Time loop tale with a modern family dynamic in Disney Channel's 'Christmas Again'
NEW YORK -- Rowena is stuck in a time loop in the new Disney Channel Original Movie, "Christmas Again."
"Ro" played by Scarlett Estevez is 12 years old and wants to reunite her divorced parents.
Daniel Sunjata plays her dad "Mike" and Alexis Carra plays her mom "Caroline" in her struggle to try to get her life back the way it was.
She makes a wish to Santa for a "do-over" and she gets to do it over, and over, and over again.
As actors, it's not always easy to do a time loop movie where you have to remember which version of the story you are are on!
"This is why you have on set a script what's called a script supervisor, because they help keep things straight and in line for us, but I will say it was challenging," Carra said.
"I just remember one scene where Scarlett came downstairs and she just, this happens in movies like this, it's so hard to keep straight, she came downstairs and she had the wrong wardrobe on. It was like oops, she was actually supposed to be wearing this because everything has to match, so we literally lost the first half of the day," Sunjata said.
The heart of this movie is being grateful for the family you have, even if it is a bit different.
"A lot of people can relate to the family structure looking differently than what the traditional family looks like now, and so we hope people can take away that no matter what your structure looks like, your chosen family, your biological family, whoever you choose it's with people that you love and that love you," Carra said. "And that's what 'Ro' gets out of this that even though her family is different and it's not the way that she thinks she wants it is still filled with love, filled with gratitude, and filled with Christmas magic."
Interestingly Sunjata and Carra both shared that seeing their favorite Christmas theater productions as children made them want to become actors one day!
"I grew up in Chicago and going to the Goodman Theater to watch their annual production of 'A Christmas Carol' was something that to this day is one of my favorite Christmas memories," Sunjata said.
"I was a dancer, and I would look forward to buying a new dress and going with my mom and seeing 'The Nutcracker' and I developed like you said with going to the Goodman, wanting to be an actor, and that's when I knew I wanted to be a dancer, and watching those ballerinas," Carra said.
"Christmas Again" premieres Friday, December 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Disney Channel and streaming on Disney+.
