20 fascinating facts that prove Thanksgiving fav ‘Home For The Holidays’ is even gayer than you remember

Queer icon Jodie Foster directs the 1995 dramedy, Home For The Holidays, which follows Claudia (Holly Hunter), a down-on-her-luck single mom who returns home for Thanksgiving to her increasingly dysfunctional family. Among them is Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), an openly gay man with a secret—he got married without telling anyone!

Home For The Holidays, is a biting but ultimately sweet look at a dysfunctional but loving family that learns to deal with its problems, if only for a short time. Compared to the countless Christmastime classics, a film set on and around Turkey Day already feels unique—and considering this one thoughtfully and sensitively touches on LGBTQ+ characters and themes, that makes it even more of a rare bird.

With the holiday season in full swing, click through for 20 fascinating facts about Home For The Holidays…

1. The film is based on a short story by Chris Radant.

The story can be found in Radant’s 1995 book Home For The Holidays And Other Calamities.

2. Screenwriter W. D. Richter is mostly known for his sci-fi and action scripts.

Richter’s other screenplays include Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai, Across The 8th Dimension, and Big Trouble In Little China.

3. Claire Danes would later star in another holiday film, The Family Stone.

Danes is one of the female leads in the 2005 Christmas movie, a funny tearjerker that tells the story of a dysfunctional but loving family reuniting for the holidays. Sound familiar?

4. Dylan McDermott has gone on to star in many queer-inclusive Ryan Murphy projects.

Hottie McDermott may play straight in Home For The Holidays, but he’s done some great work in various queer-inclusive series, including Murphy’s Netflix series Hollywood, where he plays a fictionalized version of Scottie Bowers, the bisexual purported pimp to the stars. 

5. There were originally no gay characters.

Foster told Huffington Post: “Originally, the brother was not gay. That was not part of the story, and it was not part of the original script, so that was something that we brought in… It wasn’t about his acceptance of himself; it was about having to go home to a family when you already have a family. People that live in some subset groups—whether it’s gay people, whether it’s progressives, as opposed to going home for your conservative friends, or maybe you don’t live in a religious way but your parents are religious—your friends are your family, and that is very true of my generation.”

6. Downey Jr. admitted to being under the influence during production…

Downey Jr. admitted to David Letterman that, at the time of filming, he was heavily inebriated. According to Huffington Post, Foster supported his role in the production throughout, even when she had to shut down the set due to his issues, and even spoke to his family, who staged an intervention shortly after the production.

7. But his performance was fantastic.

According to Foster: “No matter what it was that you were going through, you never disappointed me. And I have to be clear about that, even though you were killing yourself. I was forever grateful for what he brought to that movie. He was 100% present, as far as I was concerned.”

8. In fact, Downey Jr.’s show-stopping monologue was improvised.

A scene between Downey Jr. and McDermott contained an unbroken, single-take of an improved monologue in which Downey Jr. goes off about a friend. “​​He does this monologue where he’s describing what came out of his friend’s nose, and everybody’s getting grossed out and trying to get him to stop, but he can’t stop. He’s like, ‘This goobery this, and there was a ferret,’ just all of these images. And he went on for five minutes,” Fosterrecalled.

9. Actor-filmmaker Ryan Spahn credits the film with saving his life.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RYAN SPAHN (@ryanspahn)

Spahn—an out actor, writer and director—was 14 at the time the movie was released. He wrote in a Rotten Tomatoes editorial that the movie spoke to him as a young gay teen, seeing Downey Jr.’s Tcharacter: “Tommy was gay and he was just… huh… he was just living his life. Walking around. Being gay. Being funny. Being even, like, a role model. And he was not dying of AIDS. But I thought all gay people died of AIDS—that’s what the movies had told me, right? This guy was totally alive, and—shut the front door—he was totally married. To a man. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

10. Downey Jr. once played Charlie Chaplin, co-star Geraldine Chaplin’s father.

The actor starred in the 1992 biopic Chaplin about the silent film legend. His daughter, Geraldine, played the role of quirky Aunt Gladys in Home For The Holidays.

11. Sam Slovick, who plays Jack, is gay.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Slovick (@samslovick)

Slovick plays Tommy’s secret husband, who he married without the family present.

12. Slovick is also a writer and director…

He’s written for Whole Life Magazine, LA Weekly, Good Magazine, and more. In 2015, he directed the documentary Radicalized, about an anarchist collective in Los Angeles.

13. …whose work has been critically acclaimed.

His work reporting about Skid Row for LA Weekly in 2007, being recognized by The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing and was submitted for a Pulitzer.

14. Like Downey Jr., Slovick is in recovery.

Slovick spoke to LA Times in 2015 about getting sober after struggling as an actor and writer in the 1980s and 1990s.

15. Foster came out as queer in 2013.

Foster famously came out of the closet during the 2013 Golden Globe Awards, saying, “Seriously, I hope that you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big-coming-out speech tonight,” she said, “because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age.”

16. She is married to photographer and actress Alexandra Hedison.

Previously, Hedison was romantically connected to Ellen DeGeneres from 2000 to 2004.

17. The film was produced by Peggy Rajski, who directed Trevor.

Trevor, of course, is the famous short film from 1994 about a young gay boy who attempts suicide after facing bullying and rejection.

18. Rajski is also a co-founder of The Trevor Project.

The Trevor Project is a major organization dedicated to suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ young adults.

19. She even worked with Glee on an episode that addressed LGBTQ+ teen suicide attempts.

In Glee, the character of jock Dave Karofsky attempts suicide after struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Rajski consulted with the show about the sensitive story.

20. Randy Stone, who has a small role in the film, was also a co-founder of The Trevor Project.

Stone was previously married to Roslyn Kind, the half-sister of Barbra Streisand, before coming out as gay himself.

Home For The Holidays is currently available to stream via FuboTV, Paramount+, and Showtime.