Barbara Hinske’s best-selling novel has been turned into a film on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries by the same name. Guiding Emily is a heartwarming film starring Sarah Drew as Emily, whose life changes drastically when she becomes permanently blind after an unfortunate rock-climbing accident.
At the same time, a potential guide dog, Garth (voiced by Eric McCormack), struggles with his training. Through a series of missed opportunities, Emily and Garth overcome their obstacles and end up together.
TV Fanatic chatted with Barbara about the inspiration behind Guiding Emily, her favorite film scenes, and whether there will be sequels. Check out the interview below.
Hello Barbara. What was the inspiration behind Guiding Emily?
I was touring the Foundation for Blind Children in Phenix, Arizona, which also services a large adult population, and I was so moved by what I saw and their work. Choking back tears, I asked the development director, “What do you need? What can I do to help?”
He told me that they needed money. But more than that, they required awareness and the sighted community to be aware of the isolation that visually impaired people feel when they’re out in the real world.
I told him I was an author and could do both of those. So, I donate half of the proceeds from my book Guiding Emily to the Foundation for Blind Children. In my continuing series of books, I address issues of the capability of the visually impaired. So that’s how it all got started.
How difficult is it to become a guide dog?
The training is very rigorous. Not only are there physical attributes that a guide dog needs to have, they must have stable hips and spines and all that stuff. But the training takes a long time, at least 15 months, starting with puppy raising and going through all their training.
They can’t be distracted. You can’t have a squirrel run across the street and have your guide dog pull you into traffic to follow the squirrels. They have to be very disciplined.
I was fortunate enough to spend three days behind the scenes at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California, seeing their operation and was amazed.
How accurate is the movie adaptation to your book?
It’s wonderfully faithful to the book. There are changes, of course, and some are streamlined because a book can include many more characters and plot lines. But it is very faithful to the book.
Most importantly, it is faithful to the book’s message that honorably and accurately portrays that when someone loses their sight, they become depressed, despairing, and almost agoraphobic.
You need to portray that. You need to show that to be honorable. But the book and the movie honorably and accurately describe the blind person’s journey into confidence as they regain mobility skills and their ability to enter real life.
So, it is hopeful and uplifting, and that was very important to me in the book and the movie because the visually impaired community doesn’t need to be portrayed as anything less than the capable people they are.
I get weekly emails from newly blind adults telling me the book has given them hope and from people who are losing their eyesight to degenerative diseases telling me the book has made them less afraid.
So, the movie will portray those things to a much wider community. I could not be happier.
I loved both. Are Emily’s struggles fairly realistic to many blind people, both in how she has to overcome stuff and how Connor reacts? Do many partners have trouble responding to a loved one going blind?
It is. The divorce rate among newly blind adults is staggeringly high. Unfortunately, relationships often, the majority of times, do not survive that. There are stories among the blind actors that I don’t feel like I’m at liberty to share their personal stories, but these things happen to them.
It’s so hard to think about that you lose sight and then lose your relationship. But. New things come in as you regain your capability to fill those gaps. And that’s the hopeful part.
And how involved were you with the casting of the movie? I loved it, especially Sarah Drew as Emily and all the dogs as Garth.
Eric McCormack as Garth was fantastic. I’m not a movie person and thought that was better left to the professionals. I could not be more thrilled.
I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say that, except for Sarah Drew, every single actor character that is blind in the movie is portrayed by a blind actor. I am just bursting with pride about that.
I did not know that. That’s amazing. Were you on set during the filming of the movie?
They were kind enough to let my husband and I be there, for we were there for half of the filming, which was life-changing. And I got to talk to the blind actors. Sarah Drew told me she learned a lot from the blind actors. I can’t think of a more thrilling time than being on set for this movie filming.
I can imagine. What scenes do you think will resonate with the viewers the most?
In the scene where Sarah is in her doctor’s office and the doctor takes off her bandages, she knows she will be blind for the rest of her life. That is such a powerful scene. Every person was on set, and there were 75 people on set. Every single solitary person was crying during that scene.
It was so powerful for me, so instructive to see me take after take as the actors got more and more into it, and between scenes, I could see Sarah, and her chin was quivering. She was in the scene with the actress playing her mother. They were hugging each other just because they were so emotional.
When that scene plays in the movie, I can guarantee you that I’ll be sobbing. Then there’s a scene at the end of the film, and I’m not going to disclose it, but that’s that happy tears scene. This is going to be such a powerful movie.
I do, too. And you’ve written several Guiding Emily books. Do you think we’ll see a sequel on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries?
That is my absolute dream. I would like to have movie sequels or a TV series. If people are tweeting and doing all that social media stuff, let’s get Guiding Emily and Hallmark Movies trending. We can make it happen.
I can’t tell you how excited the visually impaired community is at this prospect because the visually impaired person is portrayed not as, let’s pity, the poor blind girl but as somebody very capable, and they are so longing for that. I am, too.
I read them all as soon as I heard about this. And I am rooting for sequels or a series because there is so much material.
Thank you. Eventually, Emily’s going to have a baby. Until the mid-1990s, in most states, if you got divorced and were visually impaired, the courts would not allow custody to the visually impaired parent.
That’s pretty recent. We have to change perceptions. This movie has a lot of good work in the world to do.
I can’t wait. I will be live-tweeting and trying to get fans to see it.
I hope so. And it’ll be on more than once. So, watch it more than once and get everybody going on it. That’s my dream. I shouldn’t pick favorites as an author because I’ve written many books, but my heart and soul are definitely in my Emily series.
I can see why. Both the book and the movie were excellent. It was so heartfelt, and the puppies were adorable.
On set, they stole everybody’s heart. Everybody wanted puppy time. Three crew members signed up to be puppy raisers because of that experience, which fills my heart with joy because we need more puppy raisers. One of the messages that the movie will bring home is to go out and be a puppy raiser.
Like you said, you wanted to raise awareness, so that’s wonderful.
Guiding Emily airs on Friday, September 8 at 9/8c on Hallmark’s Movies and Mysteries. Barbara Hinkske will be hosting a watch party, and you can register to play along and join in the fun.
Return to TV Fanatic Friday night and check out our movie review of Guiding Emily.
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Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
