When Hallmark Channel fans tune in for “Christmas With the Singhs,” the latest Countdown to Christmas movie premiering on November 15, 2024, leading man Benjamin Hollingworth hopes they get a big dose of comic relief amid so much post-election and pre-holiday tension.
“This really is a comedy,” Hollingsworth told Heavy ahead of the premiere. “It’s not at all political, it’s not at all serious. It’s basically ‘Meet the Parents’ with a Hindu father instead of Robert De Niro. Everybody just needs that kind of movie right now, right?”
Ben Hollingsworth Says He Drew Inspiration From Jim Carrey for ‘Christmas With the Singhs’ Character
HallmarkAnuja Joshi and Benjamin Hollingsworth in Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas With the Singhs”
Hollingsworth, who will also appear in the Hallmark+ movie “Deck the Halls on Cherry Lane” in December, said he happily agreed to be part of “Christmas With the Singhs” because the script was funny with a great underlying message about embracing each others’ differences.
The movie focuses on newly engaged couple Asha Singh, played by Anuja Joshi, and Hollingsworth’s Jake O’Brien, who “are excited to spend Christmas together, but their relationship is tested when their families’ cultural and holiday traditions clash,” per Hallmark’s synopsis.
Hollingsworth leaned into every opportunity for physical comedy in the script, he told Heavy, taking cues from one of his favorite funnymen, Jim Carrey.
“I’m a big Jim Carrey fan, and I was watching a lot of, like, late 90s Jim Carrey movies,” Hollingsworth said, “and I think it kind of crept its way into my performance in the film. So you’ll see a lot of physical comedy built in there.”
One particularly funny scene he recalled was when his character Jake attends a traditional dinner with Asha’s Indian family and his future father-in-law offers him a particularly spicy dish.
“Jake’s been together with Asha for over a year now, but this is his first time meeting the family,” Hollingsworth explained. “So he goes to the first dinner, and the father’s like, ‘Oh, would you like some of this dish?’ And one of Asha’s siblings is like, ‘No, no, that’s very spicy!’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no. I’ve been having Asha’s cooking for a year now. I’m basically immune to spice!’”
When his character discovers that the dish is, actually, “insanely hot,” Hollingsworth said he had a blast pretending he was fine while actually burning up inside. In fact, he told the cameras to keep rolling during a “two-minute take” of his funny reactions, which he plans to post online for fans ahead of the movie.
‘Christmas With the Singhs’ Comedy Also Has Important Message, Ben Hollingsworth Says
HallmarkMichele Scarabelli, Greg Rogers, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Anuja Joshi, Manoj Sood, Nimet Kanji, and Adiv Sharma in “Christmas With the Singhs”
Hollingsworth told Heavy that he also loved the underlying message of “Christmas With the Singhs,” showing how people from different cultures and childhood experiences can find ways to connect and co-exist.
“It’s a departure from your typical male and female leads, fall-in-love story,” Hollingsworth explained. “There’s this merging of cultures and this really fun dynamic of having to, you know, understand and embrace your partner’s traditions and family.”
He continued, “That’s a tricky, fun mess that’s kind of highlighted in ‘Christmas With the Singhs’ with just how different these two families are from each other. And then what brings them together, of course, is a bit of Christmas magic and love.”
Hollingsworth, who’s appeared in more than 10 Hallmark movies over the last decade, told Heavy he loves the Hallmark fanbase and the chance to make all kinds of romcoms. As long as they don’t feel too formulaic and challenge him, he said he’ll keep saying yes to them.
“I love getting to stretch my range a little bit and and having some fun, finding something different in every movie that I do,” he said. “It’s important for me to give people a reason to keep coming to watch mine. I mix it up and I swing for the fences each time.”
“Christmas With the Singhs” premieres on Hallmark Channel on November 15 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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