Ree Drummond Convinced Ben And Erin Napier To Star In Upcoming Christmas Movie

"A Christmas Open House" premieres Friday.

Ben and Erin Napier’s holiday movie premieres in just a few days, and the HGTV couple is sharing some fascinating tidbits about what fans can expect from their film debut.

Speaking with the Mississippi Clarion Ledger this week, the Napiers discussed how A Christmas Open House came to be, what it was like filming a Christmas movie in the middle of summer, and what audiences should keep an eye out for.

The film follows Melissa Norwood (Katie Stevens), an ambitious Atlanta property stager who teams up with her old high school crush, David Phelps (Victor Rasuk), to sell her mom's home in their small Georgia hometown. The two take on the project of renovating the house before potential buyers come to see it on Christmas Eve. Against David's wishes, Melissa decides to spend a portion of her budget on custom projects created by a unique local couple, Henry and Sarah Wright (Ben and Erin).

As Erin points out, their characters aren’t all that different from the people they are in real life. They talk and interact just like they do on Home Town.

According to the couple, it was actually Ree Drummond who convinced them to sign on to the Discovery+ project. Drummond, you might recall, appeared in the company's first foray into scripted holiday films last season.

"(Drummond) said it was one of the most fun things she had ever done. She said we had to do it and said we would love it," Erin told the newspaper. "So, we said, 'OK, great, we will do it.' "

And Ree was right!

"It was a lot of fun," Ben said. "It was very different from the way we normally shoot."

Erin and Ben filmed their parts in Laurel during the last week of July. The heat was a particular challenge for Ben.

"Yes, the sweatiest man alive in flannel in July," she told the Clarion Ledger. "We would film for a minute and a half and then go straight back into the air conditioning."

The couple said they leaned into the cheesiness of the genre, and even tried to work some Christmas movie cliches into their parts. They told fans to keep an eye out for some “little bitty Easter Eggs” they threw into the script.

"We know we aren't making an Academy Award-winning movie," Erin said. "But we know we are making a movie that will make people happy. It's going to feel like warm cocoa on a cold day."

A Christmas Open House premieres on Friday, November 11th on the discovery+ streaming platform.

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