Violent Night is an action comedy starring David Harbour and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Wirkola that reimagines the classic holiday character Santa Clause as a rugged badass who hands out more than just coal to those at the top of his naughty list. When he discovers a wealthy family being held hostage by criminals in their own home, Santa decides to go to town on the bad guys and save the day.
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During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wirkola explained how Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ connection to David Leitch led to Violent Night. “I had just made a movie last year called The Trip … and I gave an early cut to David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, and Guy Danella at 87North because I’d known them from way back," Wirkola said. “David Leitch actually directed second unit on Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters before he became one of the biggest directors in the world. So I sent them the film, they loved it, and they sent me the [Violent Night] script.” Soon after Wirkola was brought on board for the project it was announced that Harbour would be playing Santa Claus in the holiday action movie.
A slew of interesting marketing followed, including a Violent Night trailer where Harbour delivered season’s beatings, culminating in a successful release and positive reception. In the wake of this, many are already calling for a sequel well before the next holiday season. “It sounds stupid, but I’m a big believer in not jinxing anything. I’m like, ‘Can we just wait a little bit?’” exclaims Wirkola cheerily, before diving into the realm of possibility. “But, of course, the writers have talked about it, and I have thrown some ideas out there. We don’t see the North Pole, we don’t see Mrs. Claus and we don’t see the elves. There were also a few ideas that we loved in the script, but we had to cut them because we couldn’t afford to shoot them.”
In addition to paving the way for Wirkola to direct Violent Night, it is also difficult to ignore the throughline shared by that film and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, with both reimagining a common myth and injecting a healthy dose of action and muted humor into the material to boot. Wirkola seems to be two for two with this type of project, having supervised amazing performances from Harbour and Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner. Enjoyers of Wirkola’s work won’t be wrong to hope that Violent Night, which has been even more well-received than Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, will likewise lead to more opportunities for the director.
Violent Night is now playing in theaters.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
