Follow

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States LLC

One of the many things we enjoy about Hallmark projects is when our favorites show up to guest star in the franchises. Sunday night’s annual Good Witch Halloween event, Tale of Two Hearts, features Steve Byers in a super sweet outing as a Middleton resident who receives a surprise assist from Cassie and company when his girlfriend stays at the Inn.

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States LLC

Byers was excited to jump into the show, and the role was initially pitched as a two-episode stint, which is how the Halloween installment fits into the full season order. He especially looked forward to working with Sarah Power, who plays Abigail and was his love interest in the Canadian series, Wild Roses, but ended up not sharing scenes with her.

“I was happy to [do the project] because I got to see Sarah [and] hadn’t seen her in a long time. I gave our producer a ribbing about [not writing scenes for us]. That was a bummer,” he shares.

His character, Edward, is a previously unseen Middleton local who already has an easy rapport with Cassie and Sam. “I had some fun stuff with Catherine and James. They’re super lovely people,” he says. “They’ve both been doing this a long time. James is just a great, chill dude, and awesome guy.”

Byers says his character evolved a bit from an initially larger backstory. “He was supposed to be a hipster painter and he had a hipster beard. I went in for hair and makeup and I asked around about this and that and they’d ordered a piece that matched my hair and everything [but they dropped it],” he explains.

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States LLC

“I was wanting to have some paint on my hands or my pants but they said no. There were a couple of references in the script [that mentioned] I’m a local painter and I buy brushes from Cassie’s shop, but eventually that was dropped, too.”

It was a warm August when they were filming, and Byers says that seems to be the usual when you’re shooting holiday-themed shows, but he still tried to good-naturedly renegotiate his wardrobe. “I think the biggest challenge was the weather. The soaking days were good because at least we weren’t in 90-degree heat with humidity. We’re all wearing jackets. I begged and pleaded in at least four different scenes to take my jacket off,” he laughs.

“I’ve run into that often and I guess that’s just shooting ahead of time. I can’t tell you how many scenes I’ve shot in the heat of the summer and it’s trying to be fall or winter [in the story]. It’s awful They’re in there every take dabbing me and I’m flexing my pores trying not to sweat.”

The centerpiece scene that’s pivotal for Edward is set at a Halloween gala, which was filmed at a former railway station and involved several extras. Byers appreciated the complexity of capturing the moment.

“It’s this really beautiful old railway station. That front is exactly how it looks without, the decorations. When it went inactive, it became a bit decrepit. The city took it over and rebuilt it and turned it into what it is now. The exterior and interior are all that building,” he says.

“It took quite a while [to film]. It was a bit of a complicated situation of trying to coordinate the background people to separate and come together with the camera movement, and they filmed it from both sides. They shoot me and then the background people are instructed to close back in and then I walked off camera and back in.”

“There are so many moving parts. You’ve got your focus puller making sure he’s tracking to the right person and the timing. We were there super late that night. It’s worth it when it comes together.”

“A lot of directors and producers will tel you never shoot a court scene because when you have more than a few people who you need to cover and a whole lot of background people and a few cameras, it becomes sort of an orchestra. You’ve got to have a conductor who’s making sure it’s all flowing together. One [piece] can be off and it can throw the whole thing out of whack.”

Byers can be seen next in a two-episode arc of CW’s Supergirl–“Call to Action” on November 18th and “Rather the Fallen Angel” on Novemer 25th. He couldn’t share a whole lot about them, but he did give us a few teases. “[My character] is a guy who is not going to be very popular at the beginning because of his beliefs. I had the pleasure of working with Mehcad [Brooks]. We have a couple of memorable scenes, and he’s intertwined in my story,” he says.

“I think the fans of the show are going to be really happy with what they get to see. For my guy, it’s very topical. I think this whole season is very topical and people are going to find that what’s going in the world today has a real parallel. My character goes through a transformation, mentally and spiritually, so to speak. It was a really great experience. The cast and crew on that show are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. I had a lot of fun.”

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States LLC

Good Witch: Tale of Two Hearts premieres Sunday night at 8 pm/7c on Hallmark Channel. ICYMI, my interview with Catherine Bell is here and producer Jon Eskenas is here.