Andrew Walker Shares His Terrifying Face-Off with 'Feisty Bees' While Filming His Latest Hallmark Movie (Exclusive)
'For Love and Honey' premieres June 1 on Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel's latest movie, For Love and Honey, has a whole lot of buzz — literally — and some of it even landed on star Andrew Walker's face!
In the movie, which was filmed on location in Malta, Walker plays an American archeology professor who follows a lead to the Mediterranean island, where he meets Eva, a local beekeeper played by Margaret Clunie. They soon discover that the spot where a beehive is hiding may hold the clues to a local archaeological mystery.
"It's unlike any Hallmark movie I've done," says Walker, 44, who has starred in more than 25 movies for the network. "It's the closest thing to Indiana Jones meets a Hallmark movie. It's adventure all the way, fast-paced, we're on the road constantly, it's a treasure hunt. Also, then you add in the landscapes and the history."
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Still, if you mess with bees, you might get the stinger (that is the phrase, right?) — and the bees in Malta, according to Walker, "are known to be feisty bees. They transplant these bees into different countries, especially Canada, because they can withstand the cold. They're very, very frisky, very fiery little bees."
He learned that the hard way on his first day on the film when he, his wife Cassandra, Clunie and some of the producers went to an apiary to meet with the woman who was to be the beekeeper on set and to see the hives.
"We all have our bee suits on, and they're showing us the honey and the bees and everything, and I decided I'm going to take my phone out of my suit and record this," Walker recalls. "I back up and turn my back, open up the zipper to my suit and of course, a bee flies into my suit.
"I'm not too worried—I've been stung in the past—but I was like okay, it's just one bee, I'll try to blow it out. So I opened my suit a little bit wider and I start blowing to try to get the bee out and two more bees fly into my suit. So I got three bees in my suit at this point."
It gets worse: "Now they're flying all over my head," he continues. "They go into my hoodie and at this point I tell the beekeeper like, 'Hey, I got three bees in my suit.' We go down to the car where there's no bees and I take my suit off, and one bee is stuck in my hood and it stings me in the chin."
Luckily, Walker sports a beard for the movie, so fans won't see a welt (or makeup attempting to hide one).
"From what I hear, people pay top dollar for these things these days," jokes Walker, who has launched a skincare company called SkinMason. "I really got my money's worth that day."
Read on for more from Walker about For Love and Honey — as well as a hint at the future of his Curious Caterer mystery movies.
PEOPLE: How was filming in Malta? Had you ever been there before?
ANDREW WALKER: Never. I heard about it through Lacey Chabert, but it wasn't on my radar at all. She and Will Kemp shot their movie there, Dancing Detective. I was like, "One day, maybe I'll go there." But now that I've been, I couldn't imagine not visiting. It is an absolute gem of a place. They shot all the King's Landing stuff there from Game of Thrones, so it's castles and cliff edges looking out into the Mediterranean. This movie takes you all over Malta. We shot at basically every corner of that island.
You did A Safari Romance last year — you've been pretty lucky with the location movies lately.
I've been very, very lucky. I feel like I put my time in. I shot six movies in Winnipeg before I was given Safari!
This is Margaret Clunie's first Hallmark movie. Aside from the fact that she's British and appeared in a few episodes of the Star Wars series Andor, what do fans need to know about her?
She is incredible. Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of her in these Hallmark movies. I love the staple of incredible females that work for Hallmark, but it was so nice to see a new name coming in. These British actors, they're all classically trained. She is so adaptable and captivating, and she was ready to play. We were weathering all kinds of different weather patterns. We had lots of wind, her hair was all over the place, we had hot days, we had cold, cold mornings. She's such a talented actress and I just feel really fortunate that we were able to nab her up for this.
Tell me about SkinMason. How did that come about?
The bane of my end of my day is washing my face, taking soap and water or some sort of cleanser, having to wet my face and then do some sort of routine. That's too many steps. My wife always yells at me for using too much of her $200 serums, so I thought, "This is great because I'm the consumer." [My partner and friend, Dr. Hussein Kanji, and I] took a year and a half and met with different formulators, and we came across this serum and mild acid exfoliating pad formula. These pads have a special peptide... Both formulas are patented, and the peptide actually eliminates a bacteria that forms acne.
Basically, it's just a two-step system and it's super simple. Our two pillars are simplicity and efficacy, and we've had some really great success. I've been using it now for almost a year, and it's been great. And we officially launch in June.
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Is there anything you can share about your next Curious Caterer movie with Nikki DeLoach?
I haven't read the script yet. I know we're shooting another Curious Caterer. I know we're shooting potentially a few more because of the [viewership] numbers on this last one. Every one, for that matter. It's been such a dream — and Nikki manifested this all. It's been a wild ride and I just feel so privileged and grateful that I'm able to do this with her, with arguably one of the best, kindest human beings I know.
And what about the Three Wise Men and a Baby sequel, Three Wiser Men and a Boy?
This one is going to be — yes, I'll say it — I think this one is going to be better than the first one.
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For Love and Honey premieres on Saturday, June 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel.
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