Hallmark star ‘thrilled’ as channel embraces LGBTQ+ love stories in gorgeous new Christmas movie-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro

Danny Pellegrino has opened up about adding a rare LGBTQ+ love story – and a sprinkling of sass – to Hallmark’s newest ‘bucket list’ Christmas movie.

The 39-year-old, who hosts the Everything Iconic podcast, wrote and starred in Deck the Walls, which premiered on the channel last month as part of the annual Countdown to Christmas celebration.

Ashley Greene leads the cast as Chicago-based designer Rose, who returns to her hometown to help her brother, Sal (Danny) with a house-flipping project for charity.

During her brief trip back to Ohio, she finds herself teaming up with foe Brysen (Wes Brown) to get the property fixed up before their Christmas deadline – while Sal is forced to work with high school nemesis Jake (Claybourne Elder) to ensure the project makes a splash.

In the last few years, the network has included multiple movies with queer romance themes and central plots. Deck the Walls also follows suit with a will-they, won’t-they romance between Sal and Jake as they attempt to overcome their initial hostilities, for the sake of the charity renovation.

The flick has some of those Hallmark tropes that we’ve come to know and love but, speaking to Metro, Danny insisted that there were ‘little twists’ along the way that he’s ‘really proud of’.

Danny Pellegrino wrote and starred in Deck the Walls on Hallmark (Picture: Hallmark)

‘I wanted to do that and celebrate what we love about these tropes and hopefully make just a really great one,’ he told us. ‘But I love that – I love the big city gal that goes home, and I hope that people, after they watch it, see that there are little twists that I’m really proud of.

‘There’s also an LGBTQ romance. I’m super proud of the dynamic Sal has with our other male lead, Wes Brown. He’s a straight character, my character is a gay character, and it’s never really a thing, but they’re best friends, and I find – just as an actor or as creative – that’s very rare in the projects that I’ve have auditioned for. So, I’m really proud of that dynamic.

‘I’ve started auditioning for a lot of stuff, and it’s always [for roles where] the gay character is an assistant, so I’m proud that [he’s] not an assistant. The gay character owns a business, he has a construction business.

‘There are hopefully a lot of things that are little shifts from what we might know and recognize from these movies as tropes.’

He celebrated the subtle changes incorporated into his character, including his friendship with Brysen (Picture: Hallmark)

Wes Brown and Ashley Greene led the cast in the Christmas flick (Picture: Hallmark)

The broadcaster has been a huge part of Danny’s personal life, as he would often watch the channel with his grandmother and mom, explaining that his household are huge fans of their annual Countdown to Christmas.

Hallmark debuted their first ever LGBTQ+ Christmas movie, The Christmas House, in 2020, which focused on a gay couple looking to adopt their first child – Mean Girls’ Jonathan Bennett and Brad Harder made history with the flick, which has paved the way for many more.

Since then, we’ve been blessed with the Holiday Sitter and Christmas on Cherry Lane among others, while 2023 saw the first lesbian romantic comedy, Friends & Family Christmas.

This is something that Danny has been calling out for for years, having discussed holiday movies in a spin-off of his Everything Iconic podcast, aptly titled A Very Merry Iconic Podcast.

Deck the Walls is airing now (Picture: Hallmark)

Could we possibly get a sequel? (Picture: Hallmark)

Despite being booked and busy over the years – having penned How Do I Un-Remember This and The Jolliest Bunch, as well as his podcasting duties – he took matters into his own hands with the script for Deck the Walls, which includes Easter Eggs and some nods to his beloved Bravo Housewives.

When asked where he would like the network to go next, the author joked that he ‘wants them to green light the sequel’, and ‘explore’ his relationship with Claybourne’s character in another movie – or a ‘totally new relationship in something else’.

‘I do feel so proud that it’s something that the entire family could watch,’ he continued. ‘Hopefully people who maybe don’t have exposure to LGBTQ people will get to see these characters and familiarize themselves with characters who might be different than they’ve seen on the network … and help expand their brains a little bit, and hopefully embrace those LGBTQ characters.

Danny shared that he has been crying out for similar festive movies for years (Picture: NBC)

‘When I started my podcast, I would talk about Hallmark and all of these holiday movies that are made for TV. My complaint in those early days was that there wasn’t any representation within these movies.

‘So, it’s been thrilling over the past seven years to get some of these that have LGBTQ characters in it, because I think about just six years ago, seven years ago, five years ago, there weren’t any characters in any of these.

‘As we know, a lot of these networks – even outside of Hallmark – are producing so much holiday content. Even just six years ago, I was saying, “Please, we need LGBTQ characters.” Because I love these movies… If you’re going to do 100 or 200 original Christmas TV movies, I feel like at the very least we should be able to get a couple that are LGBTQ centered!

‘I’m thrilled that Hallmark is open to that and they’ve been great about it.’

Deck the Walls airs on Hallmark.

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