Heche On Holiday Doldrums
In a new Hallmark movie, "Silver Bells," Anne Heche plays a woman who has no appetite for the holidays after losing her husband. But she makes a connection with a Christmas tree seller who deals with his own troubles.
Heche speaks with The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm about making the movie and remembers the sadness she used to experience during the holidays.
"Silver Bells" airs this Sunday on CBS, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, 8 p.m. CT.
Most people expect Christmas movies to be warm and fuzzy but this film departs that mold, dealing with the melancholy and sadness many people deal with during the holidays.
In the film, Heche's character doesn't want to go out and do anything but she meets a man, played by Tate Donovan, who comes into her Manhattan neighborhood every year to sell Christmas trees. Donovan's character, Christy Byrne, is dealing with his own sadness.
"I think this movie is kind of beautiful because it approaches the Christmas holidays with a spirit that maybe half the planet approaches Christmas with, which is, 'Please, I don't want to be a part of Christmas at all.' And there is sadness and sorrow in both characters' lives because they've lost their spouses," says Heche. "Catherine, my character, lost her spouse around Christmastime. She sees Christmas trees and, although he's a very handsome guy, she doesn't want a tree because it reminds her of her sorrow."
In the film, Catherine, an art dealer, is lonely but tries to work her way out of the sorrow. And Donovan's character deals with his relationship with his son.
Heche says she could relate to Catherine.
"I used to be a person who didn't want anything to do with the holidays," says Heche. "In fact, when I was growing up, they were kind of sad for us. And then, as I got older, I just kind of didn't want to revisit them. I've suffered loss in my life, certainly. My father and brother are both gone. Whenever the holidays would approach it would be a very sad time. I think that's one of the things I liked about this story. It looks at a different side of what the holidays are. Then, of course, through meeting this man, this Christmas tree salesman from Nova Scotia, she finds that she can find the spirit of Christmas through love and experience of this other family."
The movie is a quintessential New York film but it was mostly shot in Los Angeles.
"I wish we could say we shot it at Rockefeller Center but I think we were in a Los Angeles rink in Los Angeles, California, and it was 85 degrees," Heche recalls. Wearing the coats in the warm weather, she says, was one of the biggest challenges in making this movie.
"But the story that I love a lot in this film, and kind of the underneath heartbeat of this, is the relationship between Christy, who Tate Donovan plays, and his son. And his son comes into the city and wants to be an artist. That's how I connect with him because I'm an art dealer and encourage his art. It's a beautiful story about a boy finding himself," Heche says.
Heche herself is happily married and has a 3-year-old son, Homer.
"We had Christmas last year with our family and we're about to celebrate Thanksgiving and the in-laws are coming over and they're getting our list ready what we're going to shop for," Heche says. "It is a happy time."