If you’re going to wear candy cane tights for Christmas, buy some shorts, too, according to the stars of “Three Wiser Men and a Boy.”
The three – Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell -- dress up in the costumes for a kids’ Christmas program and learn very quickly “three grown men and Spandex leaves little to the imagination,” Walker says.
The moment comes midway through the Hallmark movie when they’re trying to stage a Christmas show without a budget, a director or much of a cast.
Introduced in “Three Wise Men and a Baby,” the Brenner brothers are drafted to handle the program or risk disappointing Luke’s son.
In the sequel, the three work on everything from sets to choreography while keeping an eye on their mother (Margaret Colin), who has a new man in her life.
The film features plenty of sight gags (thus the tights) and dance. Walker, Hynes says, is the best dancer of the bunch – he has professional experience and has choreographed numerous shows. “I kind of lack his technique,” Hynes admits. “But I make up for it with enthusiasm.”
With laser tag, however, it was every man for himself.
“I didn’t care how young they were,” Campbell says of his co-stars. “I wanted them gone.” They filmed the scenes in a mini-golf place and used high-end laser tag equipment.
“They made miracles happen with the budget,” Walker says. “There was a scene at the beginning of the movie when there’s a domino effect of everything falling. They had one shot to do that and we thought it was going to be underwhelming. But they rigged it and it works.”
“I think they deliver it everywhere,” Campbell says.
Because the brothers don’t have the rights to a certain “How the Grinch” story, they craft their own and find new laughs.
“We’re just trying to create interesting, new experiences for everybody,” Hynes says of the “Wiser Men” series. “Next year could be the year that it all comes burning down.”
The “let’s put familiar faces together in a series of films” concept is one Hynes is more than ready for. In addition to this franchise, he starred earlier in “The Groomsmen” trilogy.
“These are kind of born out of friendships,” he says. “We all know each other,” but they aren’t necessarily a trend.
Instead, they’re just another entry in the Hallmark playbook, allowing its more popular actors to collaborate.
All Hallmark holiday veterans, the three know shooting in summer brings different challenges and expectations.
“I’m the Hallmark guy on my street,” Walker says. “My lights are up Nov. 1. It’s usually because I’m leaving my family to go shoot something in early November, so I can’t leave my family without lights until I get back Dec. 18. It would not be a good dad thing to do.”
Campbell considers himself “tastefully festive. That tree’s got to be down by Jan. 1. It’s gone.”
When they were helping craft the film, the three actors went to Amazon hoping to find the silliest outfits possible. “We were like, ‘What are the dumbest outfits?’” Campbell recalls. “And we’re like, ‘There’s giant candy canes,’ and we were sold.”
“Three Wiser Men and a Boy” begins Saturday on the Hallmark Channel.
