“When we were done filming I bought her a Superwoman costume as a wrap gift because she is old-school,” he continued. “She was in her 80’s and would work up to 15 hours a day and didn't leave the set. She would tell jokes all day long, just making people laugh and you could see the little gleam in her eye before she got to the punchline. She would just enjoy hooking you into her jokes. She is just incredible in every possible way.”
His onscreen love interest was an added bonus. “I played Betty's grandson while Jennifer Love Hewitt was my love interest. I had a childhood crush on [her]!” he laughed. “So of course, I was in for that movie. It wasn't a bad gig.” (Betty White, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Faris are pictured below in a scene from Lost Valentine.)
In A Veteran’s Christmas Faris stars as Joe Peterson, the judge in the sleepy town of Rivers Crossing. While his life is idyllic, his dream of relocating to Chicago and tackling bigger cases clouds his appreciation of the beauty that surrounds him – until he meets Captain Grace Garland (Eloise Mumford), an honorably discharged Marine traveling across the country with her white lab Christmas. Benevolent Judge Joe offers Grace a place to stay when her jeep breaks down, never guessing she will be the one to open his eyes to the joys of small-town life.
According to Faris, a big draw to the project was reuniting with his Christmas with Holly co-star Mumford. "Having done a Hallmark Christmas movie together, we knew what was going on with each other," he explained. "There was real comfort and chemistry -- the whole nine yards. Everything was already there, and we had an understanding. So, there was a lot of mutual support."
The only problem was nature, which presented various challenges throughout the production. "We had to deal with the storms that hit North Bay, Canada," he recalled. ">