I suppose that I am consistently drawn to individuals in the film/TV industry who have labored intensively to create their own unique identities within a society that often preaches conformity and not rocking the boat nor stepping out of one’s comfort zone. And in the case of Kristoffer Polaha, it is safe to state that his persona is unlike any that I have ever encountered within the industry (or life in general, come to think of it), and indeed, he has used that to his advantage. Hallmark has a distinctive love affair with this debonair, handsome, exceptional leading man, and whenever I see his name associated with any work, you can bet that I will essentially move heaven and earth to ensure that I am watching it. (Yeah, I know I’m a bit of an extremist 😊) I first had the singular honor of interviewing Kristoffer this past summer, and with his new Christmas movie premiering tonight (12/16) on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Network, I am honored to highlight him again this afternoon.
Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
RH: Kristoffer, it is so good to chat with you again! Things have been so busy this season.
KP: Nice to chat with you again too, Ruth. Yes, I agree, but being busy is not a bad thing. Especially in my line of work.
I know you have a Christmas movie coming up.
I do have a Christmas movie coming up. I’m kind of excited about it.
Yeah, I think I picked up on that. I’ve been seeing pretty regular posts about it. I’ve talked to Daniel Bacon about it.
I love Daniel Bacon! He plays Mayor Deakins.
Small Town Christmas
And Debs Howard…I’ve talked to her too. And now I get to talk with our leading man.
The dude!
Yep. Oh, and Bailey Skodje is in it too, that’s right.
Yeah, little Bailey.
It is clear that I am familiar with a few of the people in the film, including you. So what can you tell us about your character and how that relates to the overall story?
What I can say is…I think the coolest thing about my character is that when I read the script, he reminded me of George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life. So I called my agent and my manager up and said, “Guys, I know what I’m gonna do.” And they said, “What?” I said, “I’m gonna play him like Jimmy Stewart.” And they said, “What? No, you’re not. You’re kidding, right?” And I said, “No, I’m dead serious.” They told me I couldn’t do that. {And Kristoffer dove into a full-on “Jimmy Stewart” impression.} “How ya doin’? I’m Emmett Turner.” And everything was gonna come out of my mouth sounding just like Jimmy Stewart. And they told me, “You can’t do that! You’re gonna ruin the movie!” But I said, “No, I don’t think I will.”
So I went to set, and I met with the director, Maclain Nelson. I said, “Maclain, I feel really convicted to play this guy like Jimmy Stewart.” And he said, “Are you kidding me?” I said, “No, I’m not.” So he was like, “Let me hear it.” {Again, Kristoffer went into his notorious Jimmy Stewart impression.} “Everything he says is gonna be just like this.” Maclain said, “All right, let’s see how it goes.” On set, Maclain had this little invisible knob, and he would say, “Okay, now turn down George Bailey just a little bit. And a little more.” {laughs} He had this balance he would pay attention to, and I played the whole character motivated by, rooted in, based on Jimmy Stewart from It’s A Wonderful Life. I think when you watch it, you’ll get that. You’ll be like, “Oh, I see what he was doing there.”
Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
I said all that to say that my character has this unbridled enthusiasm for life. When you meet Emmett Turner, I think you’ll get a tickle out of the fact that he’s so sweet and so kind. He’s not a very ambitious guy, but he loves pretty hard. Which is pretty cool.
I think this one was one of the last Christmas movies to be filmed. I kept waiting for news about you being in a new Christmas movie, and about the times we fans started despairing, this one popped up.
I know! I was almost like, “Wait a minute! I’m not gonna have a Christmas movie?!” I’m not sure what the machinations were. I know this was a last-minute deal. I don’t know if another project fell through or something like that. But I know they made an effort to put this one together. I know I was brought on first. I do know that the original script was very different. My character was portrayed as being a little more sinister, and he and his mom were gonna do all sorts of crazy stuff. When I came on board, Marybeth Sprows, one of the executive developers at Hallmark…she’s been there since June and has five movies made already. She did Small Town Christmas. And you know how Jill Wagner and I are doing a mystery cycle.
Yes, I do know that.
Behind-the-scenes
Small Town Christmas
Yeah, I guess we’ve been tweeting stuff. We just wrapped on that project, and she is part of that production too. When I jumped on board on the Christmas movie, Marybeth said, “Let’s do a polish on the script.” They gave it to some writers, and they got a new draft of the film. That’s when Ashley {Newbrough} joined the team. She is amazing and so wonderful to work with. And she’s so pretty. In fact, it was kind of funny because I had to recalibrate how “Jimmy Stewart” I was gonna play my character based on when I met her. I was like, “Oh, I gotta play somebody that she’s gonna actually be attracted to. {laughs} I can’t just be this guy who’s like {cue Jimmy Stewart impression}, “Well, everybody.” I had to be able to figure out how to make this guy attractive and still be enthusiastic and buoyant and childlike and joyful.
Then the rest of the team came together. Our director, Maclain was awesome and enthusiastic. He brought his wife with him, and she was even at the table read. And Marybeth was at the table read and read some of the characters. And we just had this really cool…it was basically like theater at college where you have a script and then you just make it the very best that you know how to make it. The three weeks went by in a flash, and before we knew it, we had a movie in the can. Everyone at the network and on the crew was really excited about it. So much so that…our original air date was December 22nd, which I was always kind of fond of. That’s around the same time Rocky Mountain Christmas aired, and that movie did really well ratings-wise. I was excited thinking, “Oh, we’ll do that again.” It’s close to Christmas.
Ashley Newbrough, Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
Well, as it turns out, our movie is premiering further away from Christmas this year. And also there’s programming all the way up to Christmas Day. So it looks like they changed their programming a little bit this year at the network. And Bill Abbott {president of Hallmark} said that he wanted a really strong movie at this time in December. And after they saw one of the cuts of Small Town Christmas, they moved it from December 22nd to December 16th. I can only take that as a pretty good nod in the direction that they’re happy with the product. I take that as a good thing. I haven’t seen it yet. I saw some stuff when I was doing ADR, and I was happy with what I saw. I’m really excited to see it, and I’ll be watching it live with you and the fans on the West Coast. In fact, I’ll give you an exclusive. The whole cast and Marybeth and my agent are all gonna come to my house on Sunday for a viewing party. We’re gonna watch it together live.
Well, that’s great. But where else would they go, Kristoffer? After all, you ARE the dude!
Normally, people watch it at their own homes, but I invited them over so we can have a big Small Town Christmas Christmas party.
Kristoffer Polaha, Bailey Skodje, Linda Sorensen, Ashley Newbrough Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
I think it’s neat that you all are getting together for that. And it occurs to me also that while some school across the U.S. will be in session this week before Christmas, a lot of them won’t have school on the 17th, so maybe people will be more willing to stay up and watch the movie together as a family.
You have a point there.
I know that not all kids watch Hallmark, but I am still out in the schools, and I am finding that more high school students are watching Hallmark than ever before. I have been pleasantly surprised. Oh, and I realized I also talked to the writer of this movie as well, Samantha Herman. She already had one hit this season with Hallmark, Mingle All the Way.
Oh, that’s good to know, Ruth. Hopefully, this one will do equally as well. That’s been a good year for her then. Kind of like Preston Vanderslice, who is also in Small Town Christmas.
Ashley Newbrough, Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
Oh, that’s right! He was actually in Mingle All the Way as well. I almost forgot he is in Small Town Christmas too. I just posted an interview with him. He’s in the mystery one with you and Jill right now too, right?
Yes, he is.
What can you tell us about this mystery movie?
It’s called Mystery 101.
I’m assuming the plan is for it to be a mystery series where you and Jill would be the main people who would come back and do more films in the series?
Yes, that is the hope.
Well, please tell us what you can about this series.
Behind-the-scenes with Jill Wagner
Mystery 101
Jill plays a college professor. She teaches crime lit and crime fiction. I play the part of a cop who was born in Coney Island, New York and spent fifteen years with the Chicago PD as a detective. The part that you don’t see in the movie is my character’s backstory. He was involved in a really dark case in Chicago. In fact, it was so dark that it split his marriage up, and it caused him to want to get out of Chicago. So he comes to this little town called Garrison, that is supposed to be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, like Washington or Oregon, and he joins the local police force as a detective. He’s not the normal guy you see on Hallmark. He’s not chipper like Emmett Turner from Small Town Christmas. He’s very dark, and it’s almost like he should be on a different show. Like he should be on an HBO cop show. But this is the Hallmark version, so don’t worry. He may be dark and edgy, but still Hallmark/family-friendly.
In the movie, there are dead bodies, and he has a mystery to solve. Jill’s character has a keen insight into criminality, and she almost has a superpower of observation. He’s smart enough to know that she’s really good at what she does. He wants her help, and though he’s a bit reluctant at first to seek out her help, he warms up to the fact that she’s really good at what she does, and he realizes she can help him solve this mystery. And who knows? Maybe they solve the case. Maybe they don’t. But I have a feeling they do.
With Jill Wagner
Mystery 101
I’m honestly very partial to mysteries, so I am really looking forward to this one. And I am hoping this is the first of many in this series. We’ll keep our eyes open for the air date. So, you’ve mentioned Small Town Christmas and Mystery 101. Anything else coming up that you can mention?
Yes, I am in a movie coming out in February called Run the Race. We’ve already shot it; it’s in the can.
Oh, I wasn’t aware that it was already filmed. That’s great news.
Tim Tebow and his brother Robby Tebow produced the movie. And Chris Dowling directed it. Chris and I worked together in Where Hope Grows. That’s a really sweet movie. Have you seen that yet, Ruth?
No, I have not.
Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Sven Boecker
You should see that. In fact, I think your daughter might like that one too. It’s worth looking up. It’s not Hallmark. It’s not really dark, and the message is really bright. I play the part of an alcoholic who is trying to drink himself to death. He meets a boy with Down Syndrome, and he tries to understand why this boy has so much joy. And he learns why. It’s a really sweet story.
That sounds like one I need to look up. Thank you for the recommendation. So in Run the Race, what would you like to say about that one?
I think it’s a great movie about failure. It’s about what it looks like to pick yourself up when life throws you a curveball and how you can go through life unshaken, even when you’ve been shaken to the point of wanting to quit or wanting to give up or when you feel like you can’t move on. It’s positive and has a really great message. It’s about these two teenage brothers, and I play a dad. And I guess Chris must have some sort of opinion about me and the roles I am best suited for. Again, the dad I play in this is not a nice dad. He’s another drunk, but this one’s a mean drunk. In Where Hope Grows, he was a sweet drunk. In this one, he’s a mean drunk. He’s got a pretty big chip on his shoulder, but a part of that story is about redemption there too. It’s a good movie, and it will be in theaters in February. February 22nd as of now.
Well, that sounds amazing, Kristoffer. I always love those faith-based, inspirational films, so I will make plans now to see it. And I just want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. It really does mean a lot.
Ruth, thank you for reaching out and making the time. I really hope the fans enjoy Small Town Christmas tonight. Looking forward to live tweeting and seeing what the fans think!
To be honest, Kristoffer continues to impress me more each time I speak with him. As one who has always thought outside of the box myself, I think I am often drawn to those who have a similar viewpoint in life. Kristoffer never makes apologies for who he is as a professional nor as a person, and the fact that he shows an interest in my life as well causes me to respect him even more than I may have expected. (Yeah, I left out our “chit-chat” where he took a vested interest in me–that doesn’t happen with every interview after all.)
However, even more important than any of these matters is the fact that Kristoffer is one of the most authentic people I am honored to know. While I have never met him in person, I know that every word he utters is nothing but the pure, unadulterated truth, and I can trust that what he is saying is not embellished nor fabricated (unless it’s for comedic effect). He consistently searches for ways to build up those in his sphere of influence, and his modesty is not a slick trick nor acting game. He is genuine to a fault, and he lives his life in such a way to honor his values, principles, and beliefs. God and family will always be the most important things to him in this world, and he recognizes and readily utilizes the platform he has been given for spreading love and light in a world that is teeming with darkness and despair.
I hope that every U.S. home will make an effort to tune into the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Network tonight (12/16) for the premiere of Small Town Christmas. (Still waiting on a Canadian premiere date.) Additionally, if you would like to receive a regular dose of the humor, joy, and inspiration that regularly come from the mind and soul of Kristoffer Polaha, I would invite you to check out all of his links below and follow him where applicable. Kristoffer is living proof that you can live your life without following the supposed demands and dictates of a society that is often confused and vacillatory about what is proper and right. Kristoffer is one who is rock solid in his beliefs and his values, and there is almost nothing he wouldn’t do to help another human being if he could. Moreover, his talent is indubitably unparalleled, and I am excited to see that Hallmark appreciates his talent and attitude just as much as the viewers do!
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Ashley Newbrough, Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
Ashley Newbrough, Kristoffer Polaha Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ryan Plummer
