The Holiday has seen a major resurgence this Christmas. And from its original casting to revelations from the cast and crew, the 2006 Nancy Meyers romantic comedy has made non-stop headlines.
The film, starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, follows Iris Simpkins from Surrey and LA-based Amanda Woods, as they swap homes over the Christmas holidays. And with a supporting cast including Jude Law, Jack Black and Rufus Sewell, the festive classic is star-studded.
This is particularly true of the iconic celebrity cameos, with brief appearances from multiple major A-list names. We’re talking James Franco, John Krasinski and Kathryn Hahn, to name a few. Not to mention, Lindsay Lohan, who worked with filmmaker Nancy Meyers previously on The Parent Trap.
“I told [Lohan] she owes me everything so I made her do it,” Meyers recalled to ComingSoon.net, back in 2006. “I called her and said, ‘You have to do this for me,’ but she was sweet about it, she was totally there.”
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However, it was the brief onscreen appearance from Dustin Hoffman that made headlines this week, with Meyers revealing that his famous cameo wasn’t actually planned.
The scene in question shows Iris (Kate Winslet) and Miles (Jack Black) browsing Blockbuster. And after Jack Black sings The Graduate soundtrack, the camera pans to its star Hoffman, who mutters: “Can’t go anywhere”.
The brief cameo is undoubtedly one of the film’s most celebrated, but during a recent appearance on NBC News, Meyers revealed that Hoffman wasn’t even supposed to be in the film. Instead, the Academy Award winner just dropped in to visit Meyers on set.
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“Dustin was eating at a restaurant next door and he saw we were filming a movie [in Blockbuster],” Meyers recalled. “Someone said it was me, and our daughters are best friends…, so he popped in and it was just great to see him.
“He sat with me for a good hour – just having fun and watching the scene,” she continued. “And I went, ‘What is wrong with me? They’re talking about The Graduate – do you want to just be in this scene and we’ll just cut to you and whatever?’ And he went ‘Alright.’
“We didn’t do his hair, we didn’t put make up on him – it was what he wore to lunch,” Meyers added. “I had them do The Graduate thing, and he just said ‘I just can’t go anywhere’ and it was just great.”
Well, this is hilarious.
The Holiday is available to watch now on Netflix.