Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (2008)

A look at the inspiration behind Thomas Kinkade's painting The Christmas Cottage, and how the artist was motivated to begin his career after discovering his mother was in danger of losing their family home.

Director:

Michael Campus

Writer:

Ken LaZebnik

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Jared Padalecki, Marcia Gay Harden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jared Padalecki	...	Thomas Kinkade
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Maryanne Kinkade
Peter O'Toole	...	Glen
Aaron Ashmore	...	Pat Kinkade
Richard Burgi	...	Bill Kinkade
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Butch
Chris Elliott	...	Ernie (as Chris Elliot)
Richard Moll	...	Big Jim
Kiersten Warren	...	Tanya
Jay Brazeau	...	Mr. Rosa
Charlotte Rae	...	Vesta
Edward Asner	...	Sidney
Tegan Moss	...	Nanette
Gina Holden	...	Hope
Malcolm Stewart	...	Lloyd

Storyline

Necessity is the mother of invention. In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1977, Maryanne Kinkade has fallen behind in her mortgage payments and is about to lose her small house in Placerville, a town in California's gold country in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Her son Thom, who attends art school and is in his 20s, determines to make the transition from amateur to professional painter to help save the family's home. He seeks advice from an aging mentor.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | painting | mortgage | artist | painter | 

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Taglines:

Love is the brightest light of all.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language, some suggestive content and smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jared Padalecki and Richard Burgi are both in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th.

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Goofs

Though set in 1977, in the bar scenes there is a draught beer pull for Bud Light, a beer not introduced until 1982.

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Quotes

Thomas Kinkade: Big Jim stayed up all night fixing the wiring on that tree, and Placerville turned on its real lights that year. I always thought it was the year we found Christmas all over again.

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Crazy Credits

Inspired by true events

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Soundtracks

This Christmas Time (Hope To Find The Way)
Written by Dave Pelman (as W David Pelman)
Performed by Dave Pelman (as W David Pelman) and The Staunch Balladeers

User Reviews

Nice feel good movie

We watched this movie in on TV and thought it was a good family film. Many of the reviews shown here were written by people who wrote the criticisms of the movie before seeing it. Many wrote awful reviews before the movie even came out. Doesn't seem too smart. It seems a lot of reviewers didn't like the movie because it was just too "nice." (No sex, violence or cussing) Again, I have to wonder about these reviewers intelligence when they know it is a movie about Christmas. What did they expect? Sure, it may have been a little corny in places but that's OK, it's designed as light entertainment, not a major Hollywood production. If it had been written to win awards in Hollywood then it would have had the sex, violence and lots of cussing. Kind of nice this movie didn't.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Christmas Cottage

Filming Locations:

Fort Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$45,718

Company Credits

Production Co:

Birch Grove Films, Firm Films, Lionsgate

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1