Luke Macfarlane on Being Out on Hallmark and Navigating Gay and Straight Roles
And if a revival of 'Brothers & Sisters' ever came around, would the actor be game to revisit Scotty?
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There was a time when gay characters, let alone out, gay actors, weren’t part of the Hallmark movie landscape, which was known for saccharine projects that predominantly featured white, straight characters. Thankfully, as the world changed, so did the network and actor Luke Macfarlane is proof of that.
The out actor has been a regular fixture on the network for the past ten years both in lead roles in their holiday films as well as other non-holiday projects like his latest film, Crimetime: Freefall, which airs on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on Friday. In the movie, Macfarlane plays small town detective Shawn Caden who reluctantly teams up with a crime series actress named Hadley Warner (Lyndie Greenwood) to figure out why a body fell out of the sky into her backyard. Caden is surprised to find Hadley’s acting skills actually come in handy in solving the crime and, yes, he starts to fall for her.
However, working in the Hallmark universe has been anything but restrictive for Macfarlane as he’s taken on very different roles like the love interest for Billy Eichner in 2022’s feature film Bros and the murderous Amish man in Lifetime’s Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story movie last fall. Has he been surprised by his bouncing between straight and gay roles? Does he gravitate more to comedy than drama? And would he be interested in stepping into the shoes of Scotty Wandell if a Brothers and Sisters revival came around?
I sat down with the gregarious and open Macfarlane earlier this month during Hallmark’s press day at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena to get all the answers and more.
Back in the Brothers & Sisters days, Hallmark never would've had LGBTQ characters and storylines. That’s changed now.
Luke Macfarlane: In general, you have to be more competitive. The audiences are smarter. Back in the day, we just took for granted that Hallmark had this fan base that was always going to stick around, but they're savvier and they're smarter, and we’ve got to keep up.
Was there ever a period where you were just pleasantly surprised that you were still being asked back for various projects with the network? I had come out before my first Hallmark film, in fact. But I think that I didn't really understand what Hallmark was for a very long time. It just wasn't really on my radar. And then any kid in the business, mom and dad are always saying, what are you doing? And then you start doing Hallmark films and it became a thing that they liked. And then slowly other friends and contemporaries of mine, maybe I'm just speaking the fact that I'm getting older, but people started watching anyway. I'm just so grateful that they also keep making it interesting for me to continue to want to work with Hallmark as their storytelling has changed, it’s more inclusive.
What did you originally want for your career in the beginning and what do you want today? I remember the day I graduated from theater school, I was like, ‘I want an apartment and a dog and a car.’ That was my career objective. Careers are funny. I never would've imagined that this is where I would've gone. But as far as really what you want from your career is work a group of people that understand you and that working with you, and they're open to your ideas. Hallmark has always been that for me.
I still believe that Hallmark is never going to not let me do other things, too. That's truly the beautiful thing. I remember when I first read the script for Bros and there were some jokes in there about Hallmark. It was really interesting because the jokes originally in the script were about how Hallmark is not inclusive. And then by the time the movie got made, we had to make these jokes tweaks. It was a perfect example of how they've changed.
Do you consciously think, ‘I just did a straight role. I should do a gay role next?’ Or is it really just about the project? I wish it was that clear, but no, it's sort of what comes along and what speaks to you. I always want to be able to play straight. I hope that that is something that I get to continue to do. But I also, I like playing gay characters and especially on Hallmark. It's actually more interesting to play it for an audience that maybe hasn't been as exposed as much. Totally great.
Tell me about this movie and Detective Caden. I've always kind of fetishized these strong, silent types that has always been the character. I think a kid growing up watching Humphrey Bogart, those are the guys that I really want to get to do. Detective Caden is in that slightly hard boiled kind of quality but he's got a bit of a smirk to him. And Lyndie Greenwood is very, very funny in it. It's the satisfaction of watching a team of people solve a crime, which I think is what we want from a mystery. We want to see the good people figure out who done it.
Is Caden good at his job? Does he think he's good at his job? I think he's good at his job. He clearly has this other passion, which is odd to me sometimes. He loves to dance, but I think he is good at his job and maybe there's opportunity for him to reinvest in his job. Maybe that's what Lyndie's character leads me to, is loving what I do and loving my town.
I love seeing you in Platonic, which the show itself surprised me because of course you go and think it's going to be just a mad cap comedy, but there's more going on there. Are you shooting season two yet? We haven't started shooting it, but it's definitely happening. I have no idea where it's going to go but I'm thrilled. I had a great time doing that.
You’ve done comedy, you've done drama. If you've got to pick what your next big thing is which would it be? Everything that I like has a sense of humor to it. Comedy is really a part of life. There's some of the saddest movies have some of the biggest laughs in it, and I think that that's an important thing. I never really truly think of them as completely different things. Oh, who am I kidding? It'd be really wonderful to be in a Marvel movie one day. I would love the next sort of action-adventure thing. I've always enjoyed doing that stuff. I'd love to do more of it before my body falls apart.
Because things do come back around again and somebody says, okay, we're doing another Brothers & Sisters season or a reunion movie. Are you game to revisit Scotty? Scotty? A hundred percent. I often think about being a parent now. Those little kids on the show, when we left the show 10 years ago, we had a little baby and he'd be 10 years old. And I would love to see how Scotty and Kevin (Matthew Rhys) have ruined that child.
Here’s the trailer for CrimeTime: Freefall:
CrimeTime: Freefall premieres Friday, February 23 at 9/8c on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.