Debra Messing sticks out like a sore thumb in her latest movie, “Nothing Like the Holidays.” But that is just fine by her.

In the comedy, which debuts in U.S. theaters on Friday, a Puerto Rican family comes together at Christmas for the first time in three years, and Messing plays a very non-Latina career-driven executive wife of the family’s eldest brother, played by John Leguizamo.

“I’d never been an outsider in a film,” Messing said. “I very much felt like the white Jewish girl and it was the first time I had ever been the minority on the set.”

Messing tried to “access my inner Latina” by recalling her elementary school Spanish during the shoot, she said.

The 40-year-old Messing said the film marks a step forward in Hollywood because it is essentially a mainstream holiday film but one that focuses on a minority, Latino family.

“Nothing Like the Holidays” follows the Rodriguez family during a holiday gathering in Chicago that is prompted by the youngest brother’s return from combat overseas.

An ensemble piece, the movie details the trials of each family member’s career or personal relationships. Messing’s character, Sarah, for instance, struggles with whether to take a new, high-powered job while facing pressure from her husband and mother-in-law to start a family.

“That’s not specific to the Puerto Rican culture,” Messing said of the themes the movie pursues. “I could see an Italian family on screen, I could see a Jewish family on screen. You could just fill in the blank, because family is family.”

(more…)

The gallery has been updated with 1 more magazine scan from Star Magazine plus I have added the NLTH poster in a HQ version.

The first poster & trailer for Nothing Like the Holidays is here! Looks great to me, another Debra project I’m looking forward to.

I promised some new The Starter Wife and Nothing Like the Holidays stuff yesterday so here it is! I’ve added 2 teaser trailers from The Starter Wife and 1 movie clip from Nothing Like the Holidays. You can check them out in the Media Archive.

The Starter Wife – Fall 2008
The Starter Wife – Fall 2008 #2
Nothing Like the Holidays – Clip #1

If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that family time isn’t always a walk in the park. In Nothing Like the Holidays, two of today’s most talented actors, John Leguizamo (The Happening, The Take) and Freddy Rodriguez (“Six Feet Under,” Bobby), join Debra Messing (“Will & Grace,” “The Starter Wife”), Alfred Molina (The Da Vinci Code, Spider-Man 2), and director Alfredo de Villa (the award-winning Washington Heights) to tell the humorous and heartwarming story of one unforgettable family holiday.

It’s Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home in Chicago to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother’s safe return from combat overseas. For Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez), coming home has rekindled feelings for an old flame, although she can’t seem to forgive him for leaving. His older sister Roxanna, a struggling actress, has been chasing her Hollywood dreams for years with little to show for it. And much to the dismay of their mother Anna (Elizabeth Peña), eldest brother Mauricio (John Leguizamo) brings home a high-powered executive wife (Debra Messing) who would rather raise capital than a child.

In the course of one eventful week, traditions will be celebrated, secrets revealed and major life decisions made. It all begins when Anna announces to her children she is divorcing their father Eduardo (Alfred Molina). The shock waves from this familial upheaval prompt Roxanna, Mauricio and Jesse, each in their own way, to reevaluate the past and rethink the future. But when the Rodriguezes learn that one of their own is facing a true crisis, they instinctively pull together: Old resentments are forgotten, familial bonds are re-affirmed and the healing power of laughter works its magic as the family discovers they are much stronger than they ever realized. Nothing Like the Holidays — In theaters November 14th, 2008

Stills in from “Nothing Like the Holidays” in the gallery has been replaced with HQs.