With the holiday season fast approaching, fans are already prepped to watch old and new favorites on Hallmark’s upcoming winter slate. The network once again has a slew of Christmas flicks coming, and it’s hard to believe that when many of these films were shot, the weather was nowhere near chilly. Hallmark mainstay Alison Sweeney recently discussed the challenges of filming a Christmas movie in hot weather while speaking with CinemaBlend, so I was very surprised when a fellow Hallmark star shared a completely different take.
Sweeney’s newest holiday film, This Time Each Year, premiered on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in October, a full two months before the festive holiday, but it filmed far earlier in the year. The actress previously said she doesn’t exactly enjoy shooting Christmas in July, and while she’d be one to celebrate the holiday year-round, having to pretend to be cold when she wasn't was the “hardest part.” She's not the first Christmas movie star to complain about filming in the heat either.
With this in mind, Three Wiser Men and a Boy star Andrew Walker told TV Guide that he actually welcomes the early celebrations, much to my shock:
This is luxury. I'm going to be shooting another Christmas movie in June [Hallmark Channel's Jingle Bell Run] — riding horseback with three layers on in 100 degrees — this is nothing.
While it's fun to learn about these secrets of filming Christmas movies, I'd never know as a viewer it wasn't really cold, and the actors in these Christmas movies do a great job. For Walker, it sounds like spreading the Christmas wealth gives him great joy. He filmed his newest Christmas movie in April, which isn’t so bad since the weather is still kind of cool, depending on where filming is located.
He further elaborated on why filming Christmas movies multiple times a year is such a positive for him, and his take is very different than Sweeney's.
You're in a house filled with Balsam Hill Christmas trees and ornaments, it's tough not to get into the Christmas mood. That's what I love about shooting Hallmark movies, I can celebrate Christmas sometimes three times [a year].
Honestly, despite my surprise at actors feeling so vastly different about this topic, both perspectives make total sense. Celebrating Christmas three times a year does sound pretty great, but also I'd imagine it's hard to act cold when it isn’t cold, so I get where Alison Sweeney is coming from.
There are plenty of secrets to filming Christmas movies, including making it feel cold when it really isn't, so props to the actors for making it seem like the weather was cold and also props to the crew for making it look like the winter season, whether or not fake snow is actually involved. As someone who is from the Midwest, I can’t imagine celebrating Christmas when it’s 90 degrees outside, but I do have to imagine decor helps. Here's wishing all the Hallmark actors a wonderful holiday-- no matter what month they are celebrating.
