KTLA

How Maria Menounos found inspiration in a Christmas classic for her new film

For years we’ve seen Maria Menounos interview the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, but now she’s starring in a film herself.

She stars in the upcoming Lifetime Christmas film, “The Holiday Dating Guide.”


While she has appeared in other films like “Kickin’ It Old School” and “Fantastic Four,” this movie is her first starring role, and she admitted to KTLA 5’s Sam Rubin that she was nervous.

“I was terrified the night before! I was trying to figure out how I could escape and how I could get out of it. I’m like flipping out saying ‘What am I going to do?'”

However, Menounos found solace in thinking about one of her favorite Christmas movies.

“Just put one foot in front of the other from ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.’ So I said, ‘OK, I’m going to put one foot in front of the other and it worked out!”

The project follows a dating expert and coach who’s trying to get a book deal, but the publisher isn’t impressed. To catch his attention, the “Better Together” host’s character gets a crazy idea to prove her dating advice actually works. The two make a wager that she has to make a man fall in love with her using her dating dos and don’ts within 12 days.

“So, she sets off to get a guy to fall in love with her and it gets a little messy and she realizes in the end that sometimes the rules don’t always apply,” she revealed.

So, do the character’s dating tips align with Menounos’ when she was single?

“I didn’t follow any of those roles,” she laughed. “There were a lot of rules. She was a little intense about it. Sometimes we all have to learn that we have to like loosen up a little and just surrender to the universe and just let it all kind of happen.”

“The Holiday Dating Guide” premieres on Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.