WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE C5
script, and that casting someone
in the role who didn’t understand
the delicacy of the situation
would’ve been “so embarrassing.”
She recognizes the necessity of
preserving specific perspectives
and making sure the right voices
are heard, but adds that the
question of authenticity often
boils down to whether an actor
truly grasps the character. Stew-
art came out in her early 20s,
roughly a decade into her career:
“So I couldn’t play gay before
that? Or I can’t play straight
now?”“I rationalized so much ho-
mophobia in my life,” she contin-
ues. “All the words around gay-
ness and queerness have always
been bad words — all of that, it
shapes you in some way.... It’s
weird to put that in a rom-com.
But if you do it with serious
tenderness and awareness and
concern, it doesn’t matter if
you’re gay or straight.”
Maintaining the realness of
Harper and Abby’s relationship
ranked high for all three women,
and Stewart praises DuVall for
her ability to make “a true moviein a system that is difficult to do it
in.” With so many external forces
at play, the actress adds, the
director “just protected her
thing.”
“I think it’s really important to
see a coming-out story where
someone falls down, and they get
back up and they’re okay,” DuVall
says. “They still deserve to be
loved, and they still can reach a
place where they love themselves.
That’s a really powerful message,
and something that’s important
for people to see.”
[email protected]LACEY TERRELL/HULUHarper (Mackenzie Davis) and
Abby (Kristen Stewart) star as
a couple in “Happiest Season.”
The film bears the weight of
reconciling one’s actual identity
with parental expectations —
but also incorporates a lot of
feel-good comedy.actress has a background in com-
edy, but DuVall sensed versatility
to their dramatic work — also
confirmed by Stewart’s hosting
gig on “Saturday Night Live,” the
director adds, where she got to be
“free and funny and silly.” Stew-
art, a queer woman, notes that
some jokes nearing cliche in her
own life — the specific awkward-
ness of running into your girl-
friend’s ex-boyfriend, for instance
— feel fresh in “Happiest Season,”
given how rare they are in a
“commercial” comedy like this
one.
“It’s so familiar to me that it’s,
like, finally,” Stewart says.
DuVall and Holland reworked
the script as each lead — plus a
few supporting acts such as Mary
Steenburgen, who plays Harper’s
image-obsessed mother — came
onboard. Some of Davis’s earlier
conversations with DuVall cen-
tered on “the politics of being a
straight woman taking this part,”
HAPPIEST SEASON FROM C1 the actress says. She pored over
subreddits of coming-out stories
in preparing to play Harper and
spoke to DuVall about her own
experiences to better understand
the character, with whom Davis
admits to feeling frustrated at
first.
Though Harper reassures a re-
luctant Abby that their charade is
only temporary, she begins to
neglect her as the film goes on
and, as Abby says, pushes them
further into the closet. Facing
pressure from her parents and
uptight sister Sloane (Alison
Brie), Harper spends much of the
visit hanging out with her ex-boy-
friend (Jake McDorman) while
Abby turns to Harper’s secret
high school girlfriend (Aubrey
Plaza) for support.
“I couldn’t understand how
she was simultaneously so ac-
complished and so autonomous
from her family at 30 years old,
and also had completely com-
partmentalized her identity so
she just became a different per-
son when she went home,” Davis
says. “[DuVall] was always on
Harper’s side and really under-
stood the forces that would lead a
woman like this towards denying
such a big part of herself.”
The tension comes to a head
with a scene teased in the film’s
trailer, in which Abby, who had
planned to propose to Harper
over the holidays, expresses how
hurt she feels by Harper’s reluc-
tance to tell her family the truth
about their relationship. Harper
responds, “I’m not hiding you, I’m
hiding me.”
Stewart says she felt protective
of Harper while reading the
Creating the film
she wanted to see
“I think it’s really
important to see a
coming-out story where
someone falls down,
and they get back up
and they’re okay.”
Clea DuVall,
director of “Happiest Season”most, we are so grateful.
Choosing from those movies
can be a surprisingly daunting
task, so we’ve narrowed the field
down to several options
available on networks and
streaming services. Happy
watching!
NETFLIX
“Dolly Parton’s Christmas on
the Square”
You know we had to start with
this one. Not only does the
musical boast a star-studded cast
— joining Parton are Christine
Baranski, Jenifer Lewis and
Treat Williams, among others —
but it was directed,
choreographed and produced by
another Hollywood icon, Debbie
Allen. Parton wrote 14 songs for
the film, which stars Baranski as
a modern Scrooge who plans to
sell her hometown’s land to a
mall developer. (Streaming now)
“Holidate”
Speaking of Scrooges, this
movie stars Emma Roberts as a
woman who seems to hate
everything, including spending
the holidays with family
members obsessed with finding
her a partner. She meets Luke
Bracey’s character at the mall —
one of the holiest places to spend
Christmas, second only to
churches — and they create a
doomed arrangement to
platonically spend holidays
together from then on.
(Streaming now)
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas
Journey”
In addition to being an
addictive snack mix at Trader
Joe’s and an actual drug in
“Riverdale,” “Jingle Jangle” is
now the name of a wacky
musical starring Forest Whitaker
as a toymaker whose
granddaughter (Madalen Mills)
aims to lift his low spirits years
after his apprentice (Keegan
Michael-Key) betrays him. The
MOVIES FROM C1 film also features Anika Noni
Rose and Ricky Martin, along
with original music from John
Legend. (Streaming now)
“The Princess Switch:
Switched Again”
Two years after Vanessa
Hudgens played a Chicago baker
and the European duchess with
whom she switches places at
Christmastime, the actress
reprises the double role — and
tacks on a third, as the duchess’s
evil cousin who tries to steal her
throne. Fingers crossed we get
four Vanessas next time.
(Streaming now)
“The Christmas Chronicles
2”
For Kurt Russell, the
“Christmas Chronicles” movies,
which star Darby Camp as a kid
who helps Santa Claus save the
day, are a family affair — stepson
Oliver Hudson appeared in the
first, while wife Goldie Hawn
plays Mrs. Claus in the sequel,
marking the couple’s first time
on screen together since 1987’s
“Overboard.” Russell recently
compared the Netflix film’s
script to “The Passion of the
Christ.”(Streaming now)
HALLMARK
“One Royal Holiday”
Aaron Tveit — the only actor
to earn a Tony nomination for
his lead performance in a
musical this year — plays a
prince staying at a Connecticut
inn run by the family of a lovely
young woman (Laura Osnes)
who, of course, is unaware of his
royal status. This is the film to
watch for Broadway fans, as it
also stars Victoria Clark, Krystal
Joy Brown and Tom McGowan.
(Premiered Oct. 31)
“The Christmas House”
Jonathan Bennett, who you
may recognize as Aaron Samuels
from “Mean Girls” even without
his hair pushed back, stars
opposite Brad Harder in
Hallmark’s first holiday movie to
feature a gay couple. In the film,Bennett and Harder’s characters
await a phone call regarding the
adoption of their first child.
(Premiered Nov. 22)
“If I Only Had Christmas”
Candace Cameron Bure plays
a bubbly publicist who teams up
with a grumpy businessman
(Warren Christie) to help a
charity and, presumably, spread
holiday cheer. Bure isn’t the only“Full House” alum to frequent
Hallmark movies, though the
other might not have much of a
future there anymore.
(Premiered Nov. 29)
“Christmas Comes Twice”
The Mowry sisters returned to
households across the country
when “Sister Sister” hit Netflix
earlier this year, and Tamera
Mowry-Housley is extendingthat presence into the holiday
season. In “Christmas Comes
Twice,” she plays an
astrophysicist who rides a
carousel in her hometown that
somehow transports her back to
five years ago, where she re-
connects with her now-dead
science teacher (Sheryl Lee
Ralph) and frenemy-turned-love-
interest (Michael Xavier). A
Mowry time-traveling! What’s
not to love? (Premieres Dec. 13)
“Love, Lights, Hanukkah!”
This bizarrely named movie
has a strange plot to match: A
restaurant owner (Mia Kirshner)
takes a DNA test that reveals she
is Jewish, and she somehow
discovers a new family as a
result. This movie also stars Ben
Savage and should have been
called “Woman Meets Judaism.”
(Premieres Dec. 20)LIFETIME
“Christmas Unwrapped”
Tiffany Haddish produced this
movie about a reporter (Amber
Stevens West) who investigates
an attractive man (Marco
Grazzini) when he insists the
gifts he gives out are actually
from Santa Claus. She might not
earn a Pulitzer, but she does
learn the meaning of Christmas
along the way. (Streaming now)
“Feliz NaviDAD”
Did that new “Saved by the
Bell” leave you wanting some
more Mario Lopez? The actor
returns to high school in “Feliz
NaviDAD” (cringe) as a widowed
principal whose daughter and
sister try to boost his spirits with
an online dating profile. A pretty
musician (AnnaLynne McCord)
swipes right. (Streaming now)
“Dear Christmas”
This extremely ’90s movie
stars Melissa Joan Hart as the
host of a podcast about holiday
romances who has tragically
never experienced one of her
own — that is, until she meets a
local firefighter (Jason Priestley)
before heading out on a booktour. Robin Givens is also part of
the cast. (Streaming now)
“The Christmas Setup”
Christmas movies get the
tiniest bit more diverse each
year, and “The Christmas Setup”
marks Lifetime’s first to center
on a gay romance. Blake Lee
plays a New York lawyer whose
mother (Fran Drescher) plays
matchmaker and sets her son up
with his high school crush (Ben
Lewis, Lee’s real-life husband).
(Premieres Dec. 12)
“A Sugar and Spice Holiday”
Written and directed by Asian
women (Eirene Donohue and
Jennifer Liao), this movie follows
a Chinese American architect
(Jacky Lai) who draws on her
cultural background to, as
Lifetime phrases it, “spice up” a
gingerbread-house competition
in her hometown. Tony Giroux
and Tzi Ma, Hollywood’s go-to
Asian dad, also star. (Premieres
Dec. 13)
“Christmas Ever After”
“Christmas Ever After” stars
Tony winner Ali Stroker as a
romance novelist with writer’s
block who finds inspiration in
the owner (Daniel di Tomasso) of
the bed-and-breakfast she is
staying at. It’s a classic premise
executed unusually — while
filming more intimate scenes,
Stroker and di Tomasso kissed
through a plexiglass partition
that will presumably be deleted
in postproduction. (Premieres
Dec. 6)HULU
“Happiest Season”
Kristen Stewart stars in this
lesbian rom-com as a woman
who accompanies her girlfriend,
Harper (Mackenzie Davis), to her
family home, only to learn
Harper hasn’t come out to her
parents yet. The film was co-
written and directed by Clea
DuVall and stars Dan Levy
(“Schitt’s Creek”) as Stewart’s
best friend. (Streaming now)
[email protected]From princess doppelgängers to podcast romances, catch these holiday hits
MARK MAINZ/NETFLIX
Vanessa Hudgens reprises a double role — and takes on a third — in
“The Princess Switch: Switched Again.”GARETH GATRELL/NETFLIX
Forest Whitaker, left, and Hugh Bonneville star in “Jingle Jangle:
A Christmas Journey,” a wacky musical about a toymaker.MARYLAND
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Frozen (PG) 4:0 5
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Come Play (PG-13) 8:2 5
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The Croods: A New Age (PG)
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Hoyt's West Nursery
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Elf (PG) 4 :50
The Croods: A New Age (PG)
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The Blues Brothers (1980) 40th
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True to the Game 2 (R) 5:15-
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Twister (1996) (PG-13) 7 :00
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