Sartaj Singh
Helmed by director Martin Wood, ‘Holiday Road’ is a story inspired by true events, following 9 co-passengers whose flight to Denver is grounded due to bad weather. Dana (Serah Canning), a travel writer, makes an ingenious suggestion of renting a van and traveling by road to Denver together. Her co-passengers, now fellow travelers, agree. They include a diverse set of personalities – a mother and her impatient son, a social media influencer, a tech entrepreneur, a couple, and a grumpy old man.
Not long after the merry band sets off, they encounter unknown territories and have to navigate a series of obstacles, bringing them closer and changing some of their lives. Witnessing their lively journey and the locations they stop at along the way, you may wonder if the filming actually took place on the route from Portland to Denver.
Where Was Holiday Road Filmed?
‘Holiday Road’ was largely filmed in and around Vancouver City in the province of British Columbia on the western coast of the Great White North. Shooting for the Hallmark Movie was carried out in early September of 2023. Let us take a look at the specific locations which set the scenes for the production.
Vancouver, British Columbia
The bustling port city of Vancouver has played the part of Portland, Denver, and everywhere in between for ‘Holiday Road.’ The city is a Hallmark favorite when it comes to filming destinations, as it offers a diverse landscape along with top-of-the-line filming studios. One such studio was used for its sound stage to simulate the road trip taken by our travel party. The city has additionally seen the filming of previous Hallmark movies like, ‘ Christmas in Canaan,’ ‘Royal New Year’s Eve,’ ‘The Christmas Secret,’ ‘Write Before Christmas,’ ‘The Christmas House,’ and ‘Five Star Christmas.’
The Portland airport shown at the beginning of the film was actually Vancouver International Airport, with a few switched-up signs. The airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, and has also been featured as a backdrop in films such as ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Final Destination,’ ‘Good Luck Chuck,’ ‘Passengers,’ and ‘Firewall.’
The actors seemed to have had an especially good time filming ‘Holiday Road,’ with many of them speaking of their positive experiences on social media. Enid-Raye Adams who plays Tricia talks about the actors being given plenty to work with in the storyline, and rolling around laughing even off camera. Sharon Crandall, who plays Lei Ling talked about the extraordinary experience on Instagram, saying, “What a time we had together for three weeks this summer. We cried, we laughed, we (almost) puked and we sweated. Boy, did we sweat. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Holiday Road Cast
The film features an ensemble of talented actors, with Sara Canning and Warren Christie as Dana and Clay being the romantic center and having a number of Hallmark titles under their belts. Sara is known especially for her performance in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ as Jenna Sommers, ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ as Lake, ‘Remedy’ as Melissa Conner and ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ as Jacquelyn.
Warren Christie is an Irish actor and producer; you may have seen him in ‘Apollo 18’ as Ben Anderson, ‘This Means War’ as Steve, ‘Alphas’ as Cameron Hicks and ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ as Morgan Derby. Other cast members include Princess Davis as Maya Way, Kiefer O’Reilly as Ben, Enid-Raye Adams as Tricia, Sharon Crandall as Lei Ling, Trevor Lerner as Dusty Redford, Brittany Willacy as Ember Craig, Laura Mitchell as Beth, Benita Ha as Ming, Kayla Deorksen as Sarah and Simon Chin as Santa.
