Christmas film crew using Idyllwild as a backdrop

Locals noticed a film crew at work the week of April 22 at several
downtown localtions. The Gastrognome was taken over Tuesday and
Wednesday, with small “drifts” of fake snow scattered around the deck,
and FERRO was next on the schedule.

The Crier spoke with co-producer and director Jake Hilgren at the Gnome.
“We’re filming a movie called ‘Christmas Uncorked.’ It’s a movie about a
wine sommelier who comes back to her hometown to help with the annual
feast, and she reconnects with her childhood neighbor, who is now
running the local tavern. They fall in love over the Christmas holiday.”

Hilgren said this is the fourth Christmas movie his group has shot in
Idyllwild over the last five years, and that during their two weeks of
filming they used several houses, including one adjacent to the house
where Elvis Presley stayed during his time here making “Kid Galahad.”
Curious bypassers were not there to check out the set, but to see “the
old Elvis house.”

The crew, 35 people in all, has been staying at Tahquitz Pines. In the
past he has directed shoots at the Fort and in front of Pure Bean Idy
and Fratello’s. This was his second time filming at the Gastrognome,
with the restaurant sometimes appearing as a home and sometimes as a
tavern.

He noted that Idyllwild is well known by location scouts and that it has
a “different vibe from some of the other places we’ve shot like Big Bear
and Lake Arrowhead. It’s got a little bit of a hippy vibe.” The town
provides creature comforts as well: “We always like to come back to
Idyllwild for the down-home feel, of course the really good coffee, and
the crew’s a big fan of the Idyllwild Ice Cream Shop.”