So...Corrie was watching a Rom-Com the other day, and I thought I recognized one of the supporting character's actor. The story seemed like it had characters from a different movie I remember her watching, but it seemed like it would be, like, the sixth act of the story. I mentioned that and she laughed, telling me it was actually the sequel to that first movie I mentioned.
Before I go on, I feel like mentioning a few things about watching habits. Specifically, our solo watching habits, Corrie and me. Corrie, when taking a few moments to put eyes on something and vegetate, tends to put on rom-coms, and until this holiday season came along, had a stable of a few repeaters that highlight the continent of Oceana, strong-willed ladies, and Adam Demos. I, on the other hand, used to put on The X-Files, but since that's gone, I lean towards Chernobyl, The Sopranos, True Detective (first season only), or other nifty bad-vibe movies---think Zodiac, Shattered Glass, or even Nightcrawler. Basically, movies Corrie would never put on herself, but so what, since I'd be hard-pressed to put on a rom-com if I was by myself.
Anywho, the movie looked like it was all shot on location, as the exteriors were of a grand palace, while the interiors were too spectacular to be from a sound stage, and made me think of Versailles. As I paid a modicum of attention to the movie, I kept wondering out-loud: "Where was this filmed? It's beautiful..." Once it ended, I perked up and asked Corrie to re-center the credits on the screen. I was going to try and look at the names and see what I could see...maybe I could suss out where it was filmed by checking the names of the crew.
It took me about five seconds past the main actors names to make an educated guess. (I was totally right. I guess there are weirder and even less useful superpowers, but here we are.) Take a look at a screen grab from IMDB:
Do you see it? European, forested, palatial grounds...near the end of the credits, the producers thanked the "Benevolent Graces of King Michael the 1st."
I was like, really? My guess had nothing to do with any monarchy. That lead to a deep dive.
Those names there are all the Thracian remnants you'll find in today's Romanian population. King Michael was the last sovereign monarch of Romania. He ascended to the throne a few months before his 6th birthday in 1927, reigned until 1930, and then again in 1940 until 1947. During that time he was part of a staged coup against the Hitler-allied dictatorship, and eventually forced into abdication by Groza's communist movement, moved into exile in Switzerland as the monarchy was abolished and all of his palaces were nationalized. They were returned in the late 1990s after a protracted legal battle, and now serve as both museums and filming locations.
While looking all this up, I learned that the actor I thought I was seeing was not whom I thought it was. But I did learn that this sequel was the middle movie of a trilogy. As Corrie marveled at my name-to-place-recognition skills, she started the third movie.
Something that caught my eye as I scrolled through the detail list was that these were the first movies of the extended Netflix Christmas rom-com universe. The first of the trilogy was the first of the extended universe, but the second in the established timeline...and it went on like that for a few more lines.
WTF?
Corrie giggled at the jokes and hackneyed writing as my brain reeled. THERE IS A CONNECTED ROM-COM NETFLIX UNIVERSE? WITH AN ESTABLISHED TIMELINE?
I found this more fascinating than A Christmas Prince 3, which is what Corrie was watching. There are, by today's count (Winter 2024...and I can't believe I'm writing it like that) I believe 18 movies in what is affectionately called the NCU, for Netflix Christmas Universe, anchored by two trilogy series: A Christmas Prince; and The Princess Switch.
I can't vouch for too many of these movies. I did see plenty of the third Princess Switch movie last night. Those three movies are basically a showcase for Vanessa Hudgens, as she plays two separate characters in the first film, and three separate characters in the second and third films. At different times, she plays a character trying to impersonate one of the doppelgängers, and as contrived as the story sounds (and it is obviously so contrived) she does a reasonably good job embodying the three distinct ladies, and then those ladies learning how to impersonate each other. It's a nice mix of stupid and marvelous, and would be total dreck if she couldn't act at all.
Those movies I've seen enough of. I caught possibly half to three quarters of the last two Christmas Prince entries. Supposedly characters roam all over the NCU, which interconnects fictional Central Europeans kingdoms, fashionably named Aldovia, Penglia, Belgravia, and Montenaro.
This seems like the thing to do now, as regular, non-rom-com fans like me perk up and start telling other people about it: this NCU is having a moment.
These aren't links, but you can check them out if you'd like:
Let's careen towards critical mass.
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