Hallmark Media The Secrets of Bella Vista
Hallmark’s newest movie, “The Secrets of Bella Vista,” premieres on Sunday, September 18, at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. The movie stars Rachelle Lefevre and Niall Matter. Read on to learn all about where the movie was filmed and the cast involved.
‘The Secrets of Bella Vista’ Was Filmed in British Columbia, Canada
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“The Secrets of Bella Vista,” which was first titled “The Apple Orchard,” was filmed in and around the British Columbia, Canada, region, including Vancouver and Langley. The film was directed by Heather Hawthorn Doyle, who often directs movies around Vancouver, British Columbia. It is also a Two 4 the Money Media Inc. production, which is a company located in Vancouver, B.C.
Robyn Wiener shared this photo during filming in the last two weeks of June, and tagged the picture as being taken in Langley, British Columbia. She tagged Lefevre in the photo, along with Doyle and others. Wiener wrote, “Horses and flyswatters. The two are not related 😉 A set is always so much nicer when you have these beautiful creatures around and, a great way to end week 2/3 of shooting.”
Hawthorn Doyle posted this next photo on Instagram during filming and wrote: “It takes a village and this is a really good one.”
She also took pictures with animals and wrote, “Let’s see if we can get these guys in the movie!”
Pictures coming from SleepyKittyPaw on Twitter showed the magic behind apple picking in June!
Oh and, if you were wondering how you get an apple picking scene at an orchard in Canada in June, well…
Kate Gajdosik shared quite a few behind-the-scenes pictures on Instagram, including this one from day three of filming. She tagged Hallmark in the picture and wrote “#comingthisfall.”
Film director Jesse Young, also tagged in quite a few behind-the-scenes pictures, shared a photo from that same scene and tagged it in the Vancouver region.
While Gajdosik didn’t share exactly which apple orchard they filmed at, she did share a lot of behind-the-scenes moments on Instagram. Here are few. Lefevre is tagged in this first one.
It’s a beautiful location.
It rained on the eighth day of filming.
Here are two of the horses who star in the film.
Day 11 was beautiful. She wrote, “Grateful to have such a stunning location to shoot all week.”
And here’s a behind-the-scenes shot with Matter and Lefevre.
H2: Meet the Cast
The synopsis for the movie reads: “Tess Delaney (Lefevre) gets the surprising news by estate executor Damhnaic McAuley (Matter) that she has inherited half of an apple orchard from the father she never knew and has a half-sister named Isabel (Helena Marie, ‘My Perfect Landing’) she didn’t know about. When Tess visits the orchard and connects with her new-found family, she learns that the orchard is dep in debt. Using her knowledge as an antiques expert, Tess and Isabel work to unravel the mystery of their grandmother’s ‘treasure’ that could hold the key to saving the orchard. And, in the process, Tess ultimately finds a new understanding of herself.“
The novel The Apple Orchard, published in 2013 by best-selling author Susan Wiggs, serves as the inspiration for this adaptation. The Apple Orchard is the first book in a trilogy titled the Bella Vista Chronicles. Back in 2016, the author made an announcement on her blog about the movie being grabbed by Hallmark.
Wiggs wrote: “IT’S HAPPENING. The Apple Orchard is going to be a movie. Whee! Tess, Dominic, Isabel, Annelise, Magnus…they’re all coming to life. My Bella Vista Pinterest boards are filled with visuals I collected while writing The Apple Orchard and its companion volume, The Beekeeper’s Ball.”
Canadian-born Rachelle Lefevre plays Tess in the movie. Earlier this year, Lefevre had her first appearance on the Hallmark Channel in the original movie “Moriah’s Lighthouse.”
According to her bio, she has starred in numerous TV shows and movies. Additionally, she has found the opportunity to pursue her passion for independent cinema during breaks from working on television projects. She has appeared in films with an impressive roster of major male stars, including Paul Giamatti, Channing Tatum, Jason Statham, James Franco, Ryan Phillipe, and Matt Dillon.
She shows her huge sense of humor in her Instagram posts.
Niall Matter plays Damhnaic. He is incredibly private in his life and does not have much of a social media presence.
Hallmark
According to his bio, Matter has recently been seen in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries original “A Rip in Time,” the Hallmark Channel original “A Christmas Together with You,” and as Nick Miller in “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder.” Matter has been in a number of Hallmark movies before, including “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater,” “Christmas at Dollywood,” “Stop the Wedding,” “Frozen in Love,” and “Frozen in Time.” Matter has portrayed Ian in three different Hallmark Movies & Mysteries films: “Finding Father Christmas,” “Engaging Father Christmas,” and “Marrying Father Christmas.”
Also starring in the movie are:
- Helena Marie (Isabel)
- Phoebe Miu (Kiley)
- Nathalie Boltt (Shannon)
- Donia Kash (Suzette)
- Amber Lewis (Lydia)
- Tasya Teles (Lourdes)
- Javier LaCroix (Ernesto)
- Gabriela Reynoso (Estella)
- Adina Insley (Small Girl)
- Lynn Whyte (Sofia Sheffield)
- Scott McGrath (Ben Trianon)
- Kalyn Miles (Doctor Denton)
- Milagros Vidal (Worker #1)
- Dave Santana (Worker #2)
- Sarah Hayward (Nellie)
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