‘A Christmas Story Christmas’ Star Julianna Layne: Peter Billingsley Treated Me Like His ‘Own Daughter’ (Exclusive)

Julianna Layne is the adorable star of 'A Christmas Story Christmas' and plays the daughter of the legendary Ralphie Parker.

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A Christmas Story has been a holiday classic every year, and now we have the highly-anticipated sequel A Christmas Story Christmas to add to the list. The movie flashes forward to decades later, and Ralphie Parker has a family of his own. He has two kids, including Julie Parker, played by the precious Julianna Layne. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Julianna about her experience working on A Christmas Story Christmas.

A Christmas Story
Julianna Layne in ‘A Christmas Story Christmas.’ (HBO Max)

Peter Billingsley reprised the beloved role of Ralphie in the follow-up film, nearly 40 years after the original film. “It was so amazing working with him. He was so sweet to me. He treated me like his own daughter,” Julianna said.

The 8-year-old actress enjoyed playing Julie because she’s “caring, sweet, and she would do anything for her family. Peter is the nicest person.” Between Ralphie and Sandy Parker, Julianna admitted that Julie Parker is “more like her dad. Julie is super funny, and they kind of look like each other.”

The cast filmed A Christmas Story Christmas in Bulgaria. Julianna had a blast filming with her castmates. Julianna got to work alongside Peter, Erinn Hayes, Julie Hagerty, and more. They all created one happy family onscreen.

During production, Julianna revealed that her onscreen brother, River Drosche, actually pranked her on April Fool’s Day. “He went into my trailer and unscrewed all the lightbulbs. When I went to turn on the lightbulbs on my mirror I was like, is everything okay?” Thankfully, everything was!

Julianna clearly has found a niche in holiday movies. This isn’t Julianna’s first Christmas movie of the year. She also starred as young Karen in the 2022 film A Christmas Karen. She’s also filmed another holiday movie titled Philly Christmas. When it comes to her favorite aspect of the holidays, it’s very simple for Julianna: “spending time with family.” A Christmas Story Christmas is now available to watch on HBO Max.