Christmas Blessings

Starring Tommy Vita, Rachel Story, and Miceal O’Donnell.

"Christmas Blessings" is a short film we shot in Philadelphia to work out the character dynamics for the feature film "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" that we shot later that year.  "Christmas Blessings" features Billy, played by Tommy Vita, a few years before the feature film's timeline.  In the short, Billy harbors a deep anger toward his girlfriend's father, despite having never met him.  He uses his girlfriend, Lucy, played by Rachel Story, to lure her dad into a questionable meeting. 

“Christmas Blessings” is another of our contributions to one of my favorite genres, the Holiday movies.  Of course, by that, I mean character driven movies that take place around the Christmas season, sometimes called the “Christmas Adjacent” movies (French Connection, Lethal Weapon, Trading Places, L.A. Confidential, March of the Wooden Soldiers, what a Long Kiss Goodnight could have been, The Apartment, etc.)

I was not supposed to act in this movie (Dad.)  It was written to have a sixty year old, overweight, hobbling along, Dad.  Even just visually, he would have been much more out of his element and more desperate to connect with his daughter adrift. We did cast a sixty year old guy who would have been great for the part.  He was overweight, sad eyes half covered in wrinkled skin, bad knees, bald, the works.  Unfortunately, we didn’t cast him until a week before the shoot, and when he said ‘yes,’ he never bothered to read beyond his audition scene.  Three days before the shoot he called to say that he was offended by the material and backed out.

I personally don’t find the material offensive, but there is some unfriendly language, and you probably wouldn’t set Billy up with your child after seeing the movie. In either case, acting in a movie is a big commitment for both parties, so you have to be on board to be on board, and I am sad that we lost him.

*This movie has no post sound and no color work was done.  AND this film will likely never have that luxury. 

Cast and Crew

Written and directed by - Miceal Og O'Donnell

Produced by - Tommy Vita

Starring - Tommy Vita, Rachel Storey, and Miceal Og O'Donnell

Cinematography by - Bruno Doria

Original Score by - Rick Szybowski

Edited by - Mike Ryan

Location Sound by - Craig DeMaio

Production Design by - Eileen O'Donnell