“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” star Chevy Chase arrived in Central New York over the weekend to film scenes for a new holiday film.
Chase was on set Sunday at the Fort Schuyler Club in Utica for his role in the upcoming movie, “The Christmas Letter.” Producers shared photos of the actor appearing in a scene with his daughter, Caley Chase, opposite Angus Benfield.
According to WKTV, Caley is playing the maître d’ of a restaurant and Chevy’s character, wearing a bow tie and glasses, is the general manager. Caley, 39, has more than a dozen acting credits, including 2016′s “Christmas in Vermont,” also with her dad.
Benfield is starring in the film as an “everyday man who gets a Christmas letter every year from his (wealthier) friend” and decides to take his family on “wild, crazy adventures” for a whole year in an attempt to top his friend’s Christmas letter, according to director Tori Hunter.
The project will be a reunion for Chevy Chase with “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” cast members Randy Quaid and Brian Doyle-Murray, according to Benfield and Hunter. In the 1989 comedy classic, Doyle-Murray played the boss of Chase’s Clark Griswold, kidnapped by Cousin Eddie (Quaid) after Clark complains about his Christmas bonus.
Angus Benfield, who is producing and starring in “The Christmas Letter,” said last week he was excited to have “Chevy and Randy reunited again on screen” with “a little bit of an homage to ‘Christmas Vacation.’” The 1989 film, written by John Hughes, is a holiday classic about a married father whose plans for a big family celebration turn into disaster with memorable scenes involving Christmas lights, sledding and a squirrel.
Benfield, whose credits include “Inventing Anna,” “Yellow Bird” and “NCIS: Los Angeles,” will play an “everyday Joe,” a character named Joe Michaels. Benfield is also producing the project through his company LAMA Entertainment.
It’s unclear what roles Quaid and Doyle-Murray will have in the new film. Doyle-Murray shot his scenes earlier this month in the Utica area.
The project will be Quaid’s first since 2018, according to his IMDb page. The Oscar-nominated actor had memorable roles in the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” franchise, “Independence Day,” “Kingpin,” “Freaked,” “Major League II,” “Brokeback Mountain” and the “Elvis” TV miniseries, but fled to Canada in 2010 while facing criminal charges in California over vandalized property at a home he once owned. Quaid was arrested in Vermont upon returning to the U.S. in 2015, but as of 2021 the case in California was reportedly still active.
Chase, 80, is an Emmy-winning actor who was an original cast member on “Saturday Night Live” and starred in “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Caddyshack,” “Fletch,” “Three Amigos,” “Community,” and the Syracuse-set “Snow Day.” He previously visited Syracuse in 2019 and Utica in 2021 for screenings of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
Doyle-Murray, the older brother of Bill Murray, has appeared in more than 160 movies and TV shows, including “Groundhog Day,” “Caddyshack,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Wayne’s World,” “JFK,” “Scrooged,” “Veep” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Doyle-Murray also had a role in 1983′s “National Lampoon’s Vacation” alongside Chase and Quaid.
“The Christmas Letter,” written by Michael Cunningham, an Ilion native who now lives in the Rochester area, is expected to continue shooting in the Mohawk Valley throughout the month of January. Cunningham told WKTV the film will include shots of Utica’s City Hall, the Valley View Golf Course, and the Woods Valley ski area in Westernville, plus scenes at Thrive Athletic Center in New Hartford and The Stanley theater in Utica.
The project appears to be Hunter’s feature-length directorial debut. Hunter is a Georgia native who is currently based in Nashville, according to her website. Her IMDb credits include working as a script supervisor on 2019′s “Overcomer,” the 2020 Lifetime movie “A Welcome Home Christmas,” and the 2023 releases “Identity Crisis,” “The Great Turkey Town Miracle” (also starring Benfield), “Bringing Back Christmas” and “The Shift” (featuring Sean Astin and Syracuse University alumnus Neal McDonough).
A release date has not been announced for “The Christmas Letter,” but Cunningham told WKTV he hopes to do a movie premiere in Utica during the 2024 holiday season.
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