Behind the Scenes with Ashley Williams, Andrew Walker

For many actors, the typical 15-day shooting schedule on a Hallmark Channel movie sounds like nothing short of a Christmas miracle. To see it in action, it’s a well-oiled, well-tinned, glitter-covered magical machine.

As many know, most of these films shoot in the summer – and this weekend’s feature, Jingle Bell Runwas no exception.

The film sees elementary school teacher Avery (Ashley Williams) and retired hockey star Wes (Andrew Walker) reluctantly pair up to compete over a holiday theme Great race-style reality show called The Great Holiday Dash. Naturally, sparks fly as they trek across the country for challenges related to holiday traditions in various American cities.

With Williams and Walker as guides, PEOPLE had the rare opportunity to spend a day on the set of the film to see how the seasonal sausage is made.

The arrival

It’s already in the 60s and sunny around 10 on June 13, 2024 when I arrive in an exclusive neighborhood outside of Vancouver, Canada. I’m dropped off in front of an adobe-style home that looks like it belongs in Santa Fe, New Mexico—which works well since Avery and Wes’ challenge today is set in the southwestern city.

Nearly two dozen crew members are adding holiday decorations and finishing touches to the home’s entrance, a gate with a sign declaring it “Casa Estrella.” Just beyond the gate, a bunch of piñatas have already been carefully hung like stockings from a large pergola to the next scene. And behind them I find Williams in the shadows in a turtleneck, sitting with Walker, who is wearing a thick shirt and his character’s red team jacket.

Despite the heat, both actors smile and make jokes. Walker, 45, doesn’t hesitate to define the appeal of filming holiday movies at all times. “We get to celebrate Christmas two or three times a year. And you get swept away by the magic of it all every time,” he says.

To prepare me for the scene they’re about to start shooting, Walker says the characters Wes and Avery have been “at odds for most of the story. We have different approaches to getting things done, but I quickly realize that she is an asset to me I am an asset to her and at this point we have a budding interest in each other.

Adds Williams, 46, “Mm-hmm, yeah. We had a little flirty chat. It’s basically been planes, trains and cars to get here, and we’re in the top four at this point in the movie.”

An hour later, the set and crew are ready to roll, and the actors do a few quick walkthroughs before the cameras start rolling just after 1 p.m. 11.15. The scene sees Avery and Wes running up to the gate thinking they are the last to arrive and learning they are actually the first.

The action moves quickly from here: Walker and Williams take two or three takes, the cameras switch to get every angle, and they do more with each new set-up. Within an hour, it’s time to move on to the next scene elsewhere on the property.

No wasted time

As the crew demolishes the gate scene to set up another where the host explains the rules for the next challenge, Williams and Walker head to the massive garage attached to the house next door, where a makeshift photo studio awaits.

Here, the actors crack each other up as they pose for character portraits – both individually and together – and try to pretend they’re running after images that can now be seen on the film’s poster.

When they’re done, it’s not quite time to start rolling again, so we sit down on a patch of grass at the edge of the property. “The amount of locations in this movie is insane,” Walker says as he pulls an orange from a kid’s backpack (a gag gift from Williams), peels it, and offers me a slice. “How do you even find a place like this?”

“Our director, Lucie Guest, said there are 63 different sets in this movie,” Williams says in awe. “And for the budgets we’re working in, this is a very ambitious film.”

It’s also Walker’s first Hallmark film with a female director, a deficit Williams is personally working to remedy with her Make Her Mark director training program. Both actors admit that making the guest laugh is among their goals when filming most scenes. “It’s based on trust,” Walker says. “We trust that if she laughs, she will also tell us what we should and shouldn’t do.”

Says Williams: “She’s funny, nurturing and puts everyone at ease. Everyone really falls in line. I think when they respect the person above them. And Lucie is just such a perfect example of how a woman can do that. ”

At 1:30 p.m., Williams, Walker and the rest of the cast rehearse the dialogue-heavy scene, set amid a series of hanging piñatas, and at 1:51 p.m. they begin filming. Between takes, the actors joke with each other, take selfies and make social videos. A bug flies into Williams’ eye and she heroically tries to continue filming. After a short break to remove it – her eye wouldn’t stop tearing open and it looked painful! – they were all back at it.

One more for the road

Around 3:30pm everyone took a lunch break and Williams, Walker and I returned to our grassy spot to eat and talk. Nearby, the makeup artists stood in a circle doing a round of squats while we cheered them on. The network favorites reflected on their fans.

“Nurses and teachers, they’re like our No. 1 and No. 2 fan bases, and Ashley, who is the perfect person to represent teachers, plays that teacher role,” Walker says. “And I’ve witnessed her moments those, these heartfelt, very vulnerable moments. She’s so honest and authentic about it.”

Williams responds, “When we go to Christmas Con and other different areas where we get to know our fans and develop a relationship with them and get to know what resonates with them and hear directly from them, it means that I as a producer, director, and actor for Hallmark, really enjoying catering to those sensibilities, it’s been such a cool aspect that I never anticipated years ago when I started.

Adds Walker, “This is a very unique situation, community and opportunity. They just make me want to bring my A-game every single time.”

After eating, Walker and Willams took some time to go over the script for the next day, both together and separately. The make-up artists, freshly recovered from their squats, came over for touch-ups and everyone was back in action just after 1 p.m. This scene involved the teams hitting the piñatas in hopes of breaking one of the three who had a clue to the next location.

Filming this was particularly complicated as cameras had to capture the entire group as well as the three individual teams from different angles. Several rounds were done without anyone even trying to hit the piñatas, and then, one by one, the pairings were allowed to break them. Each broken piñata was littered with confetti beyond the few with tracks and required a noisy, time-consuming reset to clean up—using leaf blowers—after each take.

As daylight waned and the crew hoped to knock out one more scene before calling it a night, I said my goodbyes as Williams and Walker prepared to make another go at their clue.

“When they first called me about this movie, they said, ‘This is it The amazing race but for Christmas.’ And then they said it would be with Andrew Walker, and I said, ‘Where do I sign up?'” Williams says. “We live two minutes away from each other and we have two boys who are the exact same age and there love each other. I can’t believe we never did a movie together. So it’s kind of a dream come true.”

“Such a dream,” agrees Walker.

Jingle Bell Run premieres on Saturday 16 November at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel.