Chef, Food Network star, wife, mother — and now, actress. Ree Drummond has quite the resumé — and she has no plans to stop expanding it anytime soon.
The “Pioneer Woman” host, 52, is starring in the culinary network and Discovery+’s first scripted feature film, “Candy Coated Christmas.”
Drummond will make her acting debut in the holiday flick, set for release on Nov. 19.
According to People, the movie focuses on Molly Gallant (played by Molly McCook), who returns to her home in Washington after her mother’s death. She arrives after learning that her family’s business is facing bankruptcy. The publication premiered a candy-coated trailer for the program on Wednesday.
Molly wants to sell her mother’s childhood home before she meets the current renters, Noah Winters (Aaron O’Connell) and his family. Molly begins to fall in love (of course!) with the quaint, little town of Peppermint Hollow, along with its bakery (run by Drummond’s character, Bee) and Noah.
“I am so incredibly honored that Food Network asked me to play Bee,” said Drummond in a statement. “If I get to be in just one movie in my life, I want it to be a Christmas movie.”
Fans can watch the chef as well as the rest of the cast prep and get into character in an insider-scoop feature called “Candy Coated Christmas: Behind the Scenes with Ree Drummond.” That special will drop on Nov. 1 on Discovery+.
The news of the Oklahoma native’s casting was announced in August. “It’s been a dream of ours to do this for a long time,” Kathleen Finch, chief lifestyle brands officer for Discovery, told Variety at the time. “Not only do we have the Discovery+ platform to put the movie on, what’s exciting is that we have giant cable networks and digital platforms that we can really use to promote the movie in a super-sized way.”
“Ree is the epitome of a female-skewing Food Network talent,” Finch added. “We put her and all these fun ideas into a pot and came up with this fun idea.”
In a statement, Drummond added, “Candy Coated Christmas was so much fun to be part of; it had all the magical elements that make holiday movies so special. Any initial nerves I felt about joining this project completely melted away when I stepped into the sweet, charming world of Peppermint Hollow!”
The food blogger is also working hard on her weight-loss journey. She reportedly dropped 60 pounds and is feeling better than ever.
“I feel great and that’s what matters. The scale was sort of a gauge for me that I was heading in the right direction. And it was never about ‘I have to lose this amount,’ it’s really about how I feel,” she shared with Entertainment Tonight last month. “I feel great … I feel strong. Even when I was thinner, I don’t think I ever have been a squatter or a lunger before. Not since my ballet days.”
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