Everyone has a favorite holiday movie. For some, It’s A Wonderful Life is the definitive classic, despite not being a giant success at the box office. For others, films like Home Alone, A Christmas Story or even (sometimes disturbing) classics like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer are appointment viewing. However, for lovers of the best rom-coms out there, one of the main Christmas choices is usually The Holiday. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since the movie has been in our lives, but after Nancy Meyers shared some behind-the-scenes pics with the young, young cast, I’m starting to believe it.
Nancy Meyers recently shared a bunch of BTS set photos from The Holiday with her fans. There’s one awesome pic of Cameron Diaz gearing up for her infamous punch scene with Edward Burns and another with Diaz playing with the young actress, Milly Englefield, who I just realized is a full-blown adult now. (26!)
Meyers said she shared the photos because people keep “tagging her” in their own posts about watching The Holiday, and she seemingly wanted to give back. I do love seeing all these throwback memories from set, but it’s giving me some holiday humdrum as well, as I’m starting to contemplate my own mortality over here.
The Holiday originally hit the big screen in 2006. At the time, Kate Winslet would have been 31, Jude Law was 34, Cameron Diaz was also 34, and Jack Black was 37. So, of course they look younger than their 50+ years now; I’m not totally losing it. What I do find hard to compute is how I was in high school when this movie came out, and how I am now older than the cast was when they filmed the popular flick. Time is just slipping through my fingers even as I write these words.
I think fellow holiday actor Macaulay Culkin put it most aptly just a few years ago: “Wanna Feel Old?”
A few years back, we’d caught wind of the fact a sequel to The Holiday was potentially in development. A few years have passed since then, with nothing official in the works, but I’d still like to see it or some other new collaboration from the cast come to fruition. Jack Black’s on a tear right now with Minecraft, Super Mario Bros and this Christmas’ 2025 movie release Anaconda, as is Kate Winslet, who’s about to debut her first directorial endeavor on Netflix, Goodbye June, that has people “weeping in their eggnog.” Even Cameron Diaz is working her way back into the acting game, so let’s make this happen people!
The Nancy Meyers classic can currently be watched with a Philo subscription this holiday season, so it’s oddly not streaming for free on one of the bigger platforms per usual. Luckily, I’m old enough I still have my DVD handy. So, excuse me while I pop on the kettle for some cocoa and contemplate my own mortality. Happy holidays?
