Exclusive Interview
Dan Bucatinsky Dishes on Creating ‘Our Little Secret’s Holiday Power Couple with Kristin Chenoweth
Erica (Kristin Chenoweth) and Leonard (Dan Bucatinsky) deserve applause for dealing with so much chaos during the holidays. When Avery (Lindsay Lohan) comes to her boyfriend Cameron’s (Jon Rudnitsky) home for the holiday in Netflix’s Our Little Secret, she’s not just dealing with her ex, Logan (Ian Harding). She’s also under the same roof as his fabulous (and maybe a little judgmental) parents. As shenanigans ensue, Erica and Leonard manage to keep the house tidy and holiday festivities rolling without a hitch.
Swooon spoke with Bucatinsky about playing the Our Little Secret’s patriarch and bonding with Chenoweth. “We’ve become inseparable since, but we’ve also gotten very, very close with the two actors who played our kids. All of us got along so well and so quickly that we were able to bring that history, familiarity, and humor into every day on set, which allowed the movie to feel like we were all really a family,” he said.
Erica and Leonard’s marriage isn’t exactly perfect. They’re hiding some secrets behind their buttoned-up designer looks and radiant smiles. The Scandal alum admitted that he and Chenoweth “talk every single day,” and they loved “coming up with ways in which we both were clearly trying to hide our displeasure with each other, which made it so much fun.”
Chuck Zlotnick / Netflix
In the Netflix holiday film, you’ll notice that Erica and Leonard’s home features beautiful family portraits — but there’s a catch. “The fact that I age as much as I do from portrait to portrait to portrait, and Kristin not only does not age but has a halo around her,” the actor noted. “It made me laugh every single time I saw them. I went into the art department and I said, ‘Guys, do you have any extras of those of the portraits?’ And I came home with one.”
Our Little Secret was the first time Bucatinsky and Chenoweth worked together, but it certainly won’t be the last. “I’m sure it’s going to happen because we’re both very focused on it,” Bucatinsky stressed. “I’ve got a bunch of stuff on my plate for the upcoming six months, and she’s got a Broadway show to open next year. But when those things are done, we’re both very focused on working together.”
Could he end up writing a Christmas movie? Bucatinsky, a well-known writer and producer, isn’t ruling it out. He told Swooon writing a holiday movie would be a “really fun puzzle to crack.”
He added, “But I do find it fun to think about what is the formula that makes a perfect holiday rom-com and then what is the innovation. How do we turn that on its side? What have we never seen before? I do like to challenge myself and think about opportunities to come up with a premise that hasn’t been done yet. I happen to be a big fan of a movie that isn’t necessarily a Christmas movie but happens to take place at Christmas, right? To me, that feels like a whole genre of movie that could be horror, it could be rom-com, it could be comedy, it could be drama, but that it’s set at Christmas time allows for a much wider variety of Christmas movies.”
Whatever he’s thinking, sign us (and Chenoweth) up.
Our Little Secret, Streaming Now, Netflix
