Alison Sweeney’s new Christmas movie, A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS VILLAGE, premieres tonight on Hallmark Channel at 8 p.m. Here, the actress, who is also the film’s executive producer, talks about the making of it and working with co-stars Marlo Thomas and Luke Macfarlane.
Soap Opera Digest: How did this movie come to be?
Alison Sweeney: Melissa Salmons, who used to write for DAYS OF OUR LIVES, had this really lovely idea for a Christmas movie and I worked with her to develop a pitch to Hallmark. So a little more than a year ago now, we pitched it and they loved the idea and so they approved the script and we got to work.
Digest: Tell me about the movie.
Sweeney: What I love about this movie is the real origin story of it. Melissa developed this idea of three generations of women living together at Christmas. She and I agree that one of the things that’s most interesting and also complicated about the holidays is how important they are and how much you look forward to the traditions and events, but it’s also made a little harder sometimes with your family. So we thought it would be really fun to lean into that a little bit and kind of acknowledge the realities of that. So the story is that my character’s mom, played by the incredibly talented Marlo Thomas, finds out right at the beginning of the holiday season that she has to move out of her boyfriend’s house. And so she ends up moving in with Summer, my character, and these two women acknowledge right from the beginning that they really shouldn’t be living together under one roof; it’s really not a good idea. Summer has a daughter, Chloe, and she knows it’s what’s best for her mom, so Summer has to suck it up and be the bigger person. So when Summer’s mom comes to the house, she immediately takes over, bringing all her junk and her spices are all over the counter. She also brings in this Christmas village that comes from their childhood, passed down through the family. You immediately see that Summer is not into any of this, she’s a clean freak, she likes things all orderly and put away, but her mom sweeps in and sort of just messes everything up and makes it homey. That’s the setup. The fun thing for me is that everyone will relate to one of those two characters; you’re either one or the other and you know someone like that, or you have something like that in your family or your mom is like that or you know and it just gives everyone something to smile about.
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Digest: How did you find your co-stars?
Sweeney: We started discussing casting and who would be right for it and Hallmark suggested Luke Macfarlane and I was thinking, “Wow, that would be amazing; do you think we could make it happen?”, because he’s so busy with other projects. So it was really cool that he was willing to make it happen. He was really great to work with, so much fun and just a great guy. We had good chemistry and he is a really lovely person. Same with Marlo Thomas, who is legendary. We were so happy she said yes. She later told me she read 20 pages of it, put it down and said she had to do it and was so excited about it, which was such a compliment. She was just amazing, and she had such great stories about her life. I mean, her casual stories involve some of the greatest comedy legends of all time, starting with her father, Danny Thomas, and then of course, there’s her husband, Phil Donohue, who is a legend in his own right. I was just in awe of her. And getting to work with her is like being in a Master class. She’s so prepared, she knows all her lines. She helped make every beat shine with the way she played it. It was such a wonderful, positive environment.
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Digest: I know you’re someone who loves Christmas. Does it ever get old making the movies or feel like work?
Sweeney: I don’t have to work at it; I work at making it the best movie it can be and to make it fresh and fun and different. But Christmas never gets old for me; I just love it so much. I am never tired of the joy of Christmas; I love the music, the decorations, the sentimentality of it. I don’t think I will ever tire of doing Christmas movies.
Digest: How do you feel to be a part of the early kickoff to Christmas, getting everyone into the spirit?
Sweeney: I don’t know how it is everywhere else, but for me, once I get past Halloween, I’m in. I’m ready. I love Thanksgiving but that’s the warmup to Christmas, so I am happy for it to be a two-month celebration of the season, getting people all geared up for the holidays and being the opening act, if you will.
A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS VILLAGE premieres tonight on Hallmark Channel at 8 p.m.
