Olympic alpine skier and U.S. National Downhill Champion Kaylin Richardson cited that old childhood taunt — “First comes love. Then comes marriage …” — as an influence to write the script to her second holiday film, “Marry Christmas.”“It’s a spiritual sequel to ‘Mistletoe Mixup,’” she said. “It has a lot of the same characters, basically, but it’s also a stand-alone. So, you do not need the backstory of ‘Mistletoe Mixup,’ but if you want the full experience, you can go to Amazon Prime and still watch it before ‘Marry Christmas.’”While “Mistletoe Mixup,” which hit the streaming services in 2021, is about a workaholic woman who makes a Christmas wish that goes awry when she meets the Wright brothers, played by real-life siblings Joey and Matthew Lawrence, “Marry Christmas” that premieres digitally on Dec. 3 is about the brothers who unwittingly schedule their weddings for the same day, according to Richardson.“While ‘Mistletoe Mixup,” which was filmed in Utah, is about falling in love, I thought it would be natural to take the next step in ‘Marry Christmas,’” she said.The positive scriptwriting and filmmaking experience and success of “Mistletoe Mixup,” which held the No. 1 feature-film slot for 17 days when it was released in the winter of 2021, also added fuel to Richardson’s desire to write “Marry Christmas.”“The first film came out during the heart of the pandemic, and the reception of it was so positive that I asked if the Lawrence brothers would be interested in another movie,” she said. “Since they had such a positive experience filming here in Utah, they said they would be totally into it.”Richardson and the Lawrences, including their mother Donna, who is a producer, found there were some distributors, including Shout! Studios, who were interested in a new film.“So, we got to working on it,” Richardson said.Richardson found herself diving back into the lives of the Wright family.“Since the characters are the same and the story is about the same family, it made it easier for me to write,” she said. “This story is an extension to these characters’ lives, and because I knew what was going to occur, I think I wrote the first rough draft in a week, late at night, because I have two young kids.”Richardson initially wrote the story on 25 Post-it notes in about 45 minutes.“It helped having all the Lawrence brothers, including director Andy Lawrence, in the film,” she said. “Their chemistry and comedic timing is so amazing, and to flesh their characters out and create more hilarious situations to get into was really, really fun.”The first draft was a little more contentious with a lot of slapstick, but Richardson asked a couple of friends for their opinion.“They told me there needed to be more realistic in its ebb-and-flow,” she said.So, Richardson recruited Andy and fellow screenwriter Tim Schaaf to tighten up the scenes.Olympian and national downhill skiing champion Kaylin Richardson has written her second holiday-season romantic comedy, “Marry Christmas.” The feature film, a sequel to her first film, “Mistletoe Mixup,” premieres digitally Dec. 3. The film will also screen that evening after a red-carpet event at the MegaPlex Theatres at Valley Fair Mall, 3601 S. 2400 West, West Valley. “I got the meat of it, but Tim’s amazing at structure, and some of the best jokes are Andy’s,” she said. “I think since he was writing for his brothers, he was playing to their strengths, so I think ‘Marry Christmas’ now has a lot more levity than the first film, and the laughs are maybe more saccharine with the humor.”Crews and cast shot “Marry Christmas” in October of 2022 throughout Utah, including Salt Lake City, Deer Valley Resort and Midway.“We were able to film at the same house in Midway where we shot the first movie,” she said. “When we did ‘Mistletoe Mixup,’ the whole family, all three brothers and their mother, stayed at the house, and it felt like not necessarily a vacation but a family affair. So they had a lot of warm feelings for it.”Richardson, a sponsored pro-skier who works at Deer Valley, also knew she wanted to open the film with an awesome ski scene that included a marriage proposal on top of a mountain.“That’s exactly what we did, and Deer Valley has been a wonderful partner for that,” she said.Richardson worked with Chris Morgan, who served as cinematographer on some of her own ski-industry projects to get the skiing scenes.“We had a four-day window and picked one day at the end of January that was the most beautiful,” she said. “It lined up that we had an amazing winter two seasons ago. It was a blue-bird day, with not a cloud in the sky. The trees were flocked with frost, and since it was super cold, there were crystals in the air. There had been two inches of new snow that night, so we got some great powder shots.” Writing “Marry Christmas” continues Richardson’s dream of diversifying her resume.“There has always been a little part of me who enjoyed writing, and I’ve always been itching to do it,” she said. “So I took the chance when the opportunity arrived to do the first film during COVID when we had a lot of extra time.”While the public will be able to experience “Marry Christmas” on all digital platforms, including Google Play, iTunes and Amazon on Dec. 3, it is also invited to purchase tickets and attend a one-night premiere screening of Richardson’s “labor of love” at 7 p.m. that night at the MegaPlex Theatres at Valley Fair Mall, 3601 S. 2400 West, West Valley.“The Lawrence brothers will fly in for it, and Brooke Anne Smith, the female lead, will also come in,” Richardson said. “We’ll have a little bit of a red carpet, and I’ll have Andy say a few words. So, it will be a great way to kick off the holiday season with a big group of people. And I think there will be a lot of fun, exuberant energy in the room.”‘Marry Christmas’ film screening and red carpetWhen: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3 Where: MegaPlex Theatres at Valley Fair Mall, 3601 S. 2400 West, West Valley Tickets: tinyurl.com/378baene Also: Lawrence Brothers Brotherly Love Podcast — brotherlylove.supercast.comThe post Ski champ Kaylin Richardson wishes everyone a ‘Marry Christmas’ appeared first on Park Record.