“A Christmas Story” star Peter Billingsley is used to seeing his face everywhere during the holiday season.
“[‘A Christmas Story’] definitely appears when I’m visiting family and around the holidays,” the producer told Page Six in an interview earlier this year. “It’s really unavoidable, but it’s definitely enjoyable to watch.”
Billingsley, who played Ralphie in the 1983 film, admitted that he too has the film playing in the background on Christmas Day.
“There’s something that feels kind of familiar about it and makes it feel like Christmas when it’s on,” he told us, adding that he also watches “Elf,” in which he makes a cameo as Ming Ming the elf.
“A Christmas Story” has continued to grow bigger and more prominent in pop culture ever since its release 35 years ago. The movie has been made into a Broadway musical, a Fox live special and even got a direct-to-DVD sequel that flopped. Fans of the movie can buy leg lamp replicas and stay in Ralphie’s home in Cleveland, Ohio, which has also become a museum.
“I mean you don’t really know at the time what these projects are going to become or where they’re going to hit,” Billingsley said. “You always hope that they have an impact, that they resonate and they’re seen, but you just don’t know and this was an extreme example of not knowing where a film is going.”
He explained that the journey was even longer for writer Jean Shepherd and director Bob Clark who tried for 12 years to get the movie made.
These days, Billingsley, 47, is well-known for producing films and TV shows, including “Iron Man,” “Four Christmases,” “Sullivan & Son,” “GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon” and most recently, Netflix’s “F is for Family.” However, fans still know him best as the kid dreaming of a Red Ryder BB Gun.
“People come up to me and want to share their enthusiasm and their traditions in their household about how much they watch it or how much it means,” he said. “They connect very strongly with the characters, which is interesting because the movie takes place in like 1940 It just goes to show you, I guess, the kind of personalities are very timeless.”
“A Christmas Story” may air around the clock in December, especially on Christmas day when TBS airs it for 24 hours straight, but the cast isn’t raking in the royalties as one would imagine. Last year, Zack Ward, who plays bully Scut Farkus, told Page Six he makes “about $1,800 every two years.”
Billingsley, who didn’t disclose what he’s still making off the film, explained that at the time the movie came out contracts that included royalty compensation weren’t really a thing because no one knew movies would be aired on television as much as they are.
“It’s sort of an unfortunate thing, but hopefully SAG is working on that to try to come to something a little more fair so actors feel compensated for something thats exposed so much,” he said. “It does feel like the scale is a little bit tipped for a film like that to air so many times without really any compensation for the people that were in it.”