Danny Pellegrino, one of Hallmark’s latest stars, took an unconventional path to the channel. As the bestselling author of the books How Do I Un-Remember This?: Unfortunately True Stories and The Jolliest Bunch: Unhinged Holiday Stories and the host of the popular podcast Everything Iconic, Pellegrino already had a sizable fanbase, and often spoke about his Hallmark fandom. Now, he’s the star, writer and producer of one of the channel’s latest seasonal rom-coms, Deck the Walls.
The film, which also stars Twilight’s Ashley Greene and Hallmark regular Wes Brown, centers on a brother and sister working on a holiday season house flip in their hometown. When they both unexpectedly have sparks fly with people from their pasts, their festive home improvement project takes on a whole new level of drama. Deck the Walls is filled with Pellegrino’s signature pithy humor, and is noteworthy for being one of the few holiday movies of the year to feature gay characters.
Danny Pellegrino spoke to First for Women about how he made his Hallmark dreams into a delightful reality.
First for Women: How did you make the transition from being a Hallmark fan to a writer and star on the channel?
Danny Pellegrino: I’ve been a fan of the Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movies forever. I remember watching the Hallmark channel with my late grandmother and to this day, when I visit my family in Ohio, I watch Countdown to Christmas with my mom. She has the channel on starting at the end of October, as do I in California.
It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to work with Hallmark in some way. I love these movies and think they do them so well. I just begged them, and I got a general meeting with some of the executives years ago. I was like, “Please, I just want to do something with you guys. I love Christmas movies. What can I do?” That was what started it all.
Obviously, they have so many people they work with regularly, so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to break through. I think I just pestered them enough that they gave me an opportunity. I went and wrote the whole movie on spec in the hopes that they would like it, and then I was able to get it back to those executives that I had met with.
Luckily they liked it, and they ended up acquiring the script and bringing on Tracy Andreen, who’s written a bunch of Hallmark holiday movies. She’s brilliant, and I got to work with her to develop the final version of the script. Once it was greenlit, then I was able to convince them to let me audition for the role of Sal, and it all ended up working out. I feel so lucky and grateful.
FFW: What was the experience of acting in the movie like?
DP: I was so nervous. The whole project really is a love letter to all the people who love these Hallmark holiday movies, and my main concern, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, was that I didn’t want to let them down.
I also didn’t want to let down Wes Brown or Ashley Greene, who have done a lot of Hallmark movies and are brilliant at it. I wanted to be able to keep up with everyone. I’ve done some acting before, but this was my first time doing a character that had such a full arc. It was a fun challenge, and I had the best time and felt very lucky that everybody was kind. I felt a lot of pressure since I just wanted it to be good.
FFW: What were some of your inspirations for Deck the Walls?
DP: I wanted to do a classic Hallmark Christmas movie. Of course, some people might roll their eyes when I say a big-city gal goes back to her small town and falls in love with the hunky guy from her past, but that’s the classic setup. It was really important for me to use that setup while also infusing it with some of my own personality and voice. I did certain flips on some of the tropes and was proud of any tiny twists within the confines of the genre.
There’s even the theme of home renovation and house flipping that has become pretty popular in these movies, and it was fun to explore all those things while bringing some of my own personal touches to it. Like tablescaping is something that I do in my own life, and that comes up in the film. I like how with the home renovation angle you get to dive into the decor of the movie. It’s fun to see the transformation when the house gets fully renovated.
I love rom-coms, and there are a lot of pop culture references throughout the movie. It was fun to play on some of those tropes, and I had references to the toothbrushing scene in Bring It On and I had a roller rink scene that was very nostalgic and romantic. I didn’t want to do an ice-skating scene, but I kept thinking about the ice-skating scene in Serendipity as a reference point for that, since it was a centerpiece to some of the romance. There are also a lot of little Easter eggs that I put in for people who have listened to my podcast or read my books.
FFW: What has the response to the movie been like?
DP: The response has been incredible. I’ve been so overwhelmed and proud. I think the thing that surprised me most after it aired was hearing from so many different people who watched with their kids or their grandparents. I didn’t consider that people of all ages would be watching it. I was thinking of myself and other people like me watching, but it was so cool to see people with their kids. Hopefully the LGBTQ element opens up some people’s eyes. I did hear from a few people, and I was just so moved by that.
I remember talking about these movies on my podcast and social media five years ago, and my complaint was that I wished they had more LGBTQ characters. To be able to be one of those characters now really blows my mind.
The gay romance is a little quieter. It’s not super splashy. But I think that’s part of the superpower of it, and hopefully that makes a difference because it will maybe encourage some people who wouldn’t have watched the movie before to tune in, and they’ll see it’s a nice thing.
I’m so proud of the relationship between my character and Wes Brown’s character. He plays a straight guy and I’m his best friend, and I think it’s a rare dynamic to see a gay man and a straight man as close friends in any TV shows or movies. I think it’s pretty progressive in small ways that I hope don’t go unnoticed.
FFW: Hallmark is known for making their movies quickly and on a low budget. What was it like behind the scenes?
DP: We had a really lovely, kind crew, and I think that element shines through. I remember looking around and seeing how brilliant the wardrobe people were on a small budget. I don’t think everyone that works on these sets gets the credit for being able to pull off what they do under the constraints of time and money.
It was magical working on it. There were a few times where I would be going into a scene and I looked across and saw Wes Brown, and it felt like I was living inside of a dream, because I’d been watching him in these Hallmark Christmas movies and I couldn’t even wrap my head around the fact that I was inside of one. It was like sensory overload looking at him and the gorgeous decor. Hallmark does decor better than anyone, and looking at those sets, every inch is covered in decoration.
We have this beautiful house in the movie, and there was a separate garage with a lot of decor in it so in between shots, I was like, “Okay, where’s the other stuff that wasn’t used?” I was fascinated by that, and I was fascinated by how they make snow. There are so many different ways that they do it. Sometimes it’s potato flakes. Sometimes it’s CGI. Sometimes it’s actual snow. Sometimes it’s carpet pieces. Sometimes it’s a big mix.
There are time constraints and things move really quickly. I enjoy that part of the process because I feel that it doesn’t give you too much time to overthink a choice. Moving so quickly forces everybody involved to make decisions and do their best. The crews pull off so much under all those constraints. We filmed in September, and it was ready to be released at the end of November.
I was trying to absorb as much as I could from anyone I could. Hallmark is a well-oiled machine, but there are also these brilliant, hardworking people bringing so much creativity to the process.
