It’sJohn WickmeetsMiracle on 34th Street."
The R-rated movie is also, per the film’s name,insanelyviolent.
“I didn’t mean to sound cocky or anything.
David Harbour in ‘Violent Night’.Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures
Humor mixed with action and gore and heart is just really something that I love.”
Casey and Miller’s idea took a long and circuitous route getting to the big screen.
“We always say we met in detention, which makes people thinkBreakfast Club,” says Miller.
‘Violent Night’ writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller.Eric Charbonneau
“But our detention was serious; we weren’t allowed to talk to each other.”
“We did anyway, but we got yelled at,” says Casey.
That had never even occurred to me as a thing you could do.
David Harbour in ‘Violent Night’.Universal
His ambition was ridiculous.
“It was likeSaturday Night Livefor high school kids.
It was like joining a football team or something.
David Harbour and John Leguizamo in ‘Violent Night’.Universal
It was a bunch of nerds who wanted to put on a TV show.
We made severalDie Hardparodies.”
The writer describes their early version ofViolent Nightas “just the idea of Santa stumbling across some criminals.
Director Tommy Wirkola on the set of ‘Violent Night’.Universal
That version of Santa was way more of a comedic idiot.”
We just ate free sandwiches and watched free videos as we worked on our scripts.
Eventually, Miller created an animated comedy-fantasy show calledGolan the Insatiablefor Fox, which he co-wrote with Casey.
“I remember Pat was like, ‘Oh s—, are you guys making aSonicmovie?’
And he was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we already have writers, though.’
We were like, ‘Well, if ever you need more writers, hit us up!’
And then, weirdly, that’s exactly what happened.”
“He called and was like, ‘Do you guys really have an idea for aSonicmovie?'”
“We were like, ‘Yeah!’
“‘Can you go pitch it to David Leitch tomorrow?’
Of course, we werenotready to pitch it but wesaidwe were.
We never really even had time towritea pitch.”
Thankfully, Universal went for it.”
According to Miller, their point person at Universal had two big notes.
“One was, we can’t afford to see the North Pole.
We were like, ‘Okay,'” says the writer.
“And the other one was, go crazy.
And we were like, that was theexactnote we wanted from Universal.”
You could do the whole concept as a PG family movie.
Like, it’s not hard to imagine like the Kevin James [version].
We’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, it’s literally Santa Claus.’
“David Leitch and Kelly McCormick are old friends,” says Wirkola.
“David did second unit onHansel & Gretelbefore he went away and became the world’s biggest director.
When they sent it to me, they said, ‘Yeah, it’s basicallyDie Hardwith Santa Claus.’
A very violent Christmas movie.
“I love that kind of stuff,” says the director.
They never held us back.”
Wirkola was happy to work on the script with Miller and Casey.
“[Directors] are like, ‘Why are you still weighing in on this?
You’re just the idiots that found this script!’
But it was a mutual lovefest.
“Universal was really open when it came to casting,” says the director.
“It was like, ‘Okay, who do you want?
So we started throwing names back and forth.
As soon as he signed on, it was full steam ahead.”
We were like, yeah, that’s what Santa’s like!”
To prep for the film, Harbour both gained weight and honed his fighting skills.
You feel, when he steps into a room, it’s just power.
And Harbour really embraced that.
Harbour has that feel.
Wirkola shotViolent Nightin Canada during the winter, which proved testing even for the Scandinavian.
But it also looks great.
That’s not CGI breath; it’s real cold breath."
Thank God that Universal is putting it out in the theaters."
“We were very worried that would happen.
Violent Nightis released in cinemas Dec. 2.
Watch the film’s trailer below.
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