What Connected Hallmark's Autumn Reeser To Her Always Amore Role

Hallmark's 2022 spring flick, "Always Amore," was a standard feel-good film for the network in many ways. For example, it was filmed in Canada, the home base of many Hallmark movies. And it featured leading man Tyler Hynes, a fan favorite who has been in more than 15 of the network's productions. However, for leading lady Autumn Reeser, it was anything but ordinary.

Speaking to Love and Lattes Podcast (formerly Hallmark Happenings), the actor said of "Always Amore," "It's very different from the last movie I did." She continued to say, "It's deeper. We go deeper in this because it's a story of a woman who's lost her husband and is trying to find her footing in life again..." Indeed, the movie is about a woman named Elizabeth (Reeser) who is thrust into running her husband's restaurant after he passes away. Fortunately, a helpful consultant (Hynes) helps her find her way, both in the business world and in life.

It wasn't so much the love story that Reeser felt connected to but the role of a widow, explaining that many women might be able to resonate with the film's emotions, "The feeling of being the one responsible for holding it all together. And that's something that resonates very deeply with me."

Autumn Reeser wasn't widowed, but she may have felt the stress of solo parenting after her divorce while struggling to find herself once again. The actor and her ex-husband, Jesse Warren, were married in 2009. After welcoming two sons, Finn and Dashiell, the duo called it quits in 2014.

Her sons were quite young when she and Warren went their separate ways, meaning things may have occasionally gotten chaotic for the single mom. "The Wedding Veil" actor also had a busy filming schedule, which could also make motherhood extra challenging. Though she adores being a mom, Reeser told Green Child Magazine that it took a while to feel in control after having her little ones, "I didn't feel fully back into my own skin or in charge of my own autonomy until almost three years later. I found those years pretty awful, personally, and I was desperate to just be able to be present and love that moment with my kids, but I was so triggered by their strong emotions and the constant feeling of being needed so completely."

The feeling of being pulled in a million different directions while having to put on a brave face for her kiddos may have been what helped Reeser resonate with her character in "Always Amore."

The leading lady of "Always Amore" wasn't the only one who felt a connection with the characters in the movie. The film's executive producer, Giada De Laurentiis, also saw ties between her family history and the story playing out on screen. She told People, "I love the story of a family trying to stay together even with loss," before admitting, "The Nonna has a lot of my Aunt Raffy's characteristics. Since my grandfather passed, she's the one that still holds everybody together and tells us the stories and all that kind of stuff."

The iconic cook also saw her journey back to love in Reeser's character. De Laurentis and her ex-husband, Todd Thompson, were divorced in 2014. The former couple are parents to Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson, born in 2008. About a year or so post-split from Thompson, De Laurentis started dating Shane Farley. The Giadzy founder gushed, "I got really lucky with him, and he's very supportive, which is also a difficult thing to find later. So I consider myself lucky, and I think Elizabeth got lucky too, at the end," tying her story back to Reeser's character, Elizabeth.

Seeing as the two women most involved with the show feel a strong connection to its storyline, we think it's safe to say that Reeser was on the right track when she noted that "Always Amore" would resonate with many viewers.