In Christmas Island, a big city pilot, on the verge of a major promotion, leaves Los Angeles on a charter flight with a wealthy family bound for Europe. There are usually a few things you can count on seeing in each of them, like an unexpected romance, a clash between big-city living and small-town values, and inevitably, a happy ending for all. Hallmark will air 42 original Christmas movies this holiday season, including the two features shot in Nova Scotia. If you've seen a Hallmark Christmas movie before, you can likely hazard a guess at the plot of Christmas Island, but that doesn't mean it isn't satisfying - comfortable precisely because of its predictable rhythms. "And I said, 'I can't give it away, but you won't be disappointed.'" Familiar pleasures The sight of "snow" and a film crew drew plenty of attention, and questions from tourists who often guessed correctly that they were shooting a Hallmark Christmas movie.įleming recalled being asked if they kiss in the end. (Andrew Sampson/CBC)Īs crews shot parts of the movie on busy Montague Street in Lunenburg, they had to contend with hordes of people checking out nearby shops and restaurants. Lunenburg resident Bill Fleming, the production designer for Christmas Island, stands in front of the lobster trap Christmas tree built for the film that now resides on the town's waterfront.
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"This feels like a six-Christmas-tree house," the producer said. Illustrating this philosophy, Fleming recalled suggesting to his producer that they place a Christmas tree in the corner of a room for an interior scene. "You want to make it more Christmassy than even reality." "The thing about Hallmark Christmas movies is that they're a fantasy … you want to heighten the visuals," he said.
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"They wanted a magical location that could be decorated very richly."įleming was responsible for the tall task of transforming the town into the ultimate holiday destination, embracing a more-is-more philosophy even as crews were tasked with filming in August, at the peak of summer tourist season. "I don't think Christmas Island has a big, bustling community like Lunenburg does," says Bill Fleming, the production designer for Christmas Island and a veteran of Nova Scotia's film and television industry. Andrew Sampson went to learn about the magic of filmmaking. cable giant’s Countdown to Christmas event. Two Christmas movies were shot here as part of the U.S. Instead, it's a combination of Lunenburg and Peggys Cove, with a little bit of Hubbards (represented by a scene filmed at the Shore Club) thrown in for good measure.ĭuration 3:17 Nova Scotia is going Hallmark for the holidays. cable giant's annual "Countdown to Christmas" event this year.Ĭhristmas Island is also a very real place in Nova Scotia, located on Cape Breton Island, known for its surprisingly busy Canada Post office, where gift givers send presents from all over the world to score a coveted official Christmas Island stamp before their package reaches its final destination.īut in a classic bit of movie magic, the Christmas Island you see on screen isn't the real one. The small, close-knit Nova Scotia community - home of the Bluenose II, not to mention some of the best seafood chowder in the province - serves as the primary setting for Christmas Island, one of two Hallmark films made in the province appearing as part of the U.S.
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It's a town so picturesque, it almost seems reverse engineered to look good on a postcard, so it was probably only a matter of time until the folks at Hallmark came calling to shoot a Christmas movie in Lunenburg.