Tommy Wirkola Gifts Audiences With Easter Eggs For Christmas In ‘Violent Night’

Director Tommy Wirkola wrecks the halls with Violent Night, a festive action movie with all the trimmings and a few genre ho-ho-homages.

“Kudos to Universal, but I was surprised they let us do our thing,” he enthused. “They never said no. They never said, ‘Tommy, maybe this is too much.’ They were like, ‘Just go for it. Try it.’ The first screening we had for Universal where we had everything in there, I was pretty sure we would get some pushback, but they loved it.”

Violent Night sees David Harbour suit up as Santa and find himself caught up in a robbery as a crack team of hardened criminals takes a super-rich family hostage in their home on Christmas Eve. No prizes for guessing which of Santa’s lists they’re on as mayhem ensues.

I caught up with Wirkola to talk about the movie, the gifts he’s left for the fans of the genre, and the movie he thinks would make a perfect double bill.

Simon Thompson: I had so much fun with this, and the audience I saw it with lapped it up. There are only a few movies I have seen this year where people have reacted so enthusiastically.

Tommy Wirkola: I have barely seen it with a crowd myself yet. Only the second time was here in LA at Beyond Fest.

Thompson: When the trailer dropped online, the response was phenomenal. It spread like wildfire on social media. Were you aware of that?

Wirkola: We all felt like the trailer really exploded in such a big way. You don’t want to obsess too much over that, but of course, I went online, and I read reactions. On YouTube, there’s this thing where people record themselves reacting to the trailer, and I watched a couple of those, which was really fun. Kudos to Universal for cutting the trailer because it felt like it captured the film’s essence, and trailers don’t always do that. They nailed it. When we got the report, it had something like 20 million views on the official Universal page since it was released, and it is probably even more now, which is pretty crazy.

Thompson: Casting in this was critical, and David is incredible as Santa. Did he take much convincing to get into the role or even accept it in the first place?

Wirkola: He was the first guy I went to. I know it’s normal to say that to be nice, but it really was the case. We had our first casting meeting, we sat down and went through names, and somebody brought up David Harbour, and it was one of those moments where we were all just like, ‘Yeah, he’s perfect.’ We sent it to him, and he was shooting a NetflixNFLX
movie in New Orleans at the time. Ironically he had to be really skinny for that, and he had shaved his head. We Skyped with him two days after he got the script, and he loved it. He understood the tone we were trying to hit and loved our take on Santa Claus. David was in from very early on and heavily shaped what we did. We did rewrites, and he wanted to get his point of view on Santa and his journey, so we had a lot of fun building our Santa and tailoring it to David.

Thompson: I did not know that Beverly D’Angelo was in this until I saw the movie. She’s strongly associated with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Did she take much convincing to get back into the genre?

Wirkola: No, not at all. She loved the script and the role. She saw we were trying to do a new type of Christmas movie with our edge and humor. She loved the idea of playing that type of character in the first introduction scene, where she walks back and forth in the hallway, and we see and hear her a little bit. Eighty percent of that swearing was her improvising. She had some great phrases in there, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ It was like she was dying to do a role like this, so she embraced it and had a lot of fun with it. For me, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is the best Christmas movie. I see it every year because, for some reason, it is something that Norwegian television plays on December 23. I watch it every time, and it gives me the Christmas spirit. Beverly has a great sense of timing and loved the idea of playing the super dark, foul-mouthed character.

Thompson: You are known for pushing boundaries in your work. I’m a big fan of your Dead Snow films. With Violent Night, were there any boundaries you wondered about pushing too far or were there cases where people wanted you to push things further?

Wirkola: On the Dead Snow movies, especially the second one, I felt like there were no boundaries, and that was part of the appeal. When it came to this one, I honestly felt that if we could get the heart of the movie right, the Christmas elements, we could do whatever we wanted for the rest of it. Again, kudos to Universal, but I was surprised they let us do our thing. They never said no. They never said, ‘Tommy, maybe this is too much.’ They were like, ‘Just go for it. Try it.’ The first screening we had for Universal, where we had everything in there, I was pretty sure we would get some pushback, but they loved it. It’s all about tone. If you get that balance right, you can get away with anything. I believe that. Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi are my biggest inspirations for this type of thing. I remember seeing Evil Dead II and Braindead so well, seeing those movies and how you can combine extreme gore and horror with laugh-out-loud moments. It was like one of those eye-opening moments for me, shaping me and my sensibilities. I always go back to that. Watch those movies, and you’ll see that you can do anything with the right tone.

Thompson: Violent Night was initially pitched as Die Hard and Home Alone with Santa, and I noticed what I think are a couple of nods to that festive action classic. One of them is the security guard called Al. Was that intentional or coincidental and are there more?

Wirkola: The guard being called Al was always in the script, so I’m not entirely sure if that was intentional, but I believe it was. You also have Santa and Trudy talking on the walkie-talkies, and that’s a clear reference to Die Hard. Again, it’s always a balance. You don’t want to do too much. You want to find your own way and pay tribute but, at the same time, give it something new and a fresh spin. Of course, the fact that it is Santa Claus provides us with that chance. Of course, there is also the Home Alone sequence which is one of my favorites. Again, it’s a movie I loved growing up, and I had the chance to do something crazy with that. So, there is Die Hard, Home Alone, and Christmas Vacation by nature of casting Beverly, and there are also a lot of hidden easter eggs in the production side and the sets that I hope people see.

Thompson: I noticed there was a line from John Leguizamo towards the end where he says, ‘Christmas dies tonight.’ Was that a Halloween Kills reference?

Wirkola: No, actually, it wasn’t that. I had seen the first of the new Halloween movies and only just watched the other two. It was then that I realized it’s close to a lot of that, but it was not intentional. It’s a reply to Santa, where he is at the beginning of the film, and he was considering pulling the plug on Christmas. It was more of an echoing of Santa where he was at the start of the movie, but in hindsight, it has a very Halloween vibe.

Thompson: When it comes to holiday movies, what would you consider to be a perfect pairing with Violent Night as a double bill? Would you go with a traditional Christmas film like Miracle on 34th Street or an action movie like The Long Kiss Goodnight?

Wirkola: Yeah, definitely The Long Kiss Goodnight. That would be a great pairing. That’s what I will go for.

Violent Nights is exclusively in theaters from Friday, December 2, 2022.