Peter Billingsley and Vince Vaughn on Jan. 5, 2017, in Pasadena, California.Photo:Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Peter BillingsleyandVince Vaughnare a dynamic holiday duo.
The friends launched theA Cinematic Christmas Journeypodcast last year, which recently wrapped its second season, with an episode dedicated to all thingsDie Hard.
In a chat with PEOPLE surrounding the podcast, theChristmas Storyactor, who hosts the podcast alongside Steve Byrne, reflects on meeting Vaughn when they were both 18.
“To be able to form a friendship first, it’s very rare,” Billingsley says. “And then be able to eventually work together as both of us started growing and working, to have that trust.”
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Peter Billingsley and Vince Vaughn in New York City on May 20, 2017.Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
The actor says it’s “been such a blessing” and “truly fun” to experience both personal and professional life moments with Vaughn, whom he first met doing a 1990 episode ofCBS School Break Special. They’d later go on to found Wild West Picture Show Productions together, which is behind hit movies likeThe Break-Up(2006), starring Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, andFour Christmases(2008), which Billingsley appeared in alongside Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon.
“There’s just no one funnier in the room. There’s no one better,” Billingsley says of his friend. “There’s no one with a greater sense of story than him. He’s the best.”
“And everyone’s always asking me, ‘Is he really like he seems in his movies?’ Just this super likable, cool guy, and I’m like, ‘He’s even better,’ " adds theElfactor. “It’s been really, really lovely being able to have the chance to have him.”
Billingsley, who reprised his role of Ralphie Parker in last year’s sequelA Christmas Story Christmas, tells PEOPLE Vaughnwas the one who came up with the idea forACinematic Christmas Journey.
“He was talking to me about doing a podcast and said, ‘You’d be great at doing Christmas films.’ And I thought, ‘You’re right,’ " he says of Vaughn.
A Cinematic Christmas Journeypodcast.
“And I think I’ve now done five Christmas movies. So it’s certainly a genre that I like personally — something that I know well,” adds theChristmas with the Campbellsco-producer.
The podcast has taken a “deep dive” into films likeHome Alone,It’s a Wonderful Life,Die Hard,Miracle on 34th Street— and, of course, 1983’sA Christmas Storyand its 2022 sequel.
“We really give a chance to look at a lot of the scenes from the movies, break them down. And I, as an actor and a filmmaker, am also able to give a little bit of insight in terms of what the filmmakers are trying to do,” Billingsley says.
“And I think, just as fans, we all love to revisit them, and it’s just been really fun for me to take a deep dive into them and get underneath them a little more,” he adds.
The first two seasons of theA Cinematic Christmas Journeypodcast are now streaming onSpotify.
source: people.com
