Mick Foley is adding another Christmas-themed credit to his career. The AEW personality has a role in The Christmas Heartbeat, a holiday romantic feature scheduled for release on September 29.
The film was acquired by Vantage Media, which announced the release plans this week. Previously known as The Heart Brake, the project is described as being based on a true story and brings Foley into an ensemble cast led by Brittany Curran. Hunter Sansone, Beverly D’Angelo, Joey Lawrence, Rachael Thompson, and Courtney D’Angelo are also listed among the film’s stars.
The Christmas Heartbeat was directed by Lance Smith, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chruck Busca. Specific details regarding Foley’s character and the size of his role have not been announced. Still, the project’s seasonal setting makes it a particularly natural fit for a performer who has long made his enthusiasm for Christmas and Santa Claus part of his public identity.
A Tennessee-Set Story of Home, Recovery and Christmas
The central character in The Christmas Heartbeat is New York food critic Julia Winters, played by Curran. Julia’s life is disrupted by a sudden cardiac arrest, forcing her to return to her hometown in Tennessee. There, she must navigate a place where the Christmas spirit has not faded, while confronting personal history and unresolved pain she believed she had left behind.
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The film’s premise positions Julia’s return home as more than a simple holiday visit. The story is framed around recovery, old emotional wounds and an uncertain future. As she re-enters the world she once departed, Julia is faced with the difficult work of moving forward while reckoning with the past.
Set in Tennessee, the romantic feature follows New York food critic Julia Winters after a sudden cardiac arrest sends her back to the hometown she left behind, where Christmas remains ever-present and old wounds have not disappeared.
That setup places The Christmas Heartbeat within the familiar holiday-film tradition of a character returning to a close-knit hometown, but its stated emphasis on a health crisis and emotional recovery gives the story a more serious personal foundation. The announcement describes Julia’s journey as one in which she has to face both the past she thought was settled and the future she never expected.
With a title now built around both the holiday season and the central health-related turning point, the film’s new name appears to reflect the core elements of the narrative. The earlier The Heart Brake title has been replaced ahead of the September release.
Why the Project Connects Naturally With Foley
Foley’s appearance in a Christmas movie carries an obvious connection to a side of his life that wrestling fans have known about for years. Beyond his career as one of professional wrestling’s most distinctive performers, Foley has been open about his love for Santa Claus and the Christmas season. His interest has extended well beyond seasonal social-media posts or a passing gimmick.
Foley has previously worked as a professional Santa Claus, an experience he explored in his book, Saint Mick: My Journey From Hardcore Legend to Santa’s Jolly. The book focused on his path from being known as a hardcore wrestling legend to taking on the role of Santa. He was also part of the 2014 documentary I Am Santa Claus, which examined the lives and experiences of professional Santas.
That history makes Foley a recognizable and fitting name for a holiday release, even though the available announcement does not reveal whether his character is connected directly to Santa, Christmas, or the story’s Tennessee community. It would be premature to make assumptions about his on-screen part. What is known is that Foley has joined a film whose seasonal backdrop overlaps heavily with an interest he has embraced publicly and professionally for a long time.
For Foley, the role is another example of how his career has regularly reached beyond the wrestling ring. His public profile has never been limited to one persona or one medium. The same performer associated with the wildest and most physical chapters of wrestling history has also built a substantial reputation as an author, an on-screen presence and a vocal supporter of Christmas traditions.
An Ensemble Cast for the Seasonal Feature
Curran leads the cast as Julia Winters, the food critic whose return to Tennessee drives the film’s narrative. Sansone, Beverly D’Angelo, Lawrence, Thompson, Courtney D’Angelo and Foley round out the announced group of performers. The release announcement does not provide character descriptions for the supporting cast, so the relationships between their roles and Julia’s journey remain to be seen.
That leaves several key questions for the movie itself: who from Julia’s past will resurface following her return, how the romance at the center of the feature develops, and where Foley fits into the story. The announced synopsis establishes the emotional stakes but intentionally keeps many of the plot’s specifics under wraps ahead of release.
The presence of multiple established screen performers gives the production a broad ensemble around Curran’s central role. With the setting rooted in a hometown where Christmas remains a defining part of community life, the film has room for family figures, old friends, new connections and the kind of local personalities often central to a holiday romance. However, no further casting breakdown has been made public, and the film should be judged on the details it ultimately presents rather than speculation about its characters.
Foley’s AEW Status and a Different Type of Appearance
Foley is signed to AEW, but The Christmas Heartbeat is a non-wrestling project rather than an in-ring announcement. His involvement is notable precisely because it highlights a different side of a figure whose legacy has been shaped by decades in professional wrestling.
Across his wrestling career, Foley became synonymous with an unusually intense style and with characters that made him one of the industry’s most memorable personalities. Yet the Christmas material attached to his name has long offered a sharp contrast to that reputation. His work as a professional Santa and his participation in Christmas-focused media have made the holiday season an established part of his public image.
That contrast remains one of the appealing elements of Foley’s presence in projects like this. A performer widely associated with hardcore wrestling is also someone who has earnestly documented his admiration for Santa Claus and spent time portraying Santa professionally. There is no contradiction in those two sides of Foley’s career; rather, they have become part of what makes his public persona distinct.
His film role also arrives at a time when wrestling personalities increasingly appear in projects outside of wrestling programming, including films, television and other entertainment ventures. In Foley’s case, however, the holiday setting gives the appearance a particularly personal connection. This is not simply an acting credit with no apparent relation to his established interests. Christmas has been a recurring and genuine part of his work away from the ring.
Release Date Set for September 29
The Christmas Heartbeat is set to arrive on September 29. The acquisition announcement confirms the date while also drawing attention to the film’s title change from The Heart Brake.
As release approaches, more information may emerge about Foley’s role, the film’s distribution availability and the characters played by the supporting cast. For now, the confirmed details are that Foley is part of the production, Smith directed and co-wrote the feature with Busca, Curran plays the lead role of Julia Winters, and the story centers on her difficult return to a Tennessee hometown after a sudden cardiac arrest.
The project gives Foley a seasonal screen appearance that aligns with one of the best-known passions of his life outside professional wrestling. Fans looking to see the AEW personality in a very different environment from wrestling will have that opportunity when The Christmas Heartbeat releases later this month.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.