‘A Magical Christmas Village’: Marlo Thomas & Alison Sweeney Tease Classic Mother-Daughter Holiday Squabbling (VIDEO)
Flighty, fabulous, and “magical.” That’s what Marlo Thomas says to expect of her matriarch, Vivian, in Hallmark‘s upcoming A Magical Christmas Village. In the holiday flick, premiering November 4 on The Hallmark Channel, Thomas and Alison Sweeney co-star as a mother-daughter duo who couldn’t be more different.
Sweeney’s Summer is also a mother to a daughter who takes after grandma more than anyone else. After a breakup, Vivian moves in with her daughter and granddaughter and immediately sets up a miniature Christmas village. The holidays take an expected turn when, as Chloe (Maesa Nicholson) begins setting up the village’s figurines, real-life events appear to mimic the scenes she creates.
Vivian is a firm believer in magic, and “that’s the part that I love about her,” Thomas tells TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine’s Jim Halterman. “She has a daughter who doesn’t believe in magic and a granddaughter who does, and so there’s this triangle” that Thomas thinks viewers will love seeing play out.
“There was just a wonderful, glamorous element to her that was so down to Earth. I can’t describe it,” Sweeney adds of her co-star. “You can also see how my character, her daughter, is so frustrated by the whole thing. There’s a lot of drama, there’s a lot of fabulous hair, great outfits, but it all annoys my character.”
“Summer is very practical, and Vivian is the one who just lets life happen. That ends up causing a lot of friction between them, especially at the holidays. I think the audience will really relate to that because most of the year, you can get through it. But somehow getting close to Christmas, everything just feels more tense.”
Learn more about the generational squabbling seen in A Magical Christmas Village (also starring Luke Macfarlane as Summer’s possible love interest) in the video interview above. The film is part of Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas lineup.
A Magical Christmas Village, TV Movie Premiere, Friday, November 4, 8/7c, The Hallmark Channel
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