Ben and Erin Napier from HGTV’s “Home Town” are venturing into the world of acting. The real-life husband and wife, who welcomed their second child last year, will portray a similar married couple in a holiday film titled “A Christmas Open House.”
The HGTV movie stars Katie Stevens as an enterprising property stager who returns to her small Georgia hometown to sell her newly-married mom’s home. She ends up enlisting her high school crush, played by Victor Rasuk, and the sparks fly.
During the renovation, she turns to Henry and Sarah Wright (Ben and Erin Napier), a local master woodworker and artist, respectively, to help transform the home.
Although the made-for-TV film is set in Georgia, film crews spent about a week in the Napiers’ hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, shooting scenes throughout the small city’s downtown region.
Food Network and HGTV have wrapped production on a total of four holiday features with cameos from other network talent, too.
“The holidays are huge for HGTV and Food Network, which together attracted 90 million seasonal viewers last year,” chairman and chief content officer of US Networks Group at Warner Bros. Discovery Kathleen Finch said in a statement. “So we expanded our offerings and produced four scripted holiday features for discovery+, each showcasing some of the biggest personalities on Food Network and HGTV.”
HGTV’s Hilary Farr will star in “Designing Christmas” as the mentor of interior designer Stella (Jessica Szohr), who is working on renovating her family’s Victorian home with her “House Sweet Home” cohost Pablo (Marco Grazzini). Food Network’s Goldman will star in “A Gingerbread Christmas,” in which Hazel Stanley (Tiya Sircar) tries to save the family bakery by entering a gingerbread house competition led by Goldman’s character, a local food celebrity.
And Food Network star Bobby Flay shows up in “One Delicious Christmas,” in which Abby Richmond (Vanessa Marano) attempts to get an investment into her business, Haven Restaurant and Inn. Flay plays a top food critic who gives Abby his feedback and leads her to hire a hotshot chef (Alex Mallari, Jr.)
“We are thrilled to partner once again with Food Network, and now HGTV, along with their phenomenal fan-favorite talent on four holiday films,” Larry Grimaldi, senior vice president of creative affairs of MarVista, which produced all four movies, said in the statement.
The four all-new holiday features are set to premiere on Friday, Nov. 11, on the Discovery+ streaming platform.
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