'The Noel Diary' Star Justin Hartley Shared His Least Favorite Things About The Holidays
"This is going to sound very anti-Christmas..." he told Narcity.
Justin Hartley at the 'The Noel Diary' red carpet. Right: Justin Hartley in the movie.
Netflix recently premiered The Noel Diary featuring This Is Us star Justin Hartley. Since Hartley's character is sort of a Grinch when it comes to the holidays, he told Narcity what his least favorite things are about the season.
The movie is about a widely successful author, Jake Turner (played by Hartley), visiting his childhood home to settle his late mother's estate. There, he meets a woman seeking answers only Turner's estranged father would know.
Together, the two embark on a journey where they confront complex family dynamics, something Hartley said is the kind of stories he's "drawn" to.
"I love diving into characters who are going through something, who are at a crossroads, who are at a point in their life where they need to deal with something, and not only do they need to deal with something, time is pressing, and they need to deal with it now," he told Narcity.
With an intense script that has a lot of "substance," this is just the plotline the director Charles Shyer wanted.
"It's a story that exists without Christmas but was embellished because of Christmas. I liked that it was serious and it wasn't cookie-cutter, you know? That it would stand out," Shyer said.
Throughout the story, Hartley and his co-star, Barrett Doss, take a road trip to seek pressing answers, which — ironically — used to be one thing the This Is Us celebrity hated about the holidays!
"I didn't like to get in a car and drive somewhere on Christmas Day... the streets are kind of empty, so I always thought it was a little depressing," he said. "Now, I don't care either way. I just want to be around people that I love."
However, that dislike got transferred to another thing, and at the risk of sounding like a grinch all on his own, he gave Narcity a full disclaimer.
"Gosh, can I tell you something, this is going to sound very anti-Christmas, and I'm not anti-Thanksgiving/anti-Christmas — I'm not a big turkey fan," he revealed. "Look, you can fry a turkey, you can smoke [a turkey], you can do anything you want to a turkey — it's still not chicken."
While this information might crush chefs' hearts on Christmas all around the globe, luckily, this might explain why Shyer didn't write any kind of turkey meals into the script.
The Netflix movie is now available to watch on the streaming service.