By Katy Savage
About nine years after Hallmark’s “Moonlight and Mistletoe” was filmed in Chester, a new Christmas movie has come to town.
New York City-based Two Touch Productions filmed parts of the holiday comedy, “The Truth about Christmas,” in Chester and Manchester.
The movie follows a man who’s afraid of having kids before he wakes up one morning to find he’s Santa Claus and everyone around him is a child. The crews and actors filmed four days in Vermont, despite cold weather and a snowstorm that caused film delays and actors getting their car stuck on a road near Bromley Mountain.
“I did not prepare,” producer Chris Bayon said. “The crew was troopers for that amount of snow. It was insane.”
The crew went through about 40 boxes of hand warmers, he said. “As soon as the sun went down it was freezing,” he said. “It was fun but it tested our limits.”
Most of the movie is filmed indoors in New York City, but Bayon made a last-minute decision to film in Vermont.
“We needed snow,” he said.
Bayon looked for a town close to the southern border, accessible to Boston and Albany airports. He wanted a town that was “cute but not overly done,” he said.
He said Chester was perfect for the role.
“It’s totally old school Vermont,” he said. “It is the cutest town.”
Town Manager David Pisha said the select board was excited for them. “We were happy to cooperate,” Pisha said.
The crew filmed on the Green and near Chester-Andover Elementary School. Several dozen local children dressed in coats, hoping to make it in the film as an extra.
The Inn Victoria Bed and Breakfast hosted the crew members for free. “We just want to continue to get people to come to visit Chester and we thought this was an opportunity,” Inn Victoria owner Penny Cote said.
The film will feature stand-up comedians Rob Kelly, Gilbert Gottfried and Judy Gold. Chris Cerf, the producer from “Sesame Street,” is doing the music.
Shooting wrapped up March 16. Bayon wants to sell it to
Hallmark or Disney or Netflix and said it will be released this Christmas or next.
“We just hope the footage comes together well,” he said.
