Nutcrackersmarks the return of Ben Stiller in a leading role. He plays Mike, who heads to the heart of Ohio to care for his four rambunctious nephews in the aftermath of his sister and her husband passing away in a tragic car accident. Though initially hesitant, Mike realizes they may be the family he’s always needed.
Director David Gordon Greenwas inspired by real-life brothers - Homer Janson, Ulysses Janson, Arlo Janson, and Atlas Janson - and actually filmed on their family farm. This is the first acting role for all four boys. Green is well known in the horror world for movies likeHalloween Kills(2021) andHalloween(2018), but is no stranger to comedy either, as he directs and producesThe Righteous Gemstones.
Janson Siblings & Writer Leland Douglas Talk Working With Ben Stiller On The Nutcrackers Red Carpet [TIFF]
Screen Rant attends the Nutcrackers premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and chats with the cast about filming on a farm in Ohio.
ScreenRantinterviewed David Gordon Green about his new film,Nutcrackers. He discussed how the Janson Brothers inspired the film and why filming at their family farm helped them in their first acting roles. Green also detailed what makesBen Stiller the perfect casting choicefor Michael, and how the movie really came together with him involved. He claimed that there were no real challenges while filming, despite working with both children and animals.
David Gordon Green Wanted To Create The Same Feel As His Comfort Films With Nutcrackers
" I revisit those movies, and they make me feel nice. But then put my absurdist and independent filmmaker-minded artsy-fartsy spin on it."
Screen Rant: Can you talk about how these brothers were your inspiration for the film?
David Gordon Green: Yeah, for sure. I met the kids, right? I’ve known the kids. I know their mother very well. When I sat down with the kids and was thinking seriously about this, I just was triggered by those movies like Overboard, was a big one for me as a kid. Uncle Buck was a big one for me. Bad News Bears. And trying to find that balance of rawness in real, but also put it in a heartwarming holiday movie.
So that was the goal. Could I find something that plays into those 70s, 80s, early 90s tropes that I love so much. I revisit those movies, and they make me feel nice. But then put my absurdist and independent filmmaker-minded artsy-fartsy spin on it.
Screen Rant: The dynamic between the boys and Ben Stiller is perfect. Can you talk about bringing him on?
David Gordon Green: Yeah, well, that’s what it needed. That perfect foil. Ben has such a skill at drama and comedy that he could play both. A lot of the scenes we shot both ways. Like let’s do the funny version and let’s do the heartwarming version and then find the balance in the editing room. He just is so skilled at that because he plays things very real. And also he’s a great listener.
So when you take these kids who have never been in front of a camera before, and we allow them to be themselves and say what they would say and give their own expressions and reactions, he’s great at responding to that. So it’s about putting the camera in the right place so you don’t miss it. But he’s such a skilled artist and technician in his own right as an actor that it just brought a beautiful nuance where he could keep a focus to the scene when the kids might’ve gone astray and be able to embrace the naturalism and authenticity of who they were and what they were trying to say.
Filming Nutcrackers In The Real Home Of Real Brothers Brought Authenticity To The Movie
“We’re going to shoot on 35 millimeter, which I think will add some of that texture of the nostalgia of the films that we’re talking about. And put a tripod in the mud and just start rolling film.”
Screen Rant: Do you think it made it easier for you that they’re brothers in real life?
David Gordon Green: I mean, to me, it was great because I just knew them. We filmed in their house with their animals so they were just at home in a way where I think if I’d have gone to a state with a better tax incentive and built a house and invited a bunch of animals, I think it would’ve felt a little artificial. But having them be so comfortable with each other.
These are brothers that don’t fight. They wrestle, and they run around, but they’re just good, funny, adventuresome kids. They love each other as brothers. So what cooler way where you’re not dealing with the competitive nature of casting, and you’re not dealing with the typical stage parents or the polished nature of kids that memorize their lines and hit their marks. You’re just saying, this is where you live. What do you do? Let’s hang out.
I go way back with their mom. She’s an amazing artist in her own right. And really just the idea, as bold as it sounds of, “Hey, Carrie, do you mind if we bring a movie crew to your farm and film a movie with your kids and your chickens and your pigs?” She just started laughing and said, “Why not? What are you going to do? Track mud in the house? We do that every day.”
Screen Rant: No hesitation from her then.
David Gordon Green: Yeah, it wasn’t. And it was great. She and her husband, Jeff, were literally just open arms. Their grandfather was our animal wrangler. It was a really small, fun production. A lot of the crew I took from the horror movies I’ve been doing and I said, let’s just do something different, guys. Let’s mix it up a little bit. We’re going to shoot on 35 millimeter, which I think will add some of that texture of the nostalgia of the films that we’re talking about. And put a tripod in the mud and just start rolling film.
Screen Rant: Speaking of the horror movies you’ve done, can you talk about jumping genres?
David Gordon Green: Two very different genres. I think for me, I’m always exercising new muscles and I had the balance of doing a horror movie in the fall and then shooting The Righteous Gemstones in the spring and summer. So I would always have a balance of comedy and drama, but I wanted to strip away all of the mechanism of both expectation and the industry that is so specific about what they want out of genre.
And the IP and say, let’s just go make one for us, and we’ll shoot it in 25 days. Nobody’s looking, it’s a modest investment. We can have a lot of fun, a lot of freedom and use it as a palate cleanser. Then, when I reached out to Ben, he was on a hiatus of Severance, the show that he’s been working on, and acknowledges it’s been a number of years since he’s been in front of the camera, and I’ve just really wanted to get him back in front.
So it just seemed like the right timing for both of us to collaborate on this. I think by having the gravity and gifts that Ben brings, it makes a movie like this go from some weird indie art project with your friend’s kids to a movie that people can share and enjoy in the holidays and talk about next year. I think if I’ve done my job correctly, this is going to be a movie that people revisit and find the nuances of the comedy and some of the layers that we’ve buried within on multiple viewings.
David Gordon Green Claims There Were No Challenges On The Set Of Nutcrackers
“It’s just life on the farm, and they let it exist and it blossoms. So that was not a challenge.”
Screen Rant: Everyone says, don’t work with animals and don’t work with kids, and you work with both on this. What was the biggest challenge for you?
David Gordon Green: There was no challenge. The animals were great because the kids are so comfortable with them because that’s their responsibility. They’re responsible for the livelihood of those animals. They know every one of them by name. I never learned all the chickens' names, but they know. And so they’re so comfortable with them.
One of the first times I ever went to their house, a pig just walked through the kitchen. Everybody’s comfortable in that way and their animals are so loved and so yet respected. It’s as if it’s the same species. It’s just life on the farm, and they let it exist and it blossoms. So that was not a challenge.
I don’t really know what a challenge was. It was really freaking cold. We’d be out there in 10 degrees filming and that was cold. We’re filming in December and January in Ohio and it would be some pretty bitter winds kicking us in the butt, but all that’s part of the camaraderie of it. There wasn’t the typical burdens and headaches. We were in the middle of nowhere, just in this beautiful community, isolated, where Hollywood doesn’t necessarily show up on their doorstep. We’re in a place where when you show up in someone’s yard or on the street, they bring you cookies, and it’s an invitation to celebrate what we’re there to do rather than try to run us off or run the lawnmower so that they can get an extra 50 bucks, which happens when you shoot in a lot of places.
Screen Rant: One of my favorite parts is the Christmas couch tradition. Do you have a fun holiday tradition?
David Gordon Green: Well, first of all, I can say the Christmas couch, we couldn’t get the couch out the door so we just put it on its side and decided to work it into the art direction.
You know what, for me, I’m kind of the opposite of a lot of families that have their holiday rituals. I love to just explore and go somewhere new and feel some other family’s household and what their traditions are. I’m always curious about how other people exist a lot more so than my own holidays. I grew up in a neighborhood where we had Christmas light night and you got to open one gift before Christmas day and there was always these things.
With my kids, I’m always just radically throwing it on its butt and like, let’s travel to Ecuador. Let’s go try to do something that we learn a little bit about someone else’s traditions rather than just focus on our own.
More About Nutcrackers (2024)
Nutcrackers follows strait-laced and work-obsessed Mike (Stiller) as he is suddenly thrust into being a caregiver for his rambunctious, orphaned nephews.
Nutcrackers
Cast
Nutcrackers is a family drama film by director David Gordon Green and starring Ben Stiller. Stiller plays Mike, who, after his siblings pass away in a tragic car accident, heads to the heart of Ohio to care for his nephews in the aftermath. Though initially hesitant, Mike realizes they may be the family he’s always needed.
