Post by avalon on Nov 3, 2007 1:51:38 GMT 9.5
Sadly no MIRANDA...
Movie Fred Claus (2006) Posted By: Sheila Roberts
MoviesOnline sat down with Vince Vaughn, Kevin Spacey, Paul Giamatti, director David Dobkin, and writer Jessie Nelson at the Los Angeles press day for their hilarious new movie, "Fred Claus.”
Here’s what the director, writer and cast had to tell us:
Q: Do you think this movie is too adult for kids?
VINCE VAUGHN: I tell you the great thing about it is that the movie has played phenomenal with all audiences. I think Fred in a lot of ways is a big kid. He is a kid. I think he’s one of them so I think when you watch the film as a child you are really connected to this great role David created. All these great actors are playing their parts. It’s almost like those great claymation films we grew up with right? Where you walk on this live action sort of reality? The writer who writes a lot of the Pixar films, this is similar. It’s got a lot of funny and emotion in it and the stuff that works for adults; not to give scenes away, but the siblings scenes and stuff, is really just smart and clever. It’s not just that it’s grotesque or shocking or risqué. It’s a real compliment to David and the tone of the movie that we never had a need to go there to be enjoyable for adult audiences and I think the kids love the great theme that there’s no naughty kids and Jessie Nelson really was the one that came up with the story of Fred Claus and I think she found a really different kind of way of looking at the genre of Christmas films in a fresh, new way. That’s what was most inspiring for me. My best friend Peter Billingsley did A Christmas Story, which is one of the best. "You’ll shoot your eye out kid.” (Laughter) Of course, It’s A Wonderful Life, but both of those movies have some real drama in them as well.
Q: And darkness.
VINCE VAUGHN: And darkness. This does in a way that’s not dark as in inappropriate, but as in serious and consequences which is a sort of testament to the character that Kevin (Spacey) plays, but Jessie I guess I’ll leave to you to sort of- I guess the true essence as to why it works so well is because Fred Claus was originally as simple as a bedtime story from a mother to her daughter.
JESSIE NELSON: Yeah, my daughter asked me one night if Santa Claus had a family. I thought, "Oh my god, of course he did.” And "What would it have been like to be Santa Claus’s brother?” There’s a shadow of that and how hard it would have been to be Santa as a kid; having to be the perfect id, and giving your birthday presents away, and being a little pudgy, and jolly all the time. Slowly the story evolved and I thought, "Wow that would make a great movie” and two nights later I was watching The Godfather I thought "Oh, he’s got to be called Fred as an homage to the character in The Godfather.” We always slightly had Vince in our mind as we were working on the script because we always felt he could bring so much heart to the sort of naughty kid story of Christmas. You know, that there’s no naughty kids just misunderstood kids.
DAVID DOBKIN: You say that now to be funny, but pretty much you saw Freddy and you said "Let’s get Vince.” (Laughter)
JESSIE NELSON: Yeah. That’s true. The one thing I was gonna say is that my daughter was on the set with us the whole time and Vince and David used to crack me up when we were making the movie because they would do a scene and then they would turn to Molly. You know all these great actors would do a scene and then they would turn to this ten-year-old and say "How was that Molly? Did you believe that line?”
VINCE VAUGHN: She was our secret weapon. She’s so great.
JESSIE NELSON: So from the very beginning we sort of had a kid’s sanction on the movie.
DAVID DOBKIN: By the way, another interesting thing is that when we first started testing the movie and you’d ask; the kids all think the movie is for them. The kids think the movie is for them. The adults think the movie is for them. There’s this really interesting thing that happens where you realize; I mean that’s what you hope for when you are making a family film that everyone thinks the movie is actually directed to them.
KEVIN SPACEY: We do a thing at the Old Vic that they call panto and it’s a tradition in England and it’s a family entertainment and what makes it work and I think, if I can use this as a comparison, for the kids you create the traditional family story. This year we are doing "Cinderella.” We did "Aladdin” a few years ago. So the kids follow the traditional story. It’s exactly what they know it to be from their childhood and from books, but what makes it fun for adults is that there are all kinds of double entendre and innuendos and songs and dances. So the adults have a really good time while they are watching a sort of traditional, certainly Christmas panto which is oddly the biggest money-making theatrical in England and yet it’s for everybody so you see kids as young as three. At times some entendre goes flying by and you think, "Did they get that? I hope not.” and they don’t. It goes right over their heads and the adults are falling all over themselves so it becomes a real family oriented experience and I think that this movie achieved that same goal.
Q: Was your character a kid at heart too?
KEVIN SPACEY: Oh, I think yeah. You know, when anyone says "Oh you’re playing this really bad, villainous character” hasn’t seen the whole movie. Stay to the end of the movie and then you’ll see who he really is because it’s the kind of character that goes through a journey that starts out in one way and obviously in the same way there’s resentment that this character feels and this (other) character feels toward each other. He actually ends up being a catalyst for that happening and by the end of the film he’s definitely got them a little more efficient. They’re using spreadsheets now.
VINCE VAUGHN: Oddly, you know, I think that Fred and Clyde are bedfellows in that they can relate to the similar brother circumstance and they each handle it a little differently although in the same ball park, in a similar fashion, but I think that somehow through both of their ways of handling it they come to the best answer with Nicholas being involved as well the three of us play out something that needed to be played out because there’s lessons in all of it.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, yeah, I learned all that stuff about you, but also the thing I find interesting in that scene that I love, it’s timeless. The most I am like Santa Claus should be is in that scene.
KEVIN SPACEY: It’s about forgiveness.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, and he sort of takes possession of being Santa Claus again because he’s sort of lost it.
KEVIN SPACEY: He’s so overworked.
PAUL GIAMATTI: He’s so overworked. (Laughter)
DAVID DOBKIN: There’s a real ownership about how he does it in that scene where he goes "Clyde Northcutt” because he’s just thought that this is the way to approach kids now.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Right. He’s figured it out and he can sort of do it again.
DAVID DOBKIN: (to Kevin) The bit at the end, by the way, with the cape under the sweater and you don’t really want to draw attention to it. The way you play it is perfect. You emotionally aren’t comfortable with knowing it, but it’s there!
KEVIN SPACEY: I shouldn’t really admit this, but I’m still wearing it (laughter) Just my hope for a sequel.
Q: It is very heartwarming and it sort of flies against the idea we have of kids being sort of cynical. Chris (Bridges) already talked about his daughter giving him raised eyebrows and the story not making sense with Santa Claus. My own kids, probably by seven were rejecting it, but going along with it for the presents. (Laughter) What do you perceive in the audience that has changed? In fact, are kids tougher customers?
KEVIN SPACEY: My feeling is that I don’t even really care if kids even believe that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. I still think there’s a desire to believe in something because it’s not about a person. We have certain images in film and now we have a new one in Paul. Images of what Santa Claus is like, but it’s more. It’s a feeling, an idea. I hear people say all the time "Oh, kids are too cynical these days. They grow up too fast. They’ve got too much access to this, to that, and the other thing” and I just go "Yeah, but you’re not six years old.” (To Vince Vaughn) What did that kid say to you at the World Series thing?
VINCE VAUGHN: Oh yeah, it’s a great the more things change the more they stay the same. The thing that I never lost- as actors and stuff too there’s that make believe child like thing that you have to have. Also, for me is what kind of always got me through things is that faith in that kind of goodness and hopefulness. I think Kevin says it really well when it’s really not what this person is in it’s human form, but it is what it represents and I think that the thing Jessie found with "No naughty kids” and the story David put together and how he hits those themes so beautifully when he sets stuff up so simple and then brings it back around in a way- for me the third act of the movie has such a huge emotional impact, but it’s all those great feelings that you want to feel at Christmas. (It’s) the kind of impact that makes you feel afterwards kind of optimistic, almost freed of some stuff. I think that’s Santa Claus.
KEVIN SPACEY: Tell them what the kid said to you.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yes. We did this short for the World Series that aired last night where I played a little league pitcher. I have a little league team.
KEVIN SPACEY: Coaching them.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah coaching them. So we shot the whole thing; all the posters have been up and what not for Fred Claus and when it was over this young boy that had to be about nine or ten years old came up to me and said "Hey Fred”. I felt a little bit like Mean Joe Green. (laughter) He looks at me and he goes, "Tell your brother to get me something this year.” And I said "Oh yeah, yeah we got you. We got you.” Then I kind of thought to myself, "Oh, I hope his parents do get him something.” I made a promise I’m now on the books for. It just was a reminder going to the theme that we are saying that there is that feeling. And by the way, you know what, even when you get to that age for us that can remember; where you go "Yeah, yeah, I don’t believe it” or you don’t want to be embarrassed, there’s a side of you laying quiet that says, "I hope he is there. I want to believe it.” You still want to believe it. I believe all of us in our own way, as adults, find that way to still have that faith.
PAUL GIAMATTI: God, I would go with that. Gee, I don’t know. There’s not a whole heck that I want anymore. You know what I mean?
Q: I mean "Peace on Earth” anything-
PAUL GIAMATTI: Oh sure.
VINCE VAUGHN: I think that makes sense. Peace on Earth is something good to say too. Here’s where I would go: a hot tub, a couple girls from Brazil, and a "Do Not Disturb” sign. (Laughter)
Q: That’s what I wanted to hear.
VINCE VAUGHN: There you go.
Q: What was the best thing about working with Vince?
KEVIN SPACEY: Oh, I think the process that Vince goes through to discover what is going on in a scene. Often he uses improv. What’s great about it is that it’s not always about trying to be funny or trying to be slick or trying to be this. It’s about what improv does and where it leads you to. Maybe a solution or maybe it might even lead to "Oh that’s a good idea. Let’s expand on that.” A lot of that kind of process is really, really fun and when I saw the movie and saw what they chose and how the film had evolved, I thought "Whoa, what an incredible thing to see that come to life and to see how much that character came through.” A lot of that, and (to Vince) you’d know more than me the amount of stuff that came through those sessions where you’re kind of just riffing and you don’t necessarily know how it’s gonna go. You sort of set up a situation and say "What would I do if I stop doing the lines in the script and I just try to find where this character is emotionally and what the relationships are like and so for me that’s very much rooted in the kind of work I am used to doing in theater. I was also very grateful that he came and did our 24-hour plays at the Old Vic. That was a blast. It was a lot of fun.
VINCE VAUGHN: That was a great experience for me as well and also I think there is, in any sort of live theater or this process or whatever, a starting point and I think that’s the right place to work from. There could be different ways to the waterfall. There could be different ways to do it, but I think there’s just one good place to start from. It’s a compliment to David too in that there is a lot of material that comes out there, but you feel safe with him in that you know he’s gonna go through that stuff in the editing room and kind of get what you are saying and find a better way of saying it; what’s efficient, what’s not efficient, but we’re all so much a part of the process of how we go through it that there’s almost like an old improv group. There becomes a group mind. .
Q: Did the British actors go along like Miranda or Rachel?
DAVID DOBKIN: Yeah. Oh Yeah.
VINCE VAUGHN: They are all such great actors. I think that’s the thing. I was talking to Kevin about this when I did the thing in England, which was such an honor and so much fun. Sometimes I’ve always found all of it to be very child-like. It’s make-believe. That’s where it comes from for me so there shouldn’t be such a religious approach sometimes to the arts where it’s sacred in this way. You should be respectful, but it’s also very including and child-like so whether it comes from the stage- These beautiful stage actors that come from the stage and are just terrific in films and film actors that can go be terrific in plays or people that can work with lines who can improvise, it’s just having a door open and having that opportunity. You’ll find that most people that have a great work ethic and take their work seriously will adapt because they’ll try hard enough to find a way. (to Paul) Do you feel similar to that?
PAUL GIAMATTI: Absolutely. I had never done as much improvisation as I did in this thing.
Q: That’s what Joel said. He said at the beginning you were a little horrified.
PAUL GIAMATTI: I didn’t know what the hell was going on. (Laughter) But once I got on the train-
VINCE VAUGHN:-seriously though. That’s like trying to teach a lion to hunt. Even the trailer we did was right off the bat.
PAUL GIAMATTI: It was a lot of fun. Like you said, I just had to open a door I’d never really opened before.
Q: What was it like to shoot in Chicago?
VINCE VAUGHN: It was fun. It’s my hometown. I’m from there so I love Chicago. I think everyone loves where their home is so it’s great to go back to Chicago always.
Q: Your rant towards the young girl about "get a motorcycle, be a lady,” did that come from you?
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah, we wrote that that day. Sometimes I write stuff. Sometimes it’s improv and some of it I’ll write prior to the session. This movie was particularly tough because we did have a normal prep time that we had to write on something like (Wedding) Crashers. That being said, the writer did do a good job; Jessie’s story, the superman cape scene, there was some good stuff that was already in the story, but it was just our process to sort of go through it and, you know, do material. That was something that came out of the repo situation and again that’s a great situation where I did improvise and got to push the limit feeling safe knowing David would go and make sense of the thing. Any of those, by the way, rants left in and of themselves might not work, but all put together-
DAVID DOBKIN: -you’re really not giving yourself enough credit. He really wrote that one and it was interesting because Fred was always like a difficult character to find and especially the way you work you create these characters that are really- The way Vince flushes it out is he wanted him to be a guy that is trying to share something positive with this girl, but he was so off-base and he was completely unaware so you are sort of forgiving of the character in a way and entertained by the concept that he’s trying to connect with her and you always have an incredible way of talking to kids. He talks to them like they are adults and it’s so funny, but umm you had written down so many ideas on that scene. Once he starts going sometimes it’s hard to stop.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah. "Vince that’s enough. We got it.” (Laughter)
DAVID DOBKIN: But in that scene in reticular, Fred’s point of view was never really totally grounded all the way and Vince came in and wrote that into the script. The thing where the DJ’s got a problem? That was a huge breakthrough. When you had that moment. We didn’t know how to get out of that moment like "Okay, what is this argument gonna be now?” Obviously he’s got all these elves dancing. And he did this whole thing.
VINCE VAUGHN: That’s the whole part that is tough. There is some stuff that wasn’t in the movie that’s out that thankfully David took out because they work probably as individual scenes, but as a whole it becomes that dynamic where you are at the North Pole and you become a bit of a cat in the hat causing problems. So far Santa is still on your side and wants to be there for you and the believability; it’s a real balancing act.
KEVIN SPACEY: So that must have been hard too because Chris (Bridges) wasn’t even there.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah Chris wasn’t there.
KEVIN SPACEY: You’re improving with yourself.
VINCE VAUGHN: With that one, I liked that show "Super Nanny” because I have a nephew and some nieces. Have you guys ever seen that show "Super Nanny”? That woman is unbelievable. These kids are hopped up on Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola. They won’t listen to anybody and then the Super Nanny comes and sets boundaries and "Use your words” and all of a sudden they start listening. So I’d watch that with my sister and I’d say "Come here” and she’d be like "My kid’s too, Vince.” I’d go "No, no, but the Super Nanny” and she’d say "Don’t talk to me about the damn Super Nanny.” ‘Cause sometimes I’m left alone with both of them and I don’t want to be the uncle that disciplines them. You don’t want that. You just want to have fun with them, but the problem is they start hitting each other and you have to put down some kind of law. We tried to Super Nanny it. So then when we tried the thing with Ludacris I thought "This is crazy” and I’d start saying stuff like Super Nanny. You know like "Use your words” and whatever and I think it’s like David is saying. It’s that his point of view is that he’s being positive or respectful and the fact that it’s a little off and it’s not completely that way is forgiven because he’s not malice in intent.
Q: Has the paparazzi attention died down? Can you go out without billions of them following and trying to take shots of you?
VINCE VAUGHN: You know I’m left alone a lot of times. Sometimes I have moments where I’m followed. It’s something that just sort of comes with it. It’s a drag. It’s not the kind of thing you can empathize with folks though. There are just bigger problems obviously and most times you realize they are just trying to do their job to make a buck.
Q: Whenever you’re on a date, do they come out?
VINCE VAUGHN: No. Not always. If you are dating someone who is sort of famous, then it sort of happens. Yeah. It’s more of a phenomenon to a ridiculous point nowadays. The pendulum swings so far one way and not the other way and you know it’s not that big of a deal.
Q: Are Fred and Santa in this movie when we see them 800 years old?
VINCE VAUGHN: There was a scene that we shot that was inspired by the (Sir Laurence) Olivier/Tony Curtis scene in the bathtub that was cut out of this movie where he was like "Do you like oysters?”
PAUL GIAMATTI: -and there was a sponge-
VINCE VAUGHN: (laughter throughout) Yeah, and David for whatever reason took that out. Giamatti came to the set and said, "I have the perfect idea.” I’m like "We’ve seen this scene. It’s a classic scene.” And Giamatti was like "I’ve seen that movie. That’s not what this scene is. This is different.” I said, "This is almost the same. Can we just shoot?” I asked for the scene and they were like "Fine, we’ll shoot it.” Right, Paul?
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, oh yeah. It worked, but they had to take it out.
VINCE VAUGHN: It’s on the DVD though.
DAVID DOBKIN: It’s on the DVD! (Laughs)
Q: Do you think that you’d make a good dad since you’re such a great uncle?
VINCE VAUGHN: Here’s the thing that I’ve found is advantageous about being an uncle. I get to play with them. I get to say they’re great and then I get to go home. I think I would be a good dad once they got to be about six or seven and I could communicate with them. I love kids. I have always loved kids, but being around them in those early stages- and by the way, David is just a dad recently and I’m sure he’s going through it in a real way. The thing is that you know they’re crying and there’s only a few things they could possibly want, but it’s figuring which one of those three or four that seems like an eternity.
DAVID DOBKIN: Like Three-Card Monty.
VINCE VAUGHN: His son, by the way, is awesome. Jacob, and he looks like a dockworker.
Q: Would you ever put them in the naughty chair?
VINCE VAUGHN: No. I never put them in a naughty chair. I just separate them. I say, "Uncle Vince says you can’t be hitting her.”
KEVIN SPACEY: -and they watch hours and hours of "Super Nanny.” Watch this! (Laughter)
VINCE VAUGHN: What happens is they’ll come over and I’ll hit the power button and go, "How did that Swingers DVD get on? Oh yeah, that’s your uncle’s.” No, I’ll tell you one thing about my nephew. He was at the Grove here with my sister and he’s four and he saw the poster of Fred Claus and he said "That’s Uncle Vince and that’s Santa Claus” and my sister was mortified because she doesn’t want the concept of Christmas to be wrecked obviously and Dexter’s big thing wasn’t so much that. The big thing he was upset about was "Uncle Vince knows Santa Claus. How come he hasn’t introduced me?”
Q: What about at the end when you play "Silent Night” and you take out the line "Christ Our Savior is born”? Are you saying that isn’t a part of Christmas?
VINCE VAUGHN: No way. That’s a part of what Christmas is I think. It’s where it comes from. It’s an individual’s way into it, isn’t it really? I love Christmas. I grew up with Christmas, grew up Christian and to me I really loved the holiday. For different people in different cultures it’s how you were born. That’s your way in. That’s what you find. The thing with this movie and for Christmas and what it means is that we all found that common denominator coming together. To me, that’s what that gesture was about with the Hassidics was to say "We have more in common. There’s a faith and a connection irregardless that trumps everything.” That’s really what’s being said. It’s more on the higher "everyone together” connection level.
Q: Aren’t you doing another Christmas movie?
VINCE VAUGHN: I am. It’s called Four Christmases, yeah.
Q: Have you started doing it?
VINCE VAUGHN: We did, and in this one we are gonna have Christmas and Ramadan kind of come together.
Q: Is it a comedy?
VINCE VAUGHN: It’s a comedy, yeah.
Q: Paul, when you put on that suit, did you feel a bit of a sense of responsibility to the kids of the world?
PAUL GIAMATTI: I sure don’t want to shatter any illusions, any kids’ illusions, but having me play Santa Claus in the first place is probably gonna shatter some illusions, but yeah, you know I felt a certain sense of responsibility to it, but ultimately it’s a character that supposed to be a regular guy. I wanted to be able to do the "Ho ho ho” thing right so I worked on that.
Q: Could you tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is and why?
VINCE VAUGHN: I have to say A Christmas Story because Peter Billingsley is my best friend so I love watching that one, but there’s a lot of good ones. I won’t name them ‘cause I don’t want to take the answers away from my colleagues here.
KEVIN SPACEY: It’s a Wonderful Life.
Q: Because?
KEVIN SPACEY: Well part of it is now being in the film industry and learning about the history of that movie and it was a "failure” and I just love the fact that when it started showing on television in the 70s it became a classic. It became a film that not only people watched every Christmas, but they have tapes of it and DVDs of it and they enjoy watching it because it’s not only a Christmas story. It’s set in that time, but it’s one of the best movies ever and the fact that it just makes me laugh when a movie doesn’t make money you know and it’s judged as a failure and it all depends on how you judge success. If you judge success on only money than 90% of films that come out are a failure, but the truth is that sometimes movies that don’t make money can still have a life and do what I think movies should do and stand the test of time.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Oh there’s a great movie that Albert Finney did called Scrooge.
DAVID DOBKIN: I like the original Christmas Carol from 1934. It’s scary and it’s emotional and that performance when he turns at the end is probably one of the most unbelievable moments. It’s Incredible.
JESSIE NELSON: I’m with Kevin It’s a Wonderful Life.
Movie Fred Claus (2006) Posted By: Sheila Roberts
MoviesOnline sat down with Vince Vaughn, Kevin Spacey, Paul Giamatti, director David Dobkin, and writer Jessie Nelson at the Los Angeles press day for their hilarious new movie, "Fred Claus.”
Here’s what the director, writer and cast had to tell us:
Q: Do you think this movie is too adult for kids?
VINCE VAUGHN: I tell you the great thing about it is that the movie has played phenomenal with all audiences. I think Fred in a lot of ways is a big kid. He is a kid. I think he’s one of them so I think when you watch the film as a child you are really connected to this great role David created. All these great actors are playing their parts. It’s almost like those great claymation films we grew up with right? Where you walk on this live action sort of reality? The writer who writes a lot of the Pixar films, this is similar. It’s got a lot of funny and emotion in it and the stuff that works for adults; not to give scenes away, but the siblings scenes and stuff, is really just smart and clever. It’s not just that it’s grotesque or shocking or risqué. It’s a real compliment to David and the tone of the movie that we never had a need to go there to be enjoyable for adult audiences and I think the kids love the great theme that there’s no naughty kids and Jessie Nelson really was the one that came up with the story of Fred Claus and I think she found a really different kind of way of looking at the genre of Christmas films in a fresh, new way. That’s what was most inspiring for me. My best friend Peter Billingsley did A Christmas Story, which is one of the best. "You’ll shoot your eye out kid.” (Laughter) Of course, It’s A Wonderful Life, but both of those movies have some real drama in them as well.
Q: And darkness.
VINCE VAUGHN: And darkness. This does in a way that’s not dark as in inappropriate, but as in serious and consequences which is a sort of testament to the character that Kevin (Spacey) plays, but Jessie I guess I’ll leave to you to sort of- I guess the true essence as to why it works so well is because Fred Claus was originally as simple as a bedtime story from a mother to her daughter.
JESSIE NELSON: Yeah, my daughter asked me one night if Santa Claus had a family. I thought, "Oh my god, of course he did.” And "What would it have been like to be Santa Claus’s brother?” There’s a shadow of that and how hard it would have been to be Santa as a kid; having to be the perfect id, and giving your birthday presents away, and being a little pudgy, and jolly all the time. Slowly the story evolved and I thought, "Wow that would make a great movie” and two nights later I was watching The Godfather I thought "Oh, he’s got to be called Fred as an homage to the character in The Godfather.” We always slightly had Vince in our mind as we were working on the script because we always felt he could bring so much heart to the sort of naughty kid story of Christmas. You know, that there’s no naughty kids just misunderstood kids.
DAVID DOBKIN: You say that now to be funny, but pretty much you saw Freddy and you said "Let’s get Vince.” (Laughter)
JESSIE NELSON: Yeah. That’s true. The one thing I was gonna say is that my daughter was on the set with us the whole time and Vince and David used to crack me up when we were making the movie because they would do a scene and then they would turn to Molly. You know all these great actors would do a scene and then they would turn to this ten-year-old and say "How was that Molly? Did you believe that line?”
VINCE VAUGHN: She was our secret weapon. She’s so great.
JESSIE NELSON: So from the very beginning we sort of had a kid’s sanction on the movie.
DAVID DOBKIN: By the way, another interesting thing is that when we first started testing the movie and you’d ask; the kids all think the movie is for them. The kids think the movie is for them. The adults think the movie is for them. There’s this really interesting thing that happens where you realize; I mean that’s what you hope for when you are making a family film that everyone thinks the movie is actually directed to them.
KEVIN SPACEY: We do a thing at the Old Vic that they call panto and it’s a tradition in England and it’s a family entertainment and what makes it work and I think, if I can use this as a comparison, for the kids you create the traditional family story. This year we are doing "Cinderella.” We did "Aladdin” a few years ago. So the kids follow the traditional story. It’s exactly what they know it to be from their childhood and from books, but what makes it fun for adults is that there are all kinds of double entendre and innuendos and songs and dances. So the adults have a really good time while they are watching a sort of traditional, certainly Christmas panto which is oddly the biggest money-making theatrical in England and yet it’s for everybody so you see kids as young as three. At times some entendre goes flying by and you think, "Did they get that? I hope not.” and they don’t. It goes right over their heads and the adults are falling all over themselves so it becomes a real family oriented experience and I think that this movie achieved that same goal.
Q: Was your character a kid at heart too?
KEVIN SPACEY: Oh, I think yeah. You know, when anyone says "Oh you’re playing this really bad, villainous character” hasn’t seen the whole movie. Stay to the end of the movie and then you’ll see who he really is because it’s the kind of character that goes through a journey that starts out in one way and obviously in the same way there’s resentment that this character feels and this (other) character feels toward each other. He actually ends up being a catalyst for that happening and by the end of the film he’s definitely got them a little more efficient. They’re using spreadsheets now.
VINCE VAUGHN: Oddly, you know, I think that Fred and Clyde are bedfellows in that they can relate to the similar brother circumstance and they each handle it a little differently although in the same ball park, in a similar fashion, but I think that somehow through both of their ways of handling it they come to the best answer with Nicholas being involved as well the three of us play out something that needed to be played out because there’s lessons in all of it.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, yeah, I learned all that stuff about you, but also the thing I find interesting in that scene that I love, it’s timeless. The most I am like Santa Claus should be is in that scene.
KEVIN SPACEY: It’s about forgiveness.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, and he sort of takes possession of being Santa Claus again because he’s sort of lost it.
KEVIN SPACEY: He’s so overworked.
PAUL GIAMATTI: He’s so overworked. (Laughter)
DAVID DOBKIN: There’s a real ownership about how he does it in that scene where he goes "Clyde Northcutt” because he’s just thought that this is the way to approach kids now.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Right. He’s figured it out and he can sort of do it again.
DAVID DOBKIN: (to Kevin) The bit at the end, by the way, with the cape under the sweater and you don’t really want to draw attention to it. The way you play it is perfect. You emotionally aren’t comfortable with knowing it, but it’s there!
KEVIN SPACEY: I shouldn’t really admit this, but I’m still wearing it (laughter) Just my hope for a sequel.
Q: It is very heartwarming and it sort of flies against the idea we have of kids being sort of cynical. Chris (Bridges) already talked about his daughter giving him raised eyebrows and the story not making sense with Santa Claus. My own kids, probably by seven were rejecting it, but going along with it for the presents. (Laughter) What do you perceive in the audience that has changed? In fact, are kids tougher customers?
KEVIN SPACEY: My feeling is that I don’t even really care if kids even believe that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. I still think there’s a desire to believe in something because it’s not about a person. We have certain images in film and now we have a new one in Paul. Images of what Santa Claus is like, but it’s more. It’s a feeling, an idea. I hear people say all the time "Oh, kids are too cynical these days. They grow up too fast. They’ve got too much access to this, to that, and the other thing” and I just go "Yeah, but you’re not six years old.” (To Vince Vaughn) What did that kid say to you at the World Series thing?
VINCE VAUGHN: Oh yeah, it’s a great the more things change the more they stay the same. The thing that I never lost- as actors and stuff too there’s that make believe child like thing that you have to have. Also, for me is what kind of always got me through things is that faith in that kind of goodness and hopefulness. I think Kevin says it really well when it’s really not what this person is in it’s human form, but it is what it represents and I think that the thing Jessie found with "No naughty kids” and the story David put together and how he hits those themes so beautifully when he sets stuff up so simple and then brings it back around in a way- for me the third act of the movie has such a huge emotional impact, but it’s all those great feelings that you want to feel at Christmas. (It’s) the kind of impact that makes you feel afterwards kind of optimistic, almost freed of some stuff. I think that’s Santa Claus.
KEVIN SPACEY: Tell them what the kid said to you.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yes. We did this short for the World Series that aired last night where I played a little league pitcher. I have a little league team.
KEVIN SPACEY: Coaching them.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah coaching them. So we shot the whole thing; all the posters have been up and what not for Fred Claus and when it was over this young boy that had to be about nine or ten years old came up to me and said "Hey Fred”. I felt a little bit like Mean Joe Green. (laughter) He looks at me and he goes, "Tell your brother to get me something this year.” And I said "Oh yeah, yeah we got you. We got you.” Then I kind of thought to myself, "Oh, I hope his parents do get him something.” I made a promise I’m now on the books for. It just was a reminder going to the theme that we are saying that there is that feeling. And by the way, you know what, even when you get to that age for us that can remember; where you go "Yeah, yeah, I don’t believe it” or you don’t want to be embarrassed, there’s a side of you laying quiet that says, "I hope he is there. I want to believe it.” You still want to believe it. I believe all of us in our own way, as adults, find that way to still have that faith.
PAUL GIAMATTI: God, I would go with that. Gee, I don’t know. There’s not a whole heck that I want anymore. You know what I mean?
Q: I mean "Peace on Earth” anything-
PAUL GIAMATTI: Oh sure.
VINCE VAUGHN: I think that makes sense. Peace on Earth is something good to say too. Here’s where I would go: a hot tub, a couple girls from Brazil, and a "Do Not Disturb” sign. (Laughter)
Q: That’s what I wanted to hear.
VINCE VAUGHN: There you go.
Q: What was the best thing about working with Vince?
KEVIN SPACEY: Oh, I think the process that Vince goes through to discover what is going on in a scene. Often he uses improv. What’s great about it is that it’s not always about trying to be funny or trying to be slick or trying to be this. It’s about what improv does and where it leads you to. Maybe a solution or maybe it might even lead to "Oh that’s a good idea. Let’s expand on that.” A lot of that kind of process is really, really fun and when I saw the movie and saw what they chose and how the film had evolved, I thought "Whoa, what an incredible thing to see that come to life and to see how much that character came through.” A lot of that, and (to Vince) you’d know more than me the amount of stuff that came through those sessions where you’re kind of just riffing and you don’t necessarily know how it’s gonna go. You sort of set up a situation and say "What would I do if I stop doing the lines in the script and I just try to find where this character is emotionally and what the relationships are like and so for me that’s very much rooted in the kind of work I am used to doing in theater. I was also very grateful that he came and did our 24-hour plays at the Old Vic. That was a blast. It was a lot of fun.
VINCE VAUGHN: That was a great experience for me as well and also I think there is, in any sort of live theater or this process or whatever, a starting point and I think that’s the right place to work from. There could be different ways to the waterfall. There could be different ways to do it, but I think there’s just one good place to start from. It’s a compliment to David too in that there is a lot of material that comes out there, but you feel safe with him in that you know he’s gonna go through that stuff in the editing room and kind of get what you are saying and find a better way of saying it; what’s efficient, what’s not efficient, but we’re all so much a part of the process of how we go through it that there’s almost like an old improv group. There becomes a group mind. .
Q: Did the British actors go along like Miranda or Rachel?
DAVID DOBKIN: Yeah. Oh Yeah.
VINCE VAUGHN: They are all such great actors. I think that’s the thing. I was talking to Kevin about this when I did the thing in England, which was such an honor and so much fun. Sometimes I’ve always found all of it to be very child-like. It’s make-believe. That’s where it comes from for me so there shouldn’t be such a religious approach sometimes to the arts where it’s sacred in this way. You should be respectful, but it’s also very including and child-like so whether it comes from the stage- These beautiful stage actors that come from the stage and are just terrific in films and film actors that can go be terrific in plays or people that can work with lines who can improvise, it’s just having a door open and having that opportunity. You’ll find that most people that have a great work ethic and take their work seriously will adapt because they’ll try hard enough to find a way. (to Paul) Do you feel similar to that?
PAUL GIAMATTI: Absolutely. I had never done as much improvisation as I did in this thing.
Q: That’s what Joel said. He said at the beginning you were a little horrified.
PAUL GIAMATTI: I didn’t know what the hell was going on. (Laughter) But once I got on the train-
VINCE VAUGHN:-seriously though. That’s like trying to teach a lion to hunt. Even the trailer we did was right off the bat.
PAUL GIAMATTI: It was a lot of fun. Like you said, I just had to open a door I’d never really opened before.
Q: What was it like to shoot in Chicago?
VINCE VAUGHN: It was fun. It’s my hometown. I’m from there so I love Chicago. I think everyone loves where their home is so it’s great to go back to Chicago always.
Q: Your rant towards the young girl about "get a motorcycle, be a lady,” did that come from you?
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah, we wrote that that day. Sometimes I write stuff. Sometimes it’s improv and some of it I’ll write prior to the session. This movie was particularly tough because we did have a normal prep time that we had to write on something like (Wedding) Crashers. That being said, the writer did do a good job; Jessie’s story, the superman cape scene, there was some good stuff that was already in the story, but it was just our process to sort of go through it and, you know, do material. That was something that came out of the repo situation and again that’s a great situation where I did improvise and got to push the limit feeling safe knowing David would go and make sense of the thing. Any of those, by the way, rants left in and of themselves might not work, but all put together-
DAVID DOBKIN: -you’re really not giving yourself enough credit. He really wrote that one and it was interesting because Fred was always like a difficult character to find and especially the way you work you create these characters that are really- The way Vince flushes it out is he wanted him to be a guy that is trying to share something positive with this girl, but he was so off-base and he was completely unaware so you are sort of forgiving of the character in a way and entertained by the concept that he’s trying to connect with her and you always have an incredible way of talking to kids. He talks to them like they are adults and it’s so funny, but umm you had written down so many ideas on that scene. Once he starts going sometimes it’s hard to stop.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah. "Vince that’s enough. We got it.” (Laughter)
DAVID DOBKIN: But in that scene in reticular, Fred’s point of view was never really totally grounded all the way and Vince came in and wrote that into the script. The thing where the DJ’s got a problem? That was a huge breakthrough. When you had that moment. We didn’t know how to get out of that moment like "Okay, what is this argument gonna be now?” Obviously he’s got all these elves dancing. And he did this whole thing.
VINCE VAUGHN: That’s the whole part that is tough. There is some stuff that wasn’t in the movie that’s out that thankfully David took out because they work probably as individual scenes, but as a whole it becomes that dynamic where you are at the North Pole and you become a bit of a cat in the hat causing problems. So far Santa is still on your side and wants to be there for you and the believability; it’s a real balancing act.
KEVIN SPACEY: So that must have been hard too because Chris (Bridges) wasn’t even there.
VINCE VAUGHN: Yeah Chris wasn’t there.
KEVIN SPACEY: You’re improving with yourself.
VINCE VAUGHN: With that one, I liked that show "Super Nanny” because I have a nephew and some nieces. Have you guys ever seen that show "Super Nanny”? That woman is unbelievable. These kids are hopped up on Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola. They won’t listen to anybody and then the Super Nanny comes and sets boundaries and "Use your words” and all of a sudden they start listening. So I’d watch that with my sister and I’d say "Come here” and she’d be like "My kid’s too, Vince.” I’d go "No, no, but the Super Nanny” and she’d say "Don’t talk to me about the damn Super Nanny.” ‘Cause sometimes I’m left alone with both of them and I don’t want to be the uncle that disciplines them. You don’t want that. You just want to have fun with them, but the problem is they start hitting each other and you have to put down some kind of law. We tried to Super Nanny it. So then when we tried the thing with Ludacris I thought "This is crazy” and I’d start saying stuff like Super Nanny. You know like "Use your words” and whatever and I think it’s like David is saying. It’s that his point of view is that he’s being positive or respectful and the fact that it’s a little off and it’s not completely that way is forgiven because he’s not malice in intent.
Q: Has the paparazzi attention died down? Can you go out without billions of them following and trying to take shots of you?
VINCE VAUGHN: You know I’m left alone a lot of times. Sometimes I have moments where I’m followed. It’s something that just sort of comes with it. It’s a drag. It’s not the kind of thing you can empathize with folks though. There are just bigger problems obviously and most times you realize they are just trying to do their job to make a buck.
Q: Whenever you’re on a date, do they come out?
VINCE VAUGHN: No. Not always. If you are dating someone who is sort of famous, then it sort of happens. Yeah. It’s more of a phenomenon to a ridiculous point nowadays. The pendulum swings so far one way and not the other way and you know it’s not that big of a deal.
Q: Are Fred and Santa in this movie when we see them 800 years old?
VINCE VAUGHN: There was a scene that we shot that was inspired by the (Sir Laurence) Olivier/Tony Curtis scene in the bathtub that was cut out of this movie where he was like "Do you like oysters?”
PAUL GIAMATTI: -and there was a sponge-
VINCE VAUGHN: (laughter throughout) Yeah, and David for whatever reason took that out. Giamatti came to the set and said, "I have the perfect idea.” I’m like "We’ve seen this scene. It’s a classic scene.” And Giamatti was like "I’ve seen that movie. That’s not what this scene is. This is different.” I said, "This is almost the same. Can we just shoot?” I asked for the scene and they were like "Fine, we’ll shoot it.” Right, Paul?
PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, oh yeah. It worked, but they had to take it out.
VINCE VAUGHN: It’s on the DVD though.
DAVID DOBKIN: It’s on the DVD! (Laughs)
Q: Do you think that you’d make a good dad since you’re such a great uncle?
VINCE VAUGHN: Here’s the thing that I’ve found is advantageous about being an uncle. I get to play with them. I get to say they’re great and then I get to go home. I think I would be a good dad once they got to be about six or seven and I could communicate with them. I love kids. I have always loved kids, but being around them in those early stages- and by the way, David is just a dad recently and I’m sure he’s going through it in a real way. The thing is that you know they’re crying and there’s only a few things they could possibly want, but it’s figuring which one of those three or four that seems like an eternity.
DAVID DOBKIN: Like Three-Card Monty.
VINCE VAUGHN: His son, by the way, is awesome. Jacob, and he looks like a dockworker.
Q: Would you ever put them in the naughty chair?
VINCE VAUGHN: No. I never put them in a naughty chair. I just separate them. I say, "Uncle Vince says you can’t be hitting her.”
KEVIN SPACEY: -and they watch hours and hours of "Super Nanny.” Watch this! (Laughter)
VINCE VAUGHN: What happens is they’ll come over and I’ll hit the power button and go, "How did that Swingers DVD get on? Oh yeah, that’s your uncle’s.” No, I’ll tell you one thing about my nephew. He was at the Grove here with my sister and he’s four and he saw the poster of Fred Claus and he said "That’s Uncle Vince and that’s Santa Claus” and my sister was mortified because she doesn’t want the concept of Christmas to be wrecked obviously and Dexter’s big thing wasn’t so much that. The big thing he was upset about was "Uncle Vince knows Santa Claus. How come he hasn’t introduced me?”
Q: What about at the end when you play "Silent Night” and you take out the line "Christ Our Savior is born”? Are you saying that isn’t a part of Christmas?
VINCE VAUGHN: No way. That’s a part of what Christmas is I think. It’s where it comes from. It’s an individual’s way into it, isn’t it really? I love Christmas. I grew up with Christmas, grew up Christian and to me I really loved the holiday. For different people in different cultures it’s how you were born. That’s your way in. That’s what you find. The thing with this movie and for Christmas and what it means is that we all found that common denominator coming together. To me, that’s what that gesture was about with the Hassidics was to say "We have more in common. There’s a faith and a connection irregardless that trumps everything.” That’s really what’s being said. It’s more on the higher "everyone together” connection level.
Q: Aren’t you doing another Christmas movie?
VINCE VAUGHN: I am. It’s called Four Christmases, yeah.
Q: Have you started doing it?
VINCE VAUGHN: We did, and in this one we are gonna have Christmas and Ramadan kind of come together.
Q: Is it a comedy?
VINCE VAUGHN: It’s a comedy, yeah.
Q: Paul, when you put on that suit, did you feel a bit of a sense of responsibility to the kids of the world?
PAUL GIAMATTI: I sure don’t want to shatter any illusions, any kids’ illusions, but having me play Santa Claus in the first place is probably gonna shatter some illusions, but yeah, you know I felt a certain sense of responsibility to it, but ultimately it’s a character that supposed to be a regular guy. I wanted to be able to do the "Ho ho ho” thing right so I worked on that.
Q: Could you tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is and why?
VINCE VAUGHN: I have to say A Christmas Story because Peter Billingsley is my best friend so I love watching that one, but there’s a lot of good ones. I won’t name them ‘cause I don’t want to take the answers away from my colleagues here.
KEVIN SPACEY: It’s a Wonderful Life.
Q: Because?
KEVIN SPACEY: Well part of it is now being in the film industry and learning about the history of that movie and it was a "failure” and I just love the fact that when it started showing on television in the 70s it became a classic. It became a film that not only people watched every Christmas, but they have tapes of it and DVDs of it and they enjoy watching it because it’s not only a Christmas story. It’s set in that time, but it’s one of the best movies ever and the fact that it just makes me laugh when a movie doesn’t make money you know and it’s judged as a failure and it all depends on how you judge success. If you judge success on only money than 90% of films that come out are a failure, but the truth is that sometimes movies that don’t make money can still have a life and do what I think movies should do and stand the test of time.
PAUL GIAMATTI: Oh there’s a great movie that Albert Finney did called Scrooge.
DAVID DOBKIN: I like the original Christmas Carol from 1934. It’s scary and it’s emotional and that performance when he turns at the end is probably one of the most unbelievable moments. It’s Incredible.
JESSIE NELSON: I’m with Kevin It’s a Wonderful Life.