Reginald Hudlin Talks ‘Candy Cane Lane’ And A ‘Boomerang’ Reunion

Christmas came early for director Reginald Hudlin in more ways than one when the holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane came his way. It also opened the filmmaker’s eyes to how hardcore fans of festive films can be when it comes to the genre.

“I did know there was an intense level of love about and devotion to it,” he recalled. “That said, when you get into it, you find out about people’s specific fetishes within the subconscious. You’re like, ‘Whoa. Okay. I never saw that before.’ All of that is exciting and fun for me, and I leaned into it because it was fertile ground for the kind of storytelling I wanted to do.”

Candy Cane Lane sees Eddie Murphy play Chris Carver, a father with his eyes on the prize of winning his neighborhood’s annual Christmas decorating contest. In the process, he unwittingly makes a deal with an elf with an ulterior motive that will either secure success or have him pay a high price. Either way, chaos ensues. Candy Cane Lane, Murphy’s first Christmas movie since 1983’s Trading Places, will stream on Amazon’s
AMZN
Prime Video from Friday, December 1, 2023.

“I’ve been wanting to make a holiday movie for a while, and this is the first script that excited me,” the director said. “I was happy to find out that Eddie was excited and attached to it, so it was like, ‘Okay, this is it. It’s a no-brainer.'”

Very early in the process, Hudlin, who has helmed classics such as House Party and Boomerang, told the entire cast and crew that his model for the movie would be “more is more.”

“The script was pretty outrageous, but not outrageous enough, so I was like, ‘Let’s go further.’ The actors had all kinds of brilliant comedic ideas, so we incorporated a lot of their humor,” the director explained. “Working with my production designer with the special effects company, we kept pushing the limits, and everyone had a great time. It really was a creative jam session, like the best jazz concert ever.”

One thing Hudlin knew he wanted to do was try to push the boundaries of the holiday movie and blend genres.

“I don’t think you see a lot of Christmas movies with jump scares in them. You largely don’t see Christmas movies with car chases in them. You don’t have Christmas movies with kung-fu battles in them. Well, we do. Many people have been surprised by some of the tonal shifts we make. They would go, ‘Whoa, now it’s a thriller. Now it’s a little bit of a horror movie,’ and they were like, ‘Did you mean to do that?’ Yeah, I very much did.”

“I think because it’s a Christmas movie and because it’s Eddie Murphy, you have the license to be a little bolder than most people take advantage of making a holiday movie. You can absolutely fail to do it, and that’s the fun. It’s mixing chemicals, right? The lab could explode, or you could lose a finger, but that’s where the excitement comes from. But what if it works? The element of risk attracted me.”

Something else that appealed to Hudlin was filming on the backlot at Universal Studios, especially the iconic Colonial Street, which doubles as Candy Cane Lane where the Carvers live.

“I’ve been making movies for a long time, but there is nothing like driving onto the Universal lot every day for a month,” the director enthused. “You’re driving around, and then you turn on to Steven Spielberg Drive, and then you go, ‘Look! There’s the Psycho house. Hey, Mother!’ Bruce, the Jaws shark, is swimming by the dock at Amity, and then you drive into Wisteria Lane and The Munsters‘ house. I got a thrill from that stuff every day when I went to work. The luxury as a filmmaker is that you get to transform it, make it your own, and add to that great iconography with a new set of images that a whole new generation will be watching and enjoying.”

With Hudlin at the helm, Murphy in the lead role, and David Alan Grier as Santa Claus, the trio’s reunion is a holiday treat for fans of the director’s 1992 comedy classic, Boomerang. That film also starred Halle Berry, Robin Givens, and Grace Jones.

“As much as I love every member of the Boomerang cast, they’re spectacular, and I can’t wait to work with all of them again, you have to let this movie be this movie,” the director said. “Even if David hadn’t been in Boomerang, he still would have been the perfect choice for Santa. That said, there was the extra joy of bringing them together again. We were on set and watching Eddie work with David, and you could see Eddie’s delight in how he was feeding David lines because he just wanted to see David do his thing. It was just a joy to watch.”

Did the Candy Cane Lane regroup tempt Hudlin to revisit the idea of a Boomerang sequel?

“Over the years, I’ve tried to get a Boomerang sequel going and never been able to do it. Working with producer Brian Grazer, Eddie, and David again on this was a thrill. No, we didn’t talk about it because we had our hands full making the movie we were making, but I would never turn down the opportunity to work with that amazing cast again.”