Kat Harlton
Media: Corus Entertainment
Camille Stopps, Chantel Riley, Lily Gao, and Brittany Bristow star in “The Love Club” a W Network Original that will air as a four-part movie special event on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT beginning February 10 on W Network and STACKTV.
You can follow the lives of The Love Club by watching the four-part movie event sequentially or as stand-alone movies, in which each woman is the lead in her own romantic journey, helped by the rest of her friends to find their one true love.
At a New Year’s Eve college party, four women – Nicole (Bristow), Sydney (Gao), Lauren (Riley), and Tara (Stopps) – each dealing with their own dating disaster, take a vow to call on one another if they are ever in romantic crisis again. This vow has them resurrecting their “Love Club” ten years later as each of them search for their unique happily ever after.
Camille stars in “The Love Club: Tara“, a free spirit with a beautiful singing voice, Tara has always professed she doesn’t need a partner or “so-called commitment”, after all she has The Love Club. So just days before New Year’s, Tara declares she will have the year of Tara, one where she focuses solely on her singing career. The Love Club shows up to help plan Tara’s commitment-to-herself party, but when her friends see the connection between Tara and Noah, a jaded musician hired to perform at the party, their job turns into matchmaking as they attempt to show Tara there is nothing wrong with falling in love. Tara fights them every step of the way until, thanks to a playfully worded invite sent by The Love Club, her mother shows up expecting an actual wedding!
Having spent years trying to convince her mom she’s not “alone”, Tara recruits Noah as her actual fiancé. This ruse helps Tara to finally open her heart to what she wants.
Filmed in the Hamilton, ON area, The Love Club also stars Canadians Marcus Rosner, Jesse Hutch, Andrew Bushell, and Brett Donahue.
I had the opportunity to chat with Camille about her role, what she hopes the audience connects with and what’s next.
Kat: You’re in an exciting new W Network Original Movie “The Love Club”, how did you prepare for the role? Did you find any similarities between yourself and your character?
Camille: Yes! 4 movies! A few things stand out when I think about my preparation process for The Love Club:
First things first, I had to wrap my head around the idea of shooting 4 movies in 3 months — like whoa! for context, that’s around 450 pages of material to learn, get off book for, invest in, and get creative with… Once I accepted that, I was able to get to work.
I metaphorically mined the character looking at the scripts, the story, and the key relationships, and through that discovered where Tara’s perspective on life might be similar to mine, and where it might be different than mine. I find that’s a good jumping off point, almost always.
Shooting four movies provided a special opportunity to stay with this character for an extended period of time, and that was pretty awesome in the continued deepening and learning of who Tara is, and also allowed the relationships between the four best friends to keep evolving as we shot.
I definitely relate to my character, and I think a lot of people will. Tara is strong, independent, and driven. She lives this creative, hustle and bustle, self-employed life that’s exciting and fast- paced, but she’s searching for more. Tara’s journey is about living her truth and finding her voice — living from love, and not fear. I feel like this parallels my journey over the last decade — and I’ve been supported, encouraged, and challenged by some amazing humans… And that’s what happens here with my character.
Kat: Was there anything about your role that was particularly challenging?
Camille: Since my character, Tara, is a singer, I was hyper aware of how to take care of my voice throughout this project. Some of the songs we recorded live as we shot the scene, and some we pre-recorded in studio — both require something different.
During prep, I focused on: increasing my stamina, knowing the sheer amount of text I’d be speaking daily in addition to singing; and, working with my vocal coach to extend my vocal range, just a little, to sit more comfortably within the range that one of the songs demanded. And then, while shooting, it was all about maintaining and carving out time, in already very busy days — including vocal warmups, practicing the songs, resting, drinking SO much liquid, and just being really conscious.
I was able to find a regime that allowed me to come out of shooting feeling stronger, more confident — like a well oiled machine — and that was pretty cool result of the challenge.
Kat: What were some of your favorite scenes to shoot and why?
Camille: A few answers here: First, the music scenes! The energy on set during the scenes where Noah and Tara are creating music was so lovely: grounded and peaceful and vulnerable. Credit to Brett Donahue (who plays Noah), and Jill Carter (the director) for helping to facilitate this. I adored shooting these scenes.
Second, the culmination scene in each movie. Those were really fun because there was a lot going on in all departments; it’s an “all hands on deck” kinda feel; there’s a lot of actor’s on set; and emotionally, the characters get to embrace all the heightened feelings they’ve gone through on their individual story arcs…it all comes to fruition here. There’s fulfillment in that — both for the audience when they watch the end, but also for the actor when we shoot it.
I worked with so many wonderful humans on this project — cast and crew — and they made a lot of the shooting a positive and memorable experience.
Kat: Feel-good movies are more popular now than ever, what message do you hope fans take away from these types of movies?
Camille: The increased demand for ‘feel-good’ movies shows there’s a need, people are looking for something — to feel, to escape, to be seen… life can be really hard to navigate, and these kinds of stories can be empowering. Each of the women in The Love Club have a unique perspective on the world, and that is where their power lies. We see them take ownership of their lives and pursue their dreams — not just in love, but in life. And so, I hope the viewer can feel empowered by watching these movies. Empowered to find their unique voice, to follow their dreams, to trust themselves, to stand up for what they know is right, and to ask for support when they need it.
Kat: What’s next?
Camille: I have a few projects in the works that I’m looking forward to. This is a year that is going to be filled with creative endeavours — singing, playing guitar, dancing *Fun fact: I trained as a professional dancer before I got into acting. With that being said, I’m creating a dance-theatre piece that I’m really excited about.
Premiere Dates:
- The Love Club: Nicole airs Friday, February 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on W Network and STACKTV
- The Love Club: Sydney airs Friday, February 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on W Network and STACKTV
- The Love Club: Lauren airs Friday, February 24 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on W Network and STACKTV
- The Love Club: Tara airs Friday, March 3 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on W Network and STACKTV
Connect with Camille:
IG: @camillestopps
Twitter: @cstoppsrun