Rachel Boston Talks A Gift Of Miracles [Exclusive] 

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries premieres its newest film, A Gift of Miracles, this Sunday night, and we had a chance to send Rachel Boston, who stars and associate produces, a few questions about the film over e-mail. She shot the movie last fall, after wrapping on Lifetime’s second season of Witches of East End. We asked about that, and the movie and its larger themes, and how those happened to intertwine.

Boston was approached to do the film while on location in Vancouver. “I was filming Witches of East End, and the executive producer, Tim Johnson, sent me the script,” she recalls. “Earlier that same day, I had a conversation with a friend about hoping to tell stories of faith and miracles, so it all felt divinely planned.”

She was thrilled to work opposite Rita Moreno. “She’s just filled with light! A truly joyful spirit. Bart Fisher, who wrote [the film], is a distant relative and she read the script and loved it and was on board,” she says. “Rita and I also lived in the same house, years apart, in Laurel Canyon. When I first moved in, they told me Rita had lived in the house when she first moved to LA and then years later we made a movie together. Small, beautiful world!”

Boston is an associate producer on the film, and it’s role she took on a few years ago with a film called Black Marigolds. “I am very inspired by so many aspects of the creative process of filmmaking and hope to get much more involved with producing. It’s amazing to watch something you love come to life and to be telling stories that you hope will reach and impact people’s lives and hearts,” she explains. “I love working on story and character development. And cupcakes. I like to bring cupcakes. Tim Johnson [who also executive produced A Ring By Spring] and I came up with a movie we are pitching now and hope to make very soon.”

In A Gift of Miracles, Boston’s character, Darcy, goes on a journey of faith, as she has to open her mind and look beyond the scientific validations that have defined her. Boston says who Darcy is at the end of the film is closer to who she is. “In real life, I think my favorite questions to ask is, ‘what does that mean?’ I think everything means something,” she says. “And even if people try to convince me it doesn’t, I will come up with a thousand reasons why it might. [For example], there’s a scene toward the end of the movie where one of [Darcy’s] mom’s best friends tells [Darcy] to not be afraid of love. It might be scary at first, but it’s worth the risk. I loved that moment. [Darcy’s] mom was speaking through her.”

Playing this role so closely on the heels of portraying Ingrid on WoEE was a nice coincidence, given that both projects examine the larger themes of a world beyond the physical. “[It was interesting to] explore how we are all connected, and [see] patterns in our lives and how we keep repeating them until we have learned the lesson we need to learn and are ready to move on. It certainly expanded my consciousness and I loved living in the supernatural world.”

That supernatural world got very dark in season two, and Boston says the arc was very powerful for her, especially, “the scenes with the Mandragora and the whole family coming together to protect Ingrid. And through all that she went through, she kept getting stronger. In a world where we are often asked to cover up our wounds and scars, Ingrid was able to take all that she had been through and somehow channel that for good and ultimately ended up saving herself and her family. That’s a warrior. And I love that it ended with the Beauchamps coming together to fight the dark with light.”

Although Lifetime cancelled the series last fall, she’d love to see it somehow return. “We had all sorts of adventures planned. I still want to know whose baby it is,” she says. “The support from all over the world has been extraordinary. Last we heard, there are over 100,000 signatures on a petition, which I know caught the attention of executives, so the passion is there and so appreciated by all of us.”

Boston has done both comedy and drama in recent years, and she loves the balance of both. “I certainly sleep better at night when I am working on a comedy. It always surprises me, but it’s challenging not to take it all home with you…consciously or subconsciously, I think whatever you are working on stays with you for a while,” she admits.

“I am most interested in telling truthful stories with an element of hope. Real, honest, relatable women searching for truth and navigating their own path. Those are the stories that inspire me. Ingrid was a dream role because she was a woman who was walking her own path and even when she was really scared, she found the courage to look fear in the face and do what she thought was right.”

Boston has just relocated back to Los Angeles and is looking for her next project. “I’m meeting on shows and working on development for a film,” she shares. “There are so many stories I want to tell, so I am very excited to see what is next!”

A Gift of Miracles airs Sunday night at 9/8c on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.