Q&A: 'Have We Met This Christmas?' star Danica McKellar on Great American Family feature filmed in Buffalo

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Danica McKellar is a certified math genius; a best-selling author; a star of the iconic 1980s series “The Wonder Years”; and a staple of Christmas moviemaking.

For a few weeks earlier this fall, she also was a Buffalo resident.

McKellar was in Western New York to shoot her 12^th holiday film, “Have We Met This Christmas?” The Great American Family feature – part of the fifth annual “Great American Christmas” series – debuts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. It largely takes place inside The Saturn Club, which is known as “The Merry Mountain Inn” on screen.

“It’s really cute down there,” McKellar said of the Delaware Avenue corridor. “That building was amazing!”

In “Have We Met This Christmas?” McKellar plays Kate, a troubled real estate purchaser. Right before the holidays, she learns The Merry Mountain Inn is for sale – much to the chagrin of the innkeepers’ son, Emmett (Jesse Hutch) – who knew her once as Katie – and just so happens to be her ex. Suffice to say, the breakup was not great, and Kate is not budging.

On her way to the property, Kate is involved in a snow-related car accident. She wakes up with no memory, only to be taken in by Emmett’s family. As he nurses Katie back to health – while keeping their past a secret – the two bond and set out to foil “The Grinch” – who, of course, is Kate.

As Katie’s memory returns, and Emmett grows to regret his choices, each character learns more about what matters most in life, and of working to forgive others – especially at Christmas.

The film is one of about a half-dozen Great American Family productions set in Western New York this year.

In a press release, Great American Media President and CEO Bill Abbott said, “One of the cornerstones of ‘Great American Christmas’ is celebrating the legacy of family talent in our Christmas movies. Our viewers love seeing beloved stars, like Danica McKellar and Jesse Hutch, stars who share the screen across generations and bring our heartfelt stories to life. It is a tradition that makes ‘Great American Christmas’ feel like coming home for the holidays.”

“Have We Met This Christmas?” was co-written by McKellar, who just released a children’s book, “I Love You 100: A Counting Book Full of Love,” via her McKellar Math imprint.

She shared more in this edited Q&A.

WATCH:

BTS: Tell me about writing this script. I know this is your first time. Where did the idea come from to participate in that kind of exercise, and what was the process of coming up with this wonderful idea?

Danica McKellar: Thank you. Such a good question. I've been in the business forever, and I absolutely love acting, and there are some roles that I've always kind of wanted to play.

Do you remember the movie “Overboard,” with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell? She gets amnesia.

BTS: Absolutely!

Danica McKellar: OK, so I was supposed to be doing a different movie for Great American this year and, for complicated reasons, it fell apart; and they were like, “Oh my gosh, we don't have a Christmas movie for you this year.”

I was like, “Hmm.” I thought, “Well, I've always wanted to play a character who got amnesia.” Anyway, I came up with a couple pitches for them. I have been involved in the writing a little bit, but never this much. And so, they actually wanted to do a different one that I had. So, I thought, “You know what? I love this concept of the amnesia so much, that maybe I'll write my first Christmas novel or something?”

And so, I outlined the entire thing. It took me a couple days. And then I got a text from Great American saying, “Hey, guess what? We want to do amnesia this year, after all.” I was like, “Really? Well, guess what? I already started! I’ve got the outline.”

I just always wanted to play a character who wakes up and has no idea who she is; I think, because, there's just this idea of a blank slate. There's a moment in the movie where I'm looking at myself in the mirror and I was like, “I have no idea who I am or how I got here.” It's just this fun moment that you don't usually get to play any other time. I mean, there's a handful of emotions, right, that are there for the taking, and this is one that you don't find anywhere else.

They assigned a writer to me, who they worked with before, and the two of us together wrote the actual script. I would say, “OK, well, I'll take these scenes. You take those scenes.” So, I wrote all the scenes with me and my costar, played by Jesse Hutch; and she wrote about what would bring them together. Her name is Riley Weston, the other writer. We'd put them together, and somehow they just worked really well together.

It was the first time either of us had ever written with someone else, and it went great. So, we'll probably do it again at some point.

BTS: I think anytime there's amnesia, people think about “Overboard.” But I love the twist in this one, in that Katie is sort of pursuing this “Grinch” – who is herself. How did that come about?

Danica McKellar: But also, it's like the inverse of “Overboard” because, in “Overboard,” he is pretending that they were in a relationship when she has lost her memory. She doesn't know who he is. He pretends that they are married. And in this one, he pretends that we didn't have a history together.

And then also, because, many of these movies have the trope of, “We have to save the inn,” I thought it would be fun if – since I don't remember who I am – I'm the one we're saving the inn from (laughs)! So, this idea that we call her “The Grinch” was just so fun, because then you can name it, and it's very Christmassy – “The Grinch.”

It was a blast. It came very naturally. I've written math books for 20 years now, and I've done a little bit of creative writing, but whenever something comes together so well, it feels like there's divine help (laughs). Because you're like, “Wow, that'd be great! Oh, wait, this works with this and this and this. I hadn't even thought of that.” So, it feels like there's this other thing you tap into – it’s like divine inspiration – and it's a very exciting experience.

WATCH:

BTS: How did Buffalo come into the equation?

Danica McKellar: There's a studio up there, and Great American Family has a deal up there, and so they made multiple movies; and mine was one of them.

BTS: I saw you posted on social media about Niagara Falls, and visiting one of the wonders of the world. Tell me about that day, and your experience with Western New York in general.

Danica McKellar: We went twice, and that was mostly where I was.

Most of the time on these movies, I'm in my hotel room and I'm learning my lines; and I'm on set and I'm saying my lines; and then I'm back in the hotel and I'm running my lines. And then, of course, I make it down to the hotel gym from time to time, and ordering in food. You could say it looks boring from the outside, but it's actually really, really fun to be that immersed in the project.

However, I had my family come and visit me. Gotta go to Niagara Falls and have some fun! Draco, my son, has a friend who lives on the Canadian side. I think he's not too far from Toronto. So, his mom and he drove in, and we got to all hang out together.

The falls are amazing. We did the boat ride at night, where they light it up in all the different colors. We also did the next morning (laughs) – we came back again. We drove back to Buffalo, went to sleep, woke up, drove back, and went during the day. And the daytime was my favorite, to be honest. I mean, the colors were really fun, but I love, during the day, you actually get closer to it, as well. And I just love the power, and like being in touch with what the colors really are. Just incredible, majestic.

I'd seen the falls before, like through the caves, because of shooting in Hamilton, and shooting my Christmas movies in that area quite a bit, to be honest. But I'd never done the boat rides. Those are great.

BTS: Two networks that you're very familiar with, Hallmark and Great American Family, have done quite a bit of work in our market this year. Even though you were only here for a couple of weeks, did you see something about Buffalo or Western New York that you could understand why films are taking place here – if it was the people, the places; if there was something about the area you thought lends itself to having future films be shot here?

Danica McKellar: I believe there's a big tax incentive!

BTS: Yes! Tax incentive notwithstanding.

Danica McKellar: Honestly, the people were so nice that I thought I was in Canada.

Canadians, they're known for being nice. And Buffalo, I was blown away at how incredible and accommodating and kind our crew members were.

Honestly, when I shoot in the U.S., it's not the same experience. And so, I was really, pleasantly delighted. I was just delighted at the people.

BTS: I'm glad to hear that my fellow Buffalonians treated you well.

Danica McKellar: I love the Buffalo Bills spirit everywhere: “Bill-ieve.”

BTS: I've been working with this genre of film for a number of years, but as I said, much more so this year because of the involvement in our community. I've become very particular about the films that I watch, and evaluating the quality of the scripts, the actors, the productions.

In as much as I've watched your movies over the years, I've seen more of them recently in preparing for this interview. One of the things that I really like about the way you portray your characters is that they're just very even-keeled. I find, a lot of times in this type of movie, you have people that are either a little bit over the top or who are a little bit underwhelming. It just doesn't work. It's not as believable. It's not as authentic.

I find, when I watch you in these films, that it's exactly what I would expect if I was watching these people in real life – if they were having a conversation, or if I was watching them in whatever scene it is.

What is your approach to these movies? Obviously, we know they're designed to be aspirational and that there are some things inherent to them. How do you approach film to film, script to script, and give these wonderful performances we enjoy so much?

Danica McKellar: Thank you so much. Gosh, I mean, one of the things when you're approaching any script is, you have to ask yourself, “Why is this story being told? Why are we looking at this snapshot of this person's life?”

Obviously, you don't want to go over the top with anything. Part of that is the maturity level of the character. If you're dealing with an early-20-something, rom-coms feel very different. They tend to be a little more erratic and nervous, and things can tend to be a little more over the top. Or you see characters who are somehow irrationally upset about something – like, “It wasn't that upsetting? Why are they making such a big deal?”

You want to make sure you're bringing some maturity to it, on the one hand. On the other hand, it needs to be a significant moment. There's a trick that I like to use for these movies, because sometimes some of the scenes might seem like – in between (key) scenes – “OK, cool, here's something significant that's happening,” and “Here's something significant,” but “This is just, like, a whatever scene.” Well, no. It's just like that expression: “There are no big parts, only big actors.”

Instead, why is this scene the most important scene in the movie? Can you make an argument for why this scene is the most important scene in the movie? And if you can't, keep trying, because the scene shouldn't be in there if there can't be some answer to that question. And when you ask that question – even if you could convince somebody that a different scene were actually more important – in that moment, you can make an argument for that scene, then you found what’s important about that scene – and then you can re-ground yourself in that. You can listen that much more when that person says something that's that significant. Noticing this moment and this scene is what will later inspire some other action of yours.

So, if you can answer that question, then you can probably make the scene worth watching.

BTS: To steal a line from the movie, I have to say that, “Objectively, you are a catch.” And by that, I mean that you do not age from movie to movie, from year to year. And I'm not so much focused on the external as I am in that it seems that you are someone who has joy in your life. Maybe that is something that you have, that other people in other movies don't have, and perhaps that's one of the reasons why you appear so youthful and vibrant, and it's a pleasant experience watching you on screen? Can you speak to that idea of having joy, and how that shapes your day-to-day?

Danica McKellar: I'm so grateful to be doing what I'm doing. I love making movies. I love making movies for Great American Family. I love spreading joy. And so, if you're really going to spread joy, you have to have joy, right? And we can have joy by asking for joy – by grounding ourselves in gratitude.

Being a mom, and raising my child, and having opportunity after opportunity to tell him, “Look, you can look at the situation this way, or you can look at the situation that way. They're both valid, and you get to choose how you want to experience your life, by what you focus on.”

You can experience a life of drudgery and frustration, or you can experience a life of gratitude and joy, with the same exact circumstances happening to you. Because nobody's life is like it looks on Instagram. Everybody has their stuff – internal stuff, external stuff. And so, we have a choice – but it takes energy.

So, you got to get enough sleep; got to drink enough water; got to get healthy food. Those things will fuel you. And then, with that energy, you use that energy to look on the bright side, to give people the benefit of the doubt. It's easier to not do that stuff, but then life isn't as fun.

That's just a general life philosophy. And having a sense of humor about things; try not to take yourself too seriously. Breathe.

For me, my relationship with God is absolutely central to all of it, but I had a lot of this before I found my faith. I found my faith about three-and-a-half years ago, but I still lived this way back then. It just wasn't as easy, necessarily, to get to the joy; but I still knew that it was a choice. Just having God in my life, I feel more grateful, more often, more easily, I would say. But, regardless, it's still a choice. You can have your faith journey. You can still fall off of it, and get stuck in the problems of the world quite easily.

That's my general life philosophy. And then, of course, you bring that joy into your characters.

BTS: Something that we see in all of these movies – it's a staple – what is your position on hot chocolate? Pro or con?

Danica McKellar: Well, I don't drink it myself.

BTS: Oh, my goodness!

Danica McKellar: I love the idea of it; and I love how it smells (laughs).

I was just asked today on “New York Live,” they said, “Hot cocoa or eggnog?” And I said, “Eggnog.” I don't drink a lot of it – I wouldn't be able to, and fit into the dresses; but I will splurge a little from time to time on eggnog.

Hot chocolate? Not quite worth it to me; I’ve got to be honest. But I hope we can still be friends.

BTS: Surprisingly, you're not the first actor to tell me they don't like hot chocolate. So, I'm kind of questioning the whole idea of Christmas movies in my head, now, a little bit!

Danica McKellar: My characters love it, and so I will continue to pretend. And you know what? The marshmallows are so fun!