From Angel and Alias to beloved Hallmark Channel movies, Amy Acker has won over audiences with her acting for years. Now she’s taking on an exciting new role: writer. Speaking with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado, Acker opened up about co-writing and acting in My Christmas Cowboy and co-writing Return To Santa starring Paul Campbell. Both of the films are part of this year’s Countdown to Christmas lineup.
Acker called it “really exciting” to write her first Hallmark Christmas movie with her best friend Emma Bates. The duo met over 25 years ago working at a Shakespeare Theater Company right out of college and moved to LA together. “We're both from Texas and just really wanted to do like a Texas Christmas movie and so this is what it is,” she told me. “There's so many little bits and pieces of our own life.”
Acker started writing during COVID, even filming a short film with her husband on their phones. “I was like the thing I wanted to write most is a Hallmark Christmas movie. I love making them. I love being on set. Everybody has a great time. They make people happy. That feels like the perfect thing to write,” she said. Because there was another cowboy movie on Hallmark last year, it put My Christmas Cowboy in development for a little while, which gave them time to start working on Return To Santa. “I think we turned the draft in of that script the day that we started shooting My Christmas Cowboy. It was down to the wire.”
In addition to writing My Christmas Cowboy, she stars in the film opposite everyone’s favorite leading man Luke Macfarlane. “Oh my gosh, I love him so much. He is just so genuine, so talented, hilarious. We just hit it off right off the bat and had a lot in common and a lot of mutual friends, so it felt like I had known him forever,” she gushed. “He just brought so much to the character, especially with his physical comedy and his humor. It was a role that everyone was like, ‘Okay, this guy's been cancelled. We don't want him to be unlikable.’ And as soon as Luke said one word, everyone's like, ‘Okay, we don't have to worry about that.’ Everyone loves him."
She plays Meg, a small town producer who set aside her newscaster aspirations after a disastrous audition back in college. While developing the script, she was inspired by another former co-star. “I was doing a series with Warren Christie. We had just done a Hallmark movie Christmas movie together. He was like, ‘I want to do a part where [a] guy in Hollywood gets cancelled’ and I was like, ‘Okay, I'll write it.’ Then he was off filming Little House on the Prairie, but he inspired that news section of it.”
Acker really connected with Meg’s journey. “I think it really connects well with [what] we feel as actors. I mean, I feel like journalism is an art form as well. Everyone has an idea of this is what I want it to be and this is what it actually is and how can you find your joy and your passion in the things, opportunities that you're given,” she said. “I grew up very shy. My father was always the one like, ‘You need to go talk to them, you know, look people in the eye.’ And finding that inner strength, which I think I found through being able to play characters and being able to get to do different roles. So that was a fun little personal piece to add to the story.”
One of her favorite little details in the film was inspired by the infamous Traildust Steakhouse. “There was a place growing up in Texas called Traildust. It was where you always wanted to have your birthday party. It was this big country western dance hall and had this giant 40 foot slide into the dance floor,” explained Acker. “If you wore a tie when you went in, they would cut your tie off and hang it on the wall, so we did a little homage to a tie cutting off scene.”
Now, after writing two Christmas movies, do you think we'll see her direct one in the future? “Oh, I would love that,” Acker enthused.
Watch My Christmas Cowboy on Hallmark Channel airing November 13, while Return To Santa premieres November 27.
