The latest holiday movie from Netflix has arrived! Co-written by Charles Shyer (Smokey and the Bandit, Private Benjamin) and directed by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary, A Castle For Christmas), Best. Christmas. Ever! stars Heather Graham and Jason Biggs as a couple who accidentally reunite with an old friend (Brandy) and her husband (Matt Cedeño). Old resentments and jealousies quickly bubble up to the surface, but it’s nothing that a little holiday magic can’t fix.
Heather Graham and Brandy have delightful chemistry as old friends who learn to reconnect over an unexpected holiday vacation, while Best. Christmas. Ever! costars Jason Biggs and Matt Cedeño get to have a lot of fun as the husbands who are mostly just along for the ride, but still get their moments to shine with depth and heart. Meanwhile, the child actors are particularly entertaining, likely due to director Mary Lambert’s exceptional experience working with kid actors in the past (see: the zombie baby from Pet Sematary for an incredible example of unprecedented kid acting)
Screen Rant interviewed director Mary Lambert about her work on Best. Christmas. Ever!, dealing with a tight ensemble cast that includes multiple child actors, and how just because a movie is cozy to watch doesn’t mean it was necessarily cozy to make. She also spoke about her early career making music videos for MTV and working with Madonna just as she was becoming a global superstar.
Mary Lambert Talks Christmas Vibes & MTV legends
Screen Rant: You did A Castle For Christmas a couple of years ago, and now you’re back with this one. Is there a cozy vibe to doing a Christmas movie?
Mary Lambert: Hmm, I don’t know if “cozy” is the right word for any sort of film production. (Laughs) Just like with a horror movie, you kind of have to step outside the emotion and look at it critically, look at what you’re doing as a story. So it’s not… Every day didn’t feel like Christmas on set, if that’s what you mean!
Screen Rant: I imagine not. But you have a very small, core cast of characters in this one. It’s the kids, plus the two couples. Is that, at least, a cozy group to work with? Getting to settle in with them every day?
Mary Lambert: I’m gonna push back against this word, “cozy,” okay? (Laughs) But, what was really terrific was that I felt like I had an ensemble group with Jason and Heather and Brandy and Matt. They all just sort of reached out to the kids and included them as actors. The kids became part of the ensemble, you know? They were sparring and ad-libbing and improv-ing. The kids learned to ad-lib a little too quickly! They were so wonderful. I love working with kids. It was an ensemble effort. We all had a really good time just watching them. There are several scenes with all seven of them, and that’s a lot of people to be bouncing dialogue back and forth! Especially for the nine-and-ten-year-olds, they were doing the work of adults on that set.
Screen Rant: Well, not cozy to make, but I felt very cozy watching it!
Mary Lambert: That’s what I want! I think you know, for me, the movie is about joy and faith. That’s where we are in the Winter Solstice. Is the sun ever going to come back again? It is! I think people will watch this movie and they’ll have their faith renewed. Whatever they need to have faith in, it will be renewed.
Screen Rant: Since everything is sequel-ized and cinematic universes are hot, I assume your next movie will be Heather Graham from Best. Christmas. Ever! versus Brooke Shields from A Castle For Christmas, right? In a fight to the death?
Mary Lambert: I would be behind that! That sounds like fun. I don’t want either one of them to actually get hurt, though. They’re both such wonderful women. I feel like they’re my friends now.
Screen Rant: The movie is co-written by Charles Shyer. Did you get to work with him, or was the script kinda handed to you, fully formed, as it were?
Mary Lambert: Well, it was a script that came in the mail, and I really responded to it, because of the humor, and I think there’s an interesting point of view, coming from the two main characters. I really like the dynamic. And Charles is really good at that. Also, the co-writer, Todd Gallicano, he’s a friend of mine, he and Charles put together a script that was very carefully crafted. They set up the joke, and then the plot continues and then you pay off the joke. I feel like Jackie and Charlotte are two really unique characters.
Did I work on the script? No, not really. It was pretty much in final form when I caught it. We had to make some adjustments, but you always do. hen you’re on the set, and it’s supposed to be a sunny day in the park, but then it starts raining, you have to shoot the scene in a car, you know? You have to change the dynamic of things sometimes, and still tell your story. And Todd Gallicano was there on the set. It’s always nice to have a rapport with a writer and have them on set. When you have to make last-minute changes, it’s good to have someone to talk to about it. Somebody who knows the script intimately. If you change it to a rainy day, that will have an impact on the scene after that!
Screen Rant: There’s always dominoes, right?
Mary Lambert: Exactly, there’s always dominoes.
Screen Rant: I’m such a fan of yours. I once played in an all-male Madonna cover band. I think about those music videos you made in the golden age of MTV, the impact that you’ve had on culture, you’re one of those people who… Well, the world is different because of you.
Mary Lambert: That’s a very flattering thing to say. I hope the world is… We all want to affect our world. I think everybody affects their world.
Screen Rant: If I can ask about those days in particular, I get the sense from Madonna that she was always as larger-than-life as she is, but did you get the sense, in those days, of her learning and being shaped and forming her image as an icon?
Mary Lambert: Madonna blew me away the very first time I looked at her through a camera lens. She can hold the center of the lens, she can hold the center of a room, and she can hold the center of a huge auditorium. It’s not smoke and mirrors with her. She really has that power.
Screen Rant: I believe it, that’s fantastic to hear, coming from you. Come to think of it, I always thought Heather Graham would have made a great Madonna!
Mary Lambert: You know, she would, actually! They share an irreverent attitude and hardworking discipline. And, of course, they’re both really beautiful blondes. Or, sometimes Madonna’s a blonde! Heather’s usually a blonde, Madonna, you never know!
About Best. Christmas. Ever!
Every Christmas Jackie sends a boastful holiday newsletter that makes her old college friend Charlotte feel like a lump of coal. When a twist of fate lands Charlotte and her family on Jackie’s snowy doorstep just days before Christmas, she seizes the opportunity to prove her old friend’s life can’t possibly be that perfect. Starring Heather Graham, Brandy, Jason Biggs, and Matt Cedeño.
Check out our other interview with star Heather Graham.
