Anne Heche (Rampart, Hung) plays beleaguered Nell Blakemore in the new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, One Christmas Eve, premiering Sunday, November 30, 2014, 8‐10pm ET/PT on Hallmark Channel, followed by several encore presentations.
Nell’s a newly single mom who wants this Christmas to be extra‐special for her two kids (played by Once Upon a Time’s Ali Skovbye and Contagion’s Griffin Kane).
It turns out to be special – but not the way Nell had in mind!
This Christmas Eve, everything that can go wrong does go wrong.
The mayhem starts when Cesar (The Glade’s Carlos Gomez) attempts to leave an abandoned beagle on Nell’s front porch. Cesar trips and falls. Nell has to take him to the hospital, where Kevin Daniels (Sirens) is a security guard and Brian Tee (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) a dreamy doc.
In no particular order, their car is towed, Nell’s son and the beagle disappear down a hole in a construction zone, a nasty nurse harasses them all. Later – to add insult to injury – they’re car‐jacked. And they’re all in a police station when it goes up in flames.
“Everything goes wrong, really wrong,” says Anne Heche, interviewed on the set of One Christmas Eve. “[But] Nell discovers a great deal of strength within herself, strength she didn’t know she possessed. And the family bond is cemented, and the family itself really grows, thanks in a funny way to all the mayhem.”
Anne Heche says she’s particularly fond of Brian Tee’s character, Dr. Chen. “He’s the person in our story who puts his arms around and embraces and takes care of the Blakemores and their extended family,” she says.
“He’s handsome, he’s smart, he’s compassionate. And he’s the one who lights the light of possible romance in Nell.”
Heche says she refers to One Christmas Eve as 'The International Christmas Show.' Pointing to the diversity of the cast and characters, she says, “Their backgrounds are not incidental to who they are. But on this one night, when chaos comes to town, they morph into one big, united family – into a true community.
“It’s such an affirming thing to see. You can’t help but like all these people as individuals, and love the family, and hope everything works out for everybody."
The One Christmas Eve script is from Holly Goldberg Sloan (Angels in the Outfield, Made in America) and directed by Jay Russell (My Dog Skip, The Water Horse). It is produced by David A. Rosemont (Into the West, In My Dreams); Paula Mazur (Corinna, Corinna, Nim’s Island) and Mitchell Kaplan (The Miami Book Fair International) are co‐executive producers; Brent Shields (The Magic of Ordinary Days, Remember Sunday) is executive producer. It is from Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions.
