A gay-friendly holiday: 20 fascinating facts about modern Christmas classic ‘The Family Stone’

Thomas Bezucha’s 2005 The Family Stone tells the story of the Stonex, a tight-knit, extremely liberal New England brood thrown into chaos when golden child Everett (the dashing Dermot Mulroney) brings home his girlfriend, the tightly wound and politically conservative Meredith (icon Sarah Jessica Parker) for Christmas.

When things go south—Meredith is casually homophobic toward Everett’s deaf, gay brother Thad (Tyrone Giordano) and mom Sybil (Diane Keaton) is dealing with terminal cancer—Meredith calls in her sister, the much more amiable Julie (Claire Danes) for backup.

Though the dramedy wasn’t big with the critics, it became a commercial success. Now, nearly 20 years later, it’s been dubbed a seasonal staple by many, with LGBTQ+ fans praising it for being one of the few holiday films of its time to prominently feature queer characters.

With the film surely playing on TV screens across the country this holiday season, read on for 20 fascinating facts about The Family Stone…

1. Bezucha is openly gay.

Bezucha previously directed Big Eden, a crowd-pleasing 2000 gay romantic comedy.

2. The Stones are not based on Bezucha’s family, but the story is inspired by his sister.

“My sister [was] dating someone, and the family didn’t think it was a great match,” the filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly in an oral history.

3. Bezucha was also inspired by the community he grew up in.

“I think it’s having grown up in an academic community,” he told Movie Web in 2006. “I always say it’s not my family but these are my people.”

4. Deaf actor Tyrone Giordano was cast as Thad.

Giordano has worked extensively in deaf theater—including Big River and Pippin—and attended Gallaudet University, where he currently teaches.

5. He had made his film debut the year prior.

He appeared in the 2005 rom-com A Lot Like Love, sharing the screen with Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet, and out actor Kal Penn.

6. The cast had to learn ASL for the film.

The production hired Jack Jason, deaf icon Marlee Matlin’s producing partner, as a consultant. 

7. Some actors were naturals…

“Diane was comfortable getting into it,” Giordano told EW. Keaton had learned ASL from a previous film.

8. …while others struggled.

“I was the worst. One day I stuck my finger in my eye because I was trying to sign,” Nelson told Entertainment Weekly.

9. Meredith was Parker’s first role after a certain iconic character.

Parker had recently wrapped her run as ultimate queer ally Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City.

10. Parker considered the role of Meredith a challenge.

She told Vulture, “[Bezucha] had very specific ideas about this character. He offered a really nice challenge. He wanted her to be skilled in ways that I had not been onscreen. There was a sort of chilly quality to her, where her neuroses were so evident, and yet she works so hard to mask that. She was wound so tight.”

11. In fact, playing Meredith was physically challenging.

“Carrie Bradshaw was very physical,” Parker told Vulture. “She moved around a lot; she gesticulated a lot. Hands were an important part of the way she told stories, and Tom really didn’t want that, which was exciting to me. We really did talk a lot about that. Even in the process of shooting, there would be times that he would remind me of some of those original landmarks that we were shooting for.”

12. Parker also found a scene in which Meredith is homophobic “excruciating.”

In the fabulous Vulture interview, Parker explains that the silence around the dinner scene—in which Meredith asks Thad and Patrick if they’d really want their son to be gay, causing the family to turn on her—was hard because of the silence around her as she asked the awful question. 

13. Claire Danes didn’t find the scene too hard.

The actress told EW, “I actually got to enjoy myself because I wasn’t in a state of despair.”

14. The scene took two days to film.

“It’s strange to have made a studio Christmas movie in which I kill the mom with cancer and have a political war at the dinner table over race and sexual orientation,” Bezucha told EW. “I’m not sure how that happened.”

15. Brian J. White plays Patrick, Thad’s partner.

White is a prolific actor, having appeared in many films and television shows, including Ambitions and The Black Hamptons.

16. Don’t feel too old, but The Family Stone did win the 2005 AARP Movies For Grownups Award for Best Grownup Love Story.

The award honors a movie romance featuring characters over the age of 50 (in this case, Keaton and Nelson).

17. Parker was nominated for a Golden Globe as Meredith.

She lost to Reese Witherspoon, who won for playing June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, and would go on to win the Best Actress Oscar for the role.

18. The movie was also nominated for the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Film — Wide Release.

It lost to Ang Lee’s masterpiece, Brokeback Mountain.

19. Otherwise, the film got middling reviews…

Most reviews felt it was hard to like most of the characters, and that the story took too many tonal swerves.

20. …but enjoys a cult following today.

Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, and other sites often write fondly of the film during the holiday season.