Paul Campbell & Erin Cahill Say There’s 1 Big Reason They Agreed to Star in New Hallmark Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

Erin Cahill is head over heels for her rescue dog, Crumpet. Paul Campbell says he could probably never own a cat or dog. So how in the world did these Hallmark fan-favorites wind up co-starring in “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe,” surrounded by cats?

Chatting with EntertainmentNow ahead of their movie’s premiere on November 30, 2025, they both said the answer is simple: they would have done just about anything to work together. Even a movie surrounded by cats — which was quite a stretch for Campbell.

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Paul Campbell Admits He Was Nervous When He Initially Received the Offer for a Cat Movie

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In “Christmas at the Catnip Café,” Cahill plays Olivia, a marketing executive who inherits her great aunt’s half of a cat café located across the country. Hoping to sell her half quickly to afford the California condo she’s been dreaming of, she heads to upstate New York to make arrangements, only to meet Dr. Ben Kane, played by Campbell, a charming veterinarian who owns the other half of the café. As you might imagine, they both wind up thinking the other is the cat’s meow.

“I’m not in a position at Hallmark where they give me a selection of scripts that I get to choose from,” Campbell told EntertainmentNow (which seems a little hard to believe, given his massive hits like the “Three Wise Men” trilogy). “I will say this, though. I received an offer for a movie called ‘Christmas at the Catnip Café and I gotta be honest, my immediate reaction was, ‘Boy, this is tough.'”

He explained, “I’m a little OCD, but for some reason, animals love me (and) just want to be on me. They want to be around me. But the idea of having cat fur or dog fur in the house, or in the car, or animal smells? I’m just like, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it.'”

Like Campbell, a movie with cats wasn’t exactly at the top of Cahill’s movie-making wish list either. However, she and Campbell both happily agreed to “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” when they learned they’d get to work together after years of being friends.

Campbell recalled, “I legitimately said (to Hallmark), ‘I don’t care what the movie is about. We will just make magic out of whatever it is.’ But the more I thought about it, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. This audience loves cats and they love Erin Cahill. This is a homerun right out of the gate.'”

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Erin Cahill Says Paul Campbell Has Entered His ‘Hot Girl Summer’

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Cahill told EntertainmentNow how excited she felt when Campbell texted her that he was going to appear in “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” with her, recalling, “I was like, ‘Don’t you tease me, because if this changes, I will be so upset.’ Because it was the same for me. Like, there’s not a woman in her right mind who would not get a Paul Campbell movie and just say, ‘I don’t care what it is — yes!’ Truly.”

Cahill feels like she landed a role with Campbell during what she called his “hot girl summer,” noting that she’s seen many fans commenting about how good the actor looks lately.

She said, “They’ve been so excited about this movie, but really, I saw some that specifically said, almost verbatim, ‘Paul Campbell in a vet suit with a cat — sign me up.’ It’s true, though!”

During a panel at the Hallmark Christmas Experience on November 28, Campbell joked that he’d worked out for a year to look decent in a vet suit for the movie. Cahill told EntertainmentNow it’s no joke — that fans noticing Campbell’s recent glow-up is totally accurate.

“There was this one scene where he’s reaching over my head, and he’s like this,” Cahill said, flexing her bicep and looking at it in awe. “I just fully remember, I was not professional at all!”

“You pump up my tires in the most beautiful way,” Campbell quipped, clearly trying to deflect attention away from himself. “But we should also acknowledge that you are extraordinary, and you set such a high bar in terms of the joy and the sort of magic that you bring to all of these movies, which is the reason that I wanted to work with you in the first place.”

He sweetly continued, “You bring a sparkle. I don’t know if that’s a word you like or not, but when I think of you, I think of a sparkle. There’s like, sort of this aura of just this extraordinarily beautiful, charming energy. And you bring that to everything you do. You’re just lovely, lovely, lovely to work with. So let’s not overshadow that for a moment.”

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Paul Campbell Says He Usually Prefers to Love Animals ‘From a Distance’

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Though he makes it look easy, playing a vet was a stretch for Campbell, who admitted to EntertainmentNow that he prefers to “love animals from a distance.”

“Like, hypoallergenic, non-shedding is great,” Campbell continued, noting that fur everywhere is a no-go for him. “You go to someone’s house, you sit in their car, and you walk away and you’re covered in fur? You take off your socks, and it looks like you’ve rolled around a veterinarian clinic? You come away looking like a throw rug? I couldn’t live that way! So I love animals from a distance.”

When Cahill expressed concern that he hadn’t felt good around her pup during a visit to her and her husband Paul Freeman’s home, Campbell adorably assured her that Crumpet easily passed his non-shedding, uber-cute requirements.

“Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” premieres on November 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and will be available to stream via Hallmark+ the following day.