Hallmark A Magical Christmas Village
The Hallmark Channel’s newest Countdown To Christmas movie, “A Magical Christmas Village,” premieres on Friday, November 4, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central. The movie stars Alison Sweeney, Marlo Thomas, and Luke Macfarlane. Read on to learn everything you need to know about where it was filmed and the cast involved.
‘A Magical Christmas Village’ Was Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Hallmark
Vancouver is a big scene for Hallmark movies, including “A Magical Christmas Village.” This new movie is directed by Jason Furukawa and it’s a Lighthouse Pictures production. Both are located in Vancouver. Macfarlane was also in Vancouver filming this movie when he was interviewed by the New York Times, and he explained that this was likely his last movie with the network.
In an Instagram post in August, Sweeney shared that she was hard at work in Vancouver, after previously sharing that she was getting ready to film her Christmas movie.
According to IMDB Pro, post-production for this movie ended around September 23, 2022.
Meet the Cast
Hallmark
Hallmark’s synopsis of the movie reads:
Summer (Sweeney) is an architect living in a small town where she’s raising her young daughter Chloe (Maesa Nicholson, “Dying for Chocolate: A Curious Caterer Mystery”). When her mother Vivian (Thomas) finds herself in need of a place to live, her orderly life becomes a little less so after inviting Vivian to move in with them during this transition. Upon arrival, Vivian sets up an heirloom, miniature Christmas village resembling their town, and tells Chloe it grants Christmas wishes. As Chloe begins setting up the figurines, real-life events seem to mimic the scenes she creates, including Summer’s chance meeting with Ryan (Macfarlane), a newcomer to their community. The two quickly learn they share much in common and as they spend more time together, Ryan slowly helps Summer learn to open her hear to love again. Meanwhile, living under the same roof gives Summer and Vivian the chance to mend fences as the holiday nears and, perhaps with a little help from the magic of the Christmas village, the family will be brought closer together.
Alison Sweeney plays the part of Summer. According to her bio, she’s a director, content provider, TV personality, and writer who has 1.5 million social media fans. She often talks about maintaining a healthy work-life balance and prioritizing family and well-being.
Sweeney stars in and executive produces two mystery series for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries: “Chronicle Mysteries” (inspired by her love of true crime podcasts) and “Hannah Swensen Mysteries,” adapted from Joanne Fluke’s book series. (It was previously called “Murder She Baked.”)
Sweeny talked about how much of an honor it was to have Marlo Thomas on set while filming.
Earlier this month, she shared some pictures of herself and Macfarlane doing sound fixes for the movie.
“I’m so thrilled to share a #behindthescenes moment with the fabulous @marlothomas !” she wrote in another post.
“Multi tasking is the name of the game today! I am getting ready to film a Christmas movie and there’s always so much on the to-do list,” she shared in an August 5 post.
In an interview with US Weekly, she gave her fans an update on the Hannah Swensen movies
“I wish I could offer you some hint in that direction right now [about the Hannah Swensen franchise]. I cannot, but believe me, I am a big fan of Hannah Swensen and if I can make that happen, I will,” Sweeney said. “I will tell you when I can.”
She also gave a little update on the “Chronicles” movies, saying: “Oh my gosh, for sure. I would love to [revive that character]. I love that series. I love that show. Unfortunately, it’s, like, not my decision. But believe me, if ever there was interest, I would be ready to take it up again. ”
According to his bio, Luke Macfarlane, who plays Ryan, played a recurring role on the hit ABC series “Brothers & Sisters,” and he has also had starring roles on the Syfy series “Killjoys” for five seasons, on the PBS series “Mercy Street,” and on the FX series “Over There,” “Smash,” “Satisfaction,” and “Supreme Courtships.”
Mcfarlane has revealed that this is likely his last Hallmark movie.
“They’ve been very good to me, but I think I’ve told my story for now with those folks,” Macfarlane told LA Times. “I mean, how many firefighters can I play?”
He also shared how Hallmark reacted to his departure.
He told People: “I think Hallmark is also a place where, you know, they give lots of opportunities to people. They gave me, an openly gay actor, an opportunity to star as always a straight dude so that was really cool of them.”
Marlo Thomas plays the role of Vivian in this movie. According to her bio, she’s earned four Emmys, been honored with a Peabody, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and, in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented by President Barack Obama. Thomas made her debut as “That Girl” on television.
Thomas shared a behind-the-scenes picture from an interview promoting the new movie, and the two revealed that they had so much fun filming together.
Also starring in the movie are:
- Maesa Nicholson (Chloe)
- Maria Meadows (April)
- Alaysia Jackson (Molly)
- Lennox Leacock (Wyatt)
- Trae Maridadi (Sam)
- Ryan Mah (Cliff)
- Suzanne Ristic (Jean)
- Kareem Malcolm (Matt)
- Madonna Gonzalez (Claudia)
- Todd Matthews (Chris)
- Sarah Cantuba (Angie)
- Amanda Khan (Realtor)