A Bears Love Story was easy for its stars like Marsha Mason, who credits the “extraordinary” past and present players and staff of the Chicago Bears who joined the film’s roster.
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who → credit → roster
“It was a different world to them,” she explained of their onscreen work.
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she → explain → work
But also within the scenes themselves, they had a total kind of naturalness and immediately were responding and relating.
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they → have → naturalness
Light spoilers ahead for Holiday Touchdown: A Beats Love Story, which will stream on Hallmark+ tomorrow.
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which → stream → Hallmark+
The new film, which marks the network’s third Holiday Touchdown installment following 2024’s Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story and last year’s Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story, transports viewers to Chi-Town for a whimsical Windy City romance, courtesy of freelance journalist Avery (Lyndsy Fonseca) and firefighter Matt (Robert Buckley), who fall for each other after being nudged together by Matt’s grandmother Darlene (Mason), who is on the brink of attending her 500th Bears game.
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who → mark → game
Outside of support for da Bears and its fandom, Buckley shouted out the city’s cuisine as one of the best parts of shooting on location, offering up his recs for the best places to get tavern-style pizza and Italian beef sandwiches.
“The way I like to experience cities is by eating my way through them, and Chicago was heaven for me.
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Chicago → shout → me
I mean, tavern-style pizza, I had a reawakening.
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I → mean → reawakening
A spiritual experience, if you will,” he teased.
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he → tease → experience
Italian beef dip sandwiches, which I’d never had properly before Chicago.
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I → have → Chicago
But Mason, Fonseca, and Buckley didn’t have the same shower of praise for the city’s signature liqueur, Malört.
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Mason → have → liqueur
“Pretty gross,” Fonseca recalled, while Mason agreed it was “terrible.”
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it → recall → ?
Buckley added, “It’s like if Jäger had a cousin.
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Jäger → add → cousin
For more on whether Mason has tried her hand at matchmaking in real life, Fonseca’s cornhole prowess, and Buckley being starstruck by Chicago Bears tight end (and technically, now co-star) Colston Loveland, check out the rest of our chat below.
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Buckley → try → chat
I’d love to start with Marsha, because the love story at the center of this movie between Avery and Matt would not have been possible without the not-so-subtle matchmaking of Matt’s grandma, Darlene.
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story → love → grandma
Marsha, how much fun did you have getting to pretend to set up Lindsey and Robert’s characters on screen?
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you → have → screen
I had such a good time, because they’re very difficult people to work with, and so I had a wonderful time nudging them together.
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I → have → them
Have you ever gotten the chance to do something like that for people in your life?
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you → get → life
Oh, that’s interesting.
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that → ’ → ?
Well, I certainly have opinions about who my daughters were dating and who the grandchildren were dating.
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grandchildren → have → who
So, yes, I think I would have a strong opinion about things.
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I → think → things
ROBERT BUCKLEY: If I can toss a question here.
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I → toss → question
If one of your daughters was dating someone that you were not fond of, how would you communicate that to them?
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you → date → them
I would ask them what they liked about them and then go from there.
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they → ask → them
I have not known that side of you, but I believe it is there.
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it → know → you
Lyndsy and Robert, what was it like bringing Avery and Matt’s love story to life on screen?
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it → bring → screen
It was easy because Lyndsy is infinitely likable and so fun to hang around with, so the flirty banter and ribbing each other, there was no effort required.
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Lyndsy → hang → other
Also, I feel like there were no stereotypical tropes with our characters.
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I → feel → characters
It wasn’t like we hated each other at first.
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we → hat → other
It was just a very honest kind of meet-cute that kept growing.
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that → keep → cute
So that was nice to play.
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that → play → ?
This movie is the second new movie of this year’s Countdown to Christmas slate on Hallmark and it’s the third of the network’s collaborations with the NFL.
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it → ’ → NFL
What was your experience like leading one of these tentpole projects and what is it about this matchup between Hallmark and the NFL that really speaks to fans?
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that → lead → fans
Who wants to jump in on this thing?
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Who → want → thing
I think at first if you don’t know the previous NFL movies, you’re sort of like, “What do sports and Hallmark have in common?”
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sports → think → What
I honestly, truly believe it is the most perfect match.
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it → believe → ?
You know when a good invention comes out and everyone’s like, “Oh my gosh, how was this not invented 20 years ago?”
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this → know → ?
When I first heard about the Hallmark and NFL joint production with the Chiefs [Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story], on the very first one of those, I had that moment where I was like, “How has this not been done 20 years ago?”
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this → hear → moment
It makes so much sense.
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It → make → sense
Because Hallmark movies bring people together, the NFL brings people together, and it was sort of this, I thought, a very sneaky synergy.
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I → bring → synergy
Say if your partner doesn’t watch Hallmark movies but they’re a sports fan, there’s the entry point for them, and vice versa.
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they → say → them
…and 111 more, not listed.
The Aporia
