Recently the cast and crew came together for a press conference following the launch of the film and it was easy to see the excitement they were sharing after early reactions to the film came flooding in.
“That’s awesome, we’ll take that reaction any day of the week,” says director Jake Kasdan with a laugh when he is told that people are already calling the film a Christmas classic.
“That was one of the most exciting aspects of this movie. We were looking for a way to tell the story of Santa in a way that was different to how it had been done before.
“You’ve seen Santa the one way all your life,” he continues. “But the idea for this film was what happens if you can pull back the curtain and see what Santa is really like. So, all the aspects in this movie came from that seed idea.”
Most of that side of the film comes from the amazing screenplay co-written by Hiram Garcia, who says that his idea was to create a film “that turns Christmas on its head, inspired people, explored the mythology but also brought a connection between people and Santa. I feel that happened with the brilliant performance of J.K. Simmons as Santa and the way that Jake brought it to the screen.”
What makes Red One such a special film is how it manages to mix genres together so well. This may be an action film but that doesn’t stop it from being a holiday movie either.
“Thankfully that was not something that I had to work out how to do,” says star Chris Evans. “There were a whole lot of people that had to crack that code and I think they did that but made it so much fun. There is so much Christmas folklore here and there are always those stories that we grew up with, but internationally there are so many Christmas creatures and mythology it almost begs to be made into some kind of action/adventure movie. So it is not quite as hard as you would think.”
“Yeah I agree,” adds Dwayne Johnson. “I also think that it all started with the ideas coming out of Hiram’s brain. Then Chris Morgan cracked it and then Jake came in and cracked it and they all brought it together on the page.
“I think the source material lends itself to a big action scale,” he continues. “And that is not something that you typically see in Christmas movies. And yes it does give you the definitive Santa Claus and you also have all these talented actors who came in loving Christmas and every actor was absolutely perfect for their role.
“And then on top of all that you sprinkle something in that Jake does inherently well in all his films, and that is to bring heart to it. I have worked with him on two Jumanji films and now Red One and I have found that he has done that with all of his films. There is so much heart in this movie and I think often we say that as an overstatement in Hollywood, but with this film it is really true.”
“One of my favourite parts of this movie is when J.K. as Santa Claus reminds me that it is our job to see the best in people,” says Johnson after thinking for a moment. “You have to look at that child and you have to look beyond whether or not they are on the naughty list – you just have to look beyond all that and look at the kid in everybody.”
Of course the other star of Red One is Lucy Liu, who says that one of the highlights of the film for her was to be involved in going back to her Charlie Angels days and being involved in some of the action sequences.
“Well, it was kind of impromptu,” Liu says with a big laugh. “Early on I was talking to Jake and I asked if there were any kind of training or prep that I had to do and he said, ‘No, I think that maybe she will throw a kick or maybe a punch and that will be it because you are just the Boss Lady and that is all it will be’, and I was like, ‘That’s great, no problem’.
“And then I turned up on set to do the costume fittings and everything,” she continues. “And the stunt coordinator came in and said to me, ‘I just want to give you a little pre-vis on what we are going to do’ and he shows me this entire action sequence and my face just turned white… and then I was just like, ‘Okay, let’s do this’. Then as soon as I got the sticks in my hands it was like muscle memory kicked in and I felt alive again. I hadn’t done it in such a long time but it all came back to me so quickly.”
To finish off the interview the question had to be asked, what are some of the cast’s Christmas traditions?
“For me it is getting family together,” says Johnson. “And I know that sounds really simplistic but a lot of times when I was growing up my Dad was on the road and not always home for Christmas and with the business that I am in sometimes I have to work over the holidays… So for me just having the whole family together is the most important thing. And I wanna see the good sh*t under the tree… the good toys.”
Chris Evans laughs and then adds, “When I was a kid we would write letters to Santa and then we would have Christmas Eve. I’m one of four kids and my siblings and I are all very close in age but on Christmas Eve we would all decide whose room we were going to sleep in and then we would all have a sleepover in someone’s room. We would have the old TV and the VCR and then we would pick which Christmas movie we were going to watch and we would watch the film and then try to get to sleep, but then wake up all at the same time for Christmas morning.”
At the press conference it was very easy to see how much fun this cast and crew had putting Red One together, but I can tell you right now it is half the fun of what you will have sitting down to watch what has turned out to be one of the best Christmas movies we have seen in a long time.
Red One is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘G’.
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus