Filming two movies in six weeks in a foreign country is not for the faint of heart — just ask longtime Hallmark stars Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams. But the dynamic duo says the trusted bond they forged as friends long before shooting their new Hallmark Channel movies made the process far easier and more meaningful.
Sweeney and Williams told EntertainmentNow they can’t wait for fans to watch the first of their two movies, “To Barcelona, With Love,” when it premieres on June 7, 2025 — nearly three years after they first discussed the idea at a Hallmark Channel event in New York.
“Having Ali by my side … was so incredible,” Williams gushed, while Sweeney noted how much she treasured the “safe space” they created for each other behind the scenes — and how that’s reflected in the evolving friendship between their characters.
Alison Sweeney & Ashley Williams Aimed to Reflect the Power of ‘Vulnerability’ in New Movie
Sweeney and Williams knew each other casually for years, occasionally socializing at industry events. But their friendship deepened when Williams reached out to the “Hannah Swensen Mysteries” star for some professional guidance.
In a story they tell in the first episode of their new behind-the-scenes podcast, “Mi Amor with Ali Sweeney & Ashley Williams,” Williams said she was working on a movie set, struggling to get along with a producer whom she knew Sweeney had also worked with. So, she sent the actress a message via Instagram, hoping for a little advice. Although Sweeney was on vacation with her family, she quickly replied to Williams and hopped on the phone with her, happy to help.
“That’s just Alison Sweeney for you,” Williams told EntertainmentNow. “She got on the phone with me, and we were suddenly having this very candid conversation about, like, how to navigate a really complicated personal relationship.”
That set the foundation for a friendship in which both women said they consistently feel trusted and heard, something they hope fans will see reflected in their characters’ relationship, too.
In “To Barcelona, With Love,” Williams plays Anna, an author whose latest book is a flop in America but a hit in Spain. She’s unaware that the writer who translated her book into Spanish — Sweeney’s character, American expat Erica — secretly revised the love story set in her adopted city, Barcelona.
When Anna’s dear friend, Nico, invites Anna to the Barcelona bookstore he owns, chaos ensues as she discovers her translated book is very different from the story she originally wrote in English. Written by beloved Hallmark screenwriter Julie Sherman Wolfe, the two-hour movie is full of laughs, but there are tears, too, as Williams’ and Sweeney’s characters navigate the complexities of female friendship, an unexpected love triangle, and opportunities for personal growth.
“One of the things that I love so much about this movie is the way that this friendship comes about,” Williams told EntertainmentNow. “What makes these two women friends and ultimately connect is vulnerability. (They navigate) that question that I think all women have deep down, that whisper of a question, which is like, ‘Am I good enough? I’m scared I’m not good at this. I want this, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to want this, you know?’ And that is ultimately where their bond comes from, in that vulnerability.”
Sweeney added, “What was so important, also, is the directive we got from Hallmark as we’ve been developing this, (reflecting) the honesty of the relationships and telling the story of female friendship.”
“Of course, there’s a romance that’s so vital to what we do (in Hallmark movies),” Sweeney continued, “but they were never afraid of the complexity of the feelings in the story, or what that would, you know, lead to in terms of our performance. So we felt really supported by Hallmark in that they wanted to create, like, this real friendship and have this real roller coaster ride for the audience.”
Working Through Issues On Set With Ashley Williams Was ‘So Satisfying,’ Alison Sweeney Says
Because of the honest and open friendship they’d forged offscreen in recent years, Sweeney and Williams said it felt natural to carry that over into working together as actors and executive producers. Each morning as they got ready on set, they told EntertainmentNow, they had 90 minutes to talk through questions and ideas for their upcoming scenes.
Although both women have plenty of experience as producers, working in tandem was a new kind of joy, they said.
“I’m the loudest person in the room when it comes to producing,” Williams said. “I’m the one calling out, like, ‘Wait, that makes no sense!’ So much of the time, Ali was already halfway through the sentence as I was realizing that there was a problem. Like, she is such a take-charge producer, that it actually made my life so much easier … I think so much of the time we go, ‘Yeah, like, I’m not gonna cause a stir, and you sort of are gaslighting yourself. But then having Ali (agree) was so validating.”
Being open to constructive criticism and excited to problem solve together, they often wound up proposing small script tweaks or scene changes to prolific Hallmark director Ron Oliver just before filming. Even when the two friends didn’t see eye-to-eye, Sweeney told EntertainmentNow, she loved the process of finding a way forward.
“Especially when we didn’t agree on the solution,” she said, “it was so satisfying to have someone care as much as you do about like, figuring out the way to make it work and piggybacking off of each other’s ideas.”
“You have to feel safe,” Sweeney added. “We’re so lucky that we did know each other and we did feel like we had a safe space between the two of us to (share) ideas and to say dumb things out loud, so that, you know, you could just start the ball rolling to, like, solve the problem or the question you had.”
“And I feel like the movie really improved because of those dynamics that we shared,” Sweeney told EntertainmentNow. “Being able to pitch each other ideas and just work through it, and really respecting each other’s point of view, it was just such a collaborative, positive experience the whole time.”
Hallmark Channel’s “To Barcelona, With Love,” premieres on June 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern time and will be available to stream on Hallmark+ the next day. The second movie, “To Barcelona, Forever,” premieres on week later, on June 14.
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How Alison Sweeney & Ashley Williams’ Real-Life Bond Led to Onscreen Magic (EXCLUSIVE)