Davis and A Jones Christmas: How the Chaos Became the Magic

Davis couching Nick on how to stick the tone of the "Home Alone" song

When A Jones Christmas came together, Daisy, known at the time as Davis, was less interested in making a polished holiday movie and more focused on making it funny. Very funny. And her fingerprints are all over what ended up being the most delightfully unhinged Christmas special of its era.

Case in point: the “Home Alone” song. While others debated sentimentality, Davis insisted the movie needed one moment of pure, ridiculous comedy. The result was the Home Alone number, arguably the funniest part of the entire film, designed to fully lean into chaos before things wrapped up neatly. Davis understood the balance: you earn the heart by first earning the laugh.

During most of Kevin's scenes Davis would hide near by to give him moral support

She also made one very specific musical call: Kevin would only sing at the very end of the movie. No overuse, no forcing it. Davis believed the payoff mattered more than the buildup, and saving Kevin’s solo for the finale gave the moment extra weight. Once again, she was right.

Then there were the cameos. Davis used her quietly formidable influence to turn the movie into what felt like a celebrity holiday party that accidentally got filmed. Suddenly, Will Ferrell was fangirling over the Jonas Brothers, bringing his real-life family along for maximum absurdity. Jesse Tyler Ferguson showed up as Santa, magically meddling in the brothers’ fate. Randall Park’s character quite literally saves the band from a plane crash. Somewhere in the mix, Kenny G wandered in with a saxophone, Laverne Cox handled tour chaos via phone call, and Andrea Martin stole scenes as an erratic Uber driver.

Quick Pic with the dancers after a long day of shooting the train station dance number (Which Davis choreographed FYI)

Add in Billie Lourd as a heartbroken travel agent, KJ Apa as her absurdly handsome pilot ex, and a truly unforgettable musical face-off involving Andrew Barth Feldman, and you had a cameo lineup that felt less like casting and more like Davis casually texting, “Do you want to be in a Christmas movie?”

Davis directing the Jo bro's for the movie poster shoot

Behind the scenes, Davis also fought hard for Frankie Jones, pushing for him to have a much larger role. While Disney executives ultimately limited him to a smaller cameo, Davis never stopped advocating, considering it unfinished business rather than a loss.

In the end, A Jones Christmas worked because it didn’t take itself too seriously, and that was Davis’s guiding principle all along. Funny first, heart second, chaos always. And if the movie feels like it was made by people who genuinely enjoyed making it, that’s because, thanks to Davis, they absolutely did.