As the first weekend of Countdown to Christmas comes to a close, I keep thinking about the different ways these movies have asked us to look at our lives. There’s a story about finding yourself, another about family and the connection football can bring, and one about a dad trying to find his footing while helping his kids navigate change.
Different stories, but a familiar thread: the people we love, the ways we show up for them, and what it means to find our way together.
And yes, Brendan Penny being part of that lineup absolutely had my attention.
Penny is one of those Hallmark actors whose name alone makes me stop and say, “Well, I’m definitely watching that.” There’s the charm. There’s the smile. But there’s also an ease to the way he connects with people that makes the characters he plays feel approachable.
This writer is a fan. We’re not going to pretend otherwise.
Mr. & Mrs. Christmas intrigued me because of Penny, but something else in the previews caught my heart, too: the sense that I would be watching a story about a girl dad doing his best. Lately, those stories have meant more to me than I ever expected them to.
Sometimes, a movie finds a tender spot before you’ve even pressed play.
An Unexpected Invitation to Mistletoe Murders
Before sitting down with Penny, I had spoken with Mistletoe Murders stars Sarah Drew and Peter Mooney. Naturally, I asked a very serious journalistic question: If they could have any Hallmark star guest-star as a dead body, who would they choose?
Before you judge me, people dream of playing a body on Law & Order. I was simply bringing that same curiosity to the Hallmark universe.
They both said Brendan.
Obviously, I had to tell him.
“Is that because she wants me to be kaput?” he asked. “Is that the message that I’m getting out of this? Work with me?”
Well. That took a turn.
I assured him that the intention was to work with him, not simply arrange his fictional demise. His response was as warm as it was willing to embrace the absurdity of the conversation.
“Well, first off, that is a huge honor, because Sarah’s absolutely fantastic. I met her last year on the cruise, and we had such a good time. And then also, Peter is—he’s the coolest guy ever. So, I mean, I’d love to go over there and work with them.”
Then came the line that deserves its own moment:
“I could be dead for them.”
There you have it. A potential guest appearance, a very unconventional compliment, and an interview that briefly became about Brendan Penny’s willingness to play a corpse.
It was that kind of day.
But beneath the joke was something genuinely lovely: how quickly he turned the conversation toward his appreciation for Drew and Mooney. The punch line was fun. The affection behind it was what stayed with me.
The People Who Make It Feel Like Family
Part of what I love about these conversations is getting a glimpse of the relationships behind the movies we welcome into our homes.
For fans, Countdown to Christmas can feel personal. We make time for it. We have our favorite actors, our viewing traditions, and the stories we’re hoping will give us exactly the feeling we need that weekend.
And then some of us get to interview the people involved and have to work very hard to remember the next question instead of getting distracted by our own excitement.
By “some of us,” I mean me.
Still, one thing I always want to make room for is the crew. In my conversations with Hallmark actors, I’ve heard so much appreciation for the people working behind the scenes—the people whose contributions shape what we eventually see, even if we never learn their names.
That sense of family isn’t only about who appears together on-screen. It’s also about how people treat one another while making the movie.
So I asked Penny what the crew does that viewers might not realize helps bring a film together.
His answer wasn’t about a particular piece of equipment or a complicated production trick. It was about the environment they create.
“I would say that one of the huge things that the crew does is positivity and staying light,” he said. “Especially movies that I’m on, I mean, I joke around a ton. That’s what I do. I want it to be a nice, happy environment because I feel like if everyone’s kind of loose, then when you record, it’s easy.”
That answer made me smile, especially after our detour into his hypothetical Mistletoe Murders appearance. The joking wasn’t difficult to imagine.
But what I appreciated was that he didn’t confuse keeping things light with taking the work lightly.
“I mean, they’re doing their job. They take it very seriously. But all the crews that I have had the fortune of working with, they keep things light, and that creates a great atmosphere so that you can go on and provide the material with good acting and energy.”
It’s a thoughtful acknowledgment of how much an actor’s work depends on the people around them. He wasn’t describing something he creates on his own. He was talking about an atmosphere everyone helps build.
“I want it to be a nice, happy environment because I feel like if everyone’s kind of loose, then when you record, it’s easy.”
The Care Behind the Comfort
I went into this conversation drawn to the possibility of watching Penny play a father trying his best for his children. That kind of story doesn’t need a perfect parent to move me. The effort—the love behind someone trying to get it right—is often what makes it matter.
Hearing him talk about his work offered a different expression of that same care: wanting people to feel comfortable, appreciating what others contribute, and understanding that the experience is better when everyone has room to do their best.
The charm and the smile may be what first make me stop for a Brendan Penny movie. But listening to him give the crew their credit reminded me why these interviews mean something to me, too.
Behind the finished film are people taking their work seriously while trying to make one another’s days a little lighter. And in a conversation that included an offer to play dead, that was the part that felt most full of life.
