Tonight, Hallmark’s newest Countdown to Christmas movie is “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!” starring Robert Buckley and Kimberley Sustad. And although the movie was filmed in Canada, you might actually be very surprised by one of the locations where some key scenes were filmed.
The movie premieres on October 25 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central.
‘Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!’ Was Filmed in June & Some of the Biggest Scenes — Including the Escape Room — Were Filmed in a Weed Factory
Even though the movie itself takes place in Lackawanna, New York, that’s not where it was actually filmed. According to FTIA’s production list, “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!” was filmed in the Vancouver and Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada regions in early June.
And the production crew got very creative about some of the filming locations.
In an interview with the podcast Heart in Motion, Meghan Heffern — who also stars in the movie — said she loved working with the Vancouver crew.
“All the crews in Vancouver are amazing,” she said. “I really loved working with this crew. I love the producing team. It was just fun.”
In an interview with Suspenders Unbuttoned, Jason Borque, who directed the film, revealed that the hospital scenes weren’t filmed in a hospital, but in a set built in a different building — a weed factory. (Some of the hospital scenes, he later added, were also filmed in a standing set, and on the top floor of a rec center where a Christmas festival scene was also filmed.)
“Not to give too much away, but this is a little bit of a tidbit,” he said about the hospital scenes. “The building that we shot in was actually a weed factory… They just closed down because, you know, weed’s bigger in California, surprisingly. So they shut down this giant, multimillion dollar weed factory and they took it all to California. So this factory was kind of empty. We built the whole intro area, which was great, with the reception desk for the hospital…”
The escape room was also a set in the same weed factory.
“The escape room… That’s actually part of the weed factory,” he added. “Those giant tanks… We put crazy labels on those amazing stainless steel tanks… That’s what we do as creatives. We do a lot of pivots. We know that we got to shoot incredibly fast, incredibly creative, and part of my job is how to get this amazing production value…”
When they saw the weed factory, they knew they could make an epic escape room scene.
“Once we saw the weed factory we’re like, let’s go big,” he said. “We can make this into a steampunk crazy Santa Claus thing. And we just went for it all based on the location we found… It was so beautifully out there… We went off on a crazy tangent. Went a little rogue.”
The Christmas party scene, he added, was originally going to be filmed in the living room of a home. But there was a barn next door, and they realized that would be such a better choice.
“You show up at the house in your crazy costume, you go to the barn to dance… It really helped elevate it,” he said at about 12 minutes into the interview.
In an interview with the podcast Heart in Motion, Heffern said she especially loved filming the Christmas party scene because “all our amazing background performers were dressed up like every single different Christmas character you can think of… That was the day I got to be Elf and I just don’t know, something happened to me when I put on that costume and I just could not be stopped. I had a very good time!”
Some Scenes Were Improvised, Sustad Revealed
In an interview with EntertainmentNOW, Sustad said that she and Buckley improvised some lines to make sure the humor hit just right, including a scene when they’re sitting in a sleigh.
“That was us just riffing,” she said. “Those things (I said), that’s real stuff for Kimberley, not just Hope.”
Buckley told TV Fanatic that the idea for the movie began from the concept that he loves “to see bad things happen to people who are excessively positive. I think it’s very funny to meet adversity with forced enthusiasm… Then it was deciding whether Ted chooses to stay positive or if it’s just who he is. I decided it’s his default — he just always sees the bright side.”
Russell Hainline, who wrote the film, shared on Instagram that Buckley “dreamed up this terrific character,” and that he wrote the character of Hope specifically with Sustad in mind.
“She and Rob are an absolute dream team on screen together,” Hainline wrote. (Hainline also wrote “Three Wisest Men,” premiering this season, with Sustad and Paul Campbell.)
Sustad wrote in one post, where she shared some behind-the-scenes photos, “I’d stand in a trash heap and put up with @robertearlbuckley again and again to bring you these stories…” Then she joked about how he stole prop cookies during filming.
Based on Sustad’s behind-the-scenes videos, this is going to be a very funny movie.
Meghan Heffern also shared this funny behind-the-scenes clip.
And Buckley joked about winning a “Holiday Emmy for best sweaters on an ensemble cast.”
Meet the Cast
Hallmark’s synopsis reads: “Weatherman Ted Cooper (Buckley) loves Christmas, but the past three have been terrible. This year, Ted has made up his mind that things will be different – this will be the Christmas things turn around for him. But Ted’s relentless optimism is about to be put to the test as he is faced with a litany of injuries and obstacles when he travels back to his hometown of Lackawanna, NY for the holidays. Within hours of arriving at his sister Kate’s house, he finds himself making a trip to Urgent Care after falling off a ladder while hanging decorations. While there, he runs into Ruth Mittens, his former high school science teacher who was always his cheerleader. He also reconnects with the charming Hope Miller (Sustad), except now she’s Dr. Hope Miller, with whom he went to high school and quietly crushed on from afar. Ted is optimistic that this budding romance is the beginning of his Christmas comeback, but his looming holiday bad luck still has a few curveballs in store for him.”
Robert Buckley is Ted. He’s well-known among Hallmark fans for his lead role on “Chesapeake Shores.” His credits also include “One Tree Hill,” “iZombie,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “Privileged,” “Hart of Dixie,” and more. For Hallmark, his credits include “Christmas House” and the sequel, “Love in Store,” and more.
Kimberley Sustad is Hope. Hallmark fans know her well and love her! Her credits include “The Nine Lives of Christmas” and the sequel, “A Godwink Christmas,” “Sense, Sensibility, & Snowmen,” “Lights, Camera, Christmas!” and more. Outside of Hallmark, her credits include “Continuum,” “Supernatural,” “Travelers,” “Unspeakable,” and more.
Other stars, according to IMDb, include:
- Meghan Heffern (Kate)
- Toby Hargrave (Ed)
- Katie Stone (Janice)
This was a delightful movie! Kimberly Sustad is one of my favorites. ❤️😀
These two are magic together! Lottsa laughs also!