Jaime M. Callica Explains How He Came To Have Three Christmas Movies Coming Out This Holiday Season - Exclusive
Jaime M. Callica is becoming a familiar face to TV viewers thanks to his ever-expanding roster of screen credits, including recurring roles in such TV series as "Almost Human," "Wayward Pines," "UnREAL," and the Tyler Perry-produced "Ruthless."
Meanwhile, the Toronto-born actor has no fewer than three different Christmas movies set to debut during the 2021 holiday season. First up is "A Christmas Proposal" on CBS, starring "CSI: Miami" and "Criminal Minds" star Adam Rodriguez and Jessica Camacho of "All Rise." Then, he'll be seen in Lifetime's "Merry Liddle Christmas Baby," the third movie in the series starring former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland. Finally, he's part of the ensemble cast of "A Chestnut Family Christmas," airing on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network.
In this exclusive interview with Nicki Swift, Callica — who's being jokingly called the "King of Christmas" — explains how he came to have three Christmas movies come out in a single year.
It was 'sheer luck' that Jaime M. Callica is starring in three holiday movies this year
According to actor Jaime M. Callica, it was "sheer luck" that he has three different Christmas movies coming out this year. "I've been really fortunate that the last number of years I've done one per season, and this year is wild because we were really fortunate to get part three of 'Merry Liddle Christmas,' the trilogy, in 'Merry Liddle Christmas Baby' with Kelly Rowland," Callica shared. "And then I booked the movie with Adam Rodriguez, 'A Christmas Proposal,' and then my very first movie for Oprah's OWN network, 'A Chestnut Family Christmas.' So it went semi-bam and now you're going to love my face on your TV everywhere this Christmas." He then joked, "You're going to get tired of me this year."
"I think that 'Merry Liddle' and 'A Chestnut Family Christmas' are probably more similar than 'A Christmas Proposal' ... whereas it's like family dysfunction at its best," he explained. "It's the stuff that's really relatable. Everybody, big or small, in your family, we keep things from each other. We don't want you to know everything and then of course, at some point the truth always comes out. So you'll find that in 'A Merry Liddle Christmas Baby' ... you're going to feel that. In 'A Chestnut Family Christmas' there are a number of secrets that you guys are going to get to see in that one."
But if "family dysfunction" and "Christmas" in the same sentence make you worried, fear not. "They still feel really good," Callica said. "They're still really feel-good movies and as you're watching the movie, you're going to think about moments where your family went through something similar."
Jaime M. Callica films Christmas in July
In order to make it to TV screens in time for the holidays, made-for-TV Christmas movies are filmed during the summer — something that Jaime M. Callica admitted is not without its pros and cons. "It's fun for it to be August," he said of being within a manufactured Christmas tableau in the middle of the summer. "Like for example, when we did 'Merry Liddle Wedding,' we were shooting on Vancouver Island... up at Bear Mountain in Victoria... So that sucks because you're wearing, like hats and gloves and scarves and thick jackets and sweaters," he reflected. "You're sweating, but then we were having a snowball fight outside in the summertime. And most people will never get to do that. So you have little things like that that make the experiences fun."
One drawback to shooting made-for-TV Christmas movies, he admitted, is the rapid speed at which they're filmed. "Now, these movies, we shoot them quickly. So it is stressful because you're going through a ton of script pages per day," Callica explained. "So it's fun in the balance between seeing beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere. You walk through the hotel and it's beautiful gold decorations and we're having snowball fights... But then you're like, all right, cool. We're doing 14 script pages today between just myself and my TV wife. So it is a balance between you're shooting a whole movie in 15 days, but your shooting is pretty fun."
"Merry Liddle Christmas Baby" debuted November 27 on Lifetime; "A Chestnut Family Christmas" premiered November 30 on OWN; "A Christmas Proposal" airs December 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT on CBS.