Jonathan Bennett Reveals There's a Meet-Cute Game on ‘Finding Mr.
Christmas’
Christmas’
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Jonathan, I have to ask, how did you come up with this concept?
00:02I know you're a co-creator of the show.
00:04I mean, it's kind of brilliant.
00:05Isn't it?
00:06I think it's brilliant.
00:07I mean, I'm going to say yes.
00:08I think it was a good idea.
00:10I don't have many good ideas, and when I have one,
00:12I'm going to say, darn it, that was a good idea.
00:15It's because I think everyone's come
00:18to fall in love with Hallmark Channel and pop culture.
00:20It's become such part of the fabric of what pop culture is,
00:24especially the Hallmark movies.
00:25And they've fallen in love with the Hallmark signature stars.
00:28They love their Hallmark honks.
00:30And all my friends who are actors are always like,
00:32hey, Jonathan, how do I get to Hallmark movies?
00:34And I started thinking, since I'm such a reality show fan,
00:37I was like, what if we gamified the way in which we
00:42make an actor a Hallmark star?
00:44And that's where the idea was born,
00:46and that's how it was created.
00:47I said, what if we put them through challenges,
00:49and then at the end of the day, the winner
00:51gets to be the lead of a Hallmark movie?
00:53And so that's how the idea was born,
00:55and I think it just was one of those things
00:58where once we figure it out, we go,
00:59why haven't we done this yet?
01:01It just seems so, like, no-brainer.
01:02Definitely.
01:03Were there specific Hallmark movies
01:05that really inspired you to be?
01:06You guys can say my movies.
01:07That's fine.
01:08Yes, yes, yes.
01:09All of my movies, but anything else,
01:10like, you like Three Wise Men and a Baby, don't you?
01:12Oh, god, love it.
01:13Yes.
01:14Mm-hmm.
01:14Mm-hmm.
01:15Love that movie.
01:15And Christmas House.
01:17The Christmas House.
01:18He's a big Christmas House fan.
01:19That's right.
01:20Made Ezra cry, Miss Navy Seal crying.
01:22I love it.
01:23So what were you looking for?
01:25What are the key qualities to being Mr. Christmas?
01:28Such a great question.
01:29So the key qualities to being Mr. Christmas
01:31are none of what these guys portray at all.
01:33No, I'm just kidding.
01:34I'm just kidding.
01:34They have none of them.
01:36You think about what your Hallmark stars,
01:38what do you go to Hallmark for?
01:40What do you watch these stars for?
01:42You watch them for their charisma.
01:43You watch them for their sense of humor, their wit,
01:46their kindness.
01:47They've got to be funny, and they've
01:49got to have a whole lot of heart.
01:50So those are kind of the tent poles
01:52we were looking for when picking our contestants.
01:54So what are those quintessential traits for a Hallmark movie
01:56that you were kind of trying to identify?
01:58Oh, the tropes, yeah.
01:59So we base challenges off the different tropes
02:02of the Hallmark movies that everyone's
02:04come to know and love, right?
02:05So we love a meet cute.
02:06We found a way to gamify the meet cute.
02:08We found a way to gamify the apology scene in every movie,
02:12the photo shoot that you have to do a photo shoot if you're
02:15going to be in a Hallmark movie.
02:16You've got to shoot the poster.
02:17So there's a photo shoot in there.
02:19There is ice skating, all the things.
02:21But then we also have festive face-offs,
02:23which are smaller challenges that, what do they test?
02:26Your holiday spirit, what was one of your favorite parts
02:29of the festive face-offs?
02:32That's a good question.
02:34Yeah, definitely the holiday spirit.
02:35Even we kind of tested what the holidays mean to us
02:38in a sense of when we were growing up,
02:40even like traditions that you have with your family.
02:42So even in these kind of high pressure scenarios
02:45that we're going head to head, and that's
02:47where you see the drama.
02:48It's like what we captured on camera
02:50is where all the drama is.
02:51But yeah, just all the skills that you maybe
02:54would practice as a kid with your parents or something.
02:57Do you have this Christmas spirit
02:59in your real life all year round?
03:01Are you constantly just bursting of Christmas spirit?
03:04I mean, I would definitely say this brought it out of me
03:07more than it has in the past few years.
03:09It reminds you how much you love Christmas
03:10and love being around family.
03:12Yes, and I mean, they've celebrated Christmas
03:14all year this year.
03:14So when real Christmas comes, they're
03:16going to be like already in the zone.
03:18Is that a football term, already in the zone?
03:20In the zone.
03:21Is that a touchdown or a field goal?
03:23Both.
03:24Home run?
03:25It's a home run.
03:25Got it.