As the holiday season approaches, a holiday rom-com film shot mostly at Woodstock’s iconic Cherry Tree Inn and created by a Gurnee couple is coming to a screen near you.

The film, “Exes of Christmas Past,” tells the story of a woman who manages a hotel and returns to her family’s bed and breakfast for the holidays to find all three of her high school exes staying there.

[ See more photos of the filming in Woodstock ]

It can be streamed starting Sunday, Nov. 16, on Tubi, one of many platforms where it can be seen.

The movie stars Brittany Underwood and Alex Trumble, who are real-life exes playing love interests for the first time in a film, producer Chris Charles said.

Trumble said he was in Scotland in January, filming a different Christmas movie, when the opportunity for “Exes of Christmas Past” came up. He was interested, but after reading the script, “fell even more in love with it.”

Trumble said he is drawn to characters who live in a dynamic world, go on a journey and learn.

The movie was filmed in April, and Trumble recalled it was cold, which he said was great for filming a Christmas movie.

It’s Trumble’s third Christmas movie, which comes with a certain drawback: When he attends holiday parties, the fact that he was in a holiday movie will often come up. He said he gets embarrassed and will tell people, “Please don’t put it on,” but it gets played over his objections.

He said his father is a big “Groundhog Day” fan and was very excited for him about the filming at the inn, one of the many locations around Woodstock featured in the Bill Murray cult classic. Trumble said he got some souvenirs for his dad.

Trumble said he’s watched “Groundhog Day” a few times, calling it “one of the best dark comedies ever made.”

He said “Exes of Christmas Past” also had some dark humor. He also said running into your ex at the holidays “can be great” or “can be terrible,” adding it “happened to me at one point.”

Trumble enjoyed his stay in Woodstock and said, “We wanted to stay longer than we could.”

Underwood said the movie has “so much heart and realism.” She said she and Trumble are no longer a couple, but they got a laugh out of the movie poster and are “still good friends.”

Underwood said she’s been in several holiday movies, that it’s a sweet, cute genre, and she’s honored to be in them.

As for Woodstock, Underwood said a “Hollywood Heights” co-star’s mom was from Woodstock and after filming one day, she went to the mom’s old house and took photos. She and Trumble toured Woodstock as well.

“That inn has so much history,” Underwood said about the bed and breakfast.

Gurnee residents Eliza Toser and spouse Jake Jarvi wrote and produced the holiday film, with Jarvi directing.

The Inn has hosted filming before, which was an “incredible benefit,” Toser said. Filming for the movie took 12 days, a faster timeline than usual, Jarvi said.

“It all happened so fast,” Jarvi said. “Filming was a dream.”

While filming, Jarvi went to an Easter egg hunt on the Square and checked out local eateries.

“I just loved the community,” Jarvi said.

After filming, Jarvi balanced editing the movie in the evenings with his day job and a work trip in the middle of it.

“It was intense,” Jarvi said.

Jarvi said he and his wife “are members” of the holiday rom-com audience, and he was eager to see how fellow holiday rom-com fans would react.

Toser said she was excited for the film’s release and it was “tailor-made” to the couple’s taste.

Jarvi and Toser both said Cherry Tree Inn owner Lori Miarecki had great hospitality. Miarecki owns the inn with her husband, George.

Jarvi said Miarecki had a huge stockpile of Christmas items she let the team use. The crew augmented that to bring some kitschiness to the set, Jarvi said.

The “Groundhog” connection was part of the attraction, Jarvi said.

Charles has worked on other holiday films at the Cherry Tree Inn, including “Reporting for Christmas,” a movie about a hard-driving reporter tasked with doing a feature story about a toy company. That movie debuted in the 2023 holiday season.

Most of “Exes” was filmed at the Cherry Tree Inn, but other shooting locations included Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel and 221 Blu Bar & Lounge in Chicago, according to a news release.

The rest of the scenes were filmed in Libertyville. Sites included Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, Firkin Alley, JC Licht Benjamin Moore Paint & Decor Store, Sweet Home Gelato and a historic home. Also featured are About Time Bookstore, As Above So Below, Edie Boutique and Marigold. Many business owners have cameos, according to the release.

Woodstock Theater hosted two sold-out screenings of “Exes” on Wednesday evening.

The movie will be available for streaming on a variety of platforms, including Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Vizio, Xumo Play, Amazon’s “Always Christmas” FAST Channel, at libraries via Hoopla and DVD through Midwest Tape, according to the release.

Jarvi said watching the movie with a group is “as good as making movies” gets.