“I can't believe what I'm doing right now,” gushed Amanda Kloots, a former Radio City Rockette and Broadway dancer who is best known as a co-host of The Talk and stars in the new CBS Christmas movie, Fit For Christmas, based on her own idea. “CBS, they were so generous in taking a chance on me and this concept and allowing this to come to fruition. I'm so entirely grateful to them for doing this with me and having faith that I can act and that I can executive produce and create something. It's amazing. I just am constantly, I think, blown away by the idea of how life can change and how it can change so quickly, and how dreams can come true.”
(CBS)
Screenwriter and co-executive producer Anna White was brought in to adapt Amanda’s idea into a script, with Fit For Christmas becoming Anna’s tenth holiday film to date. “I thought it was a great idea because we hadn't seen a fitness instructor Christmas movie yet,” Anna White revealed. “If anyone was going to do it, it was going to be Amanda Kloots. From there, we kind of went back and forth. We came up with a longer synopsis, we pitched it to CBS that December, and then kind of just worked on it and wrote. And every draft of the outline, every draft of the script, 'd send to her first, she'd give her notes, and then we both would be on the notes calls with CBS. So that way, anything that came up that they wanted to change, Amanda and I can bounce ideas off of each other. Amanda is so creative and thinks outside the box in such great ways.”
Amanda Kloots plays Audrey, a Christmas-obsessed fitness instructor who falls for a mysterious businessman who shows up one day at one of her classes at The Mistletoe Inn. “There's a lot of serendipity with Anna and I going 20 years back,” revealed Paul Greene, who plays Griffin in the film. “What made this so different is working with Amanda in this way, knowing that this was her first experience like this, that it had this crackling newness and possibility to it that was really unique. It was very improvian, in the moment, and spontaneous and exciting. Immediately, there was this chemistry and friendship between us, all of us actors, really, and especially between Amanda and myself, like from the first minute. We were just like long-lost friends. And that translated really quickly into a feeling of having each other's back in the scenes and improvising, which Anna loved when we improvised. And what's unique, too, is having our writer on set, which is the first time I've had a writer on one of these Christmas movies, or even a romantic comedy like this, be on set all the way through, which was really unique and special, because we went to her with all these really nuanced questions about character and where we were headed and arc, and it was cool. And for me, it's special because it's my first of these with CBS. And so there was a lot of excitement and a lot of trust and a lot of newness to it that made it just super fun.”
“It is the first Christmas movie I've done,” revealed Rebecca Budig, a familiar face to General Hospital viewers. As with most holiday films, Fit for Christmas had to be filmed out of season to be released in time for the holiday. “I've shot in all different kinds of situations, but shooting with heavy sweaters and coats in 100-degree heat wasn't that fun. But actually being with this group of people, to what Paul said, it really was kind of a magical grouping of people. And I felt like I was in an episode of Three's Company a lot of the time. But it was a lot of fun.”
“For Amanda, this movie was borne out of a very difficult time in her life and grief, and what she's done with that is an incredible thing that the world has watched and seen,” director and executive producer Jessica Harmon concluded. “I know every single person on this cast and every single person watching has also had difficult times in their lives. And this film, for me, I was going through something difficult prior to it, and it was such a wonderful, wonderful experience to make this movie. And I really, really do believe that the performances that these people gave really came from the heart. I think the audience is going to recognize that and see that. Christmas isn't always the easiest time for people. And I really do just hope that this movie coming from a group of people that have all had hardships and has all been through difficult times in their own lives and brought beautiful emotions to this story, I really hope that that translates for people. And in my opinion, it really did. And anyone that I've shown the film to agrees that there's just something really incredibly joyous about this. And I think that sitting around at Christmas with your family, this is a wonderful movie to watch. Because if you're in a great mood, it's going to keep that great mood going; and if you're feeling a little down, it's something that you can watch and it's going to elevate you because it's a group of really, really talented, wonderful people who really put their all into it.”
Whether you’re watching the premiere tonight on CBS at 8:30/7:30c or streaming it in the future on Paramount+, Fit for Christmas is here to help make your holiday season merry and bright.