It may still be almost 80 degrees, and the Chicago Bears may have last weekend’s humbling Packers loss to contend with, but there’s nothing like Christmas in October to muster some cheer.
Tuesday night marked the red carpet rollout, literally, of “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story.” Before the movie airs on the Hallmark Channel Saturday night, the who’s who of the flick descended on Lake Forest’s Gorton Center for a Hollywood-style premiere.
Like the movie, the weekday debut was a love letter to all things Chicago and all things deck-the-halls, complete with a Bears-themed sleigh and pine trees adorned in twinkly lights around nearly every corner.
As actors, executives and players entered the north suburban venue on a media-lined carpet, a few dozen fans caught the festivities from behind a barrier. Viewers, aptly, were offered donuts and hot chocolate — oh, and a chance to nab a picture with Bears mascot Staley Da Bear, whose premiere ensemble included an orange-and-black Christmas sweater and a necklace of Christmas lights.
“I’m still starstruck,” said Aneri Bhansali, who watched the revelry with her 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.
Being from Lake Forest and massive Bears fans, to say the least, the family opted to stop by the event to snag a peek at the excitement. They ended up catching the attention of none other than the Iceman himself, Caleb Williams, who staged a brief appearance.
“He waved,” Bhansali said. Nodding to her kids, she added, “That’s the stuff they’re gonna remember forever.”
On top of the Bears’ upcoming Sunday matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, Bhansali said she and her family were looking forward to watching “A Bears Love Story” this weekend. She adores Christmas movies and a good love story, she said, but with the added element of the Bears, Bhansali thinks she can get her son and husband into the film, too.
According to a synopsis from Hallmark, the movie — which filmed in Chicago over the summer — follows a freelance reporter who returns home to Chicago for some holiday downtime with her family before her next assignment. But during the reporter’s Christmas lull, she lands a story profiling a beloved Bears superfan. From there, the movie follows the reporter as she discovers a new appreciation for football and, yes, in true Hallmark fashion, finds love.
For football fiends-turned-cinephiles, the movie features familiar faces. Viewers may recognize current Bears players Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland, alongside head coach Ben Johnson. A few former players also guest star, including Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary and Charles Tillman.
“It was very cool,” Loveland said of his cameo as he walked the carpet Tuesday night. Being on the big screen wasn’t something the tight end had really anticipated, but he was glad for the opportunity, he said.
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Asked how he thought his teammates would react to his acting debut, Loveland quipped, “They’re gonna give me a hard time, I know it already.” He’s excited, Loveland went on, to see what they say.
Loveland and his other “A Bears Love Story” castmates follow in the footsteps of a now years-long tradition of bringing the NFL to Hallmark. The movie is the third installment in what’s become a Hallmark franchise, following two other “Holiday Touchdown” iterations set in Kansas City and Buffalo (“A Chiefs Love Story” and “A Bills Love Story,” respectively), which were released over the past couple of years.
But every film has its own story, assured “A Bears Love Story” director Dustin Rickert.
“We really try to develop these around the culture and the teams and the city and the fandom,” Rickert said at Tuesday’s premiere. As he spoke with the Tribune, guests entered the venue on theme, sporting anything from dark blue dresses to orange heels.
Jake Connelly, for one, arrived clad in an orange tie. He made sure to dress the part. After all, it was a dream come true to act — and walk the carpet — alongside the Bears, the “Stranger Things” actor said. As an Arlington Heights native, the Bears are Connelly’s hometown team.
“They say never meet your heroes, but that was completely not true of these guys,” Connelly said of his appearance in “A Bears Love Story.”
As he headed into Tuesday’s debut, Connelly said he was still reeling from the chance to be a part of it. When he learned that he’d have a cameo, he said all he could think to himself was, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”
Inside the premiere, attendees packed into a space straight out of, well, a holiday movie. The walls were draped with red velvet, while tables were spread with candles and garland. It was downright cozy, even with the Chicago area breaking heat records this week. Behind the bar, nutcrackers stood side by side with small Bears helmets. Among the hors d’oeuvres circling the room were “Hallmark Hot Dogs.”
The Chicago buy-in was infectious. “I love Chicago,” said actor Robert Buckley, who stars in the movie alongside Lyndsy Fonseca.
Eager to be back, Buckley came into town for Tuesday’s premiere four days early, he said, to take in the city.
For Fonseca, the experience was even more of a homecoming. The actress has family in the Chicago area. They joined her at Tuesday’s premiere.
“Some of my family members are major Bears fans, and then some of my family members are major Hallmark fans,” she said. “So it’s the cutest. It’s the cutest. They’re all coming together for it.”