The kiss at the end of a Hallmark movie may look romantic, but Jingle Bell Run costars Ashley Williams and Andrew Walker admit that filming these scenes can be a bit “strange.”
And that’s not just because the actors are surrounded by the director and at least a dozen more cast and crew members, all watching with bated breath.
“This is the circus. It’s a freak show,” Walker, 45, who has appeared in more than 30 Hallmark movies, admits to PEOPLE while on set outside of Vancouver, Canada. “I’m used to it now but we had our kissing scene at the end of last week and it’s always more strange to do it when you know somebody so well. And I know her husband so well, we’re very good friends.”
In fact, Williams, 46, and her husband, Neal Dodson, and Walker and his wife, Cassandra Troy, are neighbors and recently worked together on the Dance Party to End Alzheimer’s (both Williams and Walker have lost parents to the disease). But Jingle Bell Run marks the first time they’ve filmed a movie together.
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“When they first called me about this movie, they said, ‘It’s The Amazing Race but at Christmas.’ And then they said it would be with Andrew Walker, and I said, ‘Where do I sign up?'” says Williams. “We live two minutes away from each other and we’ve got two boys who are the exact same age and who love each other. I can’t believe that we’ve never done a movie together. So this is such a dream come true.”
Williams has two sons, Gus, 10, and Odie, 7, while Walker has West, 10, and Wolf, 4.
Walker laughs as he shares a story about their kids learning about this new movie. “West was in the car and said, ‘So, Daddy, I was talking to Jonah and Jonah said that you and Gus’s mommy are going to be making out in your next movie!'”
“The 9-year-old gossip train! We made it on there!” Williams, howls. “The fact that they said ‘making out’ makes me think that they don’t understand at all.”
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Still, Walker admits he takes some adorable heat when he watches the finished movies with his family.
“The minute the kiss happens, they both will look at me,” he says. “My 4-year-old will say, ‘Daddy, you can’t do that!’ Or he’ll be really quiet and then he’ll try to physically hurt me a little bit after.”
For another movie this year, Falling Together, Williams was partnered with another longtime friend and fellow Hallmark regular, Paul Campbell. The two of them even sang a little tune about the awkwardness of filming kissing scenes.
Bettina Strauss/Hallmark Media
“We made up a song to the tune of ‘Twist and Shout‘ [by The Beatles] that went: “When you kiss your friend, when you kiss your friend, it’s really weird, you kiss your friend.” And then it evolved, like, ‘Now it feels normal, to kiss your friend. Oooooh!'”
“It’s just part of the job,” Williams adds. “But it’s funny.”
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Jingle Bell Run will air again on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. ET/PT and is available to stream on Peacock.
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