Hallmark Exclusive: Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams Ponder a Wild Days of Our Lives/As the World Turns Crossover — and ‘We Could Have Meg Ryan in It!’
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Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams are teaming up for a two-movie adventure that takes the Hallmark stars into the thriving culture of Barcelona, Spain. The first film, To Barcelona, With Love, will air on June 7 and follows the story of Erica, an American translator played by Sweeney, who secretly revises a novel set in Barcelona. Everything is fine until bookstore owner Nico (Alejandro Tous) invites the credited author, Anna, played by Williams, to the city for a book signing.
The idea for the films came together at a post-event party at a New York bar in the wee hour of 1:00 am. Williams was inspired by her own self-doubts as “identifying as a writer” and she pitched the movie idea to screenwriter Julie Sherman Wolfe.
“And she said, ‘Well, we would need a Hallmark actress who spoke a different language.’ And right then, Alison Sweeney, who I’ve been a fan of forever and a friend with forever and always wanted to work with, was walking by,” Williams recalls the moment to Soaps.com, “And I said, ‘Hey, Ali, do you speak another language?’ And she said, ‘Spanish.’”
That’s when Williams confirmed to Wolfe, “So, it’s set in Barcelona.” It’s what she describes as “Hallmark history.”
What viewers will notice right away is the chemistry between Sweeney and Williams on-screen, on their social media pages, and on their new podcast, Mi Amor, With Ali Sweeney + Ashley Williams.
They both pinpoint Williams’ February 2020 Sundance Film Festival debut as a turning point in their friendship. She wrote, starred and directed the short film, Meats, which had its premiere at the undesirable hour of 8:30 am. Still, Sweeney showed up to support her friend.
“I felt so honored to be invited by you to go to Sundance. My friend made a movie that was in Sundance. I was like, ‘Holy crap. Are you kidding? Of course, I’m going.’ And then it was spectacular,” gushes Sweeney while Williams holds back a few joyous tears.
The women also share a daytime television bond — Sweeney as Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives, and Williams as Dani Andropoulos on As the World Turns from 1994 to 1996. So, Soaps.com was curious to know what a Sami-Dani adventure to Barcelona would look like. The dynamic duo conjured up quite a storyline!
“That’s hilarious,” exclaims Williams. “I mean, my character was not as much fun as yours. So, I think it actually might be a little bit of a switch. Your character might be the one who’s like, ‘Come on, let’s go.’”
“Sami’s a lot,” admits Sweeney. “And, to travel with Sami, I feel like she would be really complicated. But from what I understand, Sami lives in Italy now. I’m just throwing this out there. This is a brilliant idea because I think Sami has a big estate and a castle she lives in, in Italy.”
Sweeney notes that Sami “occasionally” visits Salem “when things happen,” but her true happiness might be “this amazing life that she has in Italy with all of EJ’s millions.”
Williams then jumps in with where she thinks Dani ended up before she exited the show in 1996. “I think my character at the end of the show, I left for college,” she says. “I think my character was going to Greece to be with her mother [Betsy Stewart], who was played by Meg Ryan, just throwing it out there.”
“Oh my God! We could have Meg Ryan in it,” Sweeney enthuses. “We could do a Greek-Italian Riviera type thing.”
Williams sighs, “It’s probably impossible, but it’s very fun to think about.”
“It’s really funny,” sums up Sweeney.
