The stars of the streaming service's first holiday movie of the year dish to ET about their festive romance.
Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey are each other's holidates this season.
In Netflix's first holiday movie of the year, Holidate, Roberts and Bracey play Christmas grinches, Sloane and Jackson, who make a pact to be each other's plus-ones for each major soiree, from Christmas to Easter to New Year's, for the next 12 months, mainly so they don't have to go suffer through awkward dates or be stuck at the singles' table. But in classic romantic comedy fashion, the pair -- who deny they have any romantic feelings for each other, of course -- find themselves bracing for the possibility that they may actually be falling in love. Kristin Chenoweth adds some spice as free-spirited Aunt Susan.
"I'm so proud to have a movie like this coming out right now because I feel like we could all use a little more romance, a little more laughter, a little nostalgia," Roberts, 29, told ET's Kevin Frazier. "I know personally, I've had to turn off the news in the last week and I've had to turn off all the murder shows. And I have been craving romantic comedies and throwbacks, so I'm so excited for people to get to see this and hopefully be able to take their mind off of everything that's going on and have some fun."
"It's one of those things with a rom-com where it's unapologetically a romantic comedy and that's a great thing," Bracey said. "And I think that's what we all love about the romantic comedy. We all, in the back of our minds, know where this is going, but that buildup is what we want."
The 31-year-old Aussie shared that while the premise itself isn't groundbreaking in the genre, it does subvert some of the audience's expectations when it comes to romantic comedy tropes.
"What I think I love about this film is that it turns a couple of the traditions of the romantic comedy on its head -- the big, sweeping romantic gesture comes from Emma's character and the 'let's be honest with each other' moment comes from my character," Bracey shared. "I love that kind of play on it. And also, the fact that it's very self-aware as a romantic comedy. We joke about them and how ridiculous they are. That really helped in playing that all up and building towards [the tension], but I found it really fun, that idea of we all know what's coming and then teasing it out."
Unlike their characters, Roberts and Bracey are both avid celebrators of the holidays.
"I love Halloween. I love anything spooky. I love candy, I love dressing up, I'm very, very obsessed with Halloween," she revealed. "As far as traditions though, Christmas is the one where you always had a tree-decorating party and baking. Christmas is definitely our coziest, most traditional holiday, but Halloween has my heart."
" My favorite holiday is always Christmas Day because I get to be in Australia. Normally I always come home to Australia for it if I've been away, and we spend Christmas Day at my sister's place -- it's the middle of summer, it's always a beautiful day. We eat oysters and drink wine and I play with my nieces and nephews, and hang out with my family, and it's always a beautiful, beautiful day. We go swimming and it's this long lunch," Bracey shared. "I love it. It's my favorite day of the year, always."
As for how their families will react when they see Holidate for the first time, Bracey said his mother will have a memorable response.
"She'll see it when it comes out on Wednesday, on the 28th, but I think she'll like it. I hope," quipped Bracey, who is currently filming Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley movie in Australia. "I think there's definitely going to be a part of it that is going to be like, 'Just watching you kiss someone in this again, no, no!' She'll be a bit like that, but I think she'll have a laugh. I hope she laughs, that's what I hope. My mom is always like this every time I get a job. She goes, 'Am I going to have to watch you kiss someone in this one again?' I'm like, 'Yeah, probably Mom.'"
"My mom's the opposite," Roberts chimed in. "She's like, 'Who do you get to kiss?' I'm like, 'Mom, stop...!'"
Holidate is streaming now on Netflix.
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