Go Away With … Nikki DeLoach

Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune
November 16, 2021

“’Five More Minutes’ is a movie about hope and faith in the face of loss and grief,” said Nikki DeLoach, who stars in the Hallmark movie inspired by Scotty McCreery’s hit song of the same name. “I lost my dad three months ago, so while this movie was emotionally hard for me, it was very healing and a way to honor my dad. We filmed in Vancouver, which is one of my favorite cities. I have spent a great deal of time working in Canada and I always love it. The people are so kind and wonderful. And Vancouver is absolutely gorgeous.” “Five More Minutes” will premiere on Nov. 20 on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel.

Q: What kind of trips have you taken during this pandemic?

A: In the last two years, my family has been to almost every state in the United States of America, plus we drove up to Vancouver and across Canada to Winnipeg. We have been on so many adventures. We rented an RV on one of the cross-country trips. We started at the Grand Canyon, then went to Meteor Crater in Arizona and White Sands in New Mexico. My oldest wanted to go to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, so we stopped in Selma and walked the bridge. We spent weeks and months in Vancouver and Winnipeg, Minnesota, Montana, Georgia, Connecticut, and Oxnard. The biggest challenge was doing Zoom school while driving across country in an RV. The whole experience brought our family closer together. We will never forget it.

Q: Do you feel that a film’s location can be an integral character?

A: I think for some projects that is absolutely correct. I did a movie in Istanbul, Turkey, years ago and that city was essential for telling that story. It was one of the most interesting work experiences I’ve ever had. We did a scene where I was being chased by the Turkish police. We had actors dressed in actual Turkish police uniforms. The chase started inside the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. The vendors inside the market actually thought I was being chased by real police and they captured me and held me on the ground. I fought them, trying to get away. My arm was dislocated, and my sweater ripped. The assistant directors caught up to me and told them we were filming a movie. But we were able to film an entire chase sequence on the roof of the Grand Bazaar. To this day, I don’t know that I’ve ever shot something that was so cool.

Q: Can you tell us about one of your first times filming on location?

A: The first show I ever booked was “The All-New Mickey Mouse Club,” which filmed at MGM in Orlando. I was 12 years old, so you can imagine how fun it was to actually work at a theme park as a child. We would sneak out into the park in between breaks. It was such a blast! After (that), the first movie I booked was called “Gunfighter’s Moon” and it filmed in Maple Ridge, Canada. I was 15 years old and my grandmother and I were there for over two months filming. What’s so funny is that, for Hallmark, I’ve returned to Maple Ridge to film many times.

Q: Have you filmed in a location you liked so much that you booked a trip back there later for a vacation?

A: Hawaii! I spent a year filming a show called “North Shore” there and have since returned many times. It’s my happy place.

Q: If you had to cancel travel plans due to the pandemic, where were they to?

A: My husband and I were supposed to travel to New York for work about a week before everything shut down. To this day, I am so grateful I canceled our trip.

Q: What was the first trip you took as a child?

A: New York City. I actually went for work when I was 10 years old and loved every single second of it. I was a very energetic child and so I felt very much at home there. New York City is one of my favorite cities in the world.

Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?

A: I love Big Sur. There is something so special about that area of the country. We love to escape to Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley. If we are in the mood for the beach, we go to Oxnard or Santa Barbara. My kids love camping and fishing. There are so many incredible campgrounds throughout the West Coast.

Q: Where do you enjoy spending your holidays?

A: I like to go to our family farm in South Georgia to be with my family for Christmas. There’s nowhere else in the world I would want to be.

Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?

A: Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Croatia, Jerusalem, Madagascar and the Faroe Islands are at the top of the list right now.