Ashley Williams and Kimberly WilliamsPaisley stage a ‘Sister Swap’
When it comes to literal sister acts, Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley are in the midst of performing one.
Despite their long acting careers, the siblings are working together for the first time – as executive producers and also by playing siblings – in Hallmark Channel’s pair of new “Sister Swap” movies. After starting a week earlier with “A Hometown Holiday,” the saga concludes with “Christmas in the City” Sunday, Dec. 12. It takes the opposite perspective from the first film as Jennifer (Kimberly, of “Father of the Bride”) and Meg (Ashley, of “How I Met Your Mother”) trade locations for the holidays, with the former trying to restore her hometown’s theater while the latter oversees her sister’s restaurant during a contest between eateries.
“Believe me, I was very nervous to ask her if she would agree to sign on,” Ashley confirms of finally working with Kimberly, “and to my great relief, she was very enthusiastic. No matter how close we are and how supportive she is of me, I have this (internal) story of, ‘What if nobody wants to play with me?’ That’s what Little Ashley would say, and this was a big time commitment, since we essentially shot these movies back-to-back over four to six weeks. Of course, she was wonderful, and I was really happy that she joined me.”
The Williams sisters turned the “Sister Swap” project into even more of a family affair: Neal
Dodson, Ashley’s husband, is another of the executive producers – and Kimberly’s countrymusic-star spouse Brad Paisley contributed a song. Also, others whom the women long have been very close to have acting roles.
“As a producer,” Ashley reports, “I got to hire Kevin Nealon, who has been a family friend for 25 years. Then we cast someone we often call our third sister, Susan Yeagley, an incredible comedian who has been on ‘Parks and Recreation.’ And my late mother’s best friend is an actress named Anna Holbrook, who holds a Daytime Emmy Award for her work on ‘Another World’ ... and she plays our mother, which was incredibly meaningful. We spent Christmases with her while growing up.”
Having also directed (on last March’s Lifetime true-crime movie “Circle of Deception”), Ashley is turning her creative attention to writing. For the moment, though, she’s content that she and sister Kimberly have been professional colleagues at last.
“She’s the first phone call I make when I’m crying or when I get good news,” Ashley reflects, “and she gives the most wonderful advice. She is really, truly my best friend, and our lives are incredibly integrated – and although there is romance in these movies, ultimately, they are about sisterhood and women supporting each other.”