Contents:
- JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER
- HALLMARK'S 'HOLIDAY STER' SHOWS -STARS' SPARKS S FIRST GAY LEADS HOLIDAY MOVIE
- THE HOLIDAY STER: 7+ THOUGHTS I HAD WHILE WATCHG HALLMARK'S NEW GAY ROM-COM
JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER
In the movie, which buts Sunday, Bent plays Sam, a gay guy whose personal life suffers at the st of his profsnal life — work over marriage. '" Add to the formula the actor's love of the '80s classic Uncle Buck starrg John Candy, pl his sire to see a movie that was "really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022. " And that turned to me and my love for Uncle Buck, the movie wh John Candy that I grew up on, and I kd of put those ias together and I said, "What if Uncle Buck was gay?
Sam is beg really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022 and what that experience is.
HALLMARK'S 'HOLIDAY STER' SHOWS -STARS' SPARKS S FIRST GAY LEADS HOLIDAY MOVIE
As gay men, we're navigatg what our liv look like wh kids, or gettg married, or whout kids, and 's not black or whe — there's so many different avenu to startg a fay and havg a chosen fay. Somethg I found so funny is how Sam realiz that Jason is gay — when Jason ments on Sam's sho.
Like, "Oh wow, he is gay. Overwhelmed, Sam gets a helpg hand om his sister’s neighbor Jason (Gee Krissa) Countdown to Christmas feature is the work’s first holiday movie starrg a leadg gay uple.
“I thk a lot of gay men, pecially my age, are gog to be able to intify wh that.
THE HOLIDAY STER: 7+ THOUGHTS I HAD WHILE WATCHG HALLMARK'S NEW GAY ROM-COM
The film marks Hallmark’s first to be centered on a gay romance—yet ’s nowhere near the only diverse story the pany’s 2022 Holiday Ster stars and was nceived by Jonathan Bent, bt known as the teen heartthrob Mean Girls. “I am the gay uncle to so many of my chosen-fay niec and nephews, ” Bent tells Fast Company. The movie Bros., which Universal released theaters last fall and which drew cricism for s importance-first, ntent-send marketg mpaign— was the first theatrilly released rom- by a major stud to feature a gay uple—didn’t end up reachg the $12 ln mark at the domtic box office (though ’s farg well enough on VOD).
In 2020, Hallmark buted s first same-sex uple, and now the work’s evolutn has led to an entire rom- wh a gay uple as the foc. The Holiday Ster buted on Hallmark on December Christmas Hoe was the first Hallmark movie to feature a gay uple promently, but The Holiday Ster is their first film centered around a gay uple.
Clearly, The Holiday Ster was always wrten (or at least altered) wh a gay uple md.