How Lunenburg transformed into Christmas Island for new Hallmark movie
Historical port town and Peggys Cove are front and centre in new holiday flicks
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.
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. cable giant's annual "Countdown to Christmas" event this year.
Christmas 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.
But in a classic bit of movie magic, the Christmas Island you see on screen isn't the real one.
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.
"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.
"They wanted a magical location that could be decorated very richly."
Fleming 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.
"The thing about Hallmark Christmas movies is that they're a fantasy … you want to heighten the visuals," he said. "You want to make it more Christmassy than even reality."
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.
"This feels like a six-Christmas-tree house," the producer said.
As 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.
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.
Fleming recalled being asked if they kiss in the end. "And I said, 'I can't give it away, but you won't be disappointed.'"
Familiar pleasures
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.
Hallmark will air 42 original Christmas movies this holiday season, including the two features shot in Nova Scotia. 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.
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. But bad weather, high winds (a Nova Scotia specialty!) and a prickly air-traffic controller force her to make an emergency landing in the province.
Leaving the rat race of the big city behind, she slowly comes to enjoy small-town life, and falls head over heels in love with her new tour guide — the same air-traffic controller she initially clashes with.
"People love Hallmark movies. They're relatable, they're approachable, they almost always have a happy ending," said Laura Mackenzie, executive director of Screen Nova Scotia.
When it aired last month in the United States, Christmas Island earned a whopping 2.6 million viewers, making it one of the most-viewed Christmas films on the Hallmark Channel this year.
Unlike many Hallmark films shot in Canada that remain set in the U.S., Christmas Island actually name checks Nova Scotia and includes references to local customs, like Christmas trees built from lobster traps with buoys that pay tribute to fishers lost at sea.
"From a tourism standpoint. I'm really proud to be able to make these kinds of movies here," Mackenzie said. "The spinoff is incredible."
In Canada, Christmas Island aired on the W Network and it's now available to stream online.
Earlier this month, The Secret Gift of Christmas, the second Hallmark movie filmed in the province this year, aired in Canada and the U.S. It was shot in Halifax, in locations that included the Brewery Market and Historic Properties.
Both productions came after a years-long effort by the industry to get Hallmark back to Nova Scotia, after the company turned away from the province following the removal of tax credits in 2015.
"I think it was the right time," Mackenzie said. "We've spent time working with Hallmark to make sure that they understand the offering that we have here in Nova Scotia and how beautiful our locations are."
As the province's film industry looks to the future, Mackenzie is optimistic Hallmark will be a part of it.
"When projects like Hallmark movies move to other jurisdictions, they tend to stay because they build trusted partnerships with the crew, with the writers, directors, with the crew, with the writers and directors and cast that are around," she said.
"Hopefully, we'll see lots more of these kinds of projects happening here."
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