Go Away With … Emily Marie Palmer

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By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune
December 14, 2021

“I was born in Salt Lake City, but my family moved to the Southeast when I was very young,” said Emily Marie Palmer, who co-stars opposite Machine Gun Kelly in the film “The Last Son.” “The first trips I have real memories of were the long summer road trips we made back to Utah to visit friends and family there. I absolutely loved them, and I still love long cross-country road trips to this day. When I shot ‘The Last Son’ in Montana, I actually chose to drive there all the way from Nashville instead of flying in for filming. I’ll take any excuse to get out on the open road!” The actress also pays homage to her family’s vaudeville roots with her single, “Holy Magic.” Splitting her time between Nashville and Atlanta, Palmer stays in touch with fans on Instagram and Twitter.

Q: Where in Montana did you film “The Last Son”?
A: We shot on a beautiful ranch near Livingston. One of the biggest physical challenges for me was the wild weather we experienced. When I first arrived at the ranch, it was warm, sunny and beautiful. Less than two weeks later, the temperature plummeted below zero and it snowed nonstop! Sometimes there would be these kinds of dramatic shifts within just a few hours. We were shooting in a mountain range called “the Crazies.” It was stunningly beautiful, but definitely posed some challenges in the filmmaking process. The period setting also meant that the actors had to be dressed in 19^th-century wardrobe, which really did not provide adequate warmth for the extreme climate. Fortunately, we had an incredible wardrobe team that bundled us up in between takes and worked so hard to keep us warm.

Q: I understand that you studied in France. Do you speak French?
A: I did, and I do, although I’m quite rusty conversationally at the moment. Sadly, the pandemic has meant a lot less time spent traveling and using my French. But I do understand it quite well and I love watching French films and reading French books.

Q: I saw on your Instagram that you got married in Iceland this past summer. Congratulations! How did you end up choosing Iceland?
A: Aww, thank you so very much! It was a truly perfect day. My husband, Joey, and I had originally planned to get married in the Redwoods in September 2020. After we canceled those plans due to COVID, we tried to reschedule at a different venue closer to our home, but we kept running into difficulties during that process. Finally, we realized that we had strayed pretty far from what we really wanted for our wedding day, which was just to be together in the beauty of nature that we both love so much, and to make our promises to each other in a setting that felt natural and sincere to who we are both as individuals and as a couple. We found exactly that in Iceland. We had never been there before, but we had been longing to plan a trip. I threw out the possibility of running away and eloping there, and we just immediately decided to go for it. Everything came together so perfectly — it felt really meant to be.

Q: If you had to cancel travel plans due to the pandemic, where were they to?
A: Joey and I were planning to go to London in late March 2020 for a project that he was working on. Fortunately, our airline allowed us to keep our flight credit, however, so we’re planning a trip next year — most likely to Northern Italy and Southern France, which will be new destinations for both of us.

Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
A: The destinations that are always at the top of my list tend to be ones full of mysterious, mountainous landscapes, like Iceland, Scotland and Switzerland. In Iceland, we rented a car and took our time driving around the entire island and it was just incredible. Some of the highlights for me were the mystical Snæfellsnes Peninsula, where we married, the breathtaking Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon and the otherworldly black pebble beach at Reynisfjara.

Q: What untapped destination should people know about?
A: White Sands National Park (New Mexico)! Most people I talk to have never visited. It’s truly one of the most enchanting, otherworldly places I’ve ever explored. Make sure to pack sunglasses or you’ll probably have to buy some at the gift shop, like I did. The intense desert sun reflects off of the pure white gypsum sands and it’s blinding.

Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A: Living near Nashville, some of our favorite weekend trips have been to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s a true hidden gem. We also love to go camping and Tennessee has no shortage of lovely state parks and, of course, it’s home to the lovely Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Q: What are your five favorite cities?
A: Montréal, Reykjavik, Paris, Kraków and New York. Not necessarily in that order.

Q: Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A: I felt so deeply at home in the Scottish Highlands. My mother is from Appalachia and growing up I spent a lot of time there visiting my grandmother and other relatives. The Highlands reminded me very much of the hazy blue hills of East Tennessee that I spent so many years running barefooted in.

Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A: My Blundstone boots have become a must-have item, regardless of my destination. I also never travel without whatever book I’m reading at the time, and a small journal to capture the thoughts and memories that I want to jot down.

Q: What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A: All of my best travel memories involve spontaneous adventures and meeting good people — like the time my cousin and I hitchhiked with a kindly Catholic priest in Scotland and couch surfed for a few nights with the most delightful family in Black Isle — a small village near Inverness. If you’re out there reading this, Thin family, we still love you and have never forgotten your kindness and hospitality to us during our travels! Or when I went swing dancing in New York City and on my walk home afterward I stopped to help a very lost Polish guy find his bus stop. His name was Jan, and he and I became fast friends. Six years later, we’re still close. I visited Poland for the first time in early 2020, and he was a fantastic tour guide!

© 2021 JAE-HA KIM
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