The holiday season typically passes by in a flurry. With all the decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, gathering and celebrating, it is easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. And now, with the abundance of Christmas movies being offered across all platforms and channels, many of those are getting lost in the mix, as well. While Hallmark is definitely the king of Kris Kringle programming, Netflix is quickly gaining traction with its slew of original “Season’s Streamings” released over the past few years, such as “Single All the Way,” “The Princess Switch” (as well as its two sequels), “Holiday in the Wild” (a personal favorite) and “Let It Snow.” The latter, a Yuletide-centric ensemble rom-com that weaves together the story of four groups of high school seniors one snowy Christmas Eve, hit the streamer in November 2019 to virtually no fanfare. Though it certainly isn’t any sort of awards-show contender, the film is a sweet addition to Netflix’s holiday lineup and one that shouldn’t be missed!
Directed by Luke Snellin and based upon the 2008 young adult novel “Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances” co-written by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle, the movie is not to be confused with the 2013 Hallmark Channel flick starring Candace Cameron Bure and Jesse Hutch, nor the 2020 “haunted-ski-slope horror” film directed by Stanislav Kapralov, nor the 1999 Bernadette Peters vehicle, all of the same name. Apparently, “Let It Snow” is quite the popular holiday movie moniker!
The 2019 version is set in the fictional Laurel, Illinois, where “it doesn’t usually snow on Christmas Eve . . . but this year we’re lucky!” The idyllic hamlet, as described by pop star Stuart Bale (Shameik Moore), who the movie sees passing through town while on tour and becoming properly enamored, is “like the perfect holiday card” – though longtime resident Julie Reyes (Isabela Merced) is quick to point out that the recent snow cover “hides a lot. It’s like the Spanx of weather.” To capture the flick’s powdery wonderland backdrop, the cast and crew descended upon Ontario, Canada and its environs.
A few area spots utilized include the quaint town of Millbrook, which was featured in establishing shots of downtown Laurel. The Union Presbyterian Church at 16789 Main St. in Georgetown is where Angie (Kiernan Shipka), JP (Matthew Noszka) and Tobin (Mitchell Hope) spend some time after crashing their car into a snowbank. Only the exterior of the impressive stone-clad parish, which was originally built in 1884, appeared onscreen, though. Interior scenes in which Tobin and Angie sing the 1985 classic “The Whole of the Moon” were captured a good 40 miles away at Dixon Hall, located at 188 Carlton St. in Toronto.
-
Image Credit: Netflix -
Image Credit: Google The film’s most memorable location, though, is Waffle Town, the local Laurel coffee shop that regulars have taken to calling “Awful Town” thanks to the “W” that has long been missing from its overhead signage. Though production designer Toby Corbett originally planned to build a practical set to be used for both the interior and exterior of Waffle Town, that idea was scrapped due to budgetary and weather restrictions. He instead found the perfect spot to shoot exterior scenes in Brantford, a city located on the Grand River in Southwest Ontario that is becoming more and more popular for filming and is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of the telephone!
There, situated on a rather lonely stretch of freeway surrounded by a vast parking lot on the far outskirts of town, is retro diner Johnny Be Good. Serving as the movie’s central throughline, it is at the casual eatery that all of the characters’ storylines eventually intertwine.
In real life, Johnny Be Good is part of the Ben Mar Family Fun Centre, an amusement complex located at 440 Paris Rd. that also features a go-kart track, a miniature golf course, an arcade, batting cages and a driving range.
Along with boasting an appealing small-town aesthetic, Johnny Be Good closes each winter season, making it a very convenient spot for the “Let It Snow” production team to commandeer for the shoot, which took place over the course of four days in early March 2019.
-
Image Credit: Netflix -
Image Credit: Google The eatery was changed quite significantly for the production. Not only was the exterior given a fresh coat of bright yellow and rust-colored paint to replace its usual red, blue and taupe hue, but a new entrance was also installed. In reality, patrons enter Johnny Be Good rather atypically through doors situated on its east and west sides, while the front of the restaurant sports a sizeable 80s-style glass block window. To create the illusion of a more traditional façade, Corbett and his team physically removed the block window and the wall below it and installed two fully functional doors in its place. Those doors were then replicated on the set used for interior filming, which was constructed inside of a soundstage at Pinewood Toronto Studios, about 70 miles east of Johnny Be Good.
-
Image Credit: Netflix According to Corbett, the set was designed to be twice the size of the interior of the actual restaurant. The enlargement allowed for better camera movement, as well as the additional square footage necessary for the big party thrown by Keon, aka DJ K*POW$ (Jacob Batalon). Johnny Be Good’s roof was also recreated at Pinewood Studios for the segment at the end in which (spoiler!) Julie locates and re-installs the elusive missing W to the Waffle Town signage. Images and renderings of both the interior set and roof recreation can be seen on Corbett’s website.
Those looking to have a proper “Let It Snow” experience by visiting the diner in person will, unfortunately, have to wait until the eatery reopens for the season in April 2022. In the meantime, there’s always Netflix!