Elizabeth Hurley‘s son Damian has been following in his mother’s footsteps when it comes to both stunning looks and incredible talent. The 20-year-old is currently in production for a movie he wrote and is directing, while his mom helps produce and star in a small role. “It’s a small independent movie that we’ve put together here,” Elizabeth gushed, speaking from her hotel in the Caribbean, in an EXCLUSIVE interview on the HollywoodLife Podcast. “I’ve been manic, and absolutely up to the eyeballs with a combination of every stress — me acting in a new movie, producing a movie — and I haven’t produced a movie since the 90s — and also, I’m his mother, so things are sort of coming at me from all directions.”
Elizabeth revealed Damian’s film is a “real sexy, sensual mystery,” and “really uses the island for what it’s got to offer.” While she admitted she’s “not the star” of the movie, as most of the cast is “25 to 26,” she plays a “more mature part coming in.” “It’s very exciting, so that’s what I’ll be doing right up until the reindeer come to take us home!” the model laughed.
She went on to say that balancing parenting, acting and producing has proven to be a “hard juggle” in the midst of production. “I woke up today doing division in my mind. I said, you know what, I’m going to have to give have to give 50% of myself to my role and to acting, I’m going to give 40% to producing this, because most of the work is done in prep, and I’m going to give 10% to being a mommy,” Elizabeth said. “So, I said to Damian, ‘You’ve got to do 90% without me. I’m not going to get you up in the morning and put food in front of you because I’ve got so much to concentrate on, everything else at the same time!”
Elizabeth admitted it’s “hard” because she is “so aware” of the “massive challenge” ahead of Damian, as she’s been in the industry herself, but she also knows he has been working toward this moment his whole life. “As it happens, he’s been making baby movies since he was 10 years old. Damian’s been cajoling us to be in his movies! He used to run around the camcorder and he used to basically ruin every vacation we ever had,” she laughed. “He used to make all of us be in his movies. Everyone I’ve ever associated with — boyfriends, husbands, family members, friends!”
Last year, around this same time, Elizabeth was back in the Caribbean filming her new holiday movie Christmas In Paradise, alongside Kelsey Grammer and Billy Ray Cyrus. “It’s very light hearted, but there’s a lot of big, emotional ‘umph’ in it, at the same time, which really made it worthwhile doing,” she recalled. The film follows Joanna Christmas and her sisters (‘The Christmas Sisters’) whose holiday season is upended when their father James (Kelsey Grammer), goes AWOL after his fiancé dumps him. He ends up fleeing to the Caribbean island of Nevis, where Joanna and her sisters follow to discover their dad actually living his best life in the sunshine.
“This one is a lovely Christmas movie, but with a difference and the difference being that instead of having snow and reindeers, we have palm trees with lights around them!” Elizabeth explained. “We’re really lucky that we had Kelsey Grammer, who everyone knows as a hysterically funny actor, but it’s really interesting because whilst of course he’s very funny, he has such heart and such depth in this role.”
She continued, “He really plums his emotions and gives an incredibly moving performance. His character is going on a big, and some could say frightening, journey at the moment, which is why he’s come to the Caribbean. All of us sisters, we also, through him, make some quite important life decisions and we assess our own lives, as well.”
Christmas In Paradise is available to watch now in select theaters, and On Demand, digital and Blu-Ray!