Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 11/15/2024 — While Ashley Williams dreams of a Merry Christmas in Tennessee with her extended family filled with time-honored traditions, she is already getting in the holiday mood with her festive new Hallmark movie, Jingle Bell Run, about opposites who are meant to be together.
Avery, a play-it-safe school teacher (Ashley Williams), and Wes, a former pro hockey star (Andrew Walker) are in for unexpected adventure and — of course – lots of romance when they’re paired in a reality competition show that takes them around the country in Jingle Bell Run. The movie premieres on Saturday, November 16 on Hallmark.
Despite clashing at first, Avery’s puzzle-solving skills and Wes’ physical prowess help them excel as they travel from city to city and compete in festive feats that have a local flavor. It’s not long before a real connection between these opposites begins to blossom.
But when Avery overhears a conversation between Wes and a show producer it threatens to derail their budding romance. Keeping their eyes on the prize, the duo continues to dash to the finish line but…there may be a more personal adventure for them still in store.
Best known for playing Victoria on the CBS series How I Met Your Mother, Williams has starred in more than 200 episodes of television and television movies, in studio and independent films, regional theater, Off-Broadway, and on Broadway.
She starred in the television series The Jim Gaffigan Show on Comedy Central and in the NBC series Good Morning Miami, as well as Warner Brothers’ movie Something Borrowed. She also wrote and directed the short film “Meats” which played at Sundance and sold to Showtime.
Williams has had a long relationship with Hallmark, where she stars, produces, directs, and writes movies. She founded their women’s directing initiative called “Make Her Mark.”
Read on for the exclusive interview with Hallmark star Ashley Williams.
Why did you pick the movie, Jingle Bell Run? What attracted you to the movie and the character?
Ashley Williams: Well, I can put in two words – my close friend Andrew Walker. Andrew is one of my closest friends. He lives two minutes from me in Los Angeles. His wife and I are very close friends. I’ve been wanting to work with him for years. The opportunity to get to work with him was a dream come true.
What attracted you to the storyline?
A lot of people might not know this, but I was a pretty avid runner and I still love to run. I was on the track team in high school and I had the most unbelievable coach, Mr. Yedowitz, who taught me how to run and how to be an athlete in my own way – he had a major impact on my life.
I’m not as athletic when it comes to following, say, rules in a soccer game where you have to kick a ball into a goal and sometimes the goals on this side and sometimes the goals on that side. It’s very confusing for me. But when Mr. Yedowitz would say, “All right, Ashley, go run as fast as you can in that direction,” I took off.
I’ve never gotten the opportunity to be physical in a movie like this before. Getting to run and jump and play hockey and do all of this hilarious, sort of amazing, sort of Amazing Race-type challenges was very new for me. A lot of the time in these movies I’m baking cookies and decorating a tree in a cozy sweater. For this movie, I was sprinting in ankle boots, which was the most fun.
Your coach Mr. Yedowitz had a major impact on your life and the other high school kids.
Absolutely. He died a couple of years ago and I went to the memorial and honor him. So many kids he impacted showed up at that memorial, it was so moving to see how many lives he changed. He used to say “You’ve got to sleep with the window cracked, so I always try to make sure the window’s cracked at night, let some fresh air in.” That is something I do every day.
One of the things that Jingle Bell Run is about is opposites. Do you believe that opposites attract?
Sure. I think opposites allow for each of us to see our deficits or opportunities to grow. When you see somebody who’s so opposite from you that it’s frustrating, that is igniting a part of you that I think secretly wants to grow. I think that’s what happens with my character Avery. She sees this very confident — just slightly arrogant individual and it’s unnerving for her. I think that’s partly because she’s never 100% wanted to own her strengths. When she starts to realize that she’s actually good at some stuff I think that’s where they end up finding the common ground.
Are you competitive?
No, ’I’m not. I was raised by hippies and sent to hippie camps, sleepaway camps where no one kept score and it was only about fun. It has served me well as an actress because it means that all of what some people may view as competitors, all of my female actresses, are all my best friends. I just don’t consider anybody a threat.
I am a firm believer that when each of us rises the whole rises. It’s allowed me to have a genuine love and celebration every time my close friend Nikki DeLoach succeeds. I feel like I’ve won the jackpot, too. That’s also something that Mr. Yedowitz taught me. Even though he was a coach his lessons were really about finding my personal best. For me, personal best means kindness and empathy first.
Hallmark Media/ Allister Foster
Hallmark’s Christmas in Evergreen series is one of my favorites. And I loved, the sweet movies you made with your sister, Kimberly Williams.
Thank you. Yes, Sister Swap was definitely a labor of love. It was an outside-the-box idea for Hallmark. It was so cool that they went with us on it. [The two movies that resulted are Sister Swap: Christmas in the City and Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday.]
Can you give me any behind-the-scenes for this movie?
Andrew’s children and my children are very close friends. At my seven-year-old’s birthday party a couple of months ago there were 30 kids, me, Andrew, and my husband trying to scoop ice cream into everybody’s bowls. So, when I say that I feel like Andrew and I are kind of raising kids together with my husband, Neal, and his wife, Cassandra, I’m not exaggerating. Getting to then transfer that into work life was amazing and worked well.
Tell me some thoughts about working with Andrew.
Andrew is a very in-shape individual, I have never seen somebody eat as much as Andrew Walker eats. He’s like a furnace that you have to constantly feed. I was just blown away by the sheer volume of fruits, vegetables, nuts, protein, water, so much water. It was such a giggle because every time I turned around, he was loudly eating an apple in my ear or something and it made me laugh so hard.
With the holidays around the corner can you share a couple of favorite family Christmas traditions you can share with me?
Every year on Christmas Eve, my dad would get us all together on the couch in front of the tree and read The Night Before Christmas. We had all these ridiculous, hilarious, family inside jokes. Like when it says, “And placing his finger aside of his nose,” we would all go, “Placing his finger inside of his nose,” and laugh. It’s these silly little touchstone moments where you can laugh at the same joke every year on Christmas Eve and it’s like a conduit for getting in touch with your former self. This joke made me laugh when I was eight and now, I’m 35 and still laughing at it. It’s one of the cool things about rituals.
Do you know what you’re doing this Christmas?
Yes, this Christmas I’m going to my big sister, Kimberly, who has a farm in Tennessee, and it is just a circus of a farm. There is a bouncy castle, and horses, and several very loud donkeys who are grumpy about various things. There are many dogs. There are also some 200 different guitars and amps for my kids to bang on because my sister’s husband, [famed country singer] Brad Paisley, is a musician. We go there for Christmas and the kids say that it’s their favorite place in the entire world. It’s just this wonderland.
So, I’m going to Kansas City for the Hallmark Christmas Experience and then I fly straight to Tennessee. My sister will pick me up from the airport. There will be lots of beer and guitars.
It’s funny you say that because I have been following the charity work that Brad and Kimberly do. I think that their nonprofit, The Store, is one of the most ingenious things I’ve ever seen.
Isn’t it brilliant?
Have you been involved in any way?
Well, when my sister got super involved with the nonprofit to end food insecurity in Tennessee, The Store, she asked me if I would take over the Dance Party to End Alzheimer’s. So that’s my philanthropy corner. For Christmas every year I donate to The Store.
We involved The Store in Sister Swap and made that a whole aspect of the storyline, which was cool. But, it’s Kim and Brad’s idea, and it’s their baby. Of course, I’ll always support and love them, and I’m just so proud of them for what they’ve done. It’s just unbelievable; the success. Now it’s growing and growing and growing.
It’s an example of what communities, churches, synagogues and individuals can do to make a change. Because I think people feel helpless a lot of the time.
Yes, so much of the time people just need to be able – they need to know what to do. Because the problem is undeniable; but how to use our resources in a responsible way that makes a difference is often a challenge. Both The Store and something like the Dance Party to End Alzheimer’s, which is you buy a ticket, you show up and suddenly you’re funding research grants, it’s an incredibly active way to make a very direct difference. You can see the difference you’re making.
What kind of mom are you? Are you the strict one the cuddly one or both?
It depends. I would have to say that I’m the one who they come to, and Dad will sort of lay down the rules and be the hard edge. Then they’ll come to me and bury their head in my chest and cry about it, which is not fair to my husband because he also is incredibly capable of that kind of kindness. But that’s somehow where we’ve landed in our roles.
Yet, the kids more than anybody else are obsessed with their dad. But I think they want to know that I’m there in case they need to hide from the world. But once they feel good again, they want to go play with Dad, because he’s hilarious and he’s a party. My husband is at a party.
Talk about Hallmark fans, both on social media and in person. What do they say? What is the experience like? Because I know they’re diehards.
I just had the opportunity to go on the cruise last week and, once again, I was just reminded of just how much love there is for our stars and our movies. We’re in these people’s houses, we’re in their living room, so it starts to feel like we are a member of their family. I have to say, I feel the same way. I see myself in our audience. Getting to go to Christmas Con go to the cruise and meet my fans has allowed me to shift my performances in these movies more toward them.
The women in our audience love the guys because, first of all, they’re really kind of – they’re easy on the eyes. But, also, they are genuinely good guys. But I think what I’ve learned over the years is I represent the women. I am the woman going oh my gosh you’re not wearing a shirt right now. I get to be them, I’m an avatar for them in these movies.
When I meet our audience, it is like the audience is getting to meet themselves on screen, because I represent them. And I see myself in them. It’s the part that I’m playing and also who I am. Which is a person always genuinely looking for love even when I don’t know it.
What have you learned about yourself during your rich career after performing on Hallmark, Lifetime, TV, and Broadway? What do you want to pass on to your children when they are older?
I think I’ve learned that first and foremost being a kind person is the most important thing. Kindness and love. I could be doing anything, I could be directing, writing, producing, acting, being a mother, and first and foremost every day as life throws challenges at me the key to all of it, it doesn’t matter which lane you’re in, leading with love first is my value system.
Sure, I’m a storyteller, sure I love nerding out about Shakespeare and I love telling stories. But first and foremost, I am an individual who loves humanity, and getting to hug people and collaborate in the journey of storytelling is the great triumph of where I am now after 35-plus years in the industry.
Lastly, when it comes to Christmas dinner, please tell me a couple of things that you have to have.
My husband [Neal Dodson] makes the New York Times recipe for the stuffing. Where he rips the bread by hand. It’s the most unbelievable thing in the whole world and it’s what I look forward to every year. Also, my father-in-law, Nelson Dodson, makes the most insane pumpkin custard pie by hand. He uses real pumpkin and it takes him half a day. We eat it for breakfast. It’s the best pie I’ve ever had. He’s going to be coming for Thanksgiving and I think we’ve convinced him to make five pies this year. That is unreal!
Jingle Bell Run premieres on Saturday, Nov. 16, on Hallmark Channel.
