Bears tight end Colston Loveland is used to getting yelled at by coach Ben Johnson, but the crew of Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story,” was even more demanding about the details.
Loveland has a cameo in the movie, which premiered Tuesday in Lake Forest and will debut Saturday on Hallmark Channel, and the job was tougher than he expected.
“I was moving around too much sometimes and messing up the shot,” he said, alluding to some nerves about his acting debut. “I’d move my shoulder an inch and they’d say, ‘Make sure you stand still.’ That was new.”
Several others from the organization attended the premiere at Gorton Center, including president Kevin Warren, general manager Ryan Poles and quarterback Caleb Williams.
Williams’ hamstring was in good enough shape to walk the red carpet, but the Bears still don’t know whether he’ll be available for their game Sunday at the Falcons. Williams posed for photos, did a video for the team in which he said it was “pretty cool” for the Bears to be featured in a Hallmark movie and left.
Getting him on board for a cameo was massive for Hallmark. The Bears are the third team to do a “Holiday Touchdown” movie, following the Chiefs in 2024 and the Bills last season, and the company wasn’t able to get Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen for those films.
“For me, he was the No. 1 get, [but] he’s busy and with Madden and everything, his summer was pandemonium,” director Dustin Rikert said. “But he came through, and it was a real thrill.”
Like Williams, Rikert went to USC, and Williams greeted him on the red carpet with, “Fight on.”
Rikert didn’t want to spoil any surprises about the cameos, but when asked which of the non-actors from the Bears was the most natural on set, the first thing he said was, “Cole Kmet is hilarious in this.”
Loveland might want to pay attention.
He had a scene with actress Barbara Alyn Woods in which they were directed mostly to improvise, and Woods had to coach him into character.
“I feel like I drew him out a little bit,” she said. “He was being a little bit timid. I said, ‘Do what you would do in this situation,’ and then he kind of went for it. Every time, he got it a little bit more.”
Woods jumped at the chance to be in a movie set in Chicago. She grew up in Darien and went to Hinsdale South High School and Northern Illinois and has been a lifelong Bears fan. Her only complaint was that they filmed in July, and since the story is Christmas-themed, the cast wore winter gear during the blistering summer heat.
Also, she was quite displeased with the Bears’ 31-7 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
“It sucks,” she said. “That’s going to be the only loss. This movie is going to give them confidence in such a big way that they’re never going to lose again.”
Only a master thespian like her could make that sound believable.