Oliver Rice. Photo Courtesy of Great American Media.
British actor Oliver Rice chatted about starring in “A Cinderella Christmas Ball” with Danica McKellar.
Synopsis of the movie
The synopsis is: Chelsea Jones (Danica McKellar) is a dance instructor and studio owner in Chicago who inspires kids to find themselves through dance. Just before Christmas, Chelsea discovers a photo she’s never seen before.
Chelsea thinks the young woman is her birth mother who passed away when she was only five years old. The woman is in a wedding dress tugging on the hand of a man wearing a wedding ring, but that is all that can be seen of the man Chelsea believes may be her father.
The photo’s handwritten inscription reads, “Our place, Havenshire, December 23, 1987.” With only the Internet, a plane ticket, and lifelong determination to go on, Chelsea now has four days in Havenshire to solve the mystery of her birth family.
Along the way, she’ll have to sneak into a castle, teach a stubborn Prince Phillip (played by Oliver Rice) how to dance, and be in just the right place on Christmas Eve when the bells toll.
“This movie was great,” he admitted. “It aired last night on Great American Family, and the response so far has been positive and incredible.”
Rice is known for his acting work in “Firefly Lane,” Riverdale, Altered Carbon, and Chesapeake Shores.
Playing Prince Phillip
On playing Prince Phillip, Rice said, “It is so interesting to play somebody who comes from a different world than you; especially being English, and the Royal Family is a big part of our culture and our lives. It was very interesting to take on a role like that.”
“The Queen was on the throne for 70 years, but you never really knew what she was thinking or what she was like, and I think we get that from the Royal Family, so to be able to play a prince who is about to become a king was quite interesting,” he acknowledged.
“To try to take concepts of my own life and put them into the life of a prince is very interesting. Also, I got to dance in this movie so that pretty exciting,” he added.
Working with Danica McKellar in this film
“Getting to dance with Danica McKellar was great,” he noted. “Danica is such a fantastic dancer, and she had the opportunity to be on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ Danica wrote this movie, and she wanted to incorporate the dancing element to it; that was important to her.”
“Danica and I had a month of rehearsals before we started filming,” he said.
2024 Great American Family Christmas Festival
On being a part of the inaugural Great American Family Christmas Festival at Northwell Park at UBS Arena, Rice exclaimed, “I enjoyed it. I hadn’t been to New York in a long time, so it was nice to be back. There was an outdoor screening of the movie, and Danica and I did a Q & A session afterward.”
“It was so good, and the weather was nice, and it held up,” Rice said. “Everyone stuck around and drank hot cocoa. It was so nice to be able to talk about something with people that have just seen it. Everyone was excited and they had great questions, which was lovely.”
“This was the first time that I’ve been to Long Island, and it was super nice,” Rice added.
Rice was joined at this event with his Great American Family co-star Danica McKellar, as well as Candace Cameron Bure, Trevor Donovan, and Cameron Mathison.
Closing thoughts on the new Great-American rom-com
For fans and viewers, Rice remarked, “It’s a beautiful fairytale and it’s full of joy. I hope this movie gets people in the Christmas spirit.”
“It is great for the whole family to sit around and enjoy the dance, romance and the subplots,” he concluded.
To learn more about Oliver Rice, follow him on Instagram.
Read More: “A Cinderella Christmas Ball” review