"He does have a red nose, and just look at that belly - he must be...."

Charlie's "Grandpa Chris" has a secret. He disappears every Christmas Eve and comes

home really late. Charlie finds the old toy train set in the attic and the tattered Santa suit

in the closet. Finally Chris must come to terms with his Christmas Eve ritual.

Meet the Cast & Crew of The Santa Train.

BACKGROUND:

This film sprang from the part of my brain that became affected by living next to railroad tracks. Now when I say next to tracks - I mean my bed is like 75 feet from the tracks where about a dozen trains a day blow by. And when I say blow - I mean they hit the whistle at a crossing, and when I say a 'day', actually about half the trains come at night.

I love Christmas - always have. My parents made sure I had the best Christmas's. Everything else about this story is fiction - except for Anna. She's the nice (okay hott) bartender at the bar in the film, and at the time of the shooting (and for several years prior to then) she was the bartender at this local establishment here in Nokesville known as Joe's Pizza & Subs. This was her first film to my knowledge, and I think she is a natural.

I had worked with Paul (Grandpa Chris) on The Vulture's Eye, and Perfect Poison, and wanted to have him in my 'Bridge Short', but his schedule would not permit. He is a veteran of stage and screen and always up for a new challenge. Paul's range is incredible and one of the most professional actors I have had the pleasure to work with. On the kind of indy projects I do, the process of a days shooting is pretty crazy. Paul is the kind of guy who stays calm and quiet until the word 'action' is spoken. At that moment he becomes his character and delivers a raw persona that is a completely new person. The other actors in the scene have to raise their game to keep up.

I had worked with Anne (Vivian) in the Vulture's Eye. Anne is quite the indy-film veteran as well as one of the top voice talents working today. She actually looked forward to being 'run over' (oops - hope I didn't spoil something there) and there is no truth to the fact that she was actually carrying my baby when we were filming her scene.

The kids - Drew & Lexi were awesome and will probably have a great career. I know that Lexi has kept busy doing theatre work and I expect to see her on the WB or a Disney movie sometime soon.

I would also like to thank Alec (Bud) for all his help with this film and all the other projects that I have been involved. Alec has been dragged into them all. He mostly does special effects and special make-up, and has always been game for whatever else was needed.

The last person cast was Penny (the mom) who stepped in and gave the whole family an authentic feeling. This was the first time I worked with Penny and I would like to see her other settings. She does quite a bit of theatre work in the Manassas area these days. Also, Penny, we still have your nice hat.