Actress Says GAF’s Movies Aren’t ‘Afraid to Talk About God’

Published: December 27, 2024

Actress Says GAF’s Movies Aren’t ‘Afraid to Talk About God’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Candace Cameron Bure is giving fans an inside look at how she picks her Christmas movie projects.

“I read so many Christmas scripts all year long. I’m looking for something that feels fresh to me and will resonate with the audience,” the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. “Especially for Great American Family channel — where we lean into faith in our movies, and our tagline for the channel is, ‘Christmas as it’s meant to be’ — I’m looking for things that really touch the heart and have more purpose to them than just the magic of Christmas or the Santa Claus of Christmas.”

Bure described how she and friend and co-star Cameron Mathison were set to make a different holiday movie this year, JINGLE BELLS, WEDDING BELLS, but “realized very quickly that it probably wasn’t going to be the best movie that we could do.”

“I pulled the plug on it pretty quickly. When we reread HOME SWEET CHRISTMAS, I was like, ‘Actually, this is a much better movie for the two of us together,’ because we play these childhood friends that get reunited. That feels very much like Cameron and me, as we’ve been friends for a really long time but never worked together,” she explained.

She added, “Cameron and I actually paired so well together, so we are actually considering doing a sequel to this movie. The fans really enjoyed it.”

Mathison was equally effusive about Bure, telling a crowd at this year’s Christmas Con that working together was “really, really lovely.”

“She’d be right next to me, like, cracking jokes,” he shared.

READ MORE: HOME SWEET CHRISTMAS REVIEW

Bure also spoke about the difficulties of talking to the media about GAF “because the answers can be written out of context.”

“What I will say is that we are a relatively new channel,” she shared. “This is only our fourth year in Christmas. Like any new business, you have your core demographic and what you’re looking for, and you’re going to produce the product that will best suit that audience. Most networks are not trying to be all things to all people.”

She added, “What really differentiates our channel from some of the other ones out there is that we’re not afraid to talk about God and God’s hand in our lives instead of fate or providence.”

In an interview with Fox News, Bure shared her love of making Christmas movies, saying, “I didn’t imagine that 15 years ago when I made my very first one that this would be such a massive genre for so many years.”

“But I keep making them because people love them,” she continued. “People feel so touched, and they mean something to them, whether it’s a new tradition that they’ve created for their own families or because they watch some of our movies, and they connect in some way that’s meaningful.”