A Gingerbread Christmas

Production Notes

Production Notes

Hazel Stanley (Tiya Sircar), an aspiring architect, understands the importance of a good plan. But when her own life plans falls apart, Hazel will have to find a new recipe for success.

On the last day of her internship at a top New York City architecture firm, Hazel learns she is being passed over for her dream job. Devastated and needing a change of scenery, she heads to the Chicago suburb of Oak Park to spend the holidays with her father, Ted (Sugith Varughese). But her happy homecoming is short-lived.

Hazel soon discovers that her family’s once-thriving bakery, Hazelnut, has fallen on hard times since the passing of her mother, Judy, who had been a prize-winning baker. Now devoid of customers and in a state of total disrepair, the shop is in the process of being renovated by local contractor James Meadows (Marc Bendavid), who also helps her father out as an unofficial assistant baker. But despite James’s best efforts, Hazelnut is currently no match for the trendy, new bakery that just opened across the street, which—adding insult to injury—is owned by Hazel’s onetime best friend-turned-bitter rival, Shelby (Kyana Teresa).

It is going to take a Christmas miracle to save the bakery…and Hazel might just have found one. Chicago’s own “Cookie King,” Mark Clemmons (Duff Goldman) is judging the annual Christmas Bakeoff and, this year, the grand prize for the best gingerbread creation is a whopping $100,000.

Together, Hazel and James pool their talents to craft an amazing gingerbread design that will not only be a feast for the eyes but also a delight for the palate. However, the duo’s competition is fierce, including from Shelby, and unforeseen complications threaten to crumble not only their brilliant design but also their budding romance.

“A Gingerbread Christmas” was directed by Pat Kiely from a screenplay by Carley Smale and Blaine Chiapetta. Robert Vroom produced the film, with Ryan Greig as supervising producer. The executive producers are Suzanne Berger and Arnie Zipursky for Neshama Entertainment; Sheri Singer and Jane Latman for Discovery; Megan Ellstrom; and Larry Grimaldi, Hannah Pillemer and Fernando Szew for MarVista Entertainment.

The film stars Tiya Sircar as Hazel Stanley, Marc Bendavid as James Meadows, Sugith Varughese as Ted Stanley, Kyana Teresa as Shelby, Karen Glave as Nina Marsden, Fereshteh Samimi as Yasmin, Maja Vujicic as Claire, Alison Brooks as Ruth Burton, with Food Network’s own Duff Goldman as Mark Clemmons.

Behind the scenes, Kiely collaborated with director of photography Serge Desrosiers, production designer David Blanchard, editor Chantal Lussier, and costume designer Claire Nadon. The music is by James Gelfand & Louise Tremblay.

“A Gingerbread Christmas” is a MarVista Entertainment Production in association with Neshama Entertainment and Vroom Productions.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

There are certain foods that seem to spark an immediate connection to specific holidays: turkey on Thanksgiving, chocolate bunnies at Easter, latkes at Chanukah…and gingerbread at Christmastime.

“A Gingerbread Christmas” is a holiday movie centered around gingerbread confections that become the catalyst for competition, reconciliation and romance. Director Pat Kiely says, “One of the reasons I was so excited to direct this film was the theme captured in the idea of baking. Baking is all about different ingredients mixing together to create something special. And I think sometimes we forget that in life, too, we are at our best when we come together with other people. I love that message in the story because it has a real heart and a beating pulse to it.”

Kiely continues, “When I read the script, I liked the way the love story develops between Hazel and James. They are doing okay in life individually, but something really wonderful is formed when they team up. We also have a very diverse cast, and it made me very happy to direct something that will hopefully connect to many different people.”

Tiya Sircar, who stars as Hazel, concurs. “I love Christmas movies in general, but ours has some relationship dynamics and a lot of communities represented that we don’t often get to see in these types of films. So this one is really special to me, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

At the start of “A Gingerbread Christmas,” Hazel Stanley is wrapping up her internship at one of New York’s top architecture firms and hoping to be chosen for the open position of junior architect. Described by Sircar as “super talented, driven and ambitious,” Hazel has more than proven herself ready for the job and is ostensibly the more qualified candidate. But she loses out to another intern, who better fits the mold of the firm’s “boys club.”

Crestfallen, Hazel is encouraged to get out of the city and take an extended holiday break in her hometown of Oak Park, Illinois. It is her first visit home since the death of her mother two years earlier, which makes the trip all-the-more bittersweet. Sircar offers, “Hazel’s mom was her best friend and her idol, so she’s been struggling with that huge personal loss. When things in her professional life get shaken up, she is pushed to go home and finally deal with the loss that she’s been trying to avoid in an effort to protect herself, to protect her heart, because it’s too painful for her. And once thrust back into this world, she is forced to confront things about herself and make some changes in her life. I think that’s kind of inspiring.”

“Tiya Sircar is an absolutely wonderful actress,” Kiely states. “And she has great chemistry with Marc Bendavid, who is great in the role of James.”

Bendavid calls his character “a carb-loving, good time kind of guy who loves to bake, which is something we have in common. I’ve been baking since I was a kid—I bake bread, cookies, croissants, scones… I think that might have something to do with them casting me in the role,” he smiles.

Despite his love of baking, James’s day job, so to speak, is as a contractor. Hazel’s father had originally hired him to refurbish the family bakery, Hazelnut, which had seen better days. “When Hazel comes to town, sparks fly,” says Bendavid. “They are two people who did not have falling in love on their radar and suddenly find themselves becoming really into someone when they didn’t have the inclination at this point in their lives.”

Hazel is totally taken aback by the rundown condition of the bakery, which her parents had named for her. Hazelnut had been her mom’s pride and joy, and now it is apparent that much of its success had been due to her award-winning baking skills. But in the years since her passing, customers have been lured away and the store itself has gone to seed. Hazel had been kept in the dark by her dad because he wanted her to be able to focus on her own dreams and didn’t want her to worry.

Cast in the role of Ted Stanley, Sugith Varughese shares, “Ted’s wife was the baker in the family as well as the businesswoman, and since she died two years ago, he has not been good at running the bakery. Now it is up to his daughter, Hazel, to save them from ruin and hopefully she can succeed.”

Varughese says that playing a parent is one of the things that drew him to the role. “I don’t have kids in real life, but I get to be a parent in this movie and that was cool for me. And the relationship between the father and daughter is so sweet. It was very fulfilling to play him in those moments.”

Bendavid’s James is also a father, to nine-year-old Claire, who has something in common with Hazel, having lost her own mother in a tragic accident six years ago. “Claire loves to bake with her dad,” Vujicic says, “and she has a good bond with Hazel.”

Hazel may have found a way to save the bakery, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work, ingenuity, and a perfect mix of her and James’s skills. Local celebrity baker Mark Clemmons, the “Cookie King of Chicago,” is judging the city’s annual Christmas Bakeoff and this year’s grand prize for the best gingerbread house is an astounding $100,000.

Food Network favorite Duff Goldman joins the ensemble as Mark Clemmons, which he teasingly says was something of a stretch. “I was really stepping out of my comfort zone. My usual job is to be a judge for a baking competition and in this movie, I have to be a judge for a baking competition, so it was difficult for me to make that jump,” he deadpans.

Kidding aside, he adds, “It was very exciting for me to be part of this film. I think it’s a cool, new tradition that Discovery+ is doing these scripted movies because, as talent on their networks, people get to know us—we’re in their living rooms, eating with them, showing them how to cook, teaching them things… And now, I think it’s interesting for the viewers to see us in a different setting. The difference for me was on my show, if somebody gives me a brownie, I’m going to taste it and tell you what I think. But on the movie, I had to remember lines and everybody knew what I was about to say, and if I said it wrong, they’d tell me.”

Kiely was thrilled by the opportunity to collaborate with him, noting, “It was an honor to have him on the set. Of course, he was a natural in the part, but it was also great to have him as our unofficial advisor and baking consultant.”

His sentiments were shared by Goldman’s castmates. Sircar attests, “I’ve watched him for many years and I’m a big fan, so it was a true delight when I learned he was going to be our Mark Clemmons. Working with him was a great experience.”

Hazel, James and Ted know that entering the contest, let alone winning the money, is a challenge. With so much prize money on the line, there are bound to be a huge number of entrants. It helps that Hazel is a legacy contestant: her mother won the bakeoff four times, although the prize money was considerably less. But then, there is also the opposition.

Since returning to Oak Park, Hazel has learned that one of the main reasons for the decline of the Hazelnut Bakery is the trendy and popular new bakery that recently opened right across the street. Making matters worse, the new bakery is owned and run by Shelby and her wife, Rebecca.

Played by Kyana Teresa, Shelby had once been Hazel’s best friend, but their close friendship dissolved into a bitter rivalry years ago. Now, Hazel and Shelby not only have competing bakeries, but they are also competitors in the Chicago Bakeoff. Teresa offers, “There is certainly antagonism between Shelby and Hazel, which they are forced to navigate throughout the film. It doesn’t help matters that Shelby’s new bakery is quite successful. Of course, she and Rebecca did not open their bake shop to compete with them, but Hazel definitely sees it that way, and her coming back to town is bringing up a lot of history between them. I think Shelby is picked to be the bad guy, but everything is not as it seems. There’s definitely more to the story.

“One thing I love about Shelby is she is a very layered character,” Teresa continues. “She has been on this journey to figure out who she is and now, as an adult, she is living her most authentic life. I like to think I am also trying to pursue things that feel authentic to me, and I was inspired by her bravery.”

Although they are no longer friends, Hazel and Shelby are still connected by the fact that Shelby’s Aunt Nina happens to be Hazel’s godmother and was Hazel’s mother’s best friend. Like her niece and goddaughter, “Nina is an accomplished baker herself,” notes Nina Glave, who plays the role. “She also wrote some cookbooks that have become bestsellers. She is a sage or guide for Hazel in a sense, and she also tries to act as a peacemaker between these two young women, who are both family to her.”

Glave says she was drawn to the project because “there are so many different cultures represented in this wonderfully joyous holiday movie. I think it’s going to touch such a wide range of audience members.”

Apart from each other, Hazel and Shelby have to contend with many other talented bakers, all vying for the 100-grand, including Yasmin, played by Fereshteh Samimi. Describing her character, Samimi says, “She is an immigrant who just moved to Chicago from Iran and decides to enter a gingerbread house baking contest. I guess she’s just discovering Christmas for the first time. I could relate to Yasmin because I was also born in Iran and grew up not celebrating Christmas. But I still always liked Christmas; I loved the decorations and the lights and the cozy vibe of gathering with your family and friends for dinner. Unlike her, I’m definitely not a very good baker,” she admits with a smile.

The cast of “A Gingerbread Christmas” also includes Alison Brooks as Ruth Buron, the head of a small, local architecture firm, and Katharine King So as Shelby’s wife, Rebecca.

DESIGNING A GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS

“A Gingerbread Christmas” is set during the winter, but as often happens, it was filmed in the heat of summer. Nevertheless, Kiely says it wasn’t hard for him and the cast to get into the holiday spirit “because when we stepped on the set, our production designer, David Blanchard, and his crew had created a winter wonderland that instantly transported us to that special time of year.”

Bendavid affirms, “Everywhere you looked, there was tinsel and scented candles and Christmas lights. We would come to the set in our t-shirts and shorts and there was a whole Christmas world waiting for us. It was amazing.”

In addition to dressing the sets in traditional holiday décor, Blanchard had to convey the seasonal climate. He offers, “Creating winter in summer is one of those things that is counterintuitive because it’s not just the fake snow, it’s the blustery weather, the color of the sky… There are a lot of elements that you need to consider, and in a dry summer environment, you have to work out what it will take.”

The snow may be fake, but the winter wardrobe was all-too-real for the cast, who were dressed in sweaters and wool coats. Costume designer Claire Nadon acknowledges, “We try to make the actors as comfortable as possible, but when it’s close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside, it’s going to be hot no matter what you do because a winter coat is a winter coat.”

Glave adds, “You walk around with a lot of fans and you try to hope that the audience won’t see the sweat dripping down you when it’s supposed to be minus-something degrees.”

Among the interiors, Blanchard also designed the Hazelnut and Buttered Up bakeries to reflect the clear contrasts between the two shops. Hazelnut is a more traditional setting with more conventional display cases and baked goods, while Buttered Up has a distinctly contemporary ambience, from its décor to items like Cronuts, cake pops and fancy cupcakes.

The cast and crew enjoyed taking advantage of the edible set decorations. Sircar confirms, “I have eaten more on this movie than I think I’ve ever eaten in any other film or TV show. Not complaining, not a bad thing,” she laughs. “I was eating some of those delectable confections even off camera, thinking, ‘I should probably stop because I have to do this for many takes,’ but I couldn’t help myself.”

In a movie surrounding a gingerbread-building contest, perhaps the most important designs are the entries, which were far more elaborate than those classic, simple gingerbread houses. Blanchard remarks, “I thought I had somewhat of an understanding of it, but I was surprised to see just how complex it actually was and the degree of skill and attention to detail that goes into making a gingerbread creation. There is a lot more technique involved in the process than one would initially think, and everything is edible. When people can come up with a concept like that and build it essentially out of a cookie, it’s a pretty extraordinary thing to watch. It’s an art.”

Award-winning gingerbread architect Beatriz Müller and her team were responsible for creating the gingerbread structures seen in the film. She reveals that, apart from the baking and ingredients, “The construction steps are very similar to building an actual house. All of my techniques are construction techniques that I learned by watching my husband build houses. Instead of drywall, it’s a cookie; my two-by-fours are gingerbread sticks. I frame a piece exactly as if it was a wall, which is what allows me to do very complex buildings that are strong and can last. Many gingerbread artists nowadays use construction gingerbread. They need machines to cut and trim it. I always build with real cookie. I’m a purist in that way—whatever you build, you should be able to eat.”

Nevertheless, she acknowledges that nothing is foolproof and pitfalls are often unavoidable. “There are always issues. Coloring gingerbread can be tricky. Sometimes you mix the colors and they don’t come out. You cut in big pieces when you trim it and sometimes they have too many windows, and you are just on the last piece and the whole piece breaks in half. Those things happen a lot, but that is part of the process and I take into consideration that it will happen. There were no major mishaps this time, but there have been times I’ve had to start over from the beginning, and you cry because you only have two days.”

Goldman understands only too well the heightened emotions of a cooking competition. He relates, “One of the reasons that people are going to love this film is that it accurately captures some of what happens at a baking competition—all the stresses, all the insecurities, all the personal hurdles that you have to overcome, all the problems you have to solve and all the drama. Your adrenaline is going, you’re wound up, and you have to do something that’s very delicate and precise. When you are baking for a competition, you’re doing something that you love, you’re creating something from your heart, and then you’re giving it to somebody and then they tell you what they think of it. It can be a really hard thing when somebody judges the thing that you’ve devoted your life to. What audiences are going to get from this movie is that baking competitions are very emotional and this one involves a romance, so everything is just elevated.”

Pat Kiely concludes, “I think people who love Food Network are going to tune in because this is all about the joy of baking, mixed with love, family, friendships and creating something special together.”