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Meet the hunks of the next gay holiday rom-com—with a plot that sounds VERY familiar

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
A diptych. On the left, Taylor Frey is shirtless in black shorts sitting on the ground of a walk-in closet. On the right, Rick Cosnett wears black shorts, tank top, and blue socks, sitting in a gym.
Taylor Frey (left), Rick Cosnett (right) | Image Credits: Instagram, @taylorfrey (left), @rickcosnett (right)

Sure, it’s only April, but the Ghost Of Christmas Future is here with good tidings from the upcoming holiday season: Yet another gay holiday rom-com is on the way!

According to Variety, the film The Holiday Exchange has just locked in its cast, and has already begun production. The film was written by Taylor Frey, who also stars, and is set to be directed by Jake Helgren, who has plenty of holiday movie experience, including Dashing In December—Paramount+’s splashy gay rom-com from 2020.

The plot is as follows: A successful businessman named Wilde (Frey) is fresh out of a tough breakup, and, instead of facing the holidays at home alone, decides to house-swap with a handsome man named Oliver (Rick Cosnett) who lives in a snowy (fictional) hamlet called Brilfax.

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Once they’ve made their titular “exchange,” Wilde explores the wintery wonderland while Oliver navigates Christmas in sunny LA, and both find themselves falling for dashing locals, Julius (Samer Salem) and Henry (Daniel Garcia), bringing heat to their holidays.

If that sounds at all familiar, that’s because it’s quite literally the set-up of the Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet-starring The Holiday, but with a gay twist. It’s said that Wilde and Oliver meet and decide to swap homes thanks to an “LGBTQ app,” so maybe they’ll exchange some virtual flirting of their own?

And, not to bury the lede here, but The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills‘ Kyle Richards also stars as Lola, Wilde’s “lively and involved mother.” (We did the math, and she’s about 20 years older than Frey, so it checks out!) Richards, for her part, has always been a vocal gay ally—remember when she #ApplaudLGBT‘d at the beach?

But back to our stars, Frey and Cosnett. Queerty can exclusively confirm that both of the gay actors are incredibly handsome. And we imagine they’ll have great chemistry, too, since they’ve previously worked together on the comedy Shoulder Dance, which we premiered on this very site last month.

Frey’s credits include It Chapter Two, G.B.F., The Carries Diaries, and a stint on long-running soap Days Of Our Lives. He also appeared in another gay holiday rom-com from director Jake Helgren from last year called A Christmas To Treasure, acting opposite his husband Kyle Dean Massey.

By the way, Frey and Massey are very cute together:

Cosnett is perhaps best recognized for his roles in TV dramas like The Flash, The Vampire Diaries, and Quantico. He came out as gay in 2020 with a powerful Instagram post. In fact, his Instagram offers up a lot of great content, we might add:

Actually, the entire cast is full of hunks. In addition to the aforementioned Samer Salem and Daniel Garcia, Fire Island‘s Nick Adams also stars, as does Frey’s hubby Kyle Dean Massey.

We’re just…. going to go ahead and leave these images here:

There’s no word yet on where and when The Holiday Exchange will premiere, but we’d bet on an air date this coming December on The Hallmark Channel or one of the many other networks who recently realized that that gays love their holiday movies, too.

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