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Director Janeen Damian and her husband and co-producer Michael Damian of The Young and the Restless and Broadway’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat talked with But Why Tho? about their most recent Netflix Original Christmas romcom, Falling for Christmas. This sweat affair stars Lindsay Lohan in her grand return to film. Janeen and Michael share what it felt like to sign onto a movie knowing Linsday was attached and how working with her and the rest of the cast shaped the movie Falling For Christmas would become.
It’s a sweet movie with plenty of heart, silly comedy, and a well-rounded cast. Lohan’s character Sierra thinks she has it all, a rich daughter of a powerful ski resort owner, her boyfriend take her to a dangerous mountain top to propose only for them to come tumbling down. Sierra loses her memory and gets taken in by a kind family with a single father as she learns how to really appreciate the small things and the season itself. It left me verklempt more than a few times and will surely endear any fan of Christmas romcoms.
With long histories of working in soap operas, stage, and romantic comedies, the Damians share what draws them to “works of exaggerated emotion” and how this particular example is able to set itself apart in a sea of Christmas romcoms. They also discuss some of their own Christmas memories, how they influenced the film, and what makes the genre so special in the first place. The Damians are a charming pair whose personalities you can tell are infused into the movie as they share details on just how Falling For Christmas came to be.
Falling for Christmas is streaming now on Netflix. Listen to our whole interview below and on the But Why Tho? podcast.
Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He’s usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp, when he isn’t working as a music educator in his day job.