Jacky Lai and Tony Giroux Preview Lifetime’s ‘A Sugar & Spice Holiday’ [Video]

Jacky Lai and Tony Giroux are getting in the holiday spirit with their upcoming Lifetime movie, A Sugar & Spice Holiday.

A Sugar & Spice Holiday is Lifetime’s first film centered on an Asian American family and featuring an Asian director, writer, casting director, and cast.

It follows Suzie (Lai), a rising young architect, who returns to her hometown in Maine for Christmas where her Chinese American family runs the local Lobster Bar. Following the loss of her grandmother who was a legendary baker in their community, Suzie is guilted into entering the local gingerbread house competition alongside her old high school friend, Billy (Giroux).

I recently had the chance to talk with Lai and Giroux about their work on A Sugar & Spice Holiday and the importance of the film’s representation.

“I definitely feel like I took it very seriously,” Lai began. “There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with being, I think, the first anything. And so I didn’t take the project lightly at all.”

Lai said she really wanted to do the writing and the character justice because “it is a really, really sweet story and really great characters. And I just wanted to make sure that I fulfilled that to the best of my ability.”

“For me as well. It was huge. Huge. And to be able to see, you know, my own culture. Some of my own stories and being able to relate to it in a way that I never really have before on screen,” Giroux said. “I think that with American culture, I always had such an admiration for what it was on screen, but I never fully related to it and to be able to see that, you know, on the script and then taking part in it, it’s extremely humbling.”

Watch the full video of our interview with Jacky Lai and Tony Giroux:

In describing A Sugar & Spice Holiday, Lai started by saying that you should probably have some snacks nearby while you watch. She also shared what makes the film so endearing.

“There’s a lot of comedy and I feel like if you know you know — if you have an Asian friend or know their family — you’ll be able to spot a lot of these characters in the movie,” Lai said.

“I think it’s a really neat Christmas story that that is filled with love and joy, with a lot of beautiful accents on Asian culture,” Giroux added. “And letting that be a beautiful mix where it’s not just like Asian centered, but it really is about being Asian American.”

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A Sugar & Spice Holiday airs Sunday, December 13th at 8/7c on Lifetime.

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