Viv Leacock has played Joseph Canfield on the Hallmark Channel‘s “When Calls the Heart” since Season 8. While he hasn’t been on the show as long as some of the other Hope Valley residents, he, his wife, Minnie (Natasha Burnett), and their kids have become part of the community’s fabric.
Recently, Leacock opened up about the co-star who’s one of his favorite scene partners. He also discussed how he and some of his co-stars often rewrite their lines or work with the writers to keep their relationships true to the early 20th century.
Viv Leacock Reveals That He & Smith Actively Push Writers for More Scenes
Leacock works with a lot of great actors on WCTH, so he’s unlikely to claim just one as a favorite. But during a podcaster’s junket with “Suspenders Unbuttoned” and others, he admitted that he has a lot in common with Kavan Smith, who plays Lee Coulter.
“Kav [Smith] and I are very similar,” Leacock revealed. “A lot of the things that we hold most dear in our lives kind of lines up with each other. “Kav and I always kind of push to do more scenes together. Like, we’ll say to the writers, ‘Hey, write some more stuff for us to do.”
He went on to discuss Episode 4, in which Joseph and Smith discussed forgiveness.
“So, the scene that we got to do in the church,” he continued. “No joke, we did the scene and five or six crewmembers came up to us and said, ‘That was our favorite scene.’ It caused a stir right away. And we knew when we were doing it that it was something really good; it kind of stands out. There’s a different weight to it.”
Leacock Admits That Improv Adds Authenticity to Character Dynamics
Along with Smith, Martin Cummins, who plays Henry Gowen, is another co-star Leacock often finds himself working closely with. He discussed how he and Cummins have become adept at improvising their scenes together, just like he does with Smith. Often, they do it to bring their characters closer to the time period.
“A lot of times we’ll take stuff out of the scene,” he explained. “We’ll take lines out of the scene because these guys can do a lot with a look. They know each other so well that just a look from each other — it lands. There’s just a lot going on between these guys.”
“We really like to honor the folks that were around so long before us,” he continued. “‘Cause a lot of the folks back in the day, they didn’t really get a chance to express themselves. A lot of things were layered, and there was a lot of nuance to the way people handled themselves back in the day.”
“We really love to bring that authenticity to the scenes that we have together,” he added.
