'The Holiday' Is Not a Christmas Movie, Actually

There's been a years-long debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. And apparently, you can now add The Holiday to that argument because it was actually never meant to be a Christmas movie. The film that has become a quintessential Christmas classic and an annual rewatch every December, topping just about every festive movie list since its 2006 release. However, according to Nancy Meyers, we've had it wrong this whole time. The prolific director of The Holiday, and queen of coastal grandma chic, recently revealed that she never intended for it to be a, well, holiday flick. Yes, The Holiday—which literally says it all in the title—and its postcard-perfect snowy cottage, Christmas fettuccine, and festive Jude Law flirting set in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

“I didn’t think of it that way,” she said during an appearance on thee Hollywood Gold podcast. “I just really wanted to tell the story about these people. I set it at Christmas because that can be lonely.”

And it was loneliness rather than the festive season that Meyers was interested in exploring. “The holidays seem like a good time to deal with those issues,” she said. “So it was that, not, ‘Hey, I think I’ll make a festive holiday movie.’ Not at all.”

After all, the film is about two "damaged" women—Cameron Diaz's Amanda and Kate Winslet's Iris—who spontaneously decide to swap homes to combat their loneliness at Christmas. Amanda heads to Iris's quaint cottage in rural England, while Iris moves into Amanda's luxurious Los Angeles mansion. And yes, they both find love during their holidays—but they also find peace within themselves, too.

And according to Meyers, their journeys have nothing to do with Christmas. In fact, she says she could just as easily have set the film in the summer.

“I know it’s called The Holiday because they’re taking a holiday, but it could have been called that if it was in the summer,” she explained. “Everybody sees it as a Christmas movie, and when I watched it last night to prepare, I was a little shocked at how much Christmas was in it.”

Although Meyers's confession will, undoubtedly, be unpopular among many fans, some people agree with her assessment. "Not to be all 'war on Christmas,' but The Holiday is not a Christmas movie," one person wrote on X. "We never actually see Christmas happen in The Holiday. However, we do see Chanukah. The Holiday is a Chanukah movie."

Whether you agree or not, despite its many seasonal references and decorations, The Holiday is officially not a Christmas movie.

Read the original article on InStyle