building to get to know everyone – and no one came. Once I worked my way through the shame…and the copious leftovers…I thought, ‘Maybe there’s a rom-com here!,'” she said in a press statement. “Turns out this was the perfect leaping off point to reunite with my dear friend Paul Campbell in a hilarious, warm, comedy amongst the autumn leaves.”
While the movie was being made, the Alzheimer’s Association provided notes on the proper way to talk about the disease and advocate about it, Hallmark also revealed.
Williams Once Said She Couldn’t Find Joy in Her Mother’s Illness, But Now She Helps Run a Dance Party to End Alzheimer’s
In 2016, Williams revealed that her mother had been battling dementia for 12 years when she died that November. In 2017, Wiliams penned a personal essay on Medium about her mother’s death.
“My mom, Linda, died this past November after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease,” she wrote. “I was 16 weeks pregnant with my second child on the day of her funeral.”
Kimberly Williams-Paisley, said their mother was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia. About 40% of those cases are caused by Alzheimer’s, Brain and Life reported.
In Williams’ essay, she recalled a day just a few years before her mom died when her mother was talking about her symptoms and just asked, “Why?” All Wiliams could say back was, “I don’t know.” At the time she wrote: “I’m angry about what happened to my mom. It’s tragic. I don’t find joy in it.”
Today, Williams and Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach are co-hosting the 7th annual Dance Party to End ALZ on October 27, 2024, according to the event’s website. Williams’ sister, Williams-Paisley, is the organization’s founder. The organization has raised more than $1.8 million since 2017.
Last year’s dance party was in Nashville and this year’s will be in Los Angeles, Williams shared on Instagram. Everyone attending is asked to come dressed in a HAlloween costume.
In an interview with Southern Living, Williams said she kept her mother’s diagnosis a secret at first. But DeLoach was one of the first people she opened up to. DeLoach’s father died in 2021 of Pick’s disease, a form of dementia.
Andrew Walker, who is on the committee for this year’s party, told Southern Living that his mother died after battling Alzheimer’s for 10 years. Polaha told Southern Living that his mother-in-law battled the disease too.
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