Actor Eric Freeman chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about playing Tyler in the new original Hallmark holiday film “Next Stop, Christmas.”
He stars alongside such actors as Chandler Massey, Lyndsy Fonseca, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Erika Slezak.
“At the risk of sounding very cliche… it was quite magical,” he exclaimed. “Being a part of this cast really felt like being part of a family. The experience was also special because we got to play out such a wonderful, positive story. There was a lot of love on that set, and I think that will shine through on the screen.”
“It was so fun playing Tyler,” he said. “Tyler is a bit of an outsider to this family, and he’s learning how they do Christmas and all their specific rituals. I never celebrated Christmas growing up, so it was easy to relate to Tyler on that front. My character and I both got to learn about some wonderful Christmas traditions.”
The synopsis of this new Hallmark holiday movie is as follows: Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca) is a successful surgeon in New York City but finds herself wondering what her life would be like if she had married her former boyfriend Tyler (Eric Freeman), who is now a successful sportscaster.
Angie takes the train home to spend the holiday with her family but when she arrives discovers it’s inexplicably 10 years earlier. At first, she’s naturally disoriented by her unexpected time travel but slowly acclimates.
With the advice of the train’s enigmatic conductor (Christopher Lloyd), Angie navigates her visit to this Christmas past as she tries to return to the present.
On his daily motivations as an actor, he said, “I fell in love with acting because—since I was a toddler—I’ve always loved to entertain people and make them laugh. But beyond that, acting is an opportunity to move people, to make someone’s day happier or more meaningful in some way, and that’s pretty incredible. Also, it’s insanely fun to pretend to be other people! And you can learn a lot about yourself after walking in someone else’s shoes.”
He opened up about being a part of “Katy Keene,” the spinoff of “Riverdale.”Working on Katy Keene was thrilling,” he said. It was my first time recurring on a TV show, and that cast was just something else (in the best way possible). The world they were able to create on that show—much like Christmas—was pure magic. The fact that I got to live in that world even for just five episodes was beyond amazing.”
Freeman shared that he is originally from New York City and that he feels “incredibly lucky to have grown up in the heart of so much amazing theater, TV, and film.” “Living here now and participating in that scene as a working actor is an absolute dream,” he said.
For young and aspiring actors, he said, “6. It’s so funny to be asked that—I feel like I’m still very much aspiring! I guess I’d say… I’ve grown the most on projects where I can work around actors who are much more experienced than I.”
He continued, “This project is a great example: I played opposite the incredibly talented Lyndsy Fonseca, I got to spar with seasoned vet Chandler Massey, and I got a front-row masterclass watching legends Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson do their thing. So yeah, gravitate towards projects with people you admire, and learn from the ways they work.”
Freeman concluded about “Next Stop, Christmas,” “It’s a terrific 90 minutes with their families. This movie is just fun to watch. Whether you’re in a good mood or a bad mood, I think this movie is just gonna put you in a better one. And if you’re looking for a lesson from the film? Get on a train and see where it takes you.”
