“Guiding Light” Star Kim Zimmer Was 'So Proud' Working with Son Jake Weary on New Film (Exclusive)

The Daytime Emmy winner and the 'Animal Kingdom' actor recall the admiration they had watching each other work

The set of the new film Bleeding Love was a family affair in more ways than one.

The drama starring real-life father and daughter Ewan McGregor and Clara McGregor follows an estranged father-daughter duo (who are named after the actors that play them) as they set off on a road trip to check the daughter into rehab.

Bleeding Love is a two-person character study, but they meet a few people along the way, mostly because their truck breaks down.

Guiding Light star Kim Zimmer returns to film after nearly a decade away from the medium as an eccentric tow truck driver named Elsie who convinces them to stop at her nephew’s birthday party where someone can fix the truck.

Related: Ewan McGregor and Daughter Clara McGregor Share the Screen in Bleeding Love Trailer (Exclusive)

While at the house party, Clara meets Kip (Jake Weary), who was persuaded by one of his aunts to wear a clown costume and make balloon animals at the party.

Soap opera fans know Zimmer, 69, and Weary, 34 are mother and son. She married fellow actor A.C. Weary in 1981, and they have three children.

The actors tell PEOPLE about what it was like to work on such a familial set. Weary’s wife Vera Bulder, who is friends with Clara, produced the film and also makes an appearance in it.

Zimmer and Weary don’t share any screen time, but he’s in the background of one of her scenes at the house party, in his clown costume — complete with a red nose — making balloon animals for the kids.

Related: 'Guiding Light' Fades to Black

“I just remember watching him work with a bunch of these little kids in the background of our shot, and he was so involved and so good with those kids and stayed in it every take,” she says. “And I just remember being so proud of the fact that he was in it and he was supporting the background of that scene and no questions asked.”

“Those kids were driving you crazy, but you stuck with it,” she adds to her son, with a laugh.

As for Weary, he says he enjoyed watching his mom’s “nervous excitement” on set as she made her return to the big screen. He remembers having to remind her that movies are filmed at a slower pace than soaps.

It was a strange reversal of roles for the pair — Weary made his acting debut as a teen on Guiding Light, where Zimmer famously played the beloved Reva Shayne. She won four Daytime Emmys for her portrayal.

“It was the first time I was going to be in front of a camera, in front of the lights and I'll be at my own mother's show,” recalls Weary, who later played Luke Snyder on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns in 2005. Though he’d grown up watching his parents act, he describes his first experience in front of the camera as “terrifying.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I remember getting on set and seeing my mom, and I felt so comfortable because she created this really comforting space for me. I'll always remember that," he says.

Zimmer says there’s never been a doubt in her family that Weary, who starred on six seasons of TNT’s Animal Kingdom until 2022, would be an actor.

“On his 13th birthday, he asked for an agent and a headshot,” she recalls of Weary, who turned 34 on Valentine’s Day.

Bleeding Love is out now.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.