For singer-songwriter Jordin Sparks getting to star in and produce a Hallmark Christmas movie was a dream come true.
“I love Christmas,” she said. “It’s in my blood. I was born December 22. I pretty much have Christmas in my veins.”
But during a Facebook Live event to promote the movie, Sparks admitted to being nervous the first few days of the shoot.
“It was nerve-wracking,” she said. “It was my first time being on a movie set in a couple of years.”
But with co-star Michael Xavier by her side, she settled in and soon found herself feeling at home.
“I was singing pretty much every day on the set,” she said. “I have a song in my heart, and I just have to sing.”
Not your typical Hallmark movie
As much fun as working for the network was, Sparks said she was glad that A Christmas Treasure didn’t follow the traditional plot of many Hallmark movies.
In the plot, Sparks plays Lou Webb, a small-town woman who decides to follow her dreams by moving to New York City and becoming a writer. But before she can leave town, she meets an aspiring chef named Kyle — played by Xavier — who makes her rethink her plan.
“You never know because one person can just change your life and change the trajectory of where you’re going,” she said.
Sparks, who won American Idol at the age of 17, said she was glad that her character’s dream had nothing to do with music.
“It’s what everybody would expect of me,” she said.
A beauty in vulnerability
Lou and Kyle spend much of the movie talking and helping each other with their respective plans. Sparks said her absolute favorite scene was one where the two sit by a fire pit and have a heart to heart about their dreams and fears.
“It’s not this typical romantic scene,” Sparks said. “It’s really cool…to see that there is a beauty in vulnerability.”
Both actors struggled with the experience of making a Christmas movie in June.
It was so hot that in between takes, both would take off the gloves, scarves, and jackets they had to wear.
They also had an on-set accident when they engaged in a snowball fight — with machine-made snow — for one scene. The director told Xavier to aim for his co-star’s head as she ran away from him. But at the last minute, Sparks turned and ended up taking the snowball right in the face.
“I had a big red dot in the middle of my forehead,” she said.
A Christmas Treasure will premiere on Sunday, November 7, on Hallmark Channel at 8/7c.