‘Violent Night’ Interview: David Harbour

Opening in theaters on December 2nd is the brand new Christmas motion/comedy movie entitled ‘Violent Night,’ which was directed by Tommy Wirkola (‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’).

The new film is principally Santa Claus in ‘Die Hard’ with components of ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Bad Santa’ thrown in for good measure.

On Christmas Eve, when a rich household is held hostage of their residence by mercenaries led by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo), the actual Santa Claus (David Harbour), who has misplaced the Christmas spirit should summon his energy to defeat the unhealthy guys and save the household together with a younger woman named Trudy (Leah Brady), who nonetheless believes within the magic of Christmas and Santa Claus.

In addition to Harbour, Leguizamo, and Brady, the forged additionally contains Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Andre Eriksen, and Beverly D’Angelo (‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’).

Moviefone just lately had the pleasure of talking with David Harbour about his work on ‘Violent Night,’ the weird screenplay, his model of Santa Clause, and taking pictures the unbelievable motion sequences.

Moviefone: To start with, what was your first response this screenplay and it’s “Santa Claus in ‘Die Hard’” idea?

David Harbour: I imply, earlier than they even gave me the script, they kind of pitched me the thought and I used to be initially like, “This is insane, no thank you.” They were like, “No, no, no. The director and the producer would like to speak to you about it, and we might actually wish to ship you the script,” and they did.

Tommy, the director, is this kind of childlike, Norwegian elfish weirdo who just loves Christmas, and David Leitch has done incredible action movies. They sent me this script and it had such a unique blend of this ‘John Wick’ action, which I love and have always wanted to do.

I saw Charlize Theron in ‘Atomic Blonde’ and I used to be like, “Oh, I wish to be doing that. I wish to be the man doing the choreography.” On prime of that, it is like ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ the place it actually does have a Christmas coronary heart beating on the heart of it, about a little bit woman who desires to consider in Santa Claus. The incontrovertible fact that these two issues have been collectively, it was such a singular factor. I’d by no means seen it earlier than, and I obtained actually enthusiastic about it.

MF: What was your method to taking part in this exaggerated model of Santa Claus?

DH: I imply, what I used to be interested by is now we have this mythological determine that we mislead our children about. We say he is actual and he is delivering presents to you, which by the best way, I believe is improbable. It’s hilarious that all of us simply mislead youngsters, I believe it is nice. But we do not actually know a lot about him, besides he is a giant fats man in a pink swimsuit who delivers presents to good, and to not naughty youngsters.

So, I wished to have the picture of the “Coca-Cola Santa” to start with with the little glasses and the curly white beard, however then because the film goes on, I wished to see who’s beneath that masks?

10,000 years in the past, there was a man in Christian mythology known as St. Nicholas, who he is primarily based on. There’s different traditions, Germany has a man known as Weihnachtsmann, and totally different cultures have totally different variations of this man. So, my curiosity was, who actually is that this man? I believe because the film goes on, we kind of peel again that he wasn’t at all times such a jolly, fats man, that there is some complexity there, and that actually me in going deep into who that man was particularly.

MF: Finally, are you able to discuss your preparation for the motion sequences and what it was like taking pictures these scenes?

DH: It was brutal and nice. I imply, I’ve gotten into a little bit little bit of the combat world by way of ‘Stranger Things,’ and thru the Marvel sequence (‘Black Widow’ and the upcoming ‘Thunderbolts’), however I’d by no means executed something as intense as this.

The guys who did this are the stunt guys that do the ‘John Wick’ films, that are recognized for his or her unbelievable motion sequences. They skilled me for a pair months in Jujutsu, and Greco-Roman wrestling, and I used to be working with a pair stunt guys who I obtained to know their rhythm very effectively.

But that choreography, it is simply quite a lot of coaching. You’re simply coaching and drained all day lengthy, nevertheless it’s so thrilling to have the ability to characterize what that may be. It was quite a lot of enjoyable, nevertheless it’s actually laborious work. I imply, watching these fights on UFC and stuff, I’ve a newfound respect for the fellows that do this self-discipline. It actually is exhausting.