Neal Bledsoe Plays a Charming Prince in Hallmark's "A Christmas Carousel"

quotSince doing Coming Home I39ve stayed really good friends with Danicaquot Bledsoe pictured at top continued quotSo if I wasn39t in Hallmark39s solar system I was always in their asteroid belt Last year I attended the premiere of Danica39s Christmas at Dollywood and had such a lovely time chatting with Niall Matter When this popped up I read the script saw who I was playing and started imagining the fun I was going to have I was like 39This is fantastic I39ll do it for free39 But my agent said 39Don39t say that We are trying to negotiate a deal39quotPart of the fun for Bledsoe was getting to play a passionate prince named Whitaker heir to the throne of Ancadia whose family hires famed restoration experts Lila Boston pictured above and her father Roy Stuart Hughes to restore the royal family39s beloved carousel While her first impressions of Whit aren39t the best through working together artist Lila discovers his passion for the arts and two form a connection However with Whit spoken for as a part of his royal family obligations and Lila ready to interview for her dream job in America chances of a union are unlikely unless one of them can make a wish upon the carousel39s magical wishing horseWhile Bledsoe has played princes in the past for this role he turned to a famous actor for inspiration quotI saw him as this Hugh Grant characterquot he revealed quotHe had that rougeish charm and a bit of arrested development because of who he was Hugh seems to play characters that we reach for to grow up and Prince Whittaker very much seems like somebody like that But there39s another side I deeply identified with and I think a lot of people can which is this idea of do I choose a life that everybody tells me I should as my duty Or do I do the things I want to do I39ve chased that in my life and I related to thatquotKnowing how much the arts became a salvation for me at a young age and what a powerful effect they had in finding my voice that message in the film became deeply personalquot he added quotThere39s a scene where I give a speech about finding yourself in the arts it was cut a little but I really fought for a lot of the original dialogue because it was so personal to me and why Whit starting an art school was so important to himquotBledsoe admitted that he also saw comparisons to the story of Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex in the film admitting quotI39m not the biggest royal fanatic but I see royalty kind of as a secondary job In this story like the story of Meghan there is that idea of do I accept the path of tradition or forge my own way In that sense that39s something this film does very elegantly You have to find a path and I think that39s what Harry and Meghan have found It39s the story of somebody who comes from outside of royal social circles to become such a compliment and an added plus to a familyquotBesides getting to work with Boston with whom he bonded while quarantining Bledsoe enjoyed the challenge of using a consistent British accent quotI kept it going on set all the time as I really wanted to fool as much of the crew as possiblequot he joked quotThe only time it got really challenging was doing night shoots when it got really cold The muscles in my jaw would start to freeze up and I literally was unable to make the sound It started sounding like I was on quite a few horse tranquilizers But I39ll let you in on a little secret I had to do a lot of it in postproduction and I was like 39What is this accent I39m doingquotWhen it came to his other costar the majestic carousel at the film39s center Bledsoe had some interesting things to say quotThe carousel could be very difficult to work withquot he laughed quotIt mostly came in drunk I39m kidding It was gorgeous We made it our own Ancadian carousel by adding some Christmas paintings but it39s a real community carousel in North Bay Ontario Seeing it on camera is the perfect place to see itquotI really hope people fall in love with the fairy tale aspect of the moviequot he added in closing quotThese movies mean so much to people who love them and they have such a wide and deep fanbase that transcends gender race and socioeconomics People truly love these films so to be invited into somebody39s inner sanctum and give them a little joy at Christmas is pretty specialquotA Christmas Carousel will be telecast Saturday December 19 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel as a part of its annual Countdown to Christmas programming eventClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Neal Bledsoe Plays a Charming Prince in Hallmark's "A Christmas Carousel"

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Neal Bledsoe Plays a Charming Prince in Hallmark's "A Christmas Carousel"

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Steve Gidlow

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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