Lissing sat down with Parade.com to talk about the two GAC Family projects and what he’s been up to during the pandemic and quarantine. How did you feel slipping back into the red Serge? It was nostalgic. It was a great feeling now because I’d spent so much time playing Jack as you know, that revisiting a character that I didn’t think I was gonna get an opportunity to revisit was special. To have one more chance to slip into that costume and slip into those shoes metaphorically and play Jack was great. I know you probably can’t tell us much, but what can you reveal about Jack’s return? I don’t say too much, but I think that it’s done in a really, really nice way, and I will say that it’s just Lori and I in the scene. It’s just the two of us having a nice back and forth with each other. It was a beautiful moment. Back when you knew you were ending your turn as Jack on When Calls the Heart, did you take anything from set as a keepsake? I had every intention to take the hat and I wanted to keep that Mountie hat somewhere in my house—hanging on the wall or something like that. I didn’t like wearing the hat in the scene, but I think it had some meaning there. I didn’t take it, unfortunately. didn’t really take anything, I kinda wish… I don’t know, maybe if the producers are listening to this interview… “Send me the hat!” I’m sure we can let the producers know! I’m tweeting them right now… I took a lot of memories. That’s for sure. So let’s chat a bit about A Christmas Star. Your character, a park ranger, helps out an astronomer who is looking to discover the next celestial event. Did you get a chance to do a little stargazing when you were filming? Yeah, I love astronomy, I always have. I try and get into nature away from light pollution as much as I can so I can get some perspective. It’s a good reminder, looking at the stars, it kinda gives us a little bit of perspective on our place in the universe and how small we are, but how much a part of everything we are as well. Yeah, I love stargazing, I did up there a little bit, it was just a beautiful part of Canada where we shot. We were shooting in the town called Kelowna, and we’ve got an opportunity to actually go up a mountain called Big White. We did shoot at night and it was freezing cold and it was snowing but when it cleared up and it actually did, the stars were just amazing! Do you have a favorite constellation? Yeah, the Orion constellation. I could talk about it for a long while! They say that there’s a lot of archeological sites i.e. the pyramids, also in Mexico, the Hopi tribe of North America, that structures are built in the form of Orion, it’s really interesting when you look into it. I kind of like Orion for that reason. I’ve always been looking at the stars… Every generation, we look up and we wonder. Do you have any upcoming movies or shows with GAC Family? We have such a great relationship that I’m sure we’ll continue that relationship. I hope this movie does well for them. It was actually great to shoot. I enjoyed working with them. The producer [on A Christmas Star] is Brad Krevoy. I have a contract with them to write, produce and star. I’m currently writing a Christmas movie. They’re doing so much work with so many platforms—GAC, Hulu, Netflix. Quarantine has been hard on us all. Where are you dying to go once travel restrictions are fully lifted? Well, on Saturday we’re flying to Poland. I haven’t been to Poland. I’ve been to every country in Europe, and I’ve not been to my wife’s country… So we get to spend the holidays with her family and we’re going do a little bit of traveling around and then come back for the new year. What did you do to stay sane during the quarantine? I’ve been working on projects. I have a little startup production company called Storyforces with my good friend Mike Goode, who I made “The Answers” with. We did a little thing called “Multiple Choice” back in the day in Australia, that’s when we met. That was kind of my first gig as an actor, I hadn’t really done anything before that of note. We have kept working together. We’ve made “The Answers” We’ve been working on a television show. And we have a couple of films, scripts that we’ve done. But that’s a really exciting process. That’s how I stayed sane. I just kind of try to keep creative, keep as healthy as I could. Did you ever make it to Antarctica with your cousin? Well, we were going to go, but the pandemic… That is just such a dream trip. I want to travel to many places in the world. There’s two continents I’ve not been to and that’s Antarctica and Africa. I’m really desperate to travel through Africa and also go to that beautiful continent of Antarctica. I’ll get there at some point. I’m sure you will! Do you have message to the #Hearties or #Hopefuls as fans of When Hope Calls are called… Sure! I’d like to say to all of my fans—Hearties and everyone that follows my career… Thanks very much! Merry Christmas to you all. Be safe. Have a wonderful holiday season. I love you and I appreciate you. Next, Everything We Know So Far About When Calls the Heart Season 9
