Tamera Mowry Housley is making the holidays a family affair in Mistletoe and Mimosas! The new Hallmark Channel film pairs the actress with Kristoffer Polaha for the first time, reunites her with her Twitches co-star Jennifer Robertson, and even features her daughter in her acting debut. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado caught up with the cast to talk all about this festive new film that is about to be your next holiday favorite.
Mowry Housley and Polaha have major chemistry in Mistletoe and Mimosas! “This one was amazing to work with,” said Polaha about working with the actress. “Tamera not only produced the movie, so I was working I was on-screen with my boss, but I think creatively we just fell into a sync pretty instantly.”
“I feel like it was a natural dance. You never know going in how the chemistry is going to be, but I feel like as actors it is our responsibility, if it doesn't come authentically, you have to create it. I feel like with Kris it was just naturally there which is quite interesting,” laughed Mowry Housey. The duo met briefly two years ago while in New York and she joked that it was like she was in “another world” meeting the charismatic leading man. “I remember I was eating some appetizers and this tall, just man, very charming, comes by.”
Both actors had been dying to work together. “I do know that I was about to text the overall casting director for the Hallmark movies, her name is Tatiana [Erasme],” said Polaha. “I was about to text her literally that I wanted to work with Tamara and the offer came in. She said, ‘Tamera, wants to work with you on this thing. Are you available?’ And it was August, right? We shot this in August, I think. So, it all goes by so fast.”
“As an actor, I felt very safe around Kris because I think you're very talented and you're also very open. You like to play. It's like a dance,” agreed Mowry Housley. “We were feeling what we were doing, we were trusting each other that it was going to land, and we were going to respond. And it did. I think that's probably the main thing people are going to love about this film.”
Mistletoe and Mimosas features a decades long reunion between Twitches co-stars Mowry Housley and Robertson, who played Camryn’s guardian Illeana. “It was the fastest yes I've ever said in my life,” said Robertson. “It was just a reunion of all these awesome people. [We] had a table read at a hotel and I'm notoriously early. I was waiting for her to show up with everybody else and she came early also and the two of us just screamed. Then within 30 seconds we're laughing about something wildly inappropriate, just back right back to where we were at Twitches. She's such a vivacious, energetic, positive, amazing person, and, of course, I wanted to hang out with her and play her best friend, obviously.”
Both actresses revealed their bond was back like no time had passed. “It was definitely our connection that came back so quickly because I played her protector in Twitches and we had an energy match and I think Pat [Fabian] and Tia [Mowry] had their own kind of energy match in that movie. I think it all just came immediately back,” said Robertson. “Gosh, we were talking about how much life we've lived since we shot that. Marriages and children and all these things that happened since that movie. We had so much fun in Twitches and we had so much fun on this. It was just a delight to just sit around The Tipsy Reindeer and have some fun.”
In a previous interview with Pop Culture Planet, Mowry Housley had teased that her daughter Ariah Talea Housley appeared in the film with her. But now it’s been revealed she’s actually playing a younger version of her mother. It was pretty trippy to see, especially after watching Mowry Housley grow up on screen. “I did have these moments where I was watching her and I thought of Sister, Sister,” revealed Mowry Housley. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she looks like me in the latter years of Sister, Sister. ‘Cause I straighten my hair then and her hair is obviously straighter than mine.”
“This was her first time ever acting in a film and I have to say I was very proud but I was also protective. When I thought back at Sister, Sister, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are people going to say? What are people going to think?’ I was like, ‘Stop. Let her just have fun.’ I also had to learn to let go and trust the [team]. And she did great. I was so proud of her,” she continued. “It inspired her to actually audition for her school play after she finished. So now she's in her school play of Alice in Wonderland. She plays a feisty flower and I got to see her. She sings, she dances. So this might not be the last time we see her and I'm just so proud.”
It was a “whole family affair” as the entire Mowry Housley family found their way to the set. “They were obviously incredibly proud of her,” said Robertson. “They have the same eyes and the same little sparkle in their eye.”
The film even features a subtle nod to a classic Sister, Sister line. “That was so fun,” enthused Mowry Housley. “Russell [Hainline], our writer, it was actually his idea. At first I was like, I don't know, but I'm glad he did it. It was so much fun saying, ‘Tell Roger to go home.’”
There were plenty of other hilarious moments on set, including a “Jingle Bells” sing-along and scenes where the cast went all in on the comedy. Robertson recalled filming a scene at the memorial for Mowry Housley’s character’s uncle, who owned The Tipsy Reindeer and leaves the business to her in his will. “We were just being silly and goofy and doing a really funny version of [“Jingle Bells”],” said Robertson. “We were both like, ‘I hope they keep it.’ And I think they did.”
Robertson also pointed to a scene where Mowry Housley tastes a fancy cocktail made by Polaha’s character during their 12 Days of Christmas competition. “He puts one of those smoke bubbles on [the cocktail] and she tastes it. Obviously it's the best tasting thing she's ever had, but her restraint just is so Tamera of her. Just going, ‘It's not for me,’ and it's obviously the greatest thing she's ever had. It was one of my favorite scenes and she was so funny in it,” she laughed. “I think we had to rein it in, both her and I, because we were both going a little bit too hard on the comedy, but it was so fun to shoot.”
Meanwhile, Mowry Housley and Polaha have a very memorable candy candy-making date in Mistletoe and Mimosas. “We're both very detail oriented actors. We were rolling out this dough kind of thing and we got very specific on how to do it,” said Polaha. “It was the first time I'd ever made a candy cane in a movie. It’s a heck of a lot of fun. People should make their own candy canes.”
There’s no denying there’s a lot to love about Mistletoe and Mimosas! “What's so beautiful about this film is, yes, it has all the holiday rom-com details that our Hallmark viewers love, but I feel like it's a little feistier. It's a little flirtier. It's a little more adult,” said Mowry Housley.
“It's just a really heartwarming, community-centered Christmas movie. It's a great way to start the Christmas season. It's a great kickoff,” agreed Robertson. “Of course, there's romance, but it's also about community and loss and preserving someone's memory. It's a really heartfelt holiday film and I think everybody should just grab a cocoa on Sunday night, November 15, and have a watch. Maybe keep a Kleenex nearby. You might need it.”
Don’t miss Mistletoe and Mimosas out November 15 on Hallmark Channel and streaming the next day on Hallmark+.
