Trivia / A Christmas Story Christmas

• California Doubling: While it has the familiar Indiana setting of the first film (plus Chicago, where adult Ralphie lives), it was filmed in Bulgaria (with a reconstruction of the Cleveland house used for the first film). This was due to the owners of the house declined access to the production to scan the house and surrounding neighborhood for reference purposes.
  • Soviet vehicles unknown in northern Indiana can be seen in the Bumpuses' backyard junkyard.
• The Character Died with Him: Darren McGavin passed away in 2006, and it's established that the Old Man is deceased as well.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Although Ralphie was supposed to be around his parents age in this movie as they were in the original film, Peter Billingsley was 51 years old the time of filming in early 2022 in contrast to Darren McGavin, who plays Ralphie's dad, who was 61 years old when the original movie was shot. Also, Julie Hagerty, who replaces Melinda Dillon in the role of Mother Parker is only 15 and a half years older than Peter Billinsley, who plays Ralphie in the film.
  • An In-Universe example. During Ralphie's fantasy of winning the 1974 Pulitzer Prize, the science fiction writers featured Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, and Anne McCaffrey are shown as white-haired and elderly. Asimov and Herbert were 54 years old, while Mc Caffrey was 48 years old in the year 1974.
• Meaningful Release Date: The film's release is only one day before the release of the original Christmas Story film 39 years prior.
• Milestone Celebration: The film was release on the 100th birthday year of Darren McGavin, who played The Old Man in the original film had he still been alive.
• The Other Darrin: Julie Hagerty takes over the role of Ralphie's mother from Melinda Dillon, who retired from acting in 2007, was in poor health at the time of the film's production (though Dillon can be glimpsed in photographs and brief flashback footage) and passed away less than two months after this film was released.
• Playing Against Type: Nick Schenk usually writes thrillers and dramas, with this being his first feel-good family comedy, with some elements of drama.
• Role Reprise: The principal child actors from A Christmas Story return to reprise their roles as adults, including Peter Billingsley (Ralphie), Ian Petella (Randy), Scott Schwartz (Flick), R. D. Robb (Schwartz), Zack Ward (Scut Farkus), and Yano Anaya (Grover Dill...briefly).
• Sequel Gap: The film was released 39 years after the original Christmas Story, 28 years after the film's first sequel, It Runs in the Family, and 10 years after the third sequel A Christmas Story 2.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Adriana Barraza, Joanna Lumley, and Jane Seymour (Actress) were considered for the role of Ralphie's mother, Mrs. Parker.
  • Prior to the Mrs. Parker role being recast, Melinda Dillon (who orignated the role in the original film) was approached about potentially reprising her role, but subsequently declined the offer due to being in poor health at the time of the film's production.
• Written by Cast Member: In addition to reprising his role as Ralphie, Peter Billingsley also co-wrote the original story.

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