Pierson Fode is a confident guy — but stripping down to his candy cane underwear for Alicia Silverstone, Melissa Joan Hart and Jameela Jamil gave him some serious anxiety.
“The nerves going in were definitely a little bit high because I had prepped the scene, knew what I wanted to do, but when you’re there on the day, you don’t know for sure, and I’m standing there essentially naked in front of everybody wearing garter socks and some underwear,” Fode, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly about filming his new holiday movie, A Merry Little Ex-Mas. “And if it doesn’t work, if it doesn’t play, then it’s not funny and nobody laughs. So the first [take], my nerves were a little bit high.”
The actor, who plays Silverstone’s love interest Chet in the romantic comedy, attempts to come to the rescue during a family party when a gift accidentally sets the Christmas tree on fire. He uses his tuxedo — tear away, of course, from his stripper days — to fan the growing flames, stripping down to his boxer briefs as the rest of the room looks on in horror.
Thankfully for Fode, his fellow castmates — along with director Steve Carr — loved his “committed” performance so much, they spent the first take “cry-laughing” in a way that melted all his stress away.
Celebrities Who Opened Up About Doing Full-Frontal Nudity
“You can see their genuine laughter when I throw my clothes onto Melissa Jen Hart [in the scene],” he told Us. “And that gave me all the confidence in the world to keep doing exactly what I was doing.”
Merry Little Ex-Mas, which hit Netflix on Wednesday, November 12, follows exes Kate (Silverstone) and Everett (Oliver Hudson) as they prepare for their first Christmas as a nearly-divorced (or “consciously uncoupled,” as they say) pair. As Kate decides if she wants to leave the comfort of her small town, she’s thrown for a loop when Everett reveals he has a new girlfriend (Jamil). Her jealousy leads her to a flirty encounter with Chet, who becomes her date for all the family’s joint holiday festivities.
Silverstone, 49, and Fode had to engage in a series of sexy moments together throughout the film, which the actor admitted was also nerve-wracking. “I mean, Alicia is iconic. She’s Cher from Clueless. That’s pretty epic,” he pointed out.
The anxiety quickly “dissipated,” however, once the pair got comfortable with each other on set. Carr’s willingness to let the cast improv was also a big help. “I was just like, ‘Oh, there’s total freedom on the set. You can kind of do no wrong, and he’ll just guide you back in the right direction,’ where it’s like, ‘Oh, this is the right choice. This is the funniest choice,’” Fode explained, adding that with someone as “phenomenal” as Silverstone, the final cut was destined to be “great.”
Instead of stressing out, Fode instead focused on how often he could make Silverstone and the rest of the cast break character each take.
“That was my goal. The entire movie was to get them to break character,” he quipped. “And it was just so much fun. A lot of those laughs made it into the movie, which was even more exciting for me to see, especially when I’m beating the fire out of the tree with my stripper outfit and my eyebrows are singing off because it’s too hot.”
That kind of slapstick comedy, it turns out, is exactly what Fode was looking for in a project. Citing Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Three Stooges as some of his biggest inspirations, he called Chet “the most fun I’ve ever been able to have with a character as far as comedy goes.”
“Cary Grant is my favorite actor of all time. I love Jim Carrey,” he continued. “All this slapstick comedy that I’ve never been able to like showcase, because I’m always playing the hot, shirtless dude watching a horse. Which is fun, but …. I hope I get to do more like this. I hope people see it, and say, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, that guy could be funny. Let’s have some fun with him.’”
Fode is also a proponent of the rom, not just the com. He recently drew comparisons to Matthew McConaughey after starring in Netflix’s The Wrong Paris alongside Miranda Cosgrove earlier this year. With the past decade notably lacking in high-quality romance, Fode is more than happy to help bring back the genre’s glory days.
Who Is the Hot Cowboy Starring in Miranda Cosgrove’s ‘The Wrong Paris?’
“I think people want that idealized romance. They want to see this thing on screen where they can have some fun and have some laughs,” he explained. “They want that real excitement, that new beginning of a new relationship, and they also need that little bit of lightness in their lives. Movies are entertainment, so let’s entertain people. Let’s take them along for a great ride that they can leave and they can laugh, and they can love and they can cry, and they can have a good time and feel inspired by the end of it.”
The actor has a similar perspective when it comes to holiday films like A Merry Little Ex-Mas, which feel like a much needed “hug” in a world with a lot of “darkness.”
“These movies come out once a year, but they have the ability to inspire change in people’s minds and allow people to have a moment of respite at the end of a long week or a long day or a long year, a bit of joy,” he told Us. “You get to sit down, watch this movie, have fun and just enjoy life. That’s it. That’s the best part of all of this.”
Merry Little Ex-Mas is now streaming on Netflix.
