EXCLUSIVE: Indie filmmaker Kevin Cate has wrapped on the Georgia production of his debut feature, the holiday road trip comedy Unbearable Christmas. Principal cast for the film includes Julia Stiles (Chosen Family), Alex Moffat (SNL), Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), David Cross (Arrested Development), Stephen Root (Barry), Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Kennedy Moyer, and Ben Lewis Doherty (Task).

Written by Cate and Blake Sennett, who also features in the ensemble, the film follows the Tipton family on a chaotic cross-country trip filled with misadventure, emotional blowups, and unexpected holiday magic — the kind that only happens when everything goes completely off the rails.

The intention, Cate told us, was to make “a timeless, hilarious, watch it every year to find something new Christmas movie…Think Christmas Vacation meets Little Miss Sunshine.”

Cate produced for Clinging Vine Films, alongside Sennett, with Gayle Pillsbury handling casting. Al Roker, Valyn Hall, and Sean Anthony Baker round out the cast.

Of Unbearable Christmas, Cate went on to say, “As an independently produced film, we were able to give our incredible ensemble cast the freedom to push every scene as far as humanly possible and they really did. So what you’ll see on screen is a physical, emotional, and at times absurd brand of Christmas comedy that really doesn’t get green-lit anymore, but should.”

Stiles is repped by Gersh, Untitled Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Moffat by Gersh, Mosaic, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Rhea by CESD and Gersh; Cross by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Sloane, Offer; Root by Gersh and Brillstein; Suvari by Innovative Artists, Management Production Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Moyer by Gersh; Doherty by Stewart Talent and Untitled Entertainment; Roker by Envisionary Management; Hall by Alexander White Agency, Savage Agency, and Authentic Talent and Literary Management; and Baker by Kathleen Schultz Associates Talent Agency and Kreativ Media Partners.