Nancy Meyers Says She Was 'Shocked' at 'How Much Christmas' Was in “The Holiday”:“ ”'I Didn't Think of It That Way'

Considering it’s currently late-mid December, chances are fans of The Holiday have already watched the 2006 Christmas-set rom-com at least once. The film is right up there with Love Actually and The Muppet Christmas Carol when it comes to annual repeat viewings — and it’s entirely possible some of you are actually watching it right now as you read this on your phone!

But this week, writer and director Nancy Meyers surely burst some holly-jolly bubbles when she told the hosts of the Hollywood Gold podcast that she never saw The Holiday as a Christmas movie.

“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 said. “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.”

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Meyers said she never imagined the film would be one that fans revisit every year. “I didn’t think of it that way,” she explained. “I just really wanted to tell the story about these people. I set it at Christmas because that can be lonely.”

The film follows two heartbroken single women, London-based Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) and L.A.-based Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), who swap houses in an effort to get away for the holidays. While staying at Amanda’s L.A. home, Iris meets and falls for film composter Miles Dumont (Jack Black), while in England, Amanda falls for Iris’s brother Graham (Jude Law).

Meyers said that upon rewatching the film she realized how “damaged” all of her characters were.

“And 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.”

Related: Jude Law Just Ruined the Magic of His Classic 2006 Movie with Cameron Diaz, The Holiday: 'Sorry!'

Meyers added that one of her original titles for the film was I Hate My Horrible Life, a line delivered by Winslet’s character at one point. “For some reason I, in one insane moment, thought that could be a title,” she joked. “Would people go see I Hate My Horrible Life? No.”

They did go see The Holiday, however. The film was No. 3 at the U.S. box office on its opening weekend in December 2006, and has gone on to become a Christmas tradition for many fans. In fact, earlier this year, Winslet said she is recognized more for the film than she is for Titanic.

“What’s so lovely is that mothers and daughters come up to me in the grocery store and they say, ‘Oh Kate, we just love The Holiday, it's our little ritual at Christmas,’ ” she told Jimmy Fallon during a February appearance on The Tonight Show. “They have things that they eat every year, they sit down, it’s a tradition and I just love that. That’s something I never would have expected actually, the sort of mother-daughter connection around a film like that. It’s so nice. It’s lovely.”

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Meanwhile, Law and Meyers have both teased the possibility of a sequel. In June, Law told E! News that he “love(s) the idea” of a follow-up exploring where Iris, Miles, Graham and Amanda are now, but said fans would have to take their request to Meyers herself.

Then, on Dec. 12, Meyers took to Instagram to shared a video from a recent lunch date with Law in which she asked him what he thought about doing a sequel. Rather than answer, the Skeleton Crew star recreated his Holiday character’s “Mr. Napkin Head” moment from the film.

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