Crown Media Luke Macfarlane on The Mistletoe Promise.
Luke Macfarlane recently opened up about how much he loves making Hallmark movies, while also sharing his background as an openly gay man. He shared that he hopes he won’t be judged because of his interview, and joked that he hopes Hallmark will welcome him back.
He Said Hallmark Gave Him Jobs When Others Wouldn’t
In a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair, Macfarlane opened up about his love life, his career, and his time making movies with Hallmark. Macfarlane first came out publicly about being gay in an interview with a local media outlet, The Globe and Mail. Macfarlane said at the time that he was terrified about how it might affect his career.
Billy Eichner, who plays Macfarlane’s love interest in the new movie “Bros,” told Vanity Fair that people don’t come right out and tell you “we found out you’re gay so we’re not casting you.” But, Eichner added, “my gut feeling is that he [Macfarlane] didn’t get nearly the amount of opportunities that he should have and that he deserved [what] a straight actor with his look and his qualifications and his training and his exposure was getting at the time.”
However, Macfarlane did find a home with Hallmark. His first movie was “The Memory Book” in 2014, and now he’s appeared in 13 Hallmark movies.
Macfarlane told Vanity Fair: “I always felt like I’d kind of wink at the camera a little bit because I knew that the most provocative thing they were putting on air was a gay man playing everybody’s fireman—that satisfied me for a while… If you go to my IMDB page, there’s a lot of me holding hands with some nice Christian white lady—like, yeah, I’m terrified. I’m totally freaked out by that. We all come from somewhere. We all got to learn our stuff.
He added:
You can try to hide who you are, and you can kind of try to sort of whitewash—but at the end of the day, it’s always more interesting than you could ever write. ‘The f***ing dude from Hallmark is gay? What!’ I hope that I don’t get judged for that. I hope that people understand that they gave me jobs when other people weren’t giving me jobs.
He Joked That He Wasn’t Sure Hallmark Would Want Him Back After The Interview
Macfarlane has a multi-picture deal with Hallmark Media, and Vanity Fair noted that his deal ends this fall.
When the deal was first announced, Macfarlane told Deadline: “I’m excited to be part of the joy that Hallmark brings to their viewers, not only for Christmas but to be able to participate in telling these heartfelt stories all year long. I’m really grateful to have this opportunity.”
Lisa Hamilton Daly, Crown Media’s Executive Vice President, Programming, told Deadline: “Luke is an actor whose ability to bring to life characters with heart makes him a fan favorite and we are lucky to work with him.”
However, Macfarlane told Variety in his new interview that some people at Hallmark (and some people involved with the “Bros” movie) were “not happy” when he made “Single All the Way” on Netflix.
Variety asked Macfarlane if he’ll be making more movies with Hallmark when his contract ends. Macfarlane joked, “I don’t think they’ll ever have me back after today.”
However, he did tell Yahoo in 2019 that he would fully support Hallmark one day airing a movie where a gay romance was the central story.
He said: “…I have so much faith in the brand, if they feel like that’s something that’s on the horizon for them, sign me up. Absolutely. And I know they’re really smart and I know that they are changing, so that is definitely a possibility. And I would support it.”
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