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Your new movie Saint
Nick - in a few words, what's it about?
Saint Nick follows a down and out guy by the name of Nick, who is forced to babysit his
estranged nephew over Christmas weekend. Comedy, cursing and Christmas spirit
ensues. It’s the 3 C’s, Mike! I just made that C thing up. But it’s true. As
someone who's not really into the genre, I just have to ask, why a
Christmas movie, is that a genre at all dear to you? And what do you think
makes your movie stick out of the crowd? And how did
this project come into being in the first place? Mike, I was surprised when you said yes to the review but I appreciate it!!
Saint Nick is the child of a short film called Who’s Watching Who? which follows this same premise -
an uncle watches his nephew and he’s not good at it. So using the success of that short
we went on to do the feature and thought it would be fun to set it over Christmas. But I
do love the holidays, giving gifts to people, seeing family, so I think making a Christmas
film at least once in my career was a must. Saint
Nick sticks out because I think it sort of
takes the fun moments from Hallmark movies but adds a level of reality. Like in the
acting, the scenarios and the slightly crude comedy. What
were your sources of inspiration when writing Saint
Nick? I really started writing a Bad Santa meets
Uncle Buck film at first, Mike. I wanted an R-rated Christmas comedy,
but the other producers didn’t really dig it, thinking it may make
more sense to find more of a PG-13 version and reduce Nick’s drinking… I did a lot of
drinking in my version of the movie but you know you gotta listen to the money people.
As I started cutting back the R-rating I really just took memories as a kid during
Christmas, like where my mom would hire a fake Santa to give us presents. Once I
finished my re-write that’s when Christopher McGahan came in to play to finish it up.
What can you tell us about your co-writers Justin Knodel and Christopher McGahan, and what was your collaboration
like? Chris McGahan and I have known each for a long time, he’s a great writer and he’s the
best person I know to do coverage on a script. You know, like lay everything out and
make sure everything makes sense. So he came on and polished the script for us. Did a
great job, then Justin who directed the movie as well came in with me one last time to
shape it for our production. What were the challenges of bringing Saint
Nick to the screen from a producer's point of view? I think like most movies, not enough time or money is the main challenge, but having the
star of the movie being only 10 years old was a new challenge for me… Alex
Lizzul did a great job, worked really hard and always knew his lines, but by law he has a very specific time
frame he can work, and a lot of the movie is at night so it makes it difficult to plan. But
overall this shoot went pretty well, we had a great cast, a small but super talented crew,
especially our PD Erica Tenaglia who made Christmas happen for us. Now post production is
another story but too long for this interview. You still need to go home, right? You
also play the lead in Saint
Nick - so what can you tell us about your character, what did you
draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write him with yourself in
miind from the get-go? I did! My character Nick is the epitome of the holiday blues…
newly single, struggling with his age and even at 40 years old hasn't confronted his past traumas during the
holidays. Other than me also turning 40 I didn’t really have much in common with Nick,
but I knew I wanted to show drunk in a fun way and sort of just experience this story in
real time with a slight chip on my shoulder. Nothing too complicated here, I just wanted
to have fun in this one.
Do talk about the rest of Saint
Nick' cast, and as writer/producer, how much of a say did you have
or demand when it came to casting? I can talk all day about this awesome cast!! I pretty much handled all of the casting in
this so I was just really happy to have that ability. To give people jobs. Hang out with
friends on set and just have fun. I even casted my fiancé Michelle Arturo
as my love interest in the movie. She was sleeping with the producer, Mike! But in all seriousness, from my
theatre brother Zombie Joe as Santa to Nicola Lambo as our Claudia and secret
character at the end - we were very lucky. I did meet Malek Hanna and Danny
Fehsenfeld for the first time on set, but both are super talented and both amazing
singers too! What was working with
your director Justin Knodel like? I’ve known Justin for a few years now, and I’ve worked with him multiple times. He’s
predominantly a cinematographer, but when it came to Saint
Nick I knew he should direct it. He has a love for 80s/90s comedy and knows them more than anyone I've ever
met. You can see that in his choices on set as well as in the final product. He’s
organized, stays calm under pressure and ultimately not only directed this, he shot it, lit
it and edited it. So Saint
Nick in the end is a Justin Knodel joint. And the K is not silent in
his last name. A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
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You can’t make a Christmas comedy and not have fun. While we worked hard, because
you have to complete a movie under budget, we also had a ton of fun. There’s so many
silly scenes in the movie that we just let the camera roll and let loose. Anything you
can tell us about audience and critical reception of Saint
Nick? So far critics get it. That’s the hardest part about making any movie. Are they gonna get
it? And it seems like so far they, you included, got it for the most part. Audiences at every
screening have really enjoyed it too. Almost surprisingly they came out going wow that
was really good. Indie Christmas movies don’t have a great rep as being good I guess? Any future projects you'd like to share? Of course! I have a horror film in pre-production that follows a father/daughter
team in the 90s investigating a haunted house. I really like the dynamic of the father/daughter scenario
on screen. Should be a spooky good time. It’s called Someone Died Here but could
change to Bloody Mary before it’s over. Did you know I was a ghosthunter in the early
2000s? That’s a story for another day.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else? On socials it’s
@saintnickmovie and saintnickmovie.com You can also follow me on
socials - @onlychrislevine - or visit my site, onychrislevine.com Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Mike, always a pleasure. You rock dude. Thanks! Thanks
for the interview!
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