Exclusive Interview: Christina Moore Talks I Believe in Santa, the Art of Collaboration, and the Importance of Mentorship

Christina Moore is a gifted storyteller who has done it all in her career. She’s an actress, writer, and producer who is best known for the dynamic characters and stories she’s brought to life in projects including Hyperion Bay, That ’70s Show, Hawthorne, and Dirt.

This winter, she stars in the must-see Christmas rom-com, I Believe in Santa, which she also produced! In this feel-good holiday romance, a woman who doesn’t like Christmas discovers that the man she’s dating still believes in Santa Claus.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Christina about her experiences in front of and behind the camera, I Believe in Santa, and more.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling and the arts?
Christina: That’s a great question. It was in high school when a friend of mine convinced me to audition for a musical theater production that was happening in the summer. I could dance at that point and I had sung in my church, but that was a game changer. I was a kid from the Chicago suburbs. All of a sudden, I was spending an entire summer painting the set, dancing, and selling playbill ads. It was the first time that I had been in a cross-cultural environment. There were college students, grownups, people of color, and gays. I was like, “I found my tribe. I want to be in this environment for the rest of my life.” The thing that compels me more than anything is collaboration. I’m still doing it. Now I produce movies.

PC: Mentorship has been such a cornerstone and driving force in your career. Who were the people in your life who shaped the artist you are today? Why has it been so important for you to pay it forward?
Christina: You’re blowing my mind. These are great, unexpected questions. The very first choreographer I ever had was Tony Calzaretta. I’m still friends with him. He was seven years older than me and never made me feel like a kid. He always brought me in. He said, “I’m going to teach it to you, and then you can teach it to other people.” Right after that, I began to choreograph children’s productions. I feel like he is the one that I immediately go to.

I’ve been mentored by a ton of different actors that I’ve worked with. When I did That ’70s Show, Kurtwood Smith was so nice to me. He brought me under his wing. He’s Red. He’s the dad and he’s supposed to be a dick, but he was not like that at all. Every day he invited me to have lunch with him, and it made me feel cozy and comfortable.

I learned a lot from that. Any time that I was a guest star on a set and the lead actor poked their head back from getting their hair and makeup done and said, “Welcome to our set. We’re so glad to have you,” that was deeply impactful. So when I got into the position of being a producer and in a place of leadership, I’m not going to say that I nailed it out of the gate, but I wanted to create an atmosphere that was comfortable and where people could do their best work. Seven years later, I feel like my modus operandi is love bombs. I walk around on set and I’m like, “You’re doing a really great job. I’m so happy you’re here. Let me know if you need anything.” Innovation happens when people are relaxed. I think people will be like, “I had a great time working on that set.” I feel responsible for that and really proud of that.

PC: You’ve had so much success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a moment that stands out?
Christina: A lot of them. When I first came to town, it was 1995. I got really lucky and did a boatload of Asian commercials for cash. It was not dangerous. It sounds gross and dangerous, but it wasn’t. I remember one of my first ones. I was working with Brad Pitt. That was when movie stars were doing foreign campaigns but wouldn’t be caught dead doing an American campaign. [laughs] I floated down a lazy river with Brad Pitt drinking Asian beer. I was like, “This is amazing.” Casting directors have been so good to me. During the late ’90s, it was all about must-see TV. It was the kindness of Deedee Bradley telling Tony Sepulveda and then telling Ted Hand. That’s what launched me.

Then in recent years, I’m going to give a huge shoutout to a guy named Jeff Brown who works at Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, which is now HBO, which is Warner Brothers Pictures. He bought the film Dirt that I starred in and produced. Since then, he’s spearheaded all these different things that were sold to Netflix. Now we have three movies on HBO Max. It’s all Jeff. I love him.

PC: In addition to the incredible work that you’ve done on the screen, you’ve also written and produced. How have those experiences behind the camera impacted the way that you approach your work on screen and vice versa?
Christina: It takes the edge off. That’s the big thing. You see how the sausage really gets made. It’s magical when all the pieces come together because the sum of the total is not equal to the sum of its parts. Being in the casting room has been invaluable. You see how decisions are made: “If we cast that guy, then it really needs to be that girl, and then it needs to be that antagonist.” It all comes together as a puzzle.

That has really allowed me a lot more freedom in my acting and performing because it’s like, “This is for me.” You’ll either like it or you won’t if I’m the right piece for the puzzle or not. To all the actors who can hear me, don’t waste your time trying to read my mind and anticipate what I’m looking for because the truth is that I don’t know until it all comes together.

PC: One of the films that you produced, A Hollywood Christmas, is dropping on December 1st on HBO Max. What can audiences expect from that?
Christina: It’s a love letter to the very traditional Christmas rom-com. It’s a formulaic thing that everybody loves to watch. We turn it on its head. It’s meta where the director of a holiday rom-com Christmas movie starts to live her own Christmas movie when the network executive comes to shut her down. It’s a little meta. It’s a little farcical. But if you’re a lover of movies about making movies, if Soap Dish is your absolute favorite and you’ve been waiting for a Christmas version of it, we’ve brought it to you!

PC: The protagonist in the film has such a distinct reason why she creates holiday movies. Why do you think this genre has resonated and continues to resonate with audiences?
Christina: You’re really smart. I think it’s because it makes people feel cozy. She has a line in the film when the network executive says, “Isn’t it boring?” She says, “Is a cup of cocoa boring? No, it’s comforting.” There’s something comforting about falling in love at Christmas time and that Christmas magic. When we come to this point in the year, everyone’s a little tired. You’re wrapping up the year and you want to feel good. People want to feel that love.

PC: In addition to A Hollywood Christmas, you also have I Believe in Santa dropping on the 14th on Netflix. Tell us about that film and your character in it.
Christina: I Believe in Santa is super, super close to my heart. It was written by my husband and directed by a really good friend of mine named Alex Ranarivelo. We crafted it during the pandemic, sitting in our little story hut. It’s a story about acceptance.

Lisa is a single mom who starts dating a guy. They have a sexy summer, and they think it’s going to be great. At Christmas, she finds out that he still believes in Santa Claus.

When we were writing it, it was during a time of terrible unrest and a lot of political garbage. It was, “How can you find harmony with somebody who doesn’t believe the same thing you do?” There was the idea of adults laughing because he still believe in Santa Claus. If you have the attitude that you believe what you want to believe in and I’m going to believe in what I want to believe in, we can find a reason to love each other anyway. That’s a big message that we wanted in the movie. It’s funny. It’s a little bit like 40-Year-Old Virgin and has all the rom-com elements. But what I’m the proudest about with this project is its message of inclusion.

PC: Did your husband write this project with the intention that you both would star in it? How did that come to fruition?
Christina: Any time that my husband writes things, it’s ripped from our lives. Our poor kid, everything that she’s ever said, thought, or done has been put into a film somewhere. You can’t get away from it. But we weren’t sure who would buy it or where it would end up or when it would even get made when we were writing it. I always secretly hope that I can play the character, but he’s written all kinds of things that are a better fit for somebody else. It came about originally through the distribution with Netflix and our financiers. We got lucky that we filmed this during COVID. The idea that we were married, lived together, and were already in a little bubble was a piece of that puzzle.

PC: When you’re wearing two hats on a project, how challenging is that to manage?
Christina: Well, going back to one of your very first questions about mentorships, one of my dear, dear friends, Ava Rettke started in the company as my assistant six years ago. I could cry talking about her. I’m crazy about her. She became my mentee. Then she went out and produced her own movies and now is one of my favorite collaborators.

When it was decided that I would play Lisa about three weeks before production, I passed the football off to her. I did the development, casting, and pre-producing. When we were on set, she was my boss. She was the boss of how it all got done. I knew I was in good hands. When the movie was finished and in post, we passed the football again.

PC: In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of streaming platforms like HBO Max and Netflix. How have they changed the industry from an actor and producer’s point of view?
Christina: It’s the wild west. It’s like you’re on a runaway horse. When I first started producing movies, we were doing small theatrical releases. It was the whole independent film festival market. You were hoping to get bought. Then you went to DVDs, remember those? They were at Walmart. That’s only seven years ago. The rise of streaming services started three years ago. The pandemic really sped things up because everybody was at home and everyone was streaming content and there was a need for content.

Our company had four movies that were on the shelf waiting for this. We were like, “Is this going to a festival? Is it going to get a small theatrical release? Where will it get bought?” We sold them all to Netflix in one day because Netflix was desperate for content. We were desperate to get these films out there. Netflix has 400 million subscribers. This small film, I Believe in Santa, will be available in every country on the planet. That’s such a far reach. It’s so inspiring. It’s so exciting to get your things out there.

To keep up with Christina, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch I Believe in Santa on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Storm Santos