Editing Lindsay Lohan’s feel-good, festive Netflix movie, ‘Falling for Christmas’
Nothing beats getting snuggled up in front of the TV and cozying down to watch your favourite Christmas movie, and I can guarantee that ‘Falling for Christmas’ (2022) Netflix’s feel-good romantic comedy starring Lindsay Lohan, will be the festive film of choice for many people for years to come. Romance, sleigh rides… Lindsay Lohan… what more do you need to get into the Christmas spirit?
Editor Kristi Shimek gives us a glimpse into the process of bringing to life this happy-go-lucky tale of a hotel heiress who loses her memory, only to find herself falling for a handsome lodge owner who opens her eyes to the true meaning of Christmas.
Kristi is a delight and her answers are such a treat. Enjoy!
How did you become involved with the project ‘Falling for Christmas’ and what was your first impression of the script?
I had done a few Christmas comedies with a long time producer friend of mine, David Wulf, and when he was brought on as one of the producers of Falling for Christmas he reached out and set up an interview with the amazing couple who were spearheading the project, Michael and Janeen Damian. I had just come off of working on the second season of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which is a musical based series, and I feel like we were able to really connect over our love of rhythm and pace and tone that is essential to this type of film.
As far as the script goes, I really enjoyed it on my first impression. I thought it was sweet and funny, and it made me smile when I was reading it. The first time reading the script is really important for me, if I connect to the material then I know I’m going to enjoy bringing the story to life in the edit.
“The first time reading the script is really important for me, if I connect to the material then I know I’m going to enjoy bringing the story to life in the edit. ”
The film is a real ‘feel-good’ story about love, Christmas and being true to yourself. What ideas did you bring to the edit to emphasize these themes?
A lot of the themes can really be found within the performances and character arcs. Lindsay Lohan, who plays Sierra, is incredible to watch in dailies. She really brings a sincerity to the performance that carries us through this movie and Sierra’s journey. So for me, it’s about working with the tone and pace in each scene so that the scenes weave together naturally and you can feel Sierra changing and growing.
And of course when it comes to Christmas movies, music plays a huge role as well. We were very careful about our music selection in the editorial phase of this movie, because it’s also a character in the film. There are so many different types of Christmas songs, and they all can provide a different tone for a scene. You can hear and feel when something is or isn’t a match so it’s a huge part of this movie, and it was really fun to shape and mold it just like the other characters.
“Lindsay Lohan, who plays Sierra, is incredible to watch in dailies. She really brings a sincerity to the performance that carries us through this movie and Sierra’s journey.”
The film pokes fun at influencer culture and has lots of fun comedy moments, tell us about editing the comedy elements.
I really enjoyed cutting the comedy in this movie, because there are a lot of different types of comedy working within this story. There’s physical comedy and stunts, which is always really fun and challenging for me to work with because it really gets the gears turning in my brain. It’s hard to pull off good physical comedy and you know you’ve got it right when it makes you laugh every time you see it.
There’s also a lot of situational and dialogue comedy and that’s always great to work with too, because that is really about pace and tone. So it becomes a balance of who you’re looking at and how quickly you’re seeing and hearing everything, and it works different editorial muscles.
Tell us a bit about balancing performances and different takes of actors in a scene. In particular the chemistry between Sierra and Jake.
Sierra is played by the marvellous Lindsay Lohan and Jake is played by the wonderful Chord Overstreet, and their performances were both a delight to work with. The thing about editorial is that, frequently, production is shooting one person and one side of a conversation at a time so my main job is crafting and weaving two performances that were shot at completely different times, and sometimes that can cause differences in tone and energy, but that’s the part of my job that I love.
When you get performances of this caliber there is always a lot of great stuff to work with and it comes down to the minutia, a little look, or a softness in the eye or a smile that really brings home how a character is feeling. In my opinion, these little looks and reactions are what the chemistry in a romance is built on. It’s the stolen look that we’ve all felt in real life portrayed on the screen. It’s those moments that make our hearts flutter, and give us hope that maybe these two characters will fall in love, and Lindsay and Chord gave me a ton of these moments to work with.
Chord Overstreet as Jake in ‘Falling for Christmas’
“This movie had so many different things that I could stretch my editing muscles on, and that was really special for me as an editor, because I’m always learning and changing with each new story that I help tell”
Sierra and Tad are separated after the accident and we start following their two parallel stories. How do you balance this in the edit ensuring we cut back and forth at a pace that keeps people engaged and makes sense?
Restructuring a story is a big part of what happens in the edit. Once you see how things are playing on screen, especially when you have an A and B storyline that are playing in different places but in tandem like in Falling for Christmas, you start to really get the sense of how long it’s been since we’ve seen a character or maybe we need to break away from a certain storyline to give the audience an emotional break for a bit, and sometimes that’s hard to tell in the script phase.
Most of Falling for Christmas plays as written, but there was one little section where we realized after it was shot that if we didn’t switch a couple of scenes around then it seemed like Sierra was gone for an additional day, which we wanted to make sure wasn’t confusing for the audience because her father was actually coming home and missing her.
Jack Wagner plays Sierra’s father in ‘Falling for Christmas’
The Director/ Editor relationship is a key part of the success of a project, tell us a bit about what it was like to work with first time director Janeen Damian;
I really enjoyed working with Janeen. I feel like we really connected over our sense of comedy and love of music. We also both have a dance background and I think it helped us come together on the pace and rhythm of the film right away, which is essential when you’re working in comedy because it is the base that everything grows from. I had a good time picking out the absolute best version of each joke with her, and also figuring out what song would be perfect for each moment. It was a blast and I hope we get to work together again in the future.
The film got 31.2 million views on Netflix in the first 4 days, what does it feel like to work on a hit Netflix show? What do you think won people’s hearts?
The reception of Falling for Christmas has been so much fun for me to experience! Honestly, we were all so excited to see Lindsay back on screen and she absolutely shines in this movie. I think that a lot of people came to the movie to see her and then fell in love with it because it’s such a sweet, feel-good Christmas movie.
It really has been fun to read the reviews and comments that have poured in from people who had a good time with it because that was our intent, a feel good Christmas movie that you can watch with the family. A lot of love and heart went into it and I think that the audience feels that from us.
“When you get performances of this caliber there is always a lot of great stuff to work with and it comes down to the minutia, a little look, or a softness in the eye or a smile that really brings home how a character is feeling.”
What did you enjoy most about the process of editing ‘Falling for Christmas’? Any special moments about the experience you’d like to share?
This movie really has it all, from incredible performances to stunt sequences, comedy bits and dramatic moments, and it is fun to work with so many different tones and weave them all together. This movie had so many different things that I could stretch my editing muscles on, and that was really special for me as an editor, because I’m always learning and changing with each new story that I help tell and it’s an important part of my process. I feel like I was lucky to be a part of it.
What’s next for you? Any projects on the horizon that you can tell us about?
I’m not able to say much about the project that I’m currently on because it is just starting but I’m working with some old and new friends in a genre that I really love. If you’d like to keep up on my work, I’ll be posting on my socials at the following:
Instagram: @kristishimek
Twitter: @kristi_shimek
Facebook: @Kristi Shimek
Website: www.kristishimek.com