Jonathan Bennett wanted to create a gay Uncle Buck for The Holiday Sitter
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Among 2022's 170-plus holiday movies is a milestone: the first Hallmark Christmas movie to feature an LGBTQ couple at the center of the action. The channel partially has Jonathan Bennett to thank for that: the Mean Girls star helped create the story which became The Holiday Sitter.
In the movie, which debuts Sunday, Bennett plays Sam, a gay guy whose personal life suffers at the cost of his professional life — work over marriage. When his sister and brother-in-law suddenly need a sitter for their two kids because the baby they're going to adopt is about to be born a little early, he changes his plans for a solo holiday in Hawaii to stay with his niece and nephew. But, what to do with two pre-teens? It's a question the actor found himself asking in real life while filming a different Hallmark movie.
"I became friends with the family that owned the house where we were shooting, and they had four kids," Bennett explains to EW. "I would spend time with the kids on set, and the parents would crack up because I didn't really understand how kids worked. Like 'What... can I ... can they go to craft service? What are they allowed to have?'"
Add to the formula the actor's love of the '80s classic Uncle Buck starring John Candy, plus his desire to see a movie that was "really authentic to what it's like being a gay man in 2022."
Below, Bennett unwraps his new Christmas movie and the gift it's given him in return.
Hallmark Channel Jonathan Bennett in 'The Holiday Sitter'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In addition to starring in this movie, you have a story credit in addition to being a producer. But speaking specifically to the story, was there some real-life inspiration here? What was the core nugget of this idea that you guys ran with?
JONATHAN BENNETT: The core nugget of The Holiday Sitter came from two things. One, when I was shooting a different holiday movie for Hallmark in Utah, I became friends with the family that owned the house where we were shooting, and they had four kids. I would spend time with the kids on set, and the parents would crack up because I didn't really understand how kids worked. [Laughs] Like "What... can I ... can they go to craft service? What are they allowed to have?" And they would just laugh. They're like, "Yes, they can have a bagel. It's fine." And so that kind of inspired the idea. They're like, "You should do a movie where you have to take care of these kids." And that turned into me and my love for Uncle Buck, the movie with John Candy that I grew up on, and I kind of put those ideas together and I said, "What if Uncle Buck was gay?" And that's kind of how the movie was born. Since then it took a lot of different twists and turns and kind of creatively became something different. But the core nugget was my love for the '80s movies like Buck.
Once I realized he was going to taking care of his niece and nephew, Uncle Buck actually crossed my mind and made me wonder what kind of antics there were going to get into. Specifically with your character Sam, what were you most interested in getting to explore with him?
Sam is being really authentic to what it's like being a gay man in 2022 and what that experience is. When I was younger, marriage and kids weren't exactly on the table or something that could happen for a queer person — I mean, it could to some extent, but it wasn't legal; it wasn't protected. And then all of a sudden we were able to get married and have the same protections. And in that, it's almost like our brains and hearts had to catch up with what was going on. And there's a scene in the movie where Sam gets to explore that and talk about what it's like — it's not that Sam never wanted a family, he just never thought he could have a family.
In terms of being a producer, is that a result of you taking a look at the genre, seeing what kind of stories were not getting told, and taking an active role in trying to change that?
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. One hundred percent. What I wanted to do at Hallmark Channel was tell a story with two men as the main characters falling in love at the holidays. And I wanted to make it funny, and I wanted it to have a ton of heart. And so I went to Hallmark and said, "Hey, I want to tell this story. And the reason we have to tell it is because we haven't seen this yet, and we have to make sure that we show this." There have been a lot of different stories of queer people on Hallmark Channel, but we had yet to see two men fall in love at Christmas. And that's what I really wanted to show because I really wanted people like me to feel represented when they watched Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark. So when I went to Hallmark with this, their reaction was absolutely 100 percent, over-the-top supportive. They were so excited about the idea and they were so supportive throughout the whole creative process. And what was so cool is that we have a team of queer people working on it from all the creative angles — our producers, writers, directors, and actors are all queer. So it was really a melting pot of experiences that we got to pull from to make this story.
The movie is being lauded for being Hallmark's first holiday movie with LGBTQ characters at the center. What's it mean to you that you helped make that happen, that they said, "Of course, let's do this" to you?
I'm so proud to be on Hallmark Channel and to be telling this story on Hallmark because of how inclusive the network is, but also from a creative standpoint... we're opening new doors by telling this story on the network, and a lot of people are gonna feel represented and feel like they see themselves on screen. But for me personally, why it's such an important moment is because of how Hallmark Channel has created a safe space for queer people to tell stories. By having that door wide open, we'll be able to tell more. It's the best thing in the world — they literally created the safest space to tell queer stories.
Hallmark Channel George Krissa, Jonathan Bennett, and Mila Morgan in 'The Holiday Sitter'
How, then, did hearing Candace Cameron Bure's comments about traditional marriage stories only at Great American Family and her subsequent statement make you feel? Because on one hand it felt like she was saying, "I love everyone," but on the other hand it was like, "But I also don't recognize everyone's lives."
Well, I can only speak to my experience. I wake up every morning and I'm so proud to be part of Hallmark Channel because of the inclusive storytelling they're doing for the LGBTQ+ community with movies like The Holiday Sitter. It feels so good to have a place at the holiday table because The Holiday Sitter is for everyone, and Christmas is for everyone, Hallmark Channel is for everyone. It feels good to see stories that look like mine on screen.
Well, on the topic of stories like yours, what was priority number one in depicting this relationship between Sam and Jason?
As gay men, we're navigating what our lives look like with kids, or getting married, or without kids, and it's not black or white — there's so many different avenues to starting a family and having a chosen family. So I wanted to really show Sam and Jason growing together as they navigate what family looks like to each of them. I really wanted to show two men falling in love organically, and I think we pulled that off.
Something I found so funny is how Sam realizes that Jason is gay — when Jason comments on Sam's shoes.
Did you love it? And then for the rest of the movie, Sam is fumbling around him even more. Like, "Oh wow, he is gay." There's a chance.
You're no stranger to making these holiday movies. My understanding is that production is quite fast, often filmed in summer. Is it accurate to say you have to embrace a Christmas in July mentality on set?
Absolutely. This movie was shot in August and it was upwards of 90 degrees every day in that house, so we had these massive air conditioners that were trying to keep us cool to try to make the house bearable. But you're dressed in sweaters and boots and coats and scarves, so the actors put a lot of work into this — not just acting but having to mentally be able to go there every single day. And it's not so much about pretending to be cold, it's just mentally be in the space of "Okay, I'm gonna be the hottest I've ever been, and I have to connect and be on camera and be in the moment. [Laughs] Have you ever tried to do comedy when you're sweltering? It's not easy. So you have to pull out all your little tricks of the trade to make it happen.
Hallmark Channel George Krissa and Jonathan Bennett in 'The Holiday Sitter'
These movies have a very loyal fan base — Hallmark especially does. How do these fans compare to Mean Girls fans?
Well, it's funny because Mean Girls fans and Hallmark fans are starting to blend into one family now. Mean Girls fans are all getting a little bit older because they watched it when they were teenagers and now they have kids of their own, so they're at home watching the Hallmark Channel. So it's literally a crossover of the two types of fans — Hallmark movies and Mean Girls are both movies that people needed in their lives to either feel better or escape from something or laugh. And I think both movies do that, so they're really fun movies to be a part of because I either make people laugh or there was something in the movie that they needed at the time. It's kind of the best of both worlds.
The Holiday Sitter premieres Sunday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. on Hallmark Channel.
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