There’s no place like home for the holidays! The Family Stone put a new spin on a popular Christmas movie trope and proved to be an underrated gem.
The film, which was released in December 2005, stars Sarah Jessica Parker as an uptight businesswoman who celebrates Christmas with her boyfriend’s eccentric family. Dermot Mulroney plays her beau, who plans to propose, while Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser and Tyrone Giordano portray the Stones.
Wilson revealed in December 2021 how the cast bonded prior to filming to seem like a realistic family.
“We definitely had rehearsals, which is kind of unusual in this day and age. And then we worked together on — some of us would go to sign language training together. Craig T., I remember doing it with those guys,” the Legally Blonde star exclusively told Us Weekly, referring to the skill the actors picked up to communicate with Giordano’s character, who was deaf. “We did wind up spending more time together and had a couple of nice dinners. It’s very helpful.”
Wilson noted that he was in awe of his castmates. “Diane — we all kind of admired her,” he recalled. “And in my mind, here’s Sarah Jessica and she’s sort of this icon of fashion and humor from Sex and the City and then here’s the original icon of fashion and humor — Diane. … And then Rachel McAdams was great. … I just remember those [days] being kind of exciting where you’re going to dinner alone meeting all these people. Some of them that you know and most of them you don’t, so you are a little bit uncomfortable walking in. And then I just remember the idea of leaving and saying like, ‘These people are great! I can’t wait to work with them.’”
The Stargirl actor confessed that he was not prepared for the movie’s staying power. “I consider that such hallowed ground, the holiday movies,” he explained. “I did watch that during the [coronavirus] pandemic. It was on one night and I watched it in its entirety, and I can see why families might kind of get a kick out of watching this all together just because it has so many different, likable characters. Even though it is a family that does have some turmoil in it and some heartbreak. I’m really happy about how well that’s done. … Diane, of course, she was kind of our leader on the movie. She would never say that, but everyone was so admiring of her.”
Mulroney, for his part, was also surprised by the film’s popularity.
“I did not see that coming. I knew we were making a brilliant film. Tom Bezucha wrote, directed, designed and just handcrafted this whole film. He’s just a brilliant director. So I knew we were in great hands and the cast is incredible. All of that,” the actor told Us in November 2021. “In several films, there’s just no way to even think forward to the future, how it would remain mature over time. So the few that I’ve been in that have that long life, it’s so satisfying. It’s incredible because that movie really is like a gift that keeps on giving every year and it brings so much joy and so much heart to people’s lives. It’s incredible. I knew we’d have it in that initial launch, but I never saw that it would remain. Whole families value that movie together. And to be part of something that has that kind of a human connection is remarkable. It doesn’t always happen.”
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