By Patricia Taculao
Ah, Christmas. As the famous saying goes, “‘tis the season to be jolly.” One well-loved Christmas tradition is binge-watching holiday-themed movies to get into the Christmas spirit.
From late November to January of the succeeding year, cinemas and streaming platforms promote Christmas movies with love, family, kindness, and harmony themes. Most of these films combine reality and whimsy to emphasize the season further.
WFL Productions and Lenaz Film Production take a different approach to the influx of Christmas-themed movies by adding an element that most people usually associate during the summer: a mermaid.
A Mermaid for Christmas combines classic themes with an escapist fantasy element only a mermaid can provide. It boasts humor and a touch of magic the whole family can enjoy.
The film stars American actress Jessica Morris as the mermaid Daphne, as she brings warmth, love, and hope through this whimsical holiday offering. It also showcases family performances from Daytime Emmy nominated and award-winning American actor and producer Kyle Lowder.
For those who don’t know, Kyle began his career in showbiz two decades ago as Brady Black in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, where he stayed on until 2005. He later played Rick Forrester in The Bold and the Beautiful from 2007 to 2011. Kyle recently returned to Days of Our Lives in a contract role.
In A Mermaid for Christmas, plays the male lead, Travis Hunter.
“He’s a really nice guy. He’s a very sweet guy, and he owns this bar slash restaurant in a fictional town where the movie takes place,” Kyle told Manila Standard Entertainment during the media conference for the film last November 22, Tuesday.
The trouble for Travis starts with the lack of funds to keep his business afloat. But when he starts to feel down, a mermaid will unexpectedly enter his life and “help him in so many ways,” as Kyle puts it. Travis also experienced loss and tragedy, so Daphne’s presence will help him deal with mental and emotional issues.
Kyle shared that he likes Travis’s character and shares similarities with his personality in real life.
“I definitely put a lot of who I am, my life experiences, into Travis’s character and in formulating his character. But there were also a lot of aspects in the character of Travis that I personally can’t relate to as Kyle,” the actor said.
He made some preparations to get into his character’s heart and head. As a result, he can proudly describe his performance as authentic and believable.
“It was a combination of both, pulling from my own personality and my own life experiences, and also doing some research to create this character as well,” he said.
Joining Jessica and Kyle are Kathleen Gati as Connie Hunter, Arianne Zucker as Tiffany Devereaux, Sheree J. Wilson as Theodora, and Chadwick Armstrong as Beau Hunter.
Michael Caruso wrote and directed the film to bring the holiday feel that people know and love. Its executive producer is Filipino-American Arsy Grindulo Jr., with Tess Reyes and Imelda Napa as producers.
A Mermaid for Christmas is now in cinemas.