Early reviews have hailed Much Ado About Christmas a new holiday classic, which isn't a surprise, considering it's the brainchild of über talented actor/producer/director Michael Damian (ex-Danny Romalotti, The Young and the Restless).
Inspired by William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, the heartwarming film -- set to premiere this Saturday, October 30, on GAC Family -- follows actress Susie Abromeit as Haley, who is beloved in her community of Winterstone for acts of kindness ranging from managing The Hope Chest to directing the children's choir. Haley is also the daughter of one of Winterstone's wealthiest residents, Leona Lloyd. Despite Haley's down-to-earth demeanor, she is financially set as Leona's only heir -- information she fails to share with new love interest, Claud (Torrance Coombs), who's an artsy, hopeless romantic.
Haley introduces herself to Claud as "Haley Logan," raised by a single, struggling mom, and it's a small fib that becomes a pain point when Claud and his team present an ad pitch to Leona that includes a photo of Claud's new girlfriend... Haley! Secrets are revealed and relationships are ruffled, but Christmas is coming -- and miracles do happen.
Much Ado About Christmas was produced and directed by Damian from a script written by the actor and his wife, Janeen. Soap Central was scheduled to speak with Damian about the film, but his mother passed away just before the interview was to take place. He did, however, tell us that his mother loved Christmas films -- so we urge everyone to tune in this Saturday and help make her son's film, Much Ado About Christmas, a smashing success!
Check out the teaser trailer for the GAC Family movie below, and let us know what you think in the Comments section at the end of the article.
We're thrilled to bring you our very FIRST EVER new, original CHRISTMAS movie, #MuchAdoAboutChristmas with @SusieAbromeit & @torrancecoombs! 🎄 Tune in Sat., Oct. 30, 8pmET/5pmPT to #GACfamilyTV! #StoriesWellTold #GreatAmericanChristmas #12MovieOfChristmas pic.twitter.com/4tfKKUoOxb
— GAC Family (@GACfamilyTV) October 24, 2021
Damian originated the role of Y&R's Danny in 1981 and has played the character on-again, off-again since that time. Nowadays, his focus is mostly on directing and producing -- and he is quickly becoming known as the go-to man when it comes to producing Christmas films.
Some of Damian's previous holiday projects include The Christmas Waltz, A Princess for Christmas, Crown for Christmas, and A Royal Christmas. He's also currently making Christmas in Transylvania and an as-yet-untitled Netflix Christmas film that will star Lindsay Lohan (ex-Alli Fowler, Another World).
Together with his wife, Janeen, Damian is also behind the film High Strung and its sequel, High Strung Free Dance.
GAC Family and its sister network, GAC Living, were launched in late September by Bill Abbott, the former CEO of the Hallmark Channel. Neither began with original content, but GAC Family has kicked off its original content with a slew of Christmas movies, including Damian's Much Ado About Christmas and Cameron Mathison's (Drew Cain, General Hospital; ex-Ryan Lavery, All My Children) A Kindhearted Christmas (previously titled Secret Santa).
The network also picked up season two of When Hope Calls -- a spinoff of Hallmark's When Calls the Heart whose first season was available on the network's streaming-only service, Hallmark Movies Now. Season two of When Hope Calls will premiere on GAC Family with a two-part special called When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas on Saturday, December 18.
What are your thoughts on the premise of Michael Damian's latest Christmas film Much Ado About Christmas? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
