A “Candy Cain” Christmas is Coming to a Screen Near You

August 15, 2019
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BZ/MP TV Team
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Portrait of writer-director Candice Cain

A trio of new holiday films from the aptly named Candy Cain highlight the evolution and potential future of the popular Christmas romance genre

Production has wrapped on the final film in the upcoming “Candy Cain” trio of Christmas-themed romances from writer-director Candice Cain (What Happened Last Night, “New Dogs, Old Tricks”). Painting Christmas, a modern-day fairytale about an artist who receives a magical paintbrush from Santa Claus, completed filming last week in Patchogue, NY. Painting Christmas follows the family-focused Ivy & Mistletoe, also shot on Long Island, and the travel romance Destination: Christmas, partially shot on location on the southern European island Republic of Malta.

The holiday trio are produced by Gemelli Films (“New Dogs, Old Tricks,” “Little Cupid”) and the Bryant Zamberlan Group (Daytime Emmy-winner/6X nominee “Anacostia,” “The Brink with Benjamin Bryant”), and are written and directed by Cain, based her original stories.

All three films star “CBS’s Big Brother 16” runner-up, actor Cody Calafiore (“New Dogs, Old Tricks,” Clinton Road, What Happened Last Night, B&B) in different leading roles opposite actresses Julianne Michelle (The House is Burning, Awakened), Ashley Brinkman, and Taryn Hacker, respectively, as a young couple who unexpectedly find love in unusual circumstances. Supporting cast includes Golden Globe nominee Cynthia Gibb (“Fame,” nominated for HBO’s Gypsy) and two-time Daytime Emmy-nominee Jennifer Bassey (nominated for the ABC serial “All My Children” and Amazon digital series “Anacostia”)

In Ivy & Mistletoe, two holiday film favorites, Gibb (Hallmark’s Sharing Christmas, Broadcasting Christmas, Christmas Land) and Carrie Genzel (UP’s Season’s Greetings, Hallmark’s The Wishing Tree, CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame’s A Dog Called Christmas, “All My Children,” “Supernatural”) star as the characters’ mothers, each of whom have their own special role to play in bringing the holiday lovebirds together.

Destination: Christmas features former Disney Channel teen-idol Clayton Snyder (“Lizzie McGuire,” The Lizzie McGuire Movie) and Abigail Hawk (“Blue Bloods”) as the sibling and friend who unwittingly place Calafiore and Brinkman’s couple on the path to love when they bow out of planned trips to Malta at the last minute.

Painting Christmas features stage, television, and film favorites familiar to fans of every genre and generation. Genzel returns alongside Patrick Muldoon (Austin, “Days of Our Lives,” Richard, “Melrose Place,” Starship Troopers) and Hallmark favorite (and former scream queen) Yan Kay Crystal Lowe (Final Destination 3) star of the popular Signed, Sealed, Delivered series and films to lead a supporting cast including Frank Whaley (Field of Dreams, Pulp Fiction, Marvel’s “Luke Cage”), Terri Garber(Ashton, North and South I-III, Leslie, “Dynasty,” Iris, “As the World Turns”), Al Sapienza(Mario, “Port Charles,” “The Sopranos,” “House of Cards”), and daytime legend Bassey (Marian, “All My Children,” Quinn, “General Hospital,” Beverly, “Anacostia).

The trio is produced by Amy Minter (“New Dogs, Old Tricks,” “Little Cupid”), BZ/MP’s Benjamin Bryant (co-EP of the Daytime Emmy-winning, six-time nominated “Anacostia”) and Tommy Zamberlan. Olivia Balsinger, also serves as Executive Producer.