Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Every Time A Bell Rings’ Brittany Ishibashi

Brittany Ishibashi is a dynamic talent who has blown audiences away with her transformative performances in projects including Marvel’s Runaways, Hawaii Five- 0, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and Netflix’s Grace and Frankie.

This winter she’s bringing the holiday cheers in Hallmark’s Every Time A Bell Rings.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Brittany about Every Time A Bell Rings, how she manifested the role, and what it was like reuniting with Marvel’s costar Ryan Sands.

PC: Can you tell us about Every Time A Bell Rings and your character in the film?
Brittany: Yes, of course. Every Time A Bell Rings follows the Daniel sisters. There’s Charlotte, Emily (that’s me), and Nora. I’m the middle sister. We come back to our hometown of Natchez, Mississippi to reconnect. It’s our first Christmas together after our father has passed. We come back and discover that he’s left us one final scavenger hunt to do that will hopefully bring us back together. That was something we’d loved doing as children. We’ve grown apart. We’ve gone on our own separate paths and tried to find more of ourselves. In the process of going back to our community and our family, revisiting the sights we had visited as kids, and being together, we end up finding more of ourselves—our voices, our centers, and what’s important to us.

Emily, who I play, is very career focused. She’s really into her career. She’s on a great path. She’s just eloped. She loves her husband. Everything is great. The issue that she’s dealing with is trying to integrate all aspects of her life. Her husband, Paul, played by Ryan Sands (whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with before and who is the loveliest human being in the world), really wants to have a family. I keep pushing it off to the side and hoping that if I don’t talk about it or if I avoid it, then maybe it won’t be real or something I have to deal with just yet.

PC: You’ve done it all throughout your career. What was it about this particular project and character that stood out to you?
Brittany: I’ve got to say it’s Erin Cahill. I’ve known her for years. She’s one of those people that is pure goodness and light. I remember the first time I met her. I was like, “How are you even real?” It’s this very genuine, pure light that lifts you up. She’s an incredible human being. She’s very talented. She’s an incredible actress, but we also learned in this movie that she’s an incredible executive producer. She made this movie happen through a hurricane, a tropical storm. She kept everyone safe and also made a great film.

But going back to your question, the dream is always to be able to work with people that you know and that you love. There’s something that’s truly a gift about that.

Here’s a funny story. I can get mystical sometimes. It was a full moon. I did this little crystal manifestation. I said, “You know what? I want to do a Hallmark Christmas movie. Just putting it out there: I’m going to do a Hallmark Christmas movie.” The next day, I get a call from Miss Erin Cahill. She says, “Hey, what are you doing in a couple of months?” I was like, “I don’t know. I’m home with my baby, just hanging out in Los Angeles.” She said, “Do you want to come with me to Natchez, Mississippi and film a Hallmark Christmas movie?” I was like, “The universe works in mysterious ways, and also yes.” But I was drawn obviously to Erin. I adore her and will do anything for her. But also, I love a Christmas movie—they represent warmth, family, and tradition.

It was all of those things in my heart that I was wanting more of, especially after everything we’d all gone through these past couple years. It was all of that. It was working with Erin. It was the fact that it was a Hallmark Christmas movie and the chance to tell a story about three sisters. When she was talking about it, she said, “Look, it’s the love story of the sisters. It’s about family. That’s the main relationship. It’s the love between family.” I was like, “Done, when do I get on a plane? How do we make that happen?” That was it.

PC: Speaking of that sisterhood, how did you, Ali [Liebert], and Erin build that?
Brittany: It was one of those lucky things where it all fit. I’ve known Erin forever. She’s a dear friend. Ali, I immediately fell in love with her. She’s hilarious. It was a great fit. The very first day we met, we fell right into that sister dynamic. It strangely was very easy. The very first scene we shot was the three of us in cozy Christmas PJs, all curled up on a bed, going through a photo album. It was immediate—the rapport, the jokes. It was instant from the beginning.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, Emily is struggling with balancing her personal life and career, which is something that everybody can relate to. How did you prepare to step into her shoes? When you’re portraying something that’s so universal, does that bring a different weight/pressure to it?
Brittany: It’s funny. I just had my third child. Her name is Makena. She was four months old when we flew to Mississippi to film this. You’d think after the third one, I’d have a little bit more confidence in the whole thing or a little bit more to offer about, “This is how it’s done.” I’ve come to realize that we’re all just figuring it out and making it work day by day. What works for me in that moment is different from other moments. Ultimately, what’s keeping me going and holding it all together is support and love from family and my community and my knowing that I’m a much better mother when I’m able to work and a much better artist when I can also be a great mother. Like you were saying, it’s about that integration. That’s the constant thing: trying to figure out how to be able to do both. Sometimes it’s messy, and sometimes it’s not. That’s all part of it.

PC: This project finds you reuniting with your Marvel’s Runaways costar Ryan Sands. What was it like working with him again? How beneficial was it having that prior relationship when approaching the dynamic between your two characters?
Brittany: It’s so funny. We would always joke while we were filming Runaways about how mean Ryan’s character was. Then they would yell “cut” and he’s just the biggest teddy bear of a human being that you’ve ever met.

It’s so wonderful to have that relationship and to build on that. There’s a comfort there. There’s a shorthand in the way you can communicate and the way you can work. You know how the other person works. We had that gift of having already worked for a few seasons together, so stepping into this totally different role was super fun. We were joking that we couldn’t play roles more opposite from Geoffrey and Tina from Runaways than the ones we’re playing here. It was great. It was also great to be on location with a friend and to be able to share that experience with them.

PC: The scavenger hunt brings these three sisters back together. What are some other traditions that you celebrate with your friends and family that you’re looking forward to this holiday season?
Brittany: This is my heart. It’s why I wanted to do a Christmas movie. I want it to be Christmas year-round. I’m one of three sisters. One of my favorite traditions is waking up early in the morning when it’s still dark outside and having a hot cup of cocoa. We’d sit and look at the tree and the lights and hold each other’s hands and be quiet together. We’d enjoy the stillness of Christmas morning, before everything would get crazy. That’s something that we’ve continued even now that we have our own families. We’re grown and we’ll still sit there, just the three of us.

It’s important for us to have that time together under the tree as sisters, before our kids come together and everything gets crazy and chaotic. It’s the hot cocoa mornings with my sisters. So much of it is food. I mean there’s so much food. That’s a big thing. We always do a baking day around the holidays. My mother and my sisters come together. We’ll make a kitchen full of every baked good you could imagine and then package everything up with bows and name tags. We’d deliver baskets to our neighbors and friends. It’s the best toffee you’ve ever had! My mom makes it so good. That and all the little sugar cookies. A lot of our traditions are around food.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after they see it?
Brittany: I hope they take a moment to call their family if they’re not close with them. It’s about being with your family. From the very beginning when Erin first came up with it, it always had to do with family—whether it’s the family you’re born into or the family you’re adopted into or the family that you choose. No one knows you better than your family. They’re your heart. Yes, they know all of your buttons and all that. They keep you accountable unlike anyone else can. In the past couple of years, there’s something that I realized. As long as we have that community and family, that’s all that matters. That’s the most important thing. It’s a super fun, heartfelt, beautiful movie. I really hope it fills people’s hearts and makes them want to reach out and give a family member a hug.

PC: There are so many heartfelt moments within the film, and this is definitely something that we need right now. Is there a scene that you’re really excited for your fans to see?
Brittany: It’s so much fun. It’s funny. It all goes back to our love of food. [laughs] There’s so much good food in this movie. We did so much eating. I’m excited for people to see the community of Natchez. They worked really hard. All of our producers worked really hard to make Natchez a character in the film, honoring the city’s traditions, the restaurants, the bakers, and just the community of Natchez. I hope the film encourages people to visit and learn more about that community and what makes that town so special. I’m already missing the bakeries there. They had some of the best biscuits I’ve ever had in my life. I hope it makes people hungry. [laughs] There’s a scene we got to shoot riding our bikes over a bridge, over the Mississippi River, and it’s so beautiful.

PC: I’ve got one final question for you, and it’s a two-parter. Besides this film, where can fans see you next? You manifested this role for yourself. If you can manifest another role, what would it be?
Brittany: I love this. I’m on the very final season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix. I’m working on a project with my two sisters called The Sisters Ishibashi. It’s about us growing up as a showbiz family. All of us are performers. We’re all in the arts.

As far as what I could manifest, I really want to make things happen again with good people and friends. There’s something about that where pure magic can happen. I think you can really feel the love that comes through in projects when you get to work with people that you know and love—people that are your heart. Now that I know the power of manifestation—or maybe it’s the magic of Erin Cahill—I want to keep doing things that connect me with good people.

To keep up with Brittany, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Stream Every Time A Bell Rings on Hallmark Movies Now.

Photo Credit: Michael Larsen. © Crown Media United States, LLC