Kristen Stewart is really excited to be a part of the groundbreaking film “Happiest Season”, the first major studio-backed Christmas rom-com featuring LGBTQ+ characters in the lead.
“The more I actually think about it as a fact, the more surprising it is that this is technically the first gay, Christmas rom-com backed by a studio,” Stewart tells ET Canada about the new film. “So that alone was exciting for me because, you know, it’s really important to broaden perspectives and hear from everyone. I can’t believe we’re so late to the game, but that’s how it goes.”
RELATED: Kristen Stewart Says She Felt Pressure To ‘Put A Label’ On Her Sexuality Before Coming Out
Directed by actress Clea DuVall, Stewart plays Abby, a woman who plans to propose to her girlfriend over the holidays when she discovers her partner hasn’t come out yet to her conservative parents. The cast features some strong Canadian talent with Vancouver’s Mackenzie Davis as Abby’s partner Harper, Dan Levy as her BFF and Victor Garber as Harper’s dad. Alison Brie, Mary Steenburgen and Aubrey Plaza round out the rest of the clan at the family’s annual Christmas party.
For Davis, it wasn’t just the message behind the film, it was also the script that made her want to sign on to “Happiest Season”.
“I liked the script first and foremost I think something having a mission statement is great but you have to really think that material is great and that other people are going to want to see the material when it comes out,” she says. “Immediately, the script made me laugh out loud and it really moved me.”
RELATED: Kristen Stewart Talks Feeling ‘Protective’ Of Princess Diana In Preparation For Biopic
Giving viewers a reason to laugh in 2020 was an added bonus for Stewart.
“I was just like, ‘dude, Mackenzie our movie is so nice and easy to talk about because it feels good. It’s warm and it’s welcome and I’m so glad because it would be hard to talk about a movie that didn’t feel like the right time to talk about it’ or whatever,” Stewart says. “I feel so lucky to be talking about something like this right now.”
“Happiest Season” is now available for rent in the Cineplex Store and on YouTube in Canada, and is streaming on Hulu in the U.S. The movie will arrive on Amazon Prime Video in Canada on Dec. 9.
