Get your tissues ready for A Christmas Miracle for Daisy. The new holiday movie airs December 11 on GAC Family. Nick Bateman plays Conner alongside Jill Wagner, who plays Whitney. Nick told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that he has seen “a lot of these scripts” for holiday movies, but there was something special about A Christmas Miracle for Daisy.
“The movie is about a young girl who ends up being an orphan at one and a half. My character Conner adopts her after her parents pass and the parents are Connor’s cousin. The movie starts off with him and his adopted daughter driving out of LA to a small town in Montana. He wants to show this little girl he adopted, who’s now 8, her first proper Christmas. When they get there, the little girl’s wish is to have a family for Christmas. When I saw that, I was intrigued by that. I’d say kids wanting a family for Christmas, I think everyone can kind of relate to that. It’s not something that’s over the top cheesy like some of these films can be. Being a dad, it kind of tugs on my heartstrings. I was also getting to work with a child actor. I thought that would be fun because I used to own a karate school. I used to teach kids and, for a while, that was my thing. I would teach karate. I actually miss working with kids and teaching kids and changing kids’ lives and stuff like that. So I was excited to get to work with a young actress and have some fun.”
Nick has a 3-year-old son and another baby boy on the way. The actor and the model opened up about how fatherhood has changed his outlook on not just his life but his work as well. “When you become a parent, it definitely changes you,” Nick said. “Things change the way that you go around the world and look at other kids and appreciate younger people. The little actress, her name is Rubi [Tupper] and she played Daisy. It was her very first movie. I was just blown away. She was super competent and super amazing on set. I was telling her that when I was 8 years old, I was doing acting classes and I was horrible. I was super impressed by this little girl.”
When Conner returns home, he crosses paths with his former flame Whitney, played by Jill. Sparks fly once again between Conner and Whitney. Nick loved getting the chance to co-star alongside Jill. “She’s a firecracker and super experienced and super great at her job,” Nick told HollywoodLife. “She makes it easy for other actors to work with because she’s just so real and on point. She actually really cares about these movies, which is a great thing. She wants them to be the best they can be. So if something isn’t strong, she’s wanting to change it and work with the other actors or the director to make changes. I really enjoyed that about her. She also has so much fun on set.”
Christmas movies have been essential TV viewing over the last decade. Nick believes that viewers need these types of movies now more than ever. “It’s unfortunate, but the world right now is not the best,” Nick noted. “The state that we’re in with the pandemic and all these restrictions and all that stuff. So with all the crazy downers that are going on in the world, I think these movies give people a warm, fuzzy feeling inside that can make life maybe seem a little better at times. So I think that when you watch these movies about love and hope, a lot of guys would be like, oh, it’s cheesy. But sometimes people just need that. I just think it’s people straight-up need some good feelings in their lives.” A Christmas Miracle for Daisy premieres at 8 p.m. on GAC Family.