Crown Media Candace Cameron Bure in Christmas Town.
Candace Cameron Bure is known as being the “queen” of Hallmark and many fans just love her Christmas movies. But for her, Christmas movies are among the toughest to make — even harder to film than Fuller House. She recently revealed why this is the case.
The Weather Can Be Really Warm While They’re Bundled Up in Coats
Crown MediaCandace Cameron Bure in Christmas Town.
Although in 2020 quite a few Christmas movies were filmed later in the year due to the pandemic, many of the Christmas movies are typically filmed in the late spring or summer when the temperatures are quite hot. This means that actors have to pretend to be cold and wear heavy coats and sweaters even if it’s sweltering outside.
Good Housekeeping reported in 2019 that when Bure was filming a Christmas movie in May, she had to wear a thick peacoat, scarf, and gloves.
“It takes a toll on you to film in this heat,” she told Good Housekeeping. “Not only are you sweating, but you have to act like you’re cold, which takes another element of your energy to pretend that you’re shivering instead of just naturally shivering.”
Filming a Christmas movie in warm temperatures is a reality for many Hallmark movies, not just the ones Bure stars in. Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen, for example, filmed in July. Maple Ridge News shared that they made fake snow with cotton batting and had to truck in real snow from nearby hockey rinks. They even had a snow machine.
For the 2020 movie Christmas She Wrote, they had to rely on fake snow because of how warm it was, Times Colonist reported. Fake snow was spotted on Broad Street near the Tres Gourmet Bakery and Cafe Tuesday in October.
The fan-favorite Holly & Ivy was filmed in Utah when it was 100 degrees. Janel Parrish wrote on her Instagram when the movie wrapped in early August: “Y’all will never know the pain of shooting a Christmas movie in a garage in 100 degrees, but it was worth it. More pics soon, but we can’t wait to share this beautiful movie with you. That’s a wrap on #hollyandivy.”
Sometimes during filming, the weather got as hot as 107 degrees and they still had to pretend it was snowy and cold, Del Mar Times reported.
So how is snow made in the summer? There are different ways, including snow blankets, fire-retardant foam, ice shavings taken from ice blocks, snow from ski slope machines, and crushed limestone. Whichever method they choose for a film, it always seems to work.
Filming for Christmas Is Tougher than Filming for ‘Fuller House’
Bure told Good Housekeeping that filming a Hallmark Christmas movie is even tougher than filming for Fuller House. They typically shoot a movie in about two weeks and have to stay really cheerful the whole time.
“The reality of making them is a much tougher job than Fuller House or any other series,” she said. “This is definitely some of the hardest work that I do because they’re such a grind: long hours, quick turnaround, putting on your happy face every day, and going out there to make Christmas happen.”
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