Chad Michael Murray is popping up the warmth this Christmas.
PEOPLE has the unique first have a look at The Merry Gentlemen, starring Murray, Britt Robertson and Marla Sokoloff, who additionally wrote the Netflix vacation movie, directed by Peter Sullivan.
The film follows a former big-city dancer (Robertson) as she travels house for the vacations and levels an all-male, Christmas-themed revue in hopes of saving her dad and mom’ small-town performing venue.
Playing a type of dashing male performers, Murray, 43, tells PEOPLE he noticed the film as a possibility to do one thing he’s by no means achieved earlier than: learn to dance.
“I'd never danced professionally or trained by any means,” he tells PEOPLE. “I love going out and dancing. My wife [Sarah Roemer] and I have danced at a wedding or two and we dance on occasion and we goof around at the house, but nothing to this level.”
Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
Murray admits it was scary taking up the function at first, however that’s why he determined to do it: “When I see one thing and it scares the crap out of me, one thing in me says, ‘Alright, well let's see what we can do. I'm going to fall flat on my face or have a lot of fun doing it.’ So that was what actually pulled me in.”
The star provides of the coaching, “As we get older, it's not as easy as it used to be when we were in our 20s, so it was a lot of work, dedication and focus. … We were doing six-hour days in the dance hall. I got there before all the other guys so that I could learn the majority of all the things before they got there, because some of the guys have previous dance training. I wanted to be ahead of the curve so that I wasn't holding anybody back. If I was going to do this, I wanted to be all in.”
Murray says the bodily transformation was all “very intense” however, finally, “I like an excellent problem.”
Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
Robertson, 34, says her costar was totally “immersed” throughout her first interplay with him at dance rehearsal, together with sporting “full out hip-hop gear” and knee pads.
“He seemed to put a lot of effort into it and he cared a lot,” she says. “I always think that's a good sign when your actors care about what they're doing. So I was impressed!”
Meanwhile, Sokoloff, 43, says she was blown away by Murray and Robertson’s kindness on set, in addition to their spectacular abs.
“I have never been around so many people that have such impressive abdominal muscles — including Brit!” the Full House alum quips. “Not to mention how lovely they all were. The set was super fun. I loved chatting with Chad about our time in the early aughts, and how we had so many mutual friends but never met or worked together before.”
Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
When requested which was tougher, studying dance strikes for The Merry Gentlemen or working towards basketball for One Tree Hill, Murray says basketball. He provides that he developed such a love for dancing on the set of this Netflix movie that he's already search for new methods he can foster that keenness.
As for the way the brand new film compares to different Netflix vacation hits, Sokoloff jokes that this one actually has extra “hot topless men,” with Murray including that they had been in a position to “push the envelope a little bit” right here.
Though his spouse wasn’t on set with him for the dance scenes, he says that she was a bit “nervous” in regards to the movie when he first confirmed her behind-the-scenes footage.
“She was like, ‘Oh my God, what are you making?’ Because depending on how you shoot it and how you light it, it could be a completely different film,” he says, noting he was adamant about hitting the correct “tone” with the film. “It's a fine line to thread a Christmas movie and strippers and to make it work, right? It's not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think Christmas. So for us, it was really making sure that the tone's right.”
“This isn't your standard, formatted genre piece for the holidays,” Murray provides. “We're doing a male dance revue, so it's something to get a little hot and bothered under the collar, which is great, but the romance is there, the sparks are flying, we've got some great comedy beats in there that you're going to laugh out loud.”
Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
Robertson hopes followers respect all of the various kinds of efficiency artwork all through the movie, together with her favourite, faucet dancing.
“A lot of hard work and effort went into choreographing them,” she says of the dance numbers. “It's sort of at the heart of the film, so I hope people can appreciate that.” Though, she jokes, “The boys are pretty cute too! They get a very shirts-off, abs-out kind of look. It's really the reason you want to watch! I'm just the decoration.”
“It’s a different take on Christmas movies,” Sokoloff provides. “I, for one, love, love, love holiday movies, but this one has a different and fun vibe and something for everyone — and I’m not just saying that because I’m the writer! Chad and Britt are such a magical combo. … I just smile so big when watching them together.”
The Merry Gentlemen — which additionally stars Beth Broderick, Michael Gross, Maxwell Caulfield, Hector David Jr., Colt Prattes and Marc Anthony Samuel — is on Netflix Nov. 20.
