#’Chicago’ Alums Colin Donnell & Patti Murin Tease Hallmark’s ‘To Catch a Spy’

Hallmark loves a destination movie. So do spouses Colin Donnell and Patti Murin. The actors, Broadway vets best known to TV audiences for Chicago Med, costarred in 2020’s Love on Iceland. They headed to Malta for this thriller — and got to film in the 16th-century tunnels under the capital city, Valletta.

“We definitely stayed where we were supposed to go,” Donnell reports. “It’s quite the labyrinth down there. You feel the history.”

He stars as FBI agent Aaron, whose investigation of a theft of documents at the U.S. Embassy takes an unexpected turn after a travel writer, Chloe (Nathalie Kelley, The Baker and the Beauty), sees someone fall from a balcony at her nearby hotel. When no body is discovered, Chloe sets out to solve that mystery with the “help” of her pal, bold photographer Sara (Murin).

“She’s always willing to pull a distraction,” teases Murin, who improvised much of the comic relief. “Even though [the movie] is about a murder, there is still that true Hallmark charm.”

There’s also a touch of romance. Donnell promises “a lot of subtle flirtation” as Aaron’s and Chloe’s cases become entangled. Count on some action sequences too. Donnell and Murin toured Mdina, another fortress city and a popular Game of Thrones location, while the crew filmed a chase. “We were seeing this car whip around corners,” he says. “It was awesome.”

To Catch a Spy, Movie Premiere, Sunday, June 20, 8/7c, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries