‘You Had Me at Aloha’: Was the New Hallmark Movie Filmed in Hawaii?

Hallmark Channel is headed to Hawaii. The network’s latest rom-com, You Had Me at Aloha, follows a woman named Paige (When Calls the Heart’s Pascale Hutton) who lands a coveted job as the host of a popular travel show set in Hawaii. The catch? She must work with a co-host named Ben (Hutton’s When Calls the Heart co-star Kavan Smith) who’s her polar opposite. While the two initially clash, they eventually discover they balance each other out, both on screen and off. 

‘You Had Me at Aloha’ was shot on location in Hawaii

There’s no substitute for Hawaii’s gorgeous beaches and awe-inspiring waterfalls. So, filmmakers traveled to the islands to make the first movie in this year’s ‘Summer Nights’ series. You Had Me at Aloha was shot entirely on location on Oahu. 

“We have the beaches, we have the jungle, we have waterfalls,” Hutton said in a video for Hallmark Channel.

“It couldn’t have been better anywhere else in the world,” Smith said of filming in Hawaii. 

Pascale Hutton says Hawaii is ‘the perfect place to shoot a romantic comedy’ 

If you’re in the mood for a romantic vacation, you can’t go wrong with Hawaii. And if you’re shooting a romantic comedy, there’s no better spot than the U.S.’s tropical island state, according to Hutton.

“Hawaii’s the perfect place to shoot a romantic comedy because it’s the most beautiful place on Earth,” she said. 

‘You Had Me at Aloha’ features spectacular Hawaiian locations 

Filming locations for You Had Me at Aloha included Waimea Valley Falls on Oahu’s North Shore, which Hutton called “beautiful.” 

“That’s one thing I’m really pleased about [with] this movie, is that we’re able to highlight different locations around the island of Hawaii,” she said. 

“[W]e wanted this movie to capture … the exploration of travel,” Hutton added.   

Hutton says her character is the ‘exact opposite’ of Rosemary on ‘When Calls the Heart’ 

Not only does You Had Me at Aloha feature glimpses of one of the most beautiful states in the U.S., it also brings Hutton and Smith together, again. The two actors play fan-favoite couple Rosemary and Lee Coulter on Hallmark Channel’s hit series When Calls the Heart.  

But viewers shouldn’t expect Paige and Ben to have the same dynamic as Rosemary and Lee. Hutton said (via YouTube) she wanted to play a character who was the “exact opposite” of the free-spirited, gregarious person she portrays on When Calls the Heart. 

“I wanted to play a woman who was more reserved, a bit of a recluse, conservative, timid a bit, a bit stiff,” she said. “And then Kavan said, ‘OK, I’ll play the opposite of that then.’ And that’s kind of how this movie came to be.”

You Had Me at Aloha premieres Saturday, June 5 at 9 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. 

Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook!