Willie, Kris, & Lyle Star in “When Angels Sing” Christmas Movie
Unless you’re one of those people who finds themselves so overwhelmed every year with the Christmas spirit that it’s a tough choice what Christmas sweater to wear, the annual dirge of Christmas movie releases is enough to turn your stomach like a glass of expired eggnog. But there is one movie out this year that may be worth your time, if for no other reason than the cast is built around country music royalty. Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Harry Connick Jr, and Connie Britton from ABC’s TV drama Nashville make up the primary cast of When Angels Sing, based off a novel of the same name released in 1999 by Turk Pipkin.
The film stars Harry Connick, Jr. as a history professor who as a child loved Christmas, but after a tragic accident, grew to hate the holiday. As a grown up, he still can’t find the joy of Christmas, but as his son faces a tragedy, he rekindles his holiday spirit again. He gets a push in the right direction after the lease comes due on his current home and he meets a man named Nick (Willie Nelson) who sells him a house at half price, but only if he will keep up the traditions of the house and neighborhood, including maintaining the house as the centerpiece of the neighborhood’s Christmas celebration.
Kris Kristofferson plays Harry Connick Jr.’s father, Connie Britton plays Connick’s wife, and Lyle Lovett plays one of the neighbors. The film also includes cameos from female Texas country 4-piece The Trishas, Texas swing legend Ray Benson, Dale Watson, Sarah Hickman, Marcia Ball, Guy Forsyth, Joel Guzman, Kat Edmonson, Miss Lavelle , Eloise DeJoria, and others.
When Angels Sing, which is based in the Austin area, first debuted as part of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin on March 10th. “We already had a great start with Harry and Willie and Kris, so I told our casting director ‘let’s put everybody who’s a musician in the movie’,” director Tim McCanlies told Billboard.
Music wasn’t a part of the original script, but McCanlies saw a unique opportunity with so much music talent on the set to make it a seminal part of the movie. Some of the musical performances include Kris Kristofferson singing Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper,” and an original duet written by Willie and Harry Connick Jr. that plays over the ending credits. Each song in the movie was filmed with full performances, so a soundtrack for the movie is also a possibility.
Information on the distribution of When Angels Sing remains sketchy, but it received a very limited release to select theaters on Novemeber 1st, and is reportedly available on demand through Direc TV. Check back as more information on distribution becomes available.
You can watch more clips and behind-the-scenes interviews from the film on Fandango.
When Angels Sing Trailer from EYA Productions on Vimeo.
November 12, 2013 @ 10:48 am
Sounds like fun! Hey, don’t forget Trigger, the Duck Dynasty Christmas album is coming soon! I can’t wait to read your review on that turd!!
November 12, 2013 @ 10:59 am
I would go see that!
If you are looking for more names to tag, I recognized Bruce Robison in one of the scenes in the trailer.
November 12, 2013 @ 11:59 pm
Man I love those songs “Monte Carlo” and “Out Of These Blues” off his last album.
November 18, 2013 @ 10:19 am
Trig, you’re thinking of Charlie
November 18, 2013 @ 11:22 am
Sorry, read the comment too fast… Still love those songs though. Bruce has got some great ones too.
November 12, 2013 @ 8:08 pm
Nothing about the CMA Christmas special on Monday Dec. 2? There are always a few nice moments with some nice singing. There are some duds this year but I will gladly watch the junk to see Kelly Pickler sing a Christmas song. I’m even holding out a little hope for Luke Bryan. He might actually do good singing a Christmas song to the kids. One thing nice is the CMA Christmas special always has little kids in the audience.
I will be watching this movie – looks good.
November 13, 2013 @ 12:03 am
Since I’m a one-man operation and can’t possibly cover every news story or promote every event, I instead try to focus things that are off the beaten path, or are going under-reported like this. Who says I won’t cover the CMA Christmas special, but something tells me they’ll do just fine without me.
November 13, 2013 @ 4:57 am
As long as someone covers Mott the Hooples’ “Death May Be Your Santa Claus,” I’m in.
November 29, 2014 @ 8:10 am
Where could I contact the people with the publishing rights? I would like to keep up with the progress on the publishing of the movie soundtrack. There is a wealth of talent and some wonderful yet unusual Christmas songs on it.