When the "Surviving Christmas" filmmakers were looking for the perfect actress to play the role of James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara's daughter, they zeroed in on Christina Applegate pretty quickly. Applegate feels comfortable in comedies, and her acting credits show she can more than handle the romantic element of "Surviving Christmas."

In "Surviving Christmas," Christina Applegate's character is the one member of the Valco family who doesn't want a strange lunatic (played by Ben Affleck) sharing the Christmas holiday in her family's home, no matter how much money he throws at them to get them to let him take over their holiday celebration.

On casting Applegate, director Mike Mitchell says, "Christina Applegate was, again, our first choice to play Alicia. She was great in the role because, like her character, Christina is really funny and smart and, of course, pretty. She also had great chemistry with Ben. I was thrilled with the way it turned out."

INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINA APPLEGATE ('Alicia'):

After having starred in "Married With Children," you're pretty familiar with dysfunctional families. How dysfunctional was the family in ?Surviving Christmas??
Well, it?s like the 'functional' dysfunctional family is always the story at the end of the movie. It?s this family who finds themselves in this situation with this guy in the house, and they have to deal with him. By dealing with him, they deal with themselves. And in the end they?re perfect and happy and filled with love and joy.

How tough was it to survive working with James Gandolfini and Ben Affleck ? and working with Ben as one of the producers?
(Laughing) I know, I know.

He?s great ? I love him. He?s such a glorious human being and he?s really funny and fun to work with. And James is wonderful and Catherine [O?Hara?s] wonderful. I mean everybody was just so much fun. I had such a good time.

Are you a holiday person? Do you love the holidays?
I love Christmas. I really do love Christmas. I love being with my family and I love snow. I love the music and the lights and all of it.

And you just shot a movie with your husband?
We?re still in the process of it. I just flew in from Halifax an hour and a half ago.

It?s the first time you two have worked together in a movie. How?s it going?
It?s been so much fun. It actually has been. We?ve had a really good time. We like spending time together.

They say in Hollywood if you survive working on a movie together, your marriage is solid.
(Laughing) I know. We shot our last scene together yesterday and we said, ?That?s it. We did it. We actually made it through and we?re still buds.?

"Surviving Christmas" - Interview with Ben Affleck / Interview with Director Mike Mitchell