Crown Media Niall Matter and Marilu Henner on Aurora Teagarden Mysteries.
Niall Matter’s beard in Hallmark’s new “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” movie was a big subject of conversation when “Haunted by Murder” premiered on Sunday, February 20. Candace Cameron Bure revealed the secret about why Nick had a full beard.
Bure Said Matter Grew the Beard Because of an Injury
InstagramCandace Cameron Bure
In an Instagram story, Bure revealed the behind-the-scenes secret behind Matter’s beard. Although some fans had guessed that Matter was growing out his beard for a different role, it turns out that they were wrong. Bure said he had to grow the full beard quickly when he injured himself and needed stitches on his face shortly before they were going to start filming.
She said:
I need to give you the scoop on the beard, because many of you did not even believe it was Niall. You’re like, ‘Why does Aurora have a new husband? Where’s Nick?’ I assure you, it is Niall Matter. And the beard actually wasn’t the original plan, but Niall cut his face building something in his garage only a couple of days before we started filming. And he had a massive gash on his lip and chin and had about 25 or 28 stitches. He was fine but it was bad. So, instead of having a mangled face in the whole movie, he decided to grow his beard — which grows very, very fast.
And, it covered the stitches and all of that but it was… It was a hairy situation.
She Shared Inside Jokes from the Cast & Crew During Filming
She said the cast and crew had some inside jokes about Matter’s beard during filming.
One of the jokes was a “Just for Men” advertisement they made featuring Matter.
She said they made one for Peter Benson too so he wouldn’t feel left out.
Niall Matter typically appears clean-shaven in his Hallmark movies or with just a slight amount of facial hair.
Matter Is a Hallmark Star Because of a Major Injury He Had When He Was Younger
This isn’t the first time that an injury has affected Matter’s film career.
Matter spoke with My Devotional Thoughts about how he got started in acting. He said he had a “really bad accident” when he was around 25.
In an interview with Chicago Tribune, he shared that he was almost killed when he was crushed inside the cab of a 17-ton drilling rig.
“They had to rip me out of there,” he shared. “It was pretty awful. It was horrific actually. I got to the hospital and the doctor immediately wanted to amputate my right leg. In the end, I was able to remain intact and go through extensive physio to be able to walk again.”
He said it took him about six months just to learn how to walk again. He developed compartment syndrome because his quad muscle had essentially been ripped from his femur.
Matter explained, “My muscle had to slowly re-attach to my femur and I had to train my muscle again … It was really painful but getting back to sports and getting back to being more active really helped a lot. And I don’t have any problems at all anymore with it.”
Then when he tried to return to the oil rig, he saw a horrific accident in his first week back. He quit the next day and booked his first lead role about a month after starting a bartending job.
READ NEXT: Hallmark’s February 2022 Movie Lineup