Peter Billingsley Reflects on 'A Christmas Story' and Shares a Few Spoilers from the New Sequel, 'A Christmas Story Christmas'
Producers recreated the entire street where the original house was—all 11 houses.
In A Christmas Story Christmas (Nov. 17 on HBO Max), Peter Billingsley, 51, reunites with the role and setting of A Christmas Story, the 1983 family comedy that became a holiday classic. As the now-grown Ralphie Parker, he returns to Cleveland Street in Illinois to give his kids a magical Christmas like the one he remembers…and to reconnect with childhood friends Schwartz (R.D. Robb) and Flick (Scott Schwartz), his younger brother, Randy (Ian Petrella), and the bully Scut Farkus (Zack Ward).
How has Ralphie changed over the years?
In many ways, he’s very similar. He has a wife, children. But he’s still very much a dreamer and still pretty relentless. If the answer’s no, he keeps pushing. He knows what he wants, [and] he’s trying to figure out his way to get it.
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What was it like to return to the character of Ralphie after all these years?
It’s a very interesting thing to reprise a character, particularly a child, nearly 40 years later. The first movie was told from the perspective of a child, this one is told more from the perspective of an adult, but he has his own children. It’s really the same Ralphie grown up with his more adult-sized hopes and dreams. But there’s a lot of elements that feel very much like the original film.
Are you able to tease anything about the story?
The movie takes place in Chicago in the ’70s. Ralphie gets a call to action to go home to Hohman, where he grew up, back to the house to put on a Christmas for his children like the one he had when he was a kid. In some ways, it’s a midlife coming of age for him, in a good way.
There’s another gauntlet that he has to move through, similar to the original in his pursuit of the BB gun. It’s fun because we’re still in a period piece so we’re able to take advantage of it. It’s [set in] the ’70s, but similar to the original, which was not really stated as the early ’40s, but still sort of feels timeless. This is very much the same thing.
And I can tell you this, which was fantastic: We had the opportunity to recreate the entire street where the original house was. So, we built 11 structures, including Ralphie’s house, the neighboring houses, ones across the street and down the street. So you’re transported back very much to the feel of the original movie. There was a lot of attention paid to detail, to recreating the interior of the house that maybe would be slightly updated but feels very familiar.
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That’s quite a budget.
Well, I’ll tell you what, I had the good fortune of doing this while working on the behind-the-scenes side, and I learned that if you spend well, you can do it. That was very important to us. We have a wonderful fan base that really loves the original and we wanted to take great care to make them feel that they were transported back into this world. So, we didn’t really want to cut any corners there.
For me in nearly 40 years, I have not done anything with the franchise, outside of the Christmas Story musical, which I produced. The musical went to Broadway and was nominated for three Tonys. That was the only [Christmas Story] thing I’ve ever done. When the opportunity presented itself, I was able to put the right people around us to be able to deliver something, again, that feels like you’re back in the world, but is its own new story.
And Ralphie never shot his eye out with the Red Ryder, as everyone warned him about? He still has both his eyes?
He does. Fortunately, there was no long-term effects from the BB breaking his glasses. But he still has glasses. A lot of people ask me about that. That wasn’t a decision for the character, that was just me. I’ve always worn glasses since I was a kid, so I really needed them to be able to act.
But part of that is what made him so adorable.
I think so. It became a bit of a trademark, for sure, and certainly a great trademark for Ralphie. He still has them and in a lot of ways, he’s still the same guy, he’s just grown up and he has his own responsibilities now.
Has the enduring popularity of the movie surprised you?
It was surprising in the sense that when the movie came out in 1983, it was a mediocre success at the box office. I don’t even think they kept the movie in theaters until Christmas. It came out in early or mid-November and then was pulled. So it was an unceremonious landing back then. In 1983, it was before the explosion of cable and video. We thought, Oh, well. All right, that was that. You did your movie and you moved on.
Then it benefited from the timing of finding its footing in video stores. It was a seasonal title. I remember going in video stores as a kid wanting to rent a video like anyone else and starting to see these stand-ups of the movie. It was nice in that sense, for me, that it grew over time. It wasn’t an overnight success, which can be even harder to reconcile with. It just continued to build upon its own momentum as more and more people found it. It was such a nice thing.
Do you still watch when it comes on each year?
The short answer is yes. I say that because there’s something just familiar and nice about it. Not that I necessarily enjoy watching myself, but invariably as we’re kind of flipping channels or going through music, the [TNT/TBS] marathon makes its way on. I’ve spent a lot of time watching and studying the movie, both for the Broadway musical and for this. I’m certainly familiar with it. With this much distance now, I think my appreciation for the movie has grown. It’s harder when you’re in it and a part of it. Everything about it that others saw, I definitely have an appreciation for now.
Did you walk away with any of the props?
Yeah, I’ve got in vaulted storage the original gun and the [pink] bunny suit, which is one of a kind. There was only one bunny suit made. There were some leg lamps that got distributed, but you do keep props. Certainly, nobody knew at the time that the movie would go on to become what it was, but my mom was very good about getting some collectibles, mostly because she thought it’d be a nice memory to have.
Is there anything from the 1983 movie that still makes you laugh?
I’ve always had a fondness for Darren McGavin’s portrayal of the old man [Ralphie’s father] and his relationship with Ralphie. He’s the one character in the movie that Ralphie never asks for the [Red Ryder BB gun], and he’s the one who actually gives it to him. There’s something about that father-son relationship that I love.
Why do you think people cherish the movie so much?
One thing I’ve heard fans say over and over again: “That’s my family.” They’ll tell me that it feels very real. It’s not the bubblegum version that’s all perfect, nor is it dark. There’s just a reality to it that I think is relatable, from the parents and the practicalities of life to the hopes and dreams of kids, to the struggles of just getting to school in the cold.
Other than Christmas, what’s your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving. I think there’s a lot of the same elements. Just behind that is the Fourth of July. I just love the coming together and the gratitude and being with loved ones and the chance for reflection.
You’ve been in front of the camera since you were 2 years old for a Geritol commercial. Was there ever a point at which you decided you wanted to do something other than acting? You work now behind the scenes, but that’s still show biz. Was there ever a time maybe when you wanted to walk away from the business?
I did transition in my late teens or early 20s into behind the scenes. I thought about it for a minute. I had a very good upbringing in the business. It was nothing that was ever pushed on me. If there were opportunities and it made sense for the family, I was able to take those opportunities. I know it came with great sacrifice for my parents and for my siblings. There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t do that I had the opportunity to do, just because it wasn’t necessarily the right fit for the family at that time.
I had a good relationship with show business, I guess is the best way to say it, growing up. I always liked it. I always had an interest in getting behind the scenes. I remember even on A Christmas Story I would ask [director] Bob Clark about the lenses. Back then, you would operate a lot of the cameras with the wheels. If it was a simple close-up, they would generally let me operate one. There was nothing that could go wrong so they would let me peek through the lens for a take and you’d feel like, “Wow! I just got to operate it.” I enjoyed learning and being a part of that.
There was a minute around 18, where I thought about it and talked to my family, but ultimately landed on the fact it was a genuine passion of mine and something that I wanted to pursue vigorously behind the scenes.
Do you find the behind-the-scenes work equally or maybe even more satisfying than being in front of the camera?
They’re definitely different. I think it’s all immersive, but there’s something very immersive about acting when you don’t have to think about the minute-to-minute details that are going on. You’re aware and you’re paying attention to them, but there’s something fun about being able to just sink into a character, which is something that I hadn’t done [for a while], so that felt great.
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As mentioned, you were probably around 2 years old for the Geritol commercial. What do you remember your first performance?
I remember that. Interestingly, it’s one of my earliest memories. I think I was 2 and a half, just before 3, for the Geritol commercial. I do remember being on set for that. And then I did a bunch of commercials that I just kind of recall. I don’t remember a lot of auditions.
It was a very different business back then. It was New York City in the 1970s. Now some of these child actors are branding and on social media and have massive companies. It wasn’t that kind of a world. I think my parents looked at it as if it was something different potentially to do. Yes, I played Little League and other things, but it was an opportunity to have a different kind of experience.
New York City was a very different place at the time in the 1970s. A lot of the commercial houses were in Times Square and a lot of the places to audition. Times Square was a very different place. It was exciting, it was fun, and I think that was always the thing my parents said, “If this ever stops being fun, we’ll just stop. If you’re enjoying it, we can find a way to support it, but if it’s not we’ll just stop.” It always felt exciting and fun, and it felt challenging and something that I really, really enjoyed doing.
You also were in Elf, another movie that has become a Christmas classic that people watch every year. You were older, obviously, on that one. Did you have any idea that that one would also become enduring?
No, I know I seem to find myself in a variety of Christmas movies. I do love Christmas; I do love Christmas films. I had a good sense of it. I really liked the script. I had worked with [director] Jon Favreau on lots of things. We had become friends through Vince Vaughn, who’s been one of my dearest friends for years. I’d met Jon and he said, “I’d love to have you be in this film.”
I actually didn’t take credit. I don’t think my name is in the crawl because I thought it would just be a fun surprise for people to discover that I was Ming Ming, this elf in this film. But I did like the script very much. It was, I think, the first or second movie for Will [Ferrell], and I thought very highly of him. It certainly felt like it had the bones to become something great, but you never know. Having worked on enough of these movies and projects with the best of intentions you hope, and you sometimes never know what’s really going to catch lightning in a bottle.
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Which, as you mentioned, was also the case with A Christmas Story. It became a must-see Christmas movie long after its theatrical release.
That’s right. On paper, A Christmas Story, and I think a lot of people know this, was a real struggle to get made for Bob Clark and Jean Shepherd, who wrote the source material. It was something like 12 years that they were trying to get this movie made. [Director Bob Clark] wound up putting most of his salary back into the movie to finish it the way he wanted to.
It was really an incredible experience from the standpoint of how committed they were to getting this done. You could feel that. I had done bigger movies prior to A Christmas Story. I was 12 during Christmas Story. I looked very young. I was starting to mature a little bit and so I was aware, and it was really striking how prepared and how devoted everyone was. It was a very refreshing experience.
No one was talking about what might come of it, the focus was just on trying to get the work done and to get it done as best you could. I’d been on other bigger movies where people were spending a lot of time thinking about what the result would be, and I very vividly remember that Bob had these incredible notecards of the lenses, the composition that he wanted, notes to himself. He would just move through these cards. He really had the whole movie blocked out.
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