Colin Egglesfield plays Josh on 'All My Children', which airs Monday-Friday 1:00 -2:00 p.m. on the ABC.

Colin Egglesfield, who plays Joshua Madden on All My Children, is used to drama. If you're Erica Kane's son, it's a prerequisite. However, the kind of drama that Colin longed for couldn't be found in Pine Valley, but rather, during World War II.

Colin stars in the new movie Beautiful Dreamer, which has been presented to much acclaim at various film festivals around the United States. Colin and his co-stars recently attended the Cackalacky Film Festival in Charlotte, N.C., where the movie won the award for Best American Full Feature Film.

Beautiful Dreamer, which also stars Brooke Langton (Melrose Place), James Denton (Desperate Housewives) and Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure), tells the story of a World War II fighter pilot, Joe Kelly (Colin), who is shot down over Europe and declared dead. Two years later, his wife, Claire (Langton), finds him in a small town, but he doesn't remember her.

fell in love with the script

"I've always wanted to do a World War II love story," Colin says. "In fact, I was talking to a friend of mine about that idea, and a few weeks later, my agent called me about the audition for this part. I just fell in love with the script right away."

When Colin came in to read with Brooke, he reveals: "I fell in love with her sweet smile. We had great chemistry together."

Once filming began, it was a whirlwind of activity. "I was hired on a Thursday, and we began shooting the following Monday. We crammed the filming into 18 shooting days." One of the things Colin most appreciated about the experience was: "Terri (Farley-Teruel, director) really listened to our input. At the read-through, she asked us if we wanted to change anything or (if we had any ideas on) how to make it better."

"It's a frustrating thing," Colin continues. "You make the best out of what you can because of financial and time constraints. Then hopefully, after the smoke clears, you'll have something really entertaining to show for it."

Charlotte festival

He was especially excited to attend the Charlotte festival, his first so far. "All that hard work pays off when you see people enjoying your movies."

As Colin researched his part, he did extensive background learning on the bombing runs of World War II, but nothing could compare with speaking with the real men who flew those planes so many decades ago. "The producers brought in a few World War II veteran pilots, and I got to meet them and listen to their stories. It is unbelievable to hear their stories of crashing planes and pulling themselves out of the burning wreckage. It was a great thing to be able to meet these guys."

For now, those involved are making the rounds on the film-festival circuit, and of course they are hoping for a wider release in theaters nationwide. "As I was watching the dailies (during filming), I could see that this was really great stuff we were doing." Colin hopes more people will get the chance to see this award-winning film for themselves.