Last year, the UP channel premiered Love Finds You In Charm, a coming of age story based off Guideposts author Annalisa Daughtey’s book of the same name. With the film recently releasing on DVD, Guideposts caught up with one of it’s stars, Danielle Chuchran. Chuchran plays Emma Miller — a small-town Amish girl with dreams of a life removed from her stifiling community. The movie follows Emma’s journey of self-discovery as she finds love with a farm boy named Noah Weaver (played by Texas Rising star Trevor Donovan) and friendship in the small town of Charm, Ohio.
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Chuchran shared with Guideposts.org why she was excited to be a part of Emma’s story, the suprising thing she learned about the Amish community and the influence she hopes the film has on audiences.
What drew you to the story?
I thought it was a beautiful story of self discovery. Emma was looking so hard for a life so different from the one that she led, but ultimately she realized that everything that she could ever want was right in front of her. I felt the story was easily relatable to so many people in the world.
What’s one way you wish you were more like your character?
Emma has so many wonderful qualities about her. I feel my favorite is her longing for her individuality, she knows she is different and she embraces it. I wish that sometimes I had more confidence in my uniqueness and didn’t feel the pressures to conform to how people believe I should be.
The story was filmed in Amish country. What’s one thing you learned about the Amish way of life that you didn’t know before?
It was fascinating to learn about the different groups of Amish people. There are certain groups that are much stricter than others. We had a wonderful young woman on set with us who brought the horse and buggy we used who was Amish and she would come to set in an Abercrombie sweatshirt over her Amish attire and with her cell phone. She had a lot of fun teaching me about the expectations and regulations of the culture and how they varied [from group to group].
Can you tell us one thing about your fellow cast members that fans might not know?
Trevor Donovan is such a goofball. I loved working with him. He always kept me laughing and has such a great sense of humor. He is great with animals. I thought at one point he might have brought home one of the pygmy goats! He is a great horseman but he hated his crazy tight pants he had to wear during filming. (I really don’t know how those didn’t rip once.)
What do you think the message of this film is and what do you hope viewers walk away with after seeing the movie?
Be open to the things. Emma was convinced that she had to travel the world, leave everything behind to find what she wanted when all she had to do was open her heart to see that her life and prince were right in front of her. I also feel that there was a profound message to be true to yourself. Emma knew that there was something missing in the life she was leading so she took the chance to search for that missing piece even though so many around her discouraged it. Listen to your heart and hear what it has to say, it’s usually right.
