Jana Kramerthe latest movie of The Christmas ringfeatures a beautiful holiday romance between two characters who share an undeniable spark, something that her husband, Allan Russellyou are more used to seeing them on screen.
“He gets more,” Kramer, 41, exclusively said Us Weekly of Russell’s reaction to some his most romantic roles. “I think in the beginning, it was definitely harder for him, because he’s never dated an actor.”
In The Christmas ringKramer plays Vanessa Mayfield, a military widow who falls in love with antique dealer Ben Miller (Benjamin Hollingsworth). In the midst of their blossoming relationship, Vanessa searches for a lost family heirloom: a Christmas ring.
“I think with any movie you want to feel like these two characters have that emotional connection,” he reflected on the festive film’s central couple. “And I think Ben and I have really leaned into it, I mean, I just adore him as a person. He and I always try to make my husband feel comfortable in it as well, where, before we started filming, I invited Ben and his wife, and his kids, and we had a barbecue.”
Kramer continued about his bond with Hollingsworth: “The kids were playing, and Ben and I formed a friendship, like a real friendship. I formed a friendship with his wife and our kids became friends together. Being on set with him, he’s such a good actor… I feel like I’ve been friends with Ben since high school, I think it’s so beautiful. It was because our characters felt that loss, but we also worked really well together and it was special.”
The One Tree Hill The alum married Russell, 44, in 2024. They welcomed their first son together, Roman, now 23 months, in November 2023. (Kramer also shares daughter Jolie, 9, and son Jace, 6, with ex-husband). Mike Caussin.) Kramer and Russell have been quite open on the subject of privacy in your projects before, saying And! news in June, “There’s a conversation with every (job)” he takes.
While Kramer and Hollingsworth, 41, were able to easily create holiday magic on screen, she explained that “you don’t often get that with all the co-stars.”
Jana Kramer
Rebecca Rene Photography“I didn’t have that with other co-stars that I had earlier in the year in the movies,” Kramer commented. “But this was different, and it was special. And I think it’s because Ben is an amazing actor and his caliber of work is fantastic. And then combining our friendship and really, really liking each other made it great.”
While Kramer is no stranger to holiday movies, he said the shoot The Christmas ring it was a bit of a different experience than when he filmed the 2023 Lifetime movie A cowboy Christmas romance. Kramer said she was pregnant with Roman while filming the latest holiday movie, which included the first Christmas movie sex scene of a lifetime.
“I’m like, there was nothing sexy about it, like the whole experience,” she joked, revealing she was “vomiting” between takes.
Still, Kramer loves the versatility of the roles he’s had in holiday movies, both past and present.
“Do I think every Christmas movie should have that steamy element? No, I think what we have The Christmas ringthere’s more emotional chemistry than in the movie I did with the sex scene,” he noted. “There’s more chemistry between Ben and I in this movie on that emotional, deep level that we didn’t need the other piece.”
“It was a lot of fun to make a family one, based on the Christian faith, and it’s fun to have that as well,” concluded Kramer. “And that’s what I love about this Christmas movie. And the other one I did was because everybody pushed the boundaries a little bit. So this one is pushing the boundaries with loss and grief and family connections and conflict. And this one drew it on sexual boundaries.”
The Christmas ring will be released in theaters on Thursday, November 6.