Ira Finkelstein's Christmas, as the West Seattle Herald reported previously an independent feature film produced by VonPiglet Productions in Seattle shot some final and important sequences for the production on Beach Drive on Friday, April 29 in the home of Patrick and Sandie Repetowski.

The film synopsis states: "A Christmas obsessed Jewish boy on his way to sunny Florida figures out how to get the Christmas of his dreams by trading airline tickets and places with another boy on his way to snowy Christmastown, WA."

Susan LaSalle, Producer talked about why the company chose West Seattle for the sequences they shot here. "Our location scouts go out and the tall order they were asked to fill was to find a condominium that could look like Florida, so they went all over and this is what they found (...) It's a tribute to Washington State that we can actually shoot many different looks."

Since the film has not found a distributor yet, there's a potential that some scenes might yet be re-shot in Florida, but that's up in the air at the moment.

The company and LaSalle have been shooting here for close to twenty years so they know how to deal with the variable weather but managed to get enough clear days to essentially complete the principal photography on April 29.

The whole film began shooting March 1 (though pre-production took one month prior) and had five weeks to finish the shooting. That becomes a genuine challenge with a cast of 54 people and a crew of the same size.

The story was a collaborative effort between Douglas Horn, Susan LaSalle, Sue Corcoran the film's Director and Angie Louise who worked on dialog.

This is the first feature film for the company. They normally work on corporate productions and documentaries.

The film was initially part of a slate of five films that LaSalle and Corcoran wanted to make. They created a 'one-sheet' with the films listed by title, description and 'log-lines' and took it to the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA. Those who read the sheet all responded to the title which led to their putting it first for production. "They all asked if it was a finished product and asked, 'Can you put a dog in it' and we said, 'no problem!"

David DeLuise, currently starring in Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place plays the character of Daniel in the film and said, "I fell into this movie because there's a trap door in my house, and I fell in," he said, joking, "No...they called and I read the script and about 1968, a long time ago, Elliott Gould and my mom went to London and they did a play, five American actors in a British production. I always remember that my mom would talk about that and I've always wanted to work with Elliott and I've met him before but I'm just such a fan of his I'm just so happy and lucky that I get a chance to play with him."

Elliott Gould was impressed with West Seattle. "I think it's beautiful, sort of magical," he said, "I don't really know North, East, West, South but I like Seattle and I like Washington. I really like this nature."

The film, since it has a positive message is something he's having a good time with. "I think it's a fun, worthy project and the Director Sue (Corcoran) is doing an excellent job. I hope the picture validates all of the interest that people in this area are putting into it."

The film, once it has a distributor will likely come out in November of this year though that's entirely dependent on who releases it and how they choose to market the final product.

The Repetowski's home has been theirs since 1985 and they've been remodeling and adding more of the tropical theme (with palm trees central to why the home was chosen for the film) as part of their decor. Still, that wasn't quite enough for the production. LaSalle said, "We have 54 cast members and 22 palm trees."