‘Happiest Season’ Co-Writer/Star Mary Holland Breaks Down Her Groundbreaking (and Hilarious) LGBTQ Christmas Movie

Hulu’s Happiest Season—the critically-acclaimed new lesbian Christmas rom-com that began streaming today—is full of delightful performances from A-listers like Kristen Stewart, veterans like Victor Garber, and primetime stars like Alison Brie. But the name you’ll most likely take away from the film is Mary Holland.

In addition to co-writing the film with director Clea DuVall, Holland stars as Jane Caldwell, the weird-but-sweet outcast of her otherwise appearance-obsessed family. While her sisters Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Sloane (Alison Brie) compete over approval from their father (Victor Garber), Jane is more than happy to be the one who fixes the WiFi and bores her family with detailed summaries of her fantasy novel. Holland—a comedian who came up through Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and made appearances on tons of your favorite shows—is a delightful oddball in the role, stealing scenes left and right as a character that she told Decider is based on herself.

Holland and DuVall first met on the set of Veep, when Holland had a recurring role as Shawnee Tanz. (DuVall won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her portrayal of Marjorie in 2018.) The two hit it off, and when DuVall approached Holland about co-writing a script for a lesbian holiday rom-com, Holland “practically screamed yes.”

In a phone interview Decider, the writer and star discussed creating the character of Jane, the significance of a light-hearted lesbian rom-com, and doing escape rooms with the Happiest Season cast.

Decider: Congratulations on the film, it’s one of my favorites of the year. How did you first get involved in Happiest Season?

Mary Holland: I met Clea working on Veep. We were both acting on the show, but our characters never had any scenes together. However, I would see her at the cast table. Clea’s a very—she’s a captivating person. I was drawn to her immediately. I’m a big fan of hers, but also, we just had a really immediate connection. There was a chemistry there that I think both of us felt, even though we barely knew each other at all. She had this idea for Happiest Season for a long time; knew she wanted it to be a comedy—a bright, holiday romantic comedy. And she wanted to write it with somebody. I feel very lucky that we barely knew each other, and we went out to coffee and she told me about this idea and asked if I would write it with her. I practically screamed yes.

You created the character of Jane for yourself to play—she’s just hysterical in the film, but also very sweet. What was the inspiration there?

Well, her inspiration was me. There are so many qualities that Jane has that are personal and true to me. I remember when we were having our initial brainstorms about the two main characters, but then also who surrounds them—particularly Harper’s family, because that’s where they’re both spending the bulk of the movie. I have a sister, and it is a very specific, wonderful—but intense—relationship. I thought that was a great way to get to know Harper more as a character and play with those family dynamics. We knew we wanted to have sisters, and then decided that one of them wouldn’t totally fit in with this very WASPy, button-up family. As soon as we decided that, I laid claim to Jane. I said I wanted to play her. Early on, we shaped her with me in mind.

I love her so much. And I love her book, which she reads some passages from in the film. How much of that did you write? 

It’s a real book. Honestly, at this point, there are so many details to it, that for me to sit down and really create a storyboard of this book, it would probably take me 10 years. There are so many facts. I don’t know if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, but that is the kind of detail and world-building that it embodies. We really tried to capture that with having so many scraps and bits of pieces of information, that you’re like, “How does this tie to that?” And you would know if you read this 1,000-page book. I remember there was a scene where I had to sort of improvise these moments in the book, or I was talking to another character about the book. I really just went into a trance state with it. I said all these facts about this world that is totally made up and imaginary—but it was really fun. And hopefully, maybe one day I’ll write those books. I don’t know! We’ll see.

I feel like we at least need the trailer for the film adaptation to be in the bonus features or something.

That is genius. Yes, we should do that. 

 

I love seeing the online reaction to the movie when the film was first announced. Did you guys understand that you had a very enthusiastic audience for this story?  More importantly, did producers?

Yeah. I feel like we were so lucky with the producer that came on board. Isaac Klausner and Marty Bowen and everybody over at Temple Hill saw this script and knew how important and special it was. I think as we were writing it, we were having the time of our lives. We were laughing so much, also dealing with this subject matter and this experience that is very personal to Clea, and is inspired by her own experiences. Getting to shape this story that is so joyful and celebratory and warm, but then also doesn’t shy away from speaking honestly and dealing truthfully with what those experiences are like. It felt very special as we were writing it. And it felt very important. I remember there were several times as we would meet up and write where I was like, “Wow. This feels significant.” Of course, it’s significant because it’s a project we’re working on, but it feels significant on a global level. 

It feels like Hollywood is just starting to realize that there are a lot of young queer women out there who are very hungry for this kind of content. 

Yes. It has been so cool—even the release of the trailer—to really experience, on social media, the appetite that there is for this kind of story. It’s so exciting for this story, and all the others to come.

How much did the story change throughout the process of writing? Were there any significantly different previous versions of this script? 

There were some additional members of the family that we eventually, unfortunately, had to say goodbye to. Harper used to have an aunt. That’s one thing that I learned in the process of writing this movie, is that everything that you include in the movie has to really serve a purpose. It has to serve this larger purpose of: What is the main story you’re telling? There were lots of characters that we had that were like, “We love those characters! They’re so funny and weird. But they’re not really serving a purpose in this main story.” So yeah, it went through those small changes. There were definitely a lot of those. But for the most part, it has remained where it started and the spirit of the story that we started with. 

I loved that the dialogue really seemed to play to Kristen Stewart’s dry sense of humor. At what point was the cast in place—were you able to write jokes with her in mind?

With the exception of Jane, who I insisted on playing, it was important for us to craft these characters that existed on their own on the page. They were fully three-dimensional and fleshed out, and really stood on their own. And then as the cast — first with Kristen, and then with Mackenzie —as the cast started getting populated with all of these immensely talented actors, they just brought so much to these parts. Even in the writing of them, we could never have imagined the way Mary breathed life into Tipper, it was so delightful to see. The way Kristen really took ownership of Abby—Kristen is such a thoughtful actor. The choices that she makes and the way she approaches her role, everything is really considered and thought through and intentional. You can really feel that with how she performs Abby. And how she really makes those jokes her own.

Tell me about working with your on-screen parents, Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen  What was it like working them?

The best. I mean, it was the best. We really just all fell in love with each other, truly. We had so much fun together. Victor was such a joy to be around. They both were such positive people, really happy to be there. Mary loves playing games, I love playing games. Almost everybody in the cast loves playing games, so we would play games constantly.

What kind of games?

We did every escape room in the Pittsburgh area. In between set-ups when we were on set together, we would play word games. There’s this game called Contact that we played exhaustively, had so much fun with. It was just so cool to see two people that I have grown up watching in movies—whose work I know very well as an audience member and a fan. It was really amazing to not only meet them in person and they’re as lovely as you would hope they would be—but then they’re also, in a work environment, so generous. So supportive. And just so fun.

Who was the best at the escape rooms, would you say?

I mean, I’ll get in trouble if I don’t say Clea DuVall. [Laughs.]

I would love to see that. Tell me a little more about working with Clea as a director, as opposed to as a co-writer—I imagine that was a switch for both of you.

It was, yeah! I just stood in awe of her. The set that she created and the cast she assembled were so perfect. The feeling on set was so calm and it was so positive. It really felt like a very safe space where we could all play. We all felt this freedom to have ownership of these roles. It was so collaborative, and that was really amazing to watch her step into the role of director. Then as an actor, I remember before I started shooting, I was so nervous. I was like, “God, we wrote this part for me. You really gotta get it right.” But from the first moment I opened my mouth and said a line, I felt immediately embraced by her and supported by her. I fully trusted—and this was true in the writing process too—fully trusted that she was looking out for me. She was looking out for the tone that I was playing in. She would help me calibrate. She was just a leader from the beginning.

Was there a scene that was particularly difficult to film?

The scene that comes to mind is the white elephant party scene. That is the emotional climax for all these characters—in particular with Jane, who you don’t really see get emotional through the course of the movie. She’s very much operating in a happy space. To make sure that where she ended up was earned, and was played and as grounded and realistic a way as possible was something that I was really cognizant that I wanted to do. That day, I was like, “Okay, here it comes. Okay, day after tomorrow. Okay, okay. It’s tomorrow, okay.” I remember being very nervous about it. But it was great.

I think this movie is going to be beloved by the LGBT community for many years to come.

I hope so.

But there has been some criticism—not just pertaining to this film, but in general—of making coming out the main conflict of a lot of LGBT movies. How do you and Clea feel about this criticism?

To me, I feel like we haven’t seen that experience shown in this genre. Where it’s happy and it’s joyful. It’s a love story between these two queer people that, in the end, is something that is so bright and beautiful and light. Having not experienced the coming out process myself, this movie has informed me and educated me on what that experience is like. Watching that experience play out, understanding how it feels, the scene between Dan and Kristen where they share what it was like for both of them—it created an understanding in me of that experience that I didn’t have before. And then to have it be cushioned in this really big, happy, funny, great love story—it’s something that will be really impactful, hopefully, for the community. But then also, for people not in the community.

I completely agree. To end on a lighter note: Other than Happiest Season, what Christmas movie will you be streaming on repeat this holiday season?

Home Alone is always a go-to. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York—although it’s weird to watch that now, because there’s a cameo from. You know. He Who Must Not Be Named. But yeah, Home Alone for sure. I love Family Stone. Scrooged is a great one. There are so many. There are so many good ones, and I can’t wait to start watching them.

Watch Happiest Season on Hulu