Jana Kramer, Maria Menounos & Ryan McPartlin – The Holiday Fixup

By starrymag | December 11, 2021

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) What was it like filming a holiday movie all together in the dead of summer in Connecticut?

JANA KRAMER: (Laughs.).

RYAN MCPARTLIN: (Laugh.)  I love your laugh.

JANA KRAMER: Exactly that.  Exactly that.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: It’s perfect.  That’s it.

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.

MARIA MENOUNOS: It was hot. It was so fun though. I love these guys so much.  Jana and Ryan are gems, and we just have the best time.

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.  I will say that, I feel like we got pretty lucky guys.  Like it could have been –

MARIA MENOUNOS: Yeah.

JANA KRAMER: I mean, we had a few (hot)days, but the days that we were outside I felt like we were blessed with not like, you know (not too hot)–And I think there was only one day, I was like “I think I might pass out.” But, Ryan, it doesn’t matter if it was sunny or not, Ryan was going to always have a fan –

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Oh, yeah.

JANA KRAMER: Whether it was sunny, not sunny.  I mean, that man sweats so much, like, thank God it wasn’t hotter –

RYAN MCPARTLIN: It didn’t help that I was taking a supplement that I found out afterwards –

JANA KRAMER: Yep.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: –causes excessive sweating.

JANA KRAMER: Uh huh.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: And then we’re in sweaters in the dead of summer, and I’ve done this multiple times, as Jana has as well, –so I’m always preparing the crew and production saying, hey, we need some ice packs.  We need fans standing by.  I need dryers to dry the hair.  I didn’t want to hold up production…and somehow it’s always like the afterthought, right?  And then when the sweat starts coming and you’re holding up production everybody’s like send as many people to the store as possible.  We need to get fans.  We need dryers.  We need everything.

JANA KRAMER: I needed Gatorade.  That was my ask.  I was like I need a Gatorade.  I’m feeling lightheaded…but it was so fun –

RYAN MCPARTLIN: I was a little upset that when I was pouring sweat, I’d look at you guys and you’re like, no, not a drop.

JANA KRAMER: We glisten.  Ryan sweats.  Maria and I didn’t –

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Yeah.  That’s right. That’s right.

Q) I enjoyed the movie. I’m not really into DIY, but what about you? Ryan, do you do DIY in real life?

JANA KRAMER: Wait, can I answer that, please.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Go ahead. Go ahead.

JANA KRAMER: Because the first time that I ever met Ryan–Suzanne, thank you for watching the movie –but the first time that Ryan and I actually Facetime’d he was trying to hang blinds, I think it was, and doing a terrible job.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: And that was the last time I’ve done anything around the house.  Well, no, no, no…I had to fix a doorknob last night.  I went to Home Depot and then Loew’s-had three different people explain to me how to do it, and I was like I’m just going to hire somebody.  It’s not my jam.

Q) Well, and the snowball fight was the most fun of all the movie, I thought. Was that as fun for you to shoot as it was for us to watch?

MARIA MENOUNOS: It was super fun, and that was the hottest day, too, you guys.  That was the only day that was excruciating –

RYAN MCPARTLIN: It was the hottest day.

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.  That was the hottest day, and then I feel like, Maria, you and I became a little competitive.  Like we were legit pushing each other at the start of doing that.  We’re like “it’s going down”—

MARIA MENOUNOS: Yeah.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: That was Brian Herzlinger, our director-he wanted to have his “Saving Private Ryan” moment where he was going to get all this camera action and get the really artistic movement as–Well, you see it in the trailer as Maria and Jana are just unloading on each other and getting very competitive with each other.

MARIA MENOUNOS: It was so fun.

JANA KRAMER: It was kind of funny, too, Brian wanted a “Saving Private Ryan” moment.  Like you do know this is a Christmas movie, right? But it was so much fun—

MARIA MENOUNOS: Oh, and actually these guys championed my husband having a cameo in the movie, and that was the scene he made the snow.  He’s Nick the Snowman.

Q) So, talk to us about the film, and how is it? Is it challenging coming up with the chemistry between cast members? How long does that normally take?

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Well, we got to Zoom…Jana and I, fortunately, had all these Zoom’ing sessions with our writer who is amazing, Jessica Etting.  And so there was a couple times that Jana and I were on the same page –but not some of the other voices, because there’s a whole lot of voices–and you just look at the camera in one of these Zoom meetings and you’d kind of look at each other and try and stifle a little of laughter…it was like being in class and just locking eyes with somebody who was in on the joke.  And so Jana and I felt like we were in on the same joke that everybody wasn’t in on, and that kind of kicked off our friendship.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: There was no pumping you up when we’re that tired.  When you’re that tired nobody can do anything about it.  But I will say, back to the chemistry with Maria, too–Maria and I started talking about trying to do something in the Christmas space together at least two years ago, right?  Sometime around two years ago…

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.  No, we had…I mean, pretty much instant chemistry.  The same with Maria and I.  Every time I’ve been with Maria, we had that and I’m like, oh, that’s going to be easy to play best friends with her, because every time I see her I feel like she’s such a close friend.  And then with Ryan it’s like we had that kind of, you know–that brotherly/sister, fun banter, fun-it’s that good energy.  So that part was really easy, to have the chemistry.  And then we were all teammates together.  We all helped each other out, and when I got super tired, Ryan was there to pump me up.

MARIA MENOUNOS: Oh, yeah.  Yeah.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: And when I saw her at a Christmas party, I was like, oh, my God, I got to talk to Maria about being in this space…and Maria and I have known each other for years.  I threw a touchdown pass, or was it you to me?  No, it was me to you, right?

MARIA MENOUNOS: I’m such a giver.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Yeah.  Well, you did throw an extra point then.  You were playing quarterback and played like–did a two-point conversion.  It was amazing. I got the footage.

MARIA MENOUNOS: Oh, you’re right.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Yep.  But, no, Maria–when I saw her at this party that we were at, I was like, Maria, you have to be in this Christmas space and then…you go, Maria, I don’t want to monopolize this conversation.

MARIA MENOUNOS: Not at all.  Yeah, I’ve said this, I think it was just super cool.  Ryan saw a little doc that I did on my experience with my parents getting COVID at the same time, and I did this little like 19-minute piece, and he saw it and sent me this beautiful email about how much it moved him, and how he was going to really kind of cherish those moments with his family even more, and it was just a beautiful letter…and one thing led to another and all of a sudden, I was getting on a plane to Connecticut to make this movie with them.  And it was very much needed for me at the time.  I just lost my mom, and I got to go back to Connecticut, and stay in my bed, and be with my dad, and get to have fun with these guys every day.  And I do think that it’s super rare to have just such instant chemistry with everybody, and we all just clicked so fast and so easily.  I was doing Jana’s makeup at one point. Jana’s fanning Ryan.  Like everybody was helping each other, and it was really special.  So, I told them, I’m like, I just want to be able to do this every summer with you guys, because I love them so much, and we have just such a great team all around.

Q) Maria, I think you sort of just answered this partially but maybe you can add more to it, but for all of you, what was it originally though that made you want to do this film?

JANA KRAMER: I’ll start–because I had had a meeting about a different movie a few days prior to talking to Ryan and the producers of this film, and it was something about…Well, one of the reasons I really wanted to do it, because I’ve always wanted to work with Ryan and it was cool because there wasn’t a script, so I was able to kind of put my two cents into it.  This is Ryan’s idea that he’s had for a long time, so it was cool to be able to actually collaborate and help bring the story to life as opposed to showing up on the page.  Because usually we just JANA KRAMER: I’ll start–because I had had a meeting about a different movie a few days prior to talking to Ryan and the producers of this film, and it was something about…Well, one of the reasons I really wanted to do it, because I’ve always wanted to work with Ryan and it was cool because there wasn’t a script, so I was able to kind of put my two cents into it.  This is Ryan’s idea that he’s had for a long time, so it was cool to be able to actually collaborate and help bring the story to life as opposed to showing up on the page.  Because usually we just

RYAN MCPARTLIN: She had a lot of say in it, not just a little bit of say, because when–It’s not that you’re that over opinionated, Jana–It’s like I really respected her opinions and she had very good input, ideas, story points.  She’s done this, you know, she’s done as many of these as probably I have, I’d say.  And you don’t want the redundancy of doing the same story over-and-over-again.  So, you look for ways to say how can it be different? How is it different than the other stuff out there, and that’s what I’m really proud of–especially how we would talk out some of these things, if it was a real relationship and a real life and we were playing real exes.  And the way that I saw the story ending is not necessarily the way that Jana saw it from her perspective. So, when our writer, Jessica Koosed Etting, heard her response if I said one thing and then Jana said, well, I would say this–it just turned everything.  So, you got to kind of play like you would in, you know, onstage in a theater, in a class together.  And you go, oh, that’s interesting…if that’s how you would really react let’s work that into the story and still tie it up nicely to deliver to the audience what they expect, but in a different way than that expect it.

Q) Jana and Ryan if you could talk about how you stepped in as executive producers. Was this something of a passion project that came across your desk, or did they offer you a role of EP after you singed on to the film?

JANA KRAMER: Yeah, and that’s something, too, because Ryan and I have done so many of these Christmas movies it was something that I had a conversation with Lifetime about and was like, I really want to be able to bring my ideas to the table.  So, I would like to moving forward be able to executive produce, just so that way I, you know—because making Christmas movies are so much fun.  They’re easy.  They’re light.  They’re fun–but I also want to bring a little bit of complications to things, or a little bit of my own touch to things and to have that voice, and that way.  I don’t know, Ryan, if it felt the same way for you, but I felt really, really, really, proud of this one, because I felt like I had so much more to…I offered so much more in this film than I have in the other ones.  And, yeah, I loved all the other ones, but this one…I was like, man, this is–It’s the first thing I’ve ever executive produced! So that was kind of cool to just be like–I was proud of myself and I was proud of you. It was fun.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Yeah.  And I feel like, you know, Maria, hopefully, you felt your voice was the heard the same as, any producer or actor would be–come on in if they had ideas and wanted to play.  It was nice because it was like a safe artists’ space, you know. That’s what we wanted to create.

MARIA MENOUNOS: A hundred percent.  I will say they were amazing executive producers.  Not only did they feed the crew, got coffee trucks–they did all the things that really great producers do to keep everybody happy, keep everybody going.  They always say it starts at the top and literally it was a perfect experience all the way through for everybody.  We all loved it.  We all had the best time.  Everybody was excited, and everybody was onboard with making the best movie we could while having fun.  So that is why I’m committed to how do we do this every summer together?  How do we add in some time where we always can make a movie together, keep the same crew, keep the same thing…

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Yeah.  I’d love that.  And we also got to give credit to Stephanie [Slack] and Margret [H. Huddleston], our other executive producers—

JANA KRAMER: Absolutely.

RYANMCPARTLIN: –they really gave us that freedom to jump in and produce alongside them.  They did a lot of the hard, dirty work, I’d say, as producers dealing with the budgets and the overtime and the schedules and all that stuff since we really want to stay in the creative space, and that’s what we were able to do, thank God.

JANA KRAMER: Although, I think that part’s fun, but I’ll do that later.

Q) Maria, have you ever interviewed Jana? Is that where this friendship started, and if that is where it started, how do you remember the interview going?

MARIA MENOUNOS: Well, I will say that I have zero memory.  This is where I throw my brain tumor card down.  I can’t remember anything. My husband’s my USB drive…but, yes, I know I’ve interviewed Jana–but we were also friendly just in the business and with Ryan the same thing.  So, I can’t say I remember the first moment I laid eyes on this beautiful woman.

JANA KRAMER: I remember you helped me out with “Dancing with the Stars” because I remember you were there at “Dancing with the Stars” and Val was your partner, right? He was like you—

MARIA MENOUNOS: Yeah.  No, Val, he was like the fake doctor on the set.

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.  He’s like you need to talk to Maria, because she also hurt her ribs or something like that.  So, I just remember you being so nice and just so willing to…I mean, we talked for a while and then it just, again, it just felt like–man, we’re talking like we’re real friends. It was such a friendly conversation –

MARIA MENOUNOS: Yeah.

JANA KRAMER: I just remember hanging up on that and being like, wow, she’s special, a special person.

MARIA MENOUNOS: Thanks.  Thanks, friend.  Yeah, I never remember how I meet anybody, to be honest, because I am just I’m so excited to see everybody and meet people when I meet them that it just floats away.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: Except for when someone throws you a touchdown pass.

MARIA MENOUNOS: Yes.  But you just had to remind me that I threw you a two-point conversion. I don’t remember –

Q) Jana, I’m really curious about with the social media aspect of this role, I loved how you all really leaned into the positive aspects of it just with the world complaining so much about the problems, and I’m just curious about the intention behind making that such a large part of your character’s job in the film.

JANA KRAMER: Yeah.  It was fun.  I mean, especially because I’m like, “I don’t know how to do this.” Meanwhile, my whole entire life is social media, so that was kind of fun to do that.  But also, I think what I learned…actually, yes, we showed how it can bring people together.  But, for me, personally, what I took away from the movie the most is actually about putting the phone down. It’s what we always talked about, the one character, Rita’s character—where it’s back in the day when we didn’t have the cell phones and we were able to just disconnect and be in a room together and not be glued to Instagram or the phone.  And that’s what I took away from it the most –it is just having that distraction away to really just be present with the people in front of me.  So that’s something that I would like to lean more into.

RYAN MCPARTLIN: I think that social media caught us all by storm, you know, and there were no rules.  There was no teaching moment.  We didn’t come up in school with teachers saying you should compartmentalize this.  And then the job of these apps and the social media companies is to see how many hours they can get out of your day spent on these apps.  So, there is a lot of benefit to it and there’s a lot of, you know, businesses that thrive from it.  Our small business that we have came about because of social media and there’s a lot of charities that do very well–but it is a danger, and it’s going to be.  It’s interesting that the back-and-forth that our characters had about compartmentalizing and what to use it for, and how to use it, and I think that’s a real conversation that should be had in every household right now.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*