We’re Calling It: 'A Biltmore Christmas' Is An Instant Southern Christmas Classic

This one will become part of your annual traditions.

Last December we first reported the exciting news that Hallmark was filming a new holiday flick at one of our favorite Southern destinations. Then we were the first to give you all a sneak peek with an exclusive clip in October. But now, the wait is finally over. Hallmark’s A Biltmore Christmas starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha premieres on Sunday, November 26 and we can tell you that it’s every bit as magical as we had hoped it would be.

Filmed entirely on location in Asheville, North Carolina, on the Biltmore Estate, this movie tells the story of Lucy Hardgrove, a screenwriter with the gig of a lifetime, writing a remake of the beloved, fictional, holiday classic, His Merry Wife. The original was filmed at the Biltmore in 1947, so Lucy travels from L.A. to North Carolina for research and inspiration. But with a magical twist of fate, she finds herself transported back to the film’s set in 1947 where she meets the dashing leading man, Jack Huston (Polaha). Her sudden appearance in this different era sets off a chain of events that put the production in jeopardy. Before she can return to the present, Lucy must make things right or threaten to alter the future forever.

As the story flips back and forth between present day and 1947, what unfolds is a beautiful modern take on the classic holiday film. It not only celebrates the beauty and grandeur of the Biltmore itself, but wonderfully pulls at the nostalgic heartstrings in homage to this bygone era, the golden age of Hollywood. That element was something that particularly interested leading man, Kristoffer Polaha to this role, as he recently explained to Southern Living.

“It's something that I loved growing up, watching TCM, Turner Classic Movies with my dad on snowy afternoons in Reno, Nevada. And I remember he would sit in this little Barcalounger and I’d be on the floor next to him and we’d be watching Humphrey Bogart or Carey Grant or James Stewart. And It’s a Wonderful Life ranks as one of my all-time favorite movies. So I’m steeped in that era. That genre of filmmaking is something that I love. I think those movies are in large part early on, what made me want to do what I do for a living.”

Bethany Joy Lenz also told us that the nostalgia of the script really attracted her to the project. “It really was my dream come true because this is all I ever really wanted out of life is to time travel back to the ‘40s. I’ve always loved the golden age, the simpler time. The glamor.” In addition to the location itself inspiring both of their performances, Lenz said there was another element that transported the production back in time. “ The next thing that really lights you up is stepping into those costumes because they’ve been preserved so beautifully. I surround myself with a lot of vintage items anyway. It helps me stay in the present moment. Feeling the visceral reminder that we’re really just a cog in the wheel of time. So I have this affinity for antiques and vintage things, vintage clothing for that reason. It really connected with that part of my heart and my spirit to step into these incredibly, beautifully well preserved items of clothing, costumes, that someone else wore and lived part of their life in. It just felt really special and made it incredibly easy to play Lucy.”

Polaha said that he knew from the first read of the script that this was something special, noting that writer “Marcy Holland did an unbelievable job.” He also had high praise for his co-star. “Bethany Joy Lenz is just a dynamo from the first scene to the last scene. She carries the film like Lucille Ball.”

Of his own performance, The Shift star said, “I have the joy of getting to play this 1940s movie star with quick wit and witty banter and straight posture and this kind of fun, trans-atlantic kind of style of acting. And we got to film it at Biltmore House which is like walking through a time portal. And when you’re surrounded by the majesty of that structure, and all of the intricate details, like the bookshelves. There’s 10,000 books in that library and the bookshelves go from floor to ceiling. And then there’s this canvas on the ceiling that’s 13 panels that they brought from Italy and they made the room to fit the canvas so the ceiling looks like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I mean it’s beautiful. And then you have fireplaces big enough to park cars in. It affects your performance. It informs you. It changes you.”

Lenz also had nothing but kind words for her costar’s efforts. “ I feel like he just peeled himself right out of a 1940s movie and dropped himself into ours. I’ve never seen anybody who was more of a ‘40s movie star. Maybe George Clooney. But come on!”

As you watch the film, the Biltmore itself becomes a character as well. Polaha talked about how he took in all of the majesty around him during the weeks they were on location. “The Biltmore Estate is this 8,000 acre paradise reserve where I was jogging one day and ran into a mama black bear and her three baby cubs and then there’s deer, there’s turkey, there’s everything you can imagine, they’re just kind of walking around.”

He continued, “And then once we started filming we had access to rooms that most people don’t. I took a nap in the library. There was a big bench that Hallmark brought in as a prop and I lay on it while they were filming a scene that I wasn’t working on and I just looked at the ceiling and was able to just stare at the ceiling for half an hour and take in all the details then just kinda drift off to sleep with this giant fire roaring behind me. It it really was like stepping back in time.”

Lenz was also in awe of the grandeur of this historic home. “The house, there’s intricate details in every corner. You cannot believe the care and time and love that was put into this home, this property.” The Texas native is also singer-songwriter and she found inspiration in the music room and the history behind it. Over the three weeks of filming where they “sort of lived in this house for three weeks, which is really what we did. We spent every waking moment in that house,” Lenz learned the fascinating story about how the Vanderbilt family and Biltmore House were called upon to hide some of the nation’s most prized works of art during World War II. An invasion on U.S. soil was a real concern and Hitler was stealing works of art as he invaded other nations. So the Biltmore’s music room became a hidden vault for dozens of paintings and sculptures, per Biltmore’s website. “So that was really cool to stand in that room and look around and know the history that had gone in and out of there. It’s pretty amazing,” Lenz said.

Polaha then spoke about how the enduring splendor of Biltmore is really thanks to the generations of the family who have run it. He spent time with Chase Pickering, one of the great-great grandsons of George Vanderbilt, the original owner of this American landmark, who now runs the estate along with his parents. “He was on set every single day and it was like being invited into their home. And they were the greatest hosts you’d ever want. They just opened up the property to us and took us skeet shooting and horseback riding and were like this is what we offer here, this is what we can do. I want to show you everything.”

The veteran actor reflected on how much he learned from Pickering about his family business and how it was a perfect match for Hallmark. “Hallmark is also a family run company. And there you’ve got three generations of the Halls perpetuating this idea that we are making greeting cards for families to help them communicate and express ideas on how they see each other and love each other. That really is the embodiment of the network and I think it’s what people are drawn to season after season. That’s why Countdown to Christmas is such a juggernaut because the values that are the core of the company that are making those movies is that we want to remind you to reach out and let the people that you love know that you love them…It really is the perfect example of what Hallmark has been doing in the way they make movies and I think it’s a beautiful showcase of Biltmore House.”

During their time filming, Polaha and the other cast and crew members did venture out and explore their surroundings. “Asheville itself as a city is amazing and I recommend everybody in that area in the Southeast to go visit Asheville because the restaurants are world class. There’s just a really cool vibe about the city itself. There’s sort of an artistic renaissance taking place,” Polaha said. Local spots they enjoyed include All Souls Pizza, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, and of course, no time in the South is complete without a few biscuits. “Biscuit Head on Haywood Road was really good too. We went there a lot for breakfast.”

A Biltmore Christmas premieres on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, November 26 and we think it will become part of your annual must-watch films for many holiday seasons to come.

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Read the original article on Southern Living.