♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, holiday movie controversy. it's the most wonderful time of the year, when everywhere you turn there's a film to warm your heart. >> this christmas is turning out to be one of the best i've had in a long time. >> but this year the so-called queen of christmas films sparking outrage with her comments about traditional marriage. >> there's nothing nontraditional about a queer love story. >> how festive films are more and more reflective of a diverse america. >> we want to make sure that we make movies where everyone feels like they have a seat at the holiday table. and world cup celebration. argentina's champions return home to glory and their captain

nearly breaks the internet. plus and juliette. putting a twist on shakespeare's classic. >> juliette learns it's not necessarily about romeo, it's about herself and discovering what she wants. >> plus behind the scenes with the choreographer breaking barriers. >> i have been fighting for this for a long time. you know, it's not easy. ♪ since you been gone ♪ >> using pop's power hits as the soundtrack. restless nights fogging up your day? tonight, try new zzzquil pure zzzs sleep plus next day energy with melatonin to help you fall asleep naturally... plus extended-release b-vitamins. wake up feeling refreshed. pure zzzs. sleep better. wake up your best. welcome to the neighborhood. did you know that geico could help with your homeowners insurance? hmm! cookies!

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♪ thanks for joining us. it's a seasonal treat that many of us look forward to, the holiday movie binge. as the billion-dollar industry grows in popularity, it increasingly reflects a more diverse america, including lgbtq love stories. but not all see that change as marianne bright. ♪ marry me don't let me down ♪ >> reporter: 'tis the season of the holiday movies. >> this christmas is turning out to be one of the best i've had in a long time. >> reporter: if you want films with warm and fuzzy feelings, they've never been easier to find. turn on lifetime. >> he broke your heart.

>> maybe he's trying to make things right. >> reporter: hallmark. hgtv. >> i sell houses, i don't diy. >> are you afraid to get your hands dirty? >> reporter: recently, the great american family network. >> we are going to have a fantastic christmas. >> holiday movies on tv have always been extremely popular. but in the last year, they have become a must-watch destination. >> there's nothing more romantic than seeing two people fall in love during the holidays. >> we want to make sure that we make movies where everyone feels hike they have a seat at the holiday table. >> reporter: but this year the billion-dollar institution of holiday moviemaking is facing controversy about whose love should be visible and who gets to decide. >> i'm realizing this has been a space that has been reserved for heterosexual storytelling. eye it's been interesting to realize what it is. really makes the work very important. >> reporter: the conversation hit a boiling point thanks to the woman once dubbed the queen of christmas movies. >> action! >> there are so many wonderful christmas traditions.

>> i feel honored that i've actually become the queen of christmas. at least in hallmark land. >> reporter: candace cameron bure, former star of "holiday hallmark movie," sparked backlash after she left the tv network and joined a channel she says is developing more faith-filled programming. in april the devout christian announced she was joining the great american family network. >> now she is working to write, executive produce, and star in multiple movies but really has a hand in all the creative decisions that are happening at the network. >> reporter: when the "wall street journal" asked bure if same-sex couples as leads, she said no, adding, "i think that great american family will keep traditional marriage at the core." >> of course, that was met by a great deal of backlash with many actors and people that are public figures really speaking out against that and explaining how much that that kind of cults out a large part of the world. >> reporter: bure did not respond to requests for comment but released a statement last month saying, "i have great love

and affection for all people. it absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think i intensionally would want to offend and hurt anyone." what was your reaction when you heard her remarks? >> you know -- my first thought was, how miserable to be her. truly. i mean, that's just -- that does not seem like a life of joy. then after that i realized, as much as i don't even want to discuss it and bring further attention to her or whatever that network is, i realize these conversations are important. i felt invigorated, i felt this fire to remain visible. as long as you can keep pushing forward on your path, telling your story, i think we will touch more hearts than not. >> reporter: actor taylor fray and husband actor kyle dean massey are mirroring their real-life romance on tv as the stars of lifetime's "a christmas to treasure." >> every christmas since i left this place -- everyone's been away from you. just hasn't felt the same.

. >> does it strike you that you guys are among the first gay holiday leading men? >> our relationship, our life, is so normal and boring in so many ways. you know? portraying that love and that relationship on screen just seemed like such a natural thing. >> reporter: the pair fell in love while working on broadway. they got married and then started a family. now parents to daughter rafa. >> rafa? peek-a-boo! >> i wake up every day with a little more pep in my step. i know it sounds cliche, i know it sounds cheesy, but being a dad, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. >> reporter: you might recognize kyle from "nashville." >> i didn't know you were interested. >> reporter: and taylor from "it too." >> adrian.

>> reporter: the opportunity to work together was something they just couldn't pass up. >> i just wasn't ready to come out, austin. my parents, they weren't as easy as yours, are you know that. >> we have a lot of friends, straight couples, who have had the chance to work opposite each other, it's kind of normal for them. i think so many of those stories are being told, so we very much realize how lucky we are to have been given a script of two male leads who fall in love. it doesn't happen for couples like us very often. >> a window out, if you're raised in a particularly conservative household, sometimes it is a very powerful thing. just to see two men on the screen in a very normal, loving relationship. >> it's christmas day and just went to sleep, the snow is sparkling white and deep. >> i had this feeling, we need to tell our kind of story. what is our kind of christmas love story? "hey, i'm writing a script, i want you to play the roles." >> reporter: jake hellgren has

directed a dozen holiday rom-coms for lifetime. this was personal for him too. >> we aren't trying to take away anyone else's christmas movies or put our beliefs on anyone else. we just want to be seen. >> you alluded to the controversy, she wanted to maintain a traditional marriage at the core of the holiday films. what was your reaction when that happened? >> they're telling the stories they want to tell, but i do wholeheartedly feel like you can't say that it's a traditional -- we're only telling traditional love stories, because there's nothing nontraditional about a queer love story. we are traditional, we celebrate christmas. >> what do you think mrs. marley would have thought about us being gay? >> oh, she knew. >> she what? >> the holiday tv movie industry ramps up at the end of october when they start airing new movies. it is a billion-dollar industry. the audience has grown so much over the last two years for these movies. it's really shown that by diversifying their content and really changing up the format on some of these movies, they're

able to reach a whole bigger audience that they never were able to do before. >> reporter: the festive films have gotten increasingly more inclusive of all communities, including the lgbtq+ community, on both the small and the big screen. from this year's "spoiler alert" -- >> childhood obsessions? >> christmas. magic. >> reporter: hulu's "happiest season." >> her parents believe her straight daughter brought home her lesbian friend for christmas. >> they also think i'm straight. >> have they ever met a lesbian? >> he's going on a blind date. >> like from grinder? >> oh my god. >> we make movies that reflect the audiences that watch them. there's so many different people that watch these movies and love these movies. >> reporter: jonathan bennett who starred in the first hallmark channel's holiday film to feature a same-sex couple "the christmas house" in 2020 says it's not enough to have inclusion on camera. >> christmas waits for no man. >> reporter: the "means girl"

star has fought for representation behind the scenes as well. >> whoa! >> reporter: this year he's both star and producer of "the holiday sitter" and says when it comes to scorery telling, love is love. >> we have queer director, queer writers, queer actors, queer producers. so it was a completely queer creative team so that we could bounce ideas off each other. it was important that we didn't make a movie just for the queer audience. we made a movie for everybody. by taking the classic tropes of the christmas movies that we've come to love and expect, like the meet, cute. the falling in love. the beautiful kiss at the end. >> jonathan bennett got massive ratings on the network. the numbers prove that the viewership is still there. >> reporter: if ratings are any indication, audiences can expect more studios and networks to get into the spirit of the season with more inclusive love stories in the spotlight. >> the nostalgic feeling of togetherness when it comes to the holidays.

and i think that when that can be represented on the screen in a way that is joyful, it's like coming home. >> you can watch encore presentations of lifetime's "a christmas to treasure" and hallmark's "the holiday sitter" on christmas day. when we come back, a tragedy reimagined. romeo's juliette finding her voice on broadway. ♪ and you're gonna hear me roar ♪ >> you should rewrite all your plays. i learned that i can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why i switched to dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. detect this: no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed

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juliette had a life after romeo and became her own heroine. a new broadway musical imagines just that, using pop hits and hip-hop dance moves that will make you want to get up and boogie. shakespeare's greatest love story reimagined through a feminist lens. ♪ there's so much mythology of romeo and juliet. star-crossed lovers. what's it like embodying that and putting such a fresh twist on it? >> we know that romeo is dead. now juliette has a choice. that's where we start our play. ♪ catch me baby one more time ♪ >> reporter: turns out juliet doesn't end it all over romeo, but finds a second chance at life and love on her terms. the new musical flips the script on shakespeare's heroine. ♪ since you been gone ♪ >> reporter: the score, pop's greatest hits with choreography inspired by hip-hop, drawing all

sorts of crowds to the stephen sondheim theater. lorda courtney is ju and mary wolf her wife who helps take control of the story. >> she has an idea to try and give juliette a voice where she might not have herself. >> what does juliette learn about romeo? >> juliette learns that it's not necessarily about romeo, it's about herself and discovering what she wants. does she want romeo? does she want to not be with romeo and maybe flirt with other people? you'll see. >> reporter: the hit soundtrack courtesy of legendary music impresario max martin who penned famous girl power anthems like brittney's "baby one more time" now belted out by juliette. ♪ that my loneliness is killing me now ♪

>> reporter: and shakespeare's wife takes on celine dion's "that's the way it is." ♪ when you're ready to go and your heart ♪ >> so many of these songs -- max is really incredible. everyone from backstreet boys to celine dion to katy perry. these are songs that everyone will recognize. >> these songs define certain moments of my life. i could tell you exactly where i was when i heard these songs. max martin actually wrote songs that lyrically really say something and move the plot forward. >> reporter: and so does the dancing, set to those needle drops created by the show's star choreographer, jennifer webber, who set the shows for k-pop on broadway. and the hip-hop "nutcracker" for disney plus. >> when you were given the assignment, modernize "romeo and juliet," what does that look like? >> for me choreography always

starts with the story. >> you're known for hip-hop and on broadway, it's got to be jazz hands. how do you fuse it all together? >> as a kid i grew up loving music videos, also loving broadway. i fell in love with the way you could use movement to tell a story. so in a way it's like all my passions come together on stage in "& juliet." >> reporter: not bad for someone who created a hip-hop troupe after being rejected by every dance team at u-penn. >> what's it like being a powerful creator on broadway? looking back at 25 years ago when you were rejected by all those dance teams? >> revenge is sweet. >> that feels shakespearean, but no. >> i mean, this is about -- this is a girl power play. >> it absolutely is. i mean, i feel like i have been fighting for this for a long time. it's not easy. >> hey, how are you? >> great, let me introduce you.

>> reporter: that power bolstered by jennifer's dance team, a group of talented performers, some handpicked by jennifer. >> how many of you are broadway newbies? the first time on broadway? first time on broadway, amazing. i heard that jen hows you to sort of infuse yourself into some of the movement. how does that work on stage? >> i remember jen saying, it's special and it's beautiful that we all do the same move, the same style, but we all bring our own heart to the choreography. >> as dancers, we train and we train and we train to get really good at something. and then sometimes you enter a space and you're step-touching the whole time. i think it's really nice for jen to look at us and go, "do your thing." >> these are my people. that is the biggest truth of it all. pull, and pull, and you really start small. then you're going to kind of get your leg going as well.

you start your foot not really coming up off the ground. then it might start to kind of like -- and pull, and pull, and pull, and pull. yes! >> that's amazing. >> yay! yay, team! >> reporter: this choreography from "roar," the play's show-stopping finale led by lorde as juliet. >> there's a moment in the show on the juliette balcony. i get to look out into the audience and see girls and women looking up at her and seeing themselves in her. >> reporter: after rehearsal, the cast going through their final warmups. for 24-year-old lorna, who grew up in jamaica, queens, her first leading role on broadway, every night from the stage to her very own dressing room, like a pinch-yourself moment.

>> reflect for a moment on your personal journey. because it's kind of -- you're a hometown girl. >> oh, yeah. >> raised in queens. >> queens, uh-huh. >> it's a long way from queens to broadway. >> oh -- you're going to make me cry. yes. oh, gosh. so important for young girls to see themselves on stage. young girls of color in particular. i wasn't able to go to many broadway shows growing up, but -- >> it's expensive. >> it's expensive. but the few that i did go to, i was transformed. >> the amount of joy that is put onto the stage eight times a week by our incredible cast is something that -- it just inspires the audience and leaves everybody feeling so excited, so joyful, so hopeful. those are the messages we really

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♪ finally tonight, a homecoming worthy of the best in the world. millions erupting in excitement on the streets of buenos aires to get a glimpse of their national heroes. the world cup winning soccer

team. the entire city was brought to a standstill. players had to take a helicopter to get out. captain lionel messi cradling the trophy. his instagram post after sunday's victory garnering the most likes of a post ever. he followed that up with a more intimate post. that's "nightline." watch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.