The Heartbreaking Hallmark Movie Scene That Was Based On Ashley Williams' Real Life

For the first time in two years, actors and sisters Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley went live on Instagram in September 2024. Though their initial conversation was dedicated to discussing Williams-Paisley's vocal injury and her subsequent surgery that she revealed on Instagram in August 2024, they also talked about Williams' latest Hallmark movie, "Falling Together," which premiered on September 22, 2024. While she expressed excitement for the film, Williams also brought up one scene in it that particularly affected her.

"Falling Together" stars Williams as Natalie Calder, a woman who, per the Hallmark Channel website, "tries to bring feuding neighbors together in her new condo building." In one scene, Williams said, Calder hosts a chili party for her neighbors, though, to her dismay, nobody shows up, minus a brief appearance by her handsome building super, Mark Wallace, played by Paul Campbell. Though the scene's sequence of events is fictional, Williams said its roots lie a real-life event.

Prior to its inclusion in Hallmark's "Falling Together," Ashley Williams said the chili party scene took inspiration from a similar experience she had when she moved to New York. Williams, who was having difficulty making friends, said she thought she could win over her fellow tenants by hosting a party. "There was this divide with the people," she said on Instagram Live. "All they need is to just come over and they're gonna just love us." For the get-together, Williams said she prepared three varieties of chili for the occasion, though, like Calder, she was disheartened when nobody arrived, save for one friend who stayed only for the first 20 minutes.

"I was crying on the bathroom floor," Williams said. Although the situation may have been disappointing when it happened, it later served a new purpose when she shared her story with Hallmark creative executive Bart Fisher, who felt it would be a fitting scenario to include in a movie.

In addition to her failed party, "Falling Together" was also influenced by another important aspect of the Williams sisters' lives. During the Instagram Live, Williams mentioned the movie is also inspired by their mother, who died of Alzheimer's disease in November 2016, according to a post she wrote on Medium. To pay homage to their mother, Williams said she asked writer Adam Kulbersh to incorporate the Alzheimer's Association's annual Walk to End Alzheimer's into the narrative. "It's like a love letter to mom," Paisley-Williams said. "I really think she would have loved this movie."