WAMG Talks To HAYLIE DUFF

In celebration of LOVE COMES SOFTLY 10th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION and LOVES CHRISTMAS JOURNEY just being released on DVD, I got the chance to talk with Haylie Duff, who plays Annie in LOVE FINDS A HOME and LOVE TAKES WINGS.

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the original LOVE COMES SOFTLY movie by reliving your favorite moments from the most-inspirational film series of the past decade with a new 10-Disc DVD Gift Set. The perfect gift to give a loved one or yourself this Christmas. Over 18 hours of beloved, heartwarming movies provides more value than ever! Each of the 10 movies are inspired by the best-selling book series from Janette Oke and include an all-star cast including: Katherine Heigl, Lou Diamond Philips, January Jones, Cheryl Ladd and many more.

Check out my interview with Haylie Duff here:

Being an actress, you get a lot of scripts. What was it about the character of Annie, and this script, that made you want to be a part of this?

Haylie Duff: Well, I knew as soon as I read this, I was definitely drawn to her and her relationships in the movie, and her being a pioneer in her day and age. A woman being a doctor, you know how difficult that is. I was also drawn to the fact that it was set in the 1800’s, and that they got to live through a time that’s so different from ours.

Several of your projects have been more Christian-friendly, such as “Seventh Heaven”, “Joan of Arcadia”, and this project as well. Is being Christian-friendly (when selecting projects) important to you, or is this more of a coincidence?

Haylie Duff: I think that it’s a fair amount of both. I think that it’s important to put out content that encourages people to believe in something, no matter, really, what it is… to find something that they really believe in, and encouraging people to be good to each other. The flip side of that is that I never really choose anything based on it being spiritual, I normally choose it based on the character. For me, with “Seventh Heaven”, I grew up watching that show, and I was a huge fan of it as a kid. When the role of Candy came along… she’s this girl who finds herself in this situation that a lot of girls… well, hopefully not a lot of girls… they find themselves in this situation being in college or in high school, and ending up pregnant. Dealing with that, and just how difficult that can be… but also how rewarding that can be without trying to glamorize it. It just shows that there are people who can get through it, and it gives them something to relate to. I tend to look for roles that tend to have something like that in them.

You mentioned that this is set in the 1800’s. What was the biggest challenge filming on a set portraying this time period?

Haylie Duff: The biggest challenge was erasing any sign of modern time. We don’t even think about some of the things we do, such as hand gestures, or certain inflections in things that you say. Something as simple as rolling your eyes isn’t something that was happening then. Things like that I definitely had to take into consideration. (Laughs).

I don’t know if I could do that! (Laughs)

Haylie Duff: (Laughs) It definitely took everyone looking out for each other and saying “Whoa! You did something that stood out!”

You recently got to go back and revisit your character of Summer in the animated version of “Napoleon Dynamite”. Did you have any idea that NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE would become the cult classic that it is?

Haylie Duff: I wanna say that we all kind of knew… There was definitely this feeling on set of unity. Everyone was really excited about what we were making, and [there was] a lot of laughter. I don’t think anyone knew that it would grow to what it has become. We all feel that it’s such a special thing, and I have life-long friendships from that movie. Efren Ramirez and Tina Majorino are two of my best friends, to this day. You know, I wanna say that we knew, but I don’t think any of us knew exactly what it was. To be able to go back, however many years later, and do it again was really special.

As an actress, is there any particular type of role that you would love to play, that you haven’t already? Or are there any new career ventures that you would like to embark on?

Haylie Duff: There are all kinds of things like that. They happen to change every so often. Right now, I’m focusing on my food blog called Real Girls Kitchen, and I am focusing on that. I just sold my first book. I just turned in my first draft this week. There are definitely aspirations.

LOVE COMES SOFTLY 10th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION and LOVES CHRISTMAS JOURNEY are available on DVD now