Nothing Like the Holidays Production Notes

Tagline: They’re just a typical American family. Minus the typical.

It’s Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home in Chicago to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother’s safe return from combat overseas. For Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez), coming home has rekindled feelings for an old flame, although she can’t seem to forgive him for leaving.

His older sister Roxanna, a struggling actress, has been chasing her Hollywood dreams for years with little to show for it. Meanwhile, eldest brother Mauricio (John Leguizamo) brings home a high-powered executive wife (Debra Messing) and finds himself caught between his mother, who is eager for grandchildren, and his spouse, who would rather raise capital than a kid.

In the course of one eventful week, traditions will be celebrated, secrets revealed and major life decisions made. It all begins when Anna announces to her children she is leaving their father Eduardo (Alfred Molina). The shock waves from this familial upheaval prompt Roxanna, Mauricio and Jesse, each in their own way, to reevaluate the past and rethink the future. But when the Rodriguezes learn that one of their own is facing a true crisis, they instinctively pull together: Old resentments are forgotten, familial bonds are reaffirmed and the healing power of laughter works its magic as the family discovers they are much stronger than they ever realized.

The Residents of Humboldt Park

The cast of Nothing Like the Holidays includes some of the most acclaimed actors working today, including Emmy winner John Leguizamo (“John Leguizamo’s Freak”), Emmy nominee Freddy Rodriguez (“Six Feet Under”), Emmy winner Debra Messing (“Will and Grace”), two-time Tony nominee Alfred Molina (Frida) and six-time Alma Award winner Elizabeth Peña (Tortilla Soup).

“When we first talked about doing this project, our goal was always to get this caliber of actors,” says Rodriguez. “If we couldn’t, I don’t think we would have done it. It was either all or nothing. The level of quality starts with that.”

The casting process, says De Villa, took a grueling three months to complete. “I never worked harder putting together a cast. We all knew the overall tone of the film was going to be so dependent on who played those characters.”

In addition to serving as executive producer, Rodriguez plays the character of Jesse, the youngest member of the Rodriguez clan, who has just returned from combat in Iraq. Jesse enlisted in an effort to put off taking over the family business, a neighborhood grocery store. “I was intrigued with what was happening with the character, post-Iraq,” says the actor. “We’ve seen movies about the soldiers who are out there, but I wanted to explore what was happening in his head after all that he’s gone through.”

Jesse’s return is the catalyst for the Rodriguez family’s first reunion in three years. “Imagine, if your family got together, and it’s been three years since everybody’s seen each other at Christmastime,” producer Teitel says. “Of course, mayhem ensues. Every family’s going to go through some of that.”

“Add to that Jesse was injured in Iraq. I had read so many articles in the paper about these soldiers coming home and grappling with so many different issues. We took that and we gave it to the writer and said, ‘This is an interesting character. This is a dynamic that you see in the papers every day, but you haven’t seen it on film yet.’”

For the roles of parents Eddy and Anna Rodriguez, the filmmakers turned to two esteemed, veteran actors, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Peña. The British-born and trained Molina might not have seemed an obvious choice, but his fluent Spanish and compelling performances in films such as Frida brought him to the attention of the filmmakers.

The director recalls the search for an actor who could convey the complexity and depth crucial to the character. “He can’t be just a complete womanizer, because then there is no conflict. He’s the guy who, like a lot of first-generation immigrants, basically gave up his hopes and dreams for the benefit of the kids. He had to put his life and blood and sweat into that store, and that’s how his kid got to be a lawyer. You have to love him, but at the same time, he did something wrong and he has to live with that.”

“When I heard that Alfred Molina liked the script, I thought ‘Okay, well, I’m glad he likes the script, but is he really going to do the movie?’” remembers Teitel. “When he signed on, the excitement was unbelievable. It changed the scope of the movie.”

Molina describes his character as a man trying to do his best and not always succeeding. “He’s trying really hard to just keep his family together with two very old fashioned ideas, love and loyalty, both of which get questioned in the course of the story,” says Molina. “There are very serious elements in it, but there’s a lot of humor as well, which is the way things are with families. In the midst of serious breakups and fallouts, whatever happens to a family, there are always moments of complete hysteria.”

Molina recalls a Christmas when he was younger, right after his own parents divorced. “My mother decided to redecorate the apartment, so she called in a decorator. But she then discovered she didn’t have enough money to pay for it, so she sold the furniture to pay for the paint job. All we had left was a sofa and a coffee table. I’m not kidding, a sofa and a coffee table. All the dining room furniture went. All the stuff in the front room went.”

“And she then decided to have a Christmas party, and she invited about ten or twelve people,” he continues. “We all sat on the floor cross-legged, eating spaghetti Milanese. It was such fun. She was a great storyteller, my mother. She was telling everyone the story in her wonderful Italian accent. She said, ‘Well, I decorated the place. And I had no money. So I sell the furniture.’ And one of her friends said, ‘But Joanna, wouldn’t it have been easier just to sleep with him?’ My mother pretended to be shocked. But she laughed, I mean, she laughed and she laughed so much, I’ll never forget it.”

“You could look at it from the other side and say, ‘What a terrible story, deprivation and poverty and all that.’ But the truth is, no. It was very funny. It was one of the best Christmases I think we ever had.” Anna Rodriguez is the family’s anchor, a deceptively calm powerhouse, much like Teitel’s own mother. “In my family it was like that,” says Teitel, who describes himself as “Sorta Rican” – half Puerto Rican and half Jewish. “My dad used to say, ‘I’m the boss,’ but my mom made all the decisions. Elizabeth Peña— we couldn’t ask for more as the mother. She has a strong hold on this family. Even though Alfred Molina towers over her, there’s no denying who’s the boss.”

The filmmakers originally had doubts about casting Peña that had nothing to do with talent. “At first they didn’t want to hire me because John Leguizamo is only three years younger than me, and I play his mother,” she says. “But there is the magic of film and hair and makeup. You know, I love it. I don’t mind playing unattractive or old or whatever. I’m not a model, I’m an actress. To be able to sneak into somebody else’s skin is a joy.”

The highly acclaimed actress says working with Molina was a dream come true for her. “I slapped myself every morning when I realized I was working with Alfred Molina. I mean, the whole cast was fantastic. But I have been a fan of Alfred’s since the first time I saw him, which was in Prick up Your Ears in 1987. I still can’t believe I worked with him!”

In the film, the couple’s eldest child, Mauricio, has been living in New York and is about to become a partner in a white shoe law firm, creating some tension between him and his father, who was born in Puerto Rico, “But Mauricio is really tight with his mom,” says John Leguizamo of his character. “The only tension there is with my wife, played by the lovely, enchanting Debra Messing. My mom wants her to get pregnant. I kind of want it, too, and I use my mom to tell my wife to get with it.”

Rodriguez recalls, “When we were thinking of this character, we immediately said ‘Leguizamo.’ I’ve never seen him do a character like this before, this sort of uptight, Manhattan elite, suit-wearing character. We were trying to cast against type with all the characters so we immediately said, ‘Legz should be that guy, because no one’s ever seen him in that light.’”

“Once John heard the idea, then read the script, he loved it,” adds Teitel. “He came on board right after that. Once we had Freddy and John, they were like the actor-magnets. They just kind of brought everybody else in.”

The onscreen bond between family members is authentic, according to Leguizamo. “We really worked hard to make that relationship real, and to find those little details that reveal the complexity of the father-son and mother-son relationships. As crazy as this family is, we love the hell out of each other.” Mauricio’s wife, Sarah, is an outsider, a high-powered executive from a Jewish family who understands the Rodriguez clan as little as she is understood by it. Rodriguez reached back to the beginning of his career for an actress to play the part. “When we were throwing names around, Debra Messing was definitely on the top of the list,” says Rodriguez. “She and I did our first film together. When they mentioned her name, I thought, yeah, that’s a perfect choice and she’s wonderful.”

Messing was fresh out of graduate school when she shot A Walk in the Clouds with Rodriguez, Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn. “I had never been on camera in my life,” she says. “And there was this young kid, Freddy, and it was his first movie, too. We bonded. Then “Will & Grace” and “Six Feet Under” came on around the same time and we were reunited on the red carpet when both of our shows were nominated for Emmys. It was like, oh, my gosh, who would have thought, when we met the first time, that we would be here? He’s such a talented actor. And he’s just so smart. I think it’s limitless what he can do.”

The Rodriguez family’s old world ideals and values make Sarah feel shut out, says the actress. “Especially when it comes to Mom and what it means to be a woman. This family is so tight and so committed to each other and to each other’s happiness. My character feels like there’s nothing she can do that can win them over. She tries her best to help out, but the fact that she has not yet provided a grandchild is the elephant in the room, so to speak.”

Although Messing had heard about Chicago’s legendarily cold winters, she was not prepared for the record temperatures she encountered during the shoot. “Had I known then that it was going to be 25 below zero with the wind chill, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do it,” says Messing, who came up with an ingenious solution. “I researched extreme explorers who go to Antarctica and what they wear, and found a jacket and a liner that will keep you warm at sixty degrees below zero. Of course, by the time it showed up, there were about five days of shooting left, but now I’m ready for Antarctica!”

Messing developed a reputation on set for keeping up with the sometimes raucous antics of some of the male actors. “Debra brought crazy comedy chops to the work, as well as a lot of drama, too, so she’s giving you a little extra,” says Leguizamo. “Everybody knows she’s very beautiful and upscale and all that, but she can be like a guy. She’s got that kind of mouth. It’s just hilarious, because she says the raunchiest, craziest stuff. But it was the hip-hop dancing that freaked me out. How that came out of her, I don’t know. She must’ve been clubbing a lot.”

Luis Guzmán, who plays Johnny, has been a staple in film and television for more than 20 years, appearing in high profile projects including Traffic, Carlito’s Way, Boogie Nights and the HBO series “Oz.”

“We said ‘How can we do this movie and not have Luis Guzmán in it?’” says Teitel. “Doesn’t even make sense. So we made him that older cousin, that screw-up cousin that we all have and know. He just fit right into it perfectly.”

For Guzmán, it was an opportunity to return to some of the best moments of his childhood. “I come from the Lower East Side in New York City,” he says. “The whole thing with the family getting together celebrating Christmas, the music and the unity among people from the neighborhood, the spirit of it all. I grew up with all that stuff.

“My old neighborhood has been so gentrified, and so many of the community people have been pushed out,” he continues. “Coming to Humboldt Park was like what the Lower East Side was fifteen, twenty years ago. Just seeing all the different storefronts, all the different organizations, the murals reminded me of what a real community is, before so many longtime residents have been filtered out by developers.”

Vanessa Ferlito, who has appeared on “CSI: New York” and “24,” plays Roxanna, the middle child and only daughter, an actress living in California. “She hasn’t really hit it yet, so when she comes home and realizes what a great environment she left and the people and her family, it starts to pull her back in,” says Teitel. “In my family, I was that kid who went to California. There are times when you’re doing well and you come home and you’re a hero. Then there are times when you’re not working and you really got nothing to say and you still want them to be proud of you.”

Ferlito, who is an Italian-American from Brooklyn, found the Rodriguez family dynamic to be familiar, especially during a dinner scene in which the entire clan is talking simultaneously. “I wish my mother was here right now,” she says. “I’d have her walk in the room and demonstrate. They’re loud. They feel that’s the only way you can hear them. The only way they can get their point across is by screaming across the table. Who can talk louder than the next? Who makes the best point? Who’s right? Whose food is better? It goes on and on.”

Vanessa finds herself drawn to Ozzy, the young man she left behind who works in her father’s store. Ozzy is played by Jay Hernandez, familiar to audiences from roles in films including World Trade Center and Friday Night Lights. “Being a part of a family movie that dealt with these issues was a unique experience,” he says. “I didn’t have to act. I had these experiences. I’ve seen them play out in my family.”

Melonie Diaz, who recently appeared in the Jack Black comedy, Be Kind Rewind, plays Jesse’s ex, Marissa, who was left behind when he impulsively enlisted. “He just ripped her heart apart,” says Diaz. “It’s really complex because sometimes in life you do things because you need to and you act on instinct. And that’s what Jesse did when he went to the war, because he couldn’t take what was happening in his life with the family and the store.”

Diaz says that the Rodriguez clan reminds her very much of her family. “The movie really reflects our cultural background and how we interact with each other as family,” she says. “What’s very recognizable is that this family has a lot of bold characters. Everybody has something to say; everybody wants to be heard. There’s a lot of room for drama, as you can see. And it’s like that with my family.”

Alfred Molina says that boundless energy was evident on the set as well. “Our rehearsals were very boisterous and very loud and dynamic,” he says. “And that’s to do with the nature of the actors involved. The great thing is that the energy didn’t have to be manufactured. Alfredo, our director, created time for us to rehearse, without the pressure of filming. So we were able to create some of that dynamic, away from the camera as it were, and when we shot the scenes, we arrived with something extra to offer.”

With such a powerful cast, it might seem that the personalities would overwhelm the material, but Messing says it was exactly the opposite. “You rarely see a big ensemble cast with so many actors who usually play leading roles. Because there isn’t one star, everyone is on the same level. That makes the story the star.”

Each of the cast members came to the set anticipating a special experience and left feeling the shoot had been a gift of sorts. As Luis Guzmán says, “To be able to come together with this cast on such a project was awesome. I’ve had an incredible amount of joy and delight and fun working on this movie with them. You know, we just fed off each other so much, and complemented each other so, so well.”

About the Production

The story for Nothing Like the Holidays had been percolating in producer Robert Teitel’s mind for almost five years. A partner in State Street Pictures and producer of such hit films as Soul Food and Barbershop, Teitel grew up about 15 minutes from Humboldt Park, Chicago’s best known Puerto Rican neighborhood. “My grandma, my cousins, my aunts all grew up there. My mom would take my brother and me there in the summers. It seemed natural to do a family story and set it in the neighborhood that my family grew up in.”

Teitel says for years he was asked by relatives, “‘When are you going to do a movie about Humboldt Park?’ I heard it so many times, I told Freddy Rodriguez about it. Fred and I have been friends for around twelve years, and I knew Freddy grew up right outside Humboldt Park.”

Rodriguez, an award-winning actor best known for his Emmy-nominated role as ambitious mortician Federico Diaz on “Six Feet Under,” has been friendly with both Teitel and his partner, writer-director George Tillman, Jr., for more than a decade. “We’re all from Chicago,” says Rodriguez. “Bob and I left Chicago around the same time, we had our first projects out around the same time, and we always talked about doing something together. We kicked around a couple ideas, but this one was always in Bob’s head. He asked me to come on board as executive producer and help put it together.”

Rene M. Rigal, State Street Pictures’ president of production, had been pitching an idea to Teitel since his first job interview. “In that meeting, we started riffing an idea for Nothing Like the Holidays. We started talking about a family and how we wanted to make it an American family that happens to be Latino.”

”With a strong personal connection to the material, the producers had very specific ideas about the movie’s screenplay. “I wanted a story with a lot of heart and a lot of drama,” says Teitel. “We gave it to the writer, Rick Najera, and he gave us a draft. Then I went to my wife, Alison Swan. She would always come back here with me to Humboldt Park for Christmas and she saw my crazy family and saw what was going on at Christmastime, so she was the perfect person to mesh it all together.”

Teitel acknowledges that a lot of the details in the film are based on his own family. “My dad owned a small auto paint store and I grew up in that. I had to grapple with whether or not to take over the store or go to Hollywood. A lot of the same kinds of things that Freddy’s character is dealing with in the film. So, it’s really close to my heart.”

Director Alfredo De Villa had impressed the producers with his work on three previous films, notably the acclaimed independent production Washington Heights. “He really captured that specific neighborhood in New York,” says Teitel. “I felt like this was a natural progression for him. As soon as we met him, everybody embraced him. His ideas were totally in tune with ours, so it was an easy connection.”

Although the filmmakers met with a number of talented directors before offering the film to De Villa, says Rodriquez, “I go with my gut, and my instincts told me that he really got what we were going for in this film and he got wonderful performances from his actors in his earlier films. I was confident he would get the same kind of performances out of all of us.”

De Villa was attracted to the film’s emphasis on family and community. “It says that these things are sometimes more important than individual needs,” the director says. “It really sounded truthful to me. By embracing the authenticity of this unique community, we allowed the movie to become broader and speak about larger themes of unity.”

Teitel adds: “My goal is for this film to be received as a universal film. People will see bits and pieces of their family in this film. It doesn’t matter what race or religion you are, you’re going to see your family on the screen.”

“It’s kind of what George and I did with Soul Food,” the producer continues. “We were fortunate enough to make this movie that crossed over universally. People of all ethnicities would come up to us and say, ‘That was my family!’”

De Villa believes the questions at the heart of Nothing Like the Holidays will strike a universal chord. “As a culture, it feels like America is in a time of transition. That’s when it’s most important for families to come together. When there’s that emotional union or communion, it gives you a sense of purpose that you might not have when you are just on your own.”

Nothing Like the Holidays, says Rigal, is ultimately about coming home. “As in a lot of American families, each of the Rodriguezes has been living a very different life with its own unique set of personal challenges. When the kids come home for the first time in three years, they bring all their problems with them. And the thing they think they can depend on most, the foundation of family, is completely thrown into chaos. But no matter what obstacles, no matter what things we deal with, no matter what the trauma within the family, the only thing that’ll get us through is the family.”

Rodriguez, an award-winning actor best known for his Emmy®-nominated role as ambitious mortician Federico Diaz on “Six Feet Under,” has been friendly with both Teitel and his partner, writer-director George Tillman, Jr., for more than a decade. “We’re all from Chicago,” says Rodriguez. “Bob and I left Chicago around the same time, we had our first projects out around the same time, and we always talked about doing something together. We kicked around a couple ideas, but this one was always in Bob’s head. He asked me to come on board as executive producer and help put it together.”

Production notes provided by Overture Films.

Nothing Like the Holidays

Starring: Luis Guzmán, Freddy Rodriguez, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, Jay Hernandez, Melonie Diaz, Mercedes Ruehl, Vanessa Ferlito
Directed by: Alfredo De Villa
Screenplay by: Rick Najera, Ted Perkins, Alison Swan
Release: December 12, 2008
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements including some sexual dialogue, and brief drug references.
Studio: Overture Films

Box Office Totals

Domestic: $7,503,736 (99.8%)
Foreign: $15,754 (0.2%)
Total: $7,519,490 (Worldwide)