‘Christmas Vacation’ stars reunite in new movie shot in Central NY: See trailer

The first trailer for a new movie shot in Central New York gives fans a glimpse of a highly-anticipated “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” reunion.

LAMA Entertainment has released the first look at “The Christmas Letter,” a new holiday film that features Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid (in his first movie in 6 years) and Brian Doyle-Murray. Chase starred in 1989′s “Christmas Vacation” as Clark Griswold, along with Quaid as Cousin Eddie and Doyle-Murray as his boss (who Eddie kidnaps when Clark complains about his holiday bonus).

“The Christmas Letter” stars Angus Benfield as Joe Michaels, who reads his wealthy friend’s annual over-the-top Christmas letter and feels like a loser, but decides this year is going to be different. Against all financial common sense, he cashes out his 401K and sets about orchestrating a year-long pursuit of crazy adventures with his family, designed to guarantee the construction of the Christmas Letter to rival all Christmas Letters.

“It’s a wonderful life… on paper,” the tagline says.

The movie was shot in January primarily in the Mohawk Valley, including scenes at a home and church in Clinton, Utica’s City Hall, the Valley View Golf Course, the Woods Valley ski area in Westernville, Thrive Athletic Center in New Hartford ,and The Stanley Theatre in Utica. Chase filmed scenes at the Fort Schuyler Club in Utica while Quaid separately filmed his role in Vermont, though Quaid still made a virtual appearance in Utica for a video call with Chase’s character that will appear in the film.

See the movie trailer:

“The Christmas Letter” is written by Michael Cunningham, an Ilion native who now lives in the Rochester area, and directed by Tori Hunter. Cunningham is also listed as a producer.

Benfield, who also produces the film through his company LAMA Entertainment, said the movie will feature “a little bit of an homage to ‘Christmas Vacation.’” Written by John Hughes, the holiday classic centers on a married father whose plans for a big family celebration turn into disaster with memorable scenes involving Christmas lights, sledding, and a squirrel.

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.”

Benfield, whose credits include “Inventing Anna,” “Yellow Bird” and “NCIS: Los Angeles,” leads the cast that also includes Brian Posehn (”The Big Bang Theory”), Kristoffer Polaha (”Jurassic World: Dominion”), Sean O’Bryan (”The Princess Diaries”), Regina Schneider (”The Blacklist”) and Chevy Chase’s daughter, Caley Chase.

“The Christmas Letter” will be released this holiday season. An exact release date and list of movie theaters or streaming services where it will be available have not been announced.

See more photos from the production: