The famous "queen of Christmas movies" says she wants her also-well-known brother to star in one of her holiday movies.
In fact, Candace Cameron Bure reveals in a new interview that her new Christmas movie – Great American Family's A Christmas … Present – was written with the goal of her brother Kirk Cameron playing her on-screen brother.
Kirk Cameron, though, was too busy to take the role.
"It was written for you and me," she told her brother during an interview for his TBN series, Takeaways with Kirk Cameron. Both laughed. "And somebody bailed on me."
The movie tells the story of a married woman (played by Bure) who reaches out to her widower brother during the Christmas season after the loss of his wife. The role of the brother would have been played by Kirk Cameron.
Bure also served as executive producer. It was made by her company, Candy Rock Entertainment, and was one of 18 original Christmas movies launching on Great American Family this holiday season.
"And then I got a phone call [from Kirk saying,] 'Can, I've got too much going on. I can't do it,'" Bure said.
Kirk Cameron said he had been "looking forward to it."
"And I feel terrible about it," he said. "And I felt like there was nothing I could do."
Actor Paul Fitzgerald took the role of the brother.
"You found someone better," Kirk Cameron said, laughing.
Bure said of Fitzgerald, "I'm very grateful that I got to know him and meet him because we connected, and I feel like he's a friend for life."
Bure indicated she hopes her brother can join her in a future Christmas movie.
"We'll see if I write another one for you and me," she said.
"I'll try to schedule a little time next year in my schedule," her brother replied, "and maybe we can make this work again."
Christmas movies and the Christmas season, more specifically, Bure said, are a door for discussing the gospel with non-Christians.
"It is the easiest and most perfect time to actually share the gospel message and share God and Jesus with people. So I love that God has given me a platform – a talent and an ability – that I get to make these fun Christmas movies," she said. "... People love watching them, but it lends itself to such an easy conversation to talk about the real true meaning of Christmas. And so it's just like this open door."
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Frazer Harrison/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
