Amanda Kloots Conceptualized ‘Fit For Christmas’ During Sleepless Night After Nick Cordero’s Passing (Exclusive)

CBS

Amanda Kloots’ holiday movie debut is almost here, and the former Rockette spoke to HL about imagining up the breakthrough moment on a sleepless night.

Amanda Kloots combined her love for fitness with her love for the holidays to bring to life CBS’s new original Christmas movie, Fit For Christmas. The fitness instructor-turned-The Talk host joined the HollywoodLife Podcast to chat about the major career moment, and admitted she conceptualized the film in the midst of a trying time. “In July of 2020, I had just lost my husband Nick [Cordero] and I could not sleep in the middle of the night. And if you guys remember, Hallmark Channel was playing Christmas movies to help lift the spirits of people, calling it ‘Christmas In July.’ So, it was 3 am, I turned on the TV and watched a movie called Christmas Cookies with [my son] Elvis in my arms,” Amanda recalled on the HollywoodLife Podcast, exclusively. “He even woke up and we were watching it together, and I was like, ‘You know what? I have an idea for a Christmas movie!”

Amanda revealed she connected with a writer from Hallmark, Anna White, to ‘flesh out’ the idea and then made the pitch to CBS, who “got it right away.” “All of the sudden, we were in Vancouver filming it. Every thought I had of this movie is now materialized in front of me and I was just blown away,” she told HL.

The former Broadway actress admitted that when the CBS execs came to visit set at one point, she told them she “couldn’t believe they let [her] do this!” “I know that I can act and I’ve acted before on Broadway, but I said to them, ‘You’ve never seen me act and I certainly have never been a star of anything acting-wise.’ They just took a chance on me and let me do this. They were so wonderful and so supportive the whole way, in creating it and executive producing it and starring in it.”

Even more sentimental was the fact that Amanda was joined by her son, Elvis, who even got a cameo in the film, as they shot their first movie together in Nick’s home country of Canada. “When we lost Nick, all I did was teach fitness and all I did was have my fitness company, which was enough but it’s crazy how life can change so quickly and different careers can come your way so quickly. I just thought, ‘Wow, what a crazy world,'” The Talk host recalled. “I couldn’t help but think how proud Nick would be of both Elvis and I. It was really, really fun and I’m so excited.”

Fit For Christmas, airing on Dec. 4, follows Amanda as Audrey, a Christmas-obsessed fitness instructor teaching classes at her beloved, financially beleaguered community center in quaint Mistletoe, Montana. She begins a holiday romance with a charming, mysterious businessman (Paul Greene), complicating his plans to turn the center into a more financially profitable resort property.

Amanda also joined HollywoodLife to chat about her new partnership with Swanson WIO (Wellness Inside and Out), which recently launched a curated line of mental wellness and self-care nutraceuticals focusing on three important aspects of mental health: stress, sleep, and cognition. “I’m a huge advocate of mental wellness, mental health and physical wellness and it just seemed like the right fit,” she said of the partnership. “One of my favorite products is their self care supplement, which is just a pill I like to take that in the morning, and it’s kind of like your all in product. They really have something for everyone and for your day to day needs!”

Be sure to tune in to Fit For Christmas on CBS at 8:30 PM ET on December 4th, and listen to the full HollywoodLife Podcast interview with Amanda Kloots here!