'It will make you believe in Santa Claus': David Harbour on his new action film 'Violent Night'

Never in a million years David Harbour had imaged that he would play Santa Claus. The Hollywood actor has donned many roles, be it our favour cop Hopper from Stranger Things, or the Red Guardian in Black Widow, but playing Santa Claus was never on David's radar.

"I have been up for many different roles, but Santa Claus was never up there until now," he says in an interview as his latest film Violent Night's hits the UAE cinemas.

Violent Night sees as an elite group of mercenaries break into a house on Christmas eve. There they meet the dark side of David's Santa Claus, who will do anything to protect the house he stands in.

Although the name suggests otherwise, Tommy Wirkola's Violent Night is a Christmas movie at its core. "It will make you believe in Santa Claus," David says, "And it will also make you believe that Santa can kick your butt if you on the naughty list."

Excerpts from the interview:

You choose your projects carefully. What was it about Violent Night that made you want to be a part of it?

Initially it just confused me, but I generally get excited about things that confuse me. When they pitched to me this sort of a violent Santa Claus film, I thought it didn’t make much sense. Then I talked to Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola, who is big into Christmas, and producer David Leitch, who is big into action films, and I read the script. That’s when I realized it was a big action movie with a lot of funny stuff, and that underneath it there was this beautiful heart-warming story about this little girl who is lacking a lot in her family life and needs to believe in Santa Claus. So, there was this cathartic experience that I thought would be thrilling to get it right. And I didn’t know if we would, but it was definitely exciting to try. Now I feel it turned out pretty well.

We have never seen a Santa like this before. It seems he has become bitter and that he is losing his faith in humanity. What is your take on the concept?

For me, the big question of the movie is: Who is this guy? There are different versions of this character and a mythology that goes way back, and we wanted to explore that. When we first meet him, he hates who he has become – which is this kind of thing for greedy children and consumers. And then his own unhappiness sort of leads him back to whom he was before becoming Santa; but, when this little girl is in trouble and asks for him to protect her, we see his cynicism melt away and we understand that he had a bigger purpose and how he actually believes in the concepts of naughty and nice as bigger ideas. And I think he wants to get back to that, which in a way gives him a renewed life.

It must have been a great character to play?

Yes, that whole arch was really fun, as we have this sort of dark guy – who is trapped in a version of himself that the world thought he was – explode because a young girl needs him to be her champion. That was great to explore.

That’s when we see the bad-ass side of him and learn about his backstory, which goes all the way back to the Viking Age, right?

Exactly, and we get to have a lot of fun with that too. Our film goes back to his origins, when he was not precisely the nicest guy.

The heart of the movie is in that relationship between the 7-year-old Trudy and Santa. How was it to work with a young talent like Leah Brady to build that relationship?

Leah is such a pro, and she is wonderful in the movie. So, it was great to be able to build that relationship with her. And it’s interesting because most of it takes place with us communicating on radio, but it felt special with her. Leah has this clear innocence and sweetness that shines through her performance, and she is endlessly charismatic. We were very lucky to have her in the movie.

And you also have a great villain in Scrooge, played by John Leguizamo.

I love John! We are both New Yorkers, I have known him for some time, and I have always wanted to work with him. He elevates the movie, playing this bad force that needs to go up against Santa. I just can’t say enough good things about John.

True to its title, the film has a lot of action. How was it to shoot those scenes dressed up as Santa?

It was brutal! I have to say that it is no joke what these stunt guys do, and I did my best to keep up with them. This incredible team has done all these crazy sophisticated John Wick movies and others like Nobody, and they are at the top of their game. I trained for months with them doing Jujitsu and Greco-Roman wrestling, trying to keep up the best I could; but it was hard, and I was beat every day. Sometimes I was so sore and tired when I got home that I would just pass out fifteen minutes later.

Violent Night is also very funny. It must have been hard to keep a straight face at times with everything that was going on?

Yes, there were a lot of days that were particularly silly.

What went through your mind when you first saw yourself in the costume?

I remember looking at myself in the mirror after I put the costume on for the first time and taking a selfie as I spontaneously gave a little, “Ho, ho, ho.” There was something so wonderful about that. It was special to see it all come together.

The tone of the movie is quite unique. What do you believe Tommy Wirkola brought to it all as a director?

Tommy was fantastic! He was so creative and spontaneous, and he really wanted to get the story right, focusing on its heart and the relationships. It’s great to have a director so attentive to those elements in an action movie. And he’s a fun guy! Tommy is like a little kid inside, and he is so into Christmas. He brought such joy to set every day, no matter how cold it was, and he was a pleasure to be around. I think Tommy Wirkola put together a great movie, and I’m realty grateful that he was at the helm of it.

And how do you look back now at the whole experience of being a part of it?

It is such a rollercoaster to do any film, as there are so many stages in the process. You start off with something that is wildly unrealized, followed by a shoot that takes over your life, and then you finally see it put together. This project has been quite special to me because it feels like each building block was a joyful staircase going up to something that has ended up being so gratifying, which is not always how this process works. So, I am so excited to have people see it. And, as it is around Christmas, I hope it captures its spirit. For me, it has been a really nice experience. Four Star Films

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