Every year, films start filtering out around November, all following a similar Christmas formula, but not this year. 'Red One' has taken the conventional western Christmas themes, and turned them on their heads.
While Santa is often depicted as a rounded, jolly and somewhat harmless older gentleman, living in a small cabin at the North Pole with a few friendly helpers, the Santa of 'Red One' couldn’t be more different.
Red One (played by J. K. Simmons) is a jacked grandpa with commanding authority and an army of elite trained military behind him, who is kidnapped right before Christmas. The North Pole is an entire city protected by a dome with invisibility capabilities, and Red’s main E.L.F. is Callum Drift (played by Dwayne Johnson), an overzealous hardman who is losing his faith in humanity.
“That was one of the most exciting aspects of this movie, a way we could tell Santa’s story that we’ve never quite seen before,” Director Jake Kasdan shares from a recent press conference for the film.
But what really sets the film apart is that the screenwriters dug deep into alternative Christmas mythology for their characters and villains. Krampus, from German mythology, is a demon-esque, goat-like figure who has terrorised children for centuries, and serves as the film’s antihero, desiring to punish all the wicked, rather than Saint Nick’s methodology of rewarding the good. Kristofer Hivju stepped into these hooves for the film, and the entire film features extensive special FX, prosthetics, and more action scenes than a ‘Fast And The Furious’ movie.
“It actually provides a lot of fun,” says Chris Evans, who plays Jack O'Malley, a non-believing super-hacker unknowingly responsible for Red One’s kidnapping.
“There’s such great Christmas folklore, not just the stories we all grew up with, but internationally. When you hear some of these creatures and stories and mythology, it almost begs for some sort of action adventure movie.”
“The funny thing about Krampus,” Kristofer Hivju adds, “is that he has the same objective as Nick. It’s just the method, punishing or rewarding, and sometimes you need a bit of slapping,” he laughs.
The film’s apex villain, from Icelandic lore, is Grýla, the legendary Christmas Witch, who normally appears as a terrifyingly huge ogre, but in 'Red One', transforms into a beautiful young woman, played by Kiernan Shipka. Grýla plans to lock everyone who has ever done anything wrong into black snowglobes forever, and free the world from evil, in an interesting exploration of philosophy.
“It was really fun, I loved it,” Shipka exclaims. “I’ve never played a proper villain. It was cool to feel like I had a part in the movie that was moving things, I liked those stakes. This movie’s really fun, so playing someone who is a villain, but also maintaining a sense of levity and fun with the whole thing was also really lovely. I’ll play a villain anytime.”
Aside from terrifying villains and extensive exploration of mythological creatures and technological capabilities, at the heart of 'Red One' lies just that, a whole lot of heart. The film’s overarching theme is that despite their weaknesses, people can be good, and there’s a little kid inside all of us who desires to be that.
“Something that Jake [Kasdan] inherently does in his films, is heart,” Dwayne Johnson muses. “There’s so much heart in this movie. JK as Santa Claus reminds me to see the best in people, look beyond if they’re on the naughty list, and look at the kid in everybody.”
While knowing it was an action movie, not everyone was prepped for an active role. Lucy Liu plays Zoe Harlow, the head of M.O.R.A. (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), and expected minimal contact, but even Liu gets down in this holiday fun.
“I had spoken to Jake and said, 'do you need me to prep anything?' And he said, 'no, just the boss lady'. And I show up to the set, and the stunt coordinator comes in, and shows me this entire action scene. My face 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 I was alive again. It’s nice that you still got it.”
While themes of possession, demon-like villains and a terrifying depiction of a gigantic witch, place this movie outside the realm for small children. Loads of action, cool characters and a fun story make 'Red One' perfect for anyone from teens to adults who still secretly love Christmas, even if they won’t admit it.
'Red One' is in cinemas now.
