Lacey Chabert And Kristoffer Polaha Talk About Telling A Different Kind Of Love Story And The Epic Adventure They Had Making 'A Christmas Quest’

As we previously reported, two of Hallmark’s biggest names have paired up for the first time a brand new holiday flick. The Queen of Hallmark Christmas herself, Lacey Chabert, stars opposite the lead of our favorite Southern-set Hallmark movie, A Biltmore Christmas, Kristoffer Polaha in The Christmas Quest. 

Although, as Polaha pointed out when the dynamic duo sat down with Southern Living ahead of the premiere, that’s not totally true. 

“Technically as co-leads, yes. I did that cameo in Haul Out the Holly so we had a day on set together. But we looked at each other and said, ‘we’ve got to do a movie together,’” he said. 

Chabert added that they had tried to work together many times, but due to schedule conflicts, it hadn’t come together until now. 

“The fact that it worked out for this, and we had the chance to go on this epic adventure in Iceland together was just perfection. It was just such an awesome experience. He is just the best scene partner and wonderful human. We both got to have our families there. It was over the Easter holidays. It was just a really special experience,” Chabert said. 

The story of The Christmas Quest centers around archeologist Stefanie, who is presented with the opportunity to go to Iceland to track down the legendary Treasure of the Yule Lads—a mission that was her late mother’s lifelong dream.

She knows she will need help to achieve this and she goes to the best person to help, her ex-husband Chase (Polaha),  who is an expert in Norse languages. Chase is resistant at first, but eventually agrees and the former spouses are suddenly off on a transatlantic expedition, together. 

Both Chabert and Polaha were intrigued by this slight twist to the typical romantic structure. 

“I was excited because it is something different that I haven’t had the chance to do before and because they were once married there’s such history there. They’re carrying a lot of emotion and baggage between the two of them and there’s a lot of unresolved matters of the heart that tend to come out on this trip where they’re having so much real time together. And where they find themselves in a little bit of danger and have to depend on each other once again. It gives them the room and the option to work some of that out,” Chabert said. 

Polaha added, “It also changes the dynamic. I think one of the things about these Hallmark movies that we love is that it gives us that little window into blossoming love. And what first love feels like and it’s very much this honeymoon phase of ‘oh this person can’t do wrong.’ A first kiss is a highly anticipated moment in a new relationship and these two, they’ve been married. So you have to assume the first kiss is long over so that goes all the way back to reconnecting. Even when they have their kiss, it was a different energy that we were bringing to it.”

He continued, “It was a really beautiful story I think that a lot of people are going to relate to because I think there are a lot of people out there who’ve either reconnected or hope for reconnection, where there’s a journey that’s already been well-traveled together.”

The movie was entirely filmed on location in Iceland which both actors said would be something they won’t ever forget. 

“Many experiences we had, that were just honestly once in a lifetime. To work, to film in a lava cave, to film on a glacier, to film at the waterfalls, and to have this experience that a lot of people are going to get if you’re a tourist and you go to Iceland, but to really be able to go in deeper and see things in a way, almost as if you’re a local. I think the audience is going to love that because you’re going to get a view into places that are otherwise hard to get to,” Polaha told us.

The unique landscape provided for some unusual challenges for the cast during filming, as Chabert explained. 

“It started really on day two when we showed up to set and they put these crampons on our shoes–”

Polaha interjected, “basically like slippers with claws that you can tie on to your shoe.”

Chabert continued, “And said, ‘okay when you guys get to the top of the ice glacier we’re going to send the drone up and shoot some footage from up there and you can do your dialogue.’ And we both looked at each other and said how exactly are we getting up there? And they were like ‘oh you’re hiking,’” she said with a laugh. 

You can see some of this journey to the summit captured on the pair’s social media pages:

“It was just this incredible adventure. I looked around pretty much every single day and was in awe at what I was seeing and also that we had a chance to film a movie in these remarkable places. Waterfalls, lava caves, ice glaciers. The list just goes on about how incredible it was, under the Northern Lights,” the Mississippi native said. 

Polaha spoke about having a night off from filming while Chabert was filming scenes without him and how he was able to take his family to witness this natural phenomenon on the eve of his son Micah’s 18th birthday.

“We got in the car and went north of Reykjavik into this forest and just sat there and looked up at the lights. And you can actually hear them crackle and you can see them undulate. It’s really wild. It’s extraterrestrial. It’s otherworldly.”

On set, Chabert said the crew alerted them that the lights were particularly bright and vibrant that evening so they all ran outside to look up as well. “You kinda just stand there in awe. it’s just something magnificent to witness.”

You can witness all the marvels of Iceland without finding your passport or leaving your couch. The Christmas Quest premieres on Hallmark Channel on Sunday December 1.