Pete Holmes, Judy Greer talk ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’

Pete Holmes and Judy Greer are in a great mood, perhaps even feeling jolly. The two play off each other while trading barbs about past projects (“Look, Judy’s been in a few stinkers,” Holmes, 45, quips) and possible future endeavors. When they bring up the idea of rebooting “Cheers,” Holmes ponders whether he could play Ted Danson’s character Sam Malone.
“I thought you’d be Norm, no?” Greer, 49, retorts before adding “It was just a joke.”
The two are promoting their new film, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” an adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s 1972 children’s novel. “Christmas Pageant” tells the story of the Herdmans, six outcast children who land the lead roles in their church’s annual Christmas play. When the town gets word that these misbehaved children have taken over the beloved pageant, they demand that Grace (Greer) kick them out. Complicating matters for Grace and her husband, Bob (Holmes): She’s directing the play for the first time, and both of their children are participating in it.
After first reading the script, “I cried. I really did,” Holmes recalls. “The story is about letting the other in and folding other people into your community, not just to tolerate them but to celebrate them. And that is the spirit of Christmas, and that is a message that we need more and more.”
The movie is narrated by Grace’s daughter Beth, played by Molly Belle Wright and voiced by “Gilmore Girls” star Lauren Graham, who also appears in the final scene.
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“I really think (the film) is more relevant than the filmmakers and the writers could possibly have known,” says Graham, 57. “It’s exactly what I want at the holidays, which is something you can truly go to with your entire family and not worry that anyone’s going to feel left out or offended or not entertained. I just thought it was really beautiful.”
“Christmas Pageant” was filmed during last year’s holiday season in Winnipeg, Canada. There was no snow, but it was cold enough to warrant hand warmers and thermals during production. Greer also experienced another byproduct of a holiday film: working with a lot of children.
“The kids were amazing, and I was nervous about that because I don’t have little kids at home,” she says. “I was like, ‘What am I signing up for here?'”
For “Christmas Pageant,” scenes inside the family home were shot first. After a week with Holmes and their two on-screen children, new groups of kids was added in daily.
“All of a sudden, I’m at the church (and) there’s all the kids,” Greer says. “I am so overwhelmed. And what I love so much is that my character Grace is very overwhelmed. So I really didn’t have to do much acting.”
And how did Holmes react? “I just moonwalked away.”
Greer jokes that he went right to the food spread. “I was like: ‘I’ll be at the bowl of free Skittles. Enjoy.'”