“One of the most exciting aspects of this movie is looking at a way that we could tell Santa’s story that we’ve never quite seen before,” says director Jake Kasdan on his new Christmas movie, Red One.
Indeed, don’t expect sugar-plumb fairies and rosy-cheeked children (okay, maybe there are one or two), Red One sits firmly in the action-adventure category. It follows Callum Drift (played by Dwayne Johnson), who must team up with bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to find and rescue Santa Claus who has been kidnapped.
Kasdan’s vision of telling a Christmas story from a new perspective not just centres around the story, but of the big man himself, Santa Claus, played by JK Simmons: “You’ve seen Santa a certain way your whole life. We always thought that the great idea for this is, what if you could pull back the curtain and see what he’s really like?” Kasdan explains. “So all of those aspects of this came from that seed idea.”
That seed of an idea came from Hiram Garcia, whose tale has been transformed to the big screen via a screenplay by Chris Morgan. “When we were going around pitching the movie, we always ended the pitch by saying our hope was to tell a story that really inspired people, turned Christmas on his head in the mythology, but also to create the definitive Santa Claus,” Garcia explains.
“There’s been so many good Santa Clauses, but to find one that really took the connection with the audience to the next level and brought a coolness out to Santa, I feel like we did that with JK. JK’s performance as Santa is everything we dreamed of and more.”
Looking after JK’s Santa is Johnson’s Callum Drift, who is the head of North Pole security, alongside a polar bear elf of course. In fact, you can expect to see plenty of Christmas movie staples… just maybe not in the way you expect (psst: evil regenerative snowmen).
For Evans, the rich history of Christmas beliefs and legends makes it an ideal platform for an action movie. “There’s such great Christmas lore, folklore, not just the stories we all grew up with, but internationally,” he says. “When you hear some of these creatures and stories and mythology, it almost begs for some sort of action-adventure movie.”
“I agree,” adds Johnson. “I also feel that it all really starts with the material, of course, coming out of Hiram’s brain, and then Chris Morgan cracking it, and Jake putting it together on the page. The material lent itself to a big action scale, which you typically don’t see in Christmas movies, creating the definitive Santa Claus.
“All of these actors who are all incredibly talented, came in loving Christmas and everyone is the perfect actor for that particular role. Then on top of all that, you sprinkle in something that Jake inherently does in his films.”
Indeed, this isn’t the first time that Johnson has worked with Jake Kasdan – the two worked together on both Jumaji movies. And just like those movies, Kasdan has opted for a mixture of practical effects and CGI for Red One, with the former being especially used for the character of Krampus, played by Game of Thrones’ Kristofer Hivju.
“For me, it was like the character is more or less the suit,” explains Hivju. “So I tried to play against the suit, actually play him as feminine, as narcissistic and as self-indulging as possible, and suddenly that mixture became a bit disturbing. But the funny thing about Krampus is that he has the same objective as Nick, they want the same, it’s just the method. Punishing or rewarding, and sometimes you need a bit of slapping.”
Speaking of slapping, you can certainly expect a bit of that when Krampus meets Callum, though Johnson remembers those days together on set fondly: “For Chris and I, when we stepped on set, it is one of the most impressive things we had ever seen,” Johnson says. “[Kristofer Hivju] is just massive and he really does such a spectacular job as Krampus in our story, the mythology of the brother of Santa. He’s such a superior actor.”
Krampus isn’t the only villain in Red One. Evil witch Gryla is played by Kiernan Shipka, who enjoyed playing a bad guy for once: “It was really fun. I loved it,” she says. “I’ve never really played a proper villain before. I’ve definitely played people who were dark and twisted, but the film kind of hinges on this kidnapping. It was really cool to feel like I had a part in the movie that was moving things in a direction that was really fun. I like those stakes.”
For Lucy Liu, who plays Santa’s chief of staff, the movie gave her a chance to do something she hasn’t done in a while… action sequences. “It was impromptu,” she laughs when asked about those scenes. “I had spoken to Jake, and I said ‘Is there any training?’ and he said no. I show up to the set and then the stunt coordinator shows me this entire action scene! My face just turned white and then I was like ‘okay, let’s do this!”
“As soon as I got the sticks in my hands, it was like muscle memory kicked in, and it was like I was alive again. I hadn’t done it in a long time, but it just came back to me. I love watching action movies. I grew up watching them, and being on the screen doing action is so exciting!”
Aside from the action elements, the cast and filmmakers of Red One are keen to emphasis that although this is a new twist on a Christmas movie, you can still expect the warm and fuzzy feelings while watching it.
“Any good Christmas story taps into the heart and humanity that you’re supposed to feel during the holidays,” says Evans. “It is goodwill towards men. It is about remembering priorities, and certainly for the folks that are looking for forgiveness, offering them those second chances.”
“I love that this movie is so fun,” concludes Shipka. “There’s a lot of heart in it, there’s a lot of action in it, but at the end of the day, you sit down and it’s a really fun watch.”
Red One is out in cinemas now.
Find more interviews, reviews, news, exclusives and more at SciFiNow.