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In the past decade, writer/director David E. Talbert has created beloved comedy films including First Sunday and Baggage Claim, but the 24-time NAACP Theatre Award nominee and Best Playwright winner admits that his first love has long been holiday movies. “I’m just a huge fan of them…all the big, broad, emotional ones,” Talbert explains. “I love the season and what it represents, so I thought, ‘What would it be like if I did my own holiday film?’”
As he brainstormed, Talbert reflected that most films in this genre revolve around the matriarch. So for his next theatrical release, he wanted to make a film where the patriarch is the glue keeping everyone together. “Being a new father myself, I thought it would be interesting to see the patriarch holding the family together,” reflects the filmmaker.
Talbert crafted a screenplay about a retired automotive engineer in Birmingham, Alabama, who lost the love of his life and mother of his four grown children the year before. Now that the holiday season has arrived again, his troupe must deal with all of the emotions of celebrating with one another…while still mourning the loss of the pillar of their family. As Talbert does best, the raucous humor that is a coping mechanism accompanying unthinkable loss—as well as the strength to pull together—became the throughline of his script.
He sent his story to blockbuster producer Will Packer, known for his efforts in such worldwide franchises as Think Like a Man and Ride Along. But it was the producer’s positive experience on the 2007 feature This Christmas that made him consider another offering in this genre. Unbeknown to Talbert, Packer had been thinking about making a new holiday film.
Packer recalls: “I’ve known Dave for a long time, but we hadn’t worked together professionally. We did talk over the years about the kind of movies that we like, and I told him that if he had a project he believed I’d be interested in that I would read it and give him thoughts.”
It was during the development of what would become Almost Christmas that Talbert took his friend up on his offer. “Dave sent me the script for what was then A Meyers Thanksgiving,” recalls Packer. “I laughed out loud as I read it, and I enjoyed the warmth and heart of the characters. I called him and said, ‘I love this. There’s only one thing we have to change. It’s got to be Christmas. ‘”
Talbert agreed with the note and steps to make the film began. Still, Packer knew they needed another partner to solidify the project. He reached out to actress and producer Gabrielle Union, with whom he had worked on the films in the Think Like a Man franchise, with the idea. She reveals: “Will sent me the script and asked me what I thought, so I gave him my notes.”
But Packer had a broader role in mind for his longtime collaborator and after much discussion, Union joined the project. “I saw the light,” she laughs. “I saw myself as Rachel, and I signed on. As well, Will was gracious enough to allow me to be an executive producer.”
Talbert and Packer leaned on Union in her new role, one she’s honed as one of the creators and the star of BET’s enormously successful series Being Mary Jane. “As one of the EPs as well as talent, you become the bridge between everything that happens at basecamp,” Union states. “That’s hair, makeup, wardrobe, transportation. You become the link between your cast and all of those departments. Being the link between the two sides is what I do best.”
As the filmmakers envisioned their all-star dream cast, they would approach longtime friends and new ones to populate the world that Talbert had imagined. Packer shares how the cast began to come together, saying: “When Dave and I started talking about this movie, we discussed casting from the beginning. I knew we had a great script, a timely movie and a story that will appeal to a broad range of audiences because the characters are so relatable.”
It would be Talbert’s fellow executive producer who was one of the first performers cast in Almost Christmas. “Gabrielle was the first person on board,” states Packer. “She has been in a few Will Packer Productions, but this is the first time that we’re working together and she’s an executive producer. She’s been such an asset to this film because, as an actress, she has an eye for great material. Very early on she was somebody who said, ‘I love the way that this family feels elevated. This is something that other actors are going to respond to.’ With her sensibility it helped pave the way for other actors to get involved because one of their peers was having a guiding hand in the project.”
Naturally, early in development the filmmakers thought about who would be the best person to play the family patriarch, Walter Meyers—father to Cheryl, Rachel, Christian and Evan. “Walter Meyers is such a warm presence,” shares Talbert. “He reminds me a lot of my uncle, my mother’s baby brother, who didn’t lead with an iron fist, but you always knew that he was in control. It was important to find someone who could bring that to life.”
Packer recalls the discussions vividly: “The first name we said was ‘Danny Glover.’ He was always the perfect prototype. It was always, ‘Walter needs to be somebody like Danny.’ So when we actually were able to get Danny, it was huge. He’s a legend and comes in with such gravitas.”
Describing his character, who is a father of four, in Almost Christmas, Glover says: “Walter Meyers is a successful man who began with a small business, repairing cars, ultimately building into a group of several shops. I would refer to him not as a mechanic but as an automotive engineer. He is well-to-do and had a long, beautiful marriage to Grace.” [Grace is played as a young woman by RACHEL KYLIAN and in her later years as A. SABRENA FARMER].
Walter has to navigate through what each family member brings to the table—figuratively and (later in the film) literally. Glover describes the Meyers family tree as one with many interesting branches: “Cheryl is my oldest, and I have a special connection to her because she was Daddy’s girl. Christian, the one who has the most direction in his life, is the politician running for Congress. Then there’s Rachel, who’s trying to find herself. Like in many families, there’s the one person who is always searching for something. Plus, she is a third child and feels as if she has to live up to the expectations of the other two.
“The last one, Evan, is the youngest,” Glover continues. “While the others had grown up so close to their mother, he’s the one who is in most need of her.” Months after the beloved Grace dies, Walter calls the entire family together to have their first Christmas without her. Not known to other members of the family, Walter is struggling with his decision to sell the house, making this the last Christmas at the home where they have all shared so much.
