"Deck the Halls" was released on DVD this past Tuesday, and features stars Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, Kristen Davis and Kristen Chenoweth.
Monsters had a chance to speak with director John Whitesell about his Christmas comedy movie.
The movie centers on two very different guys genuinely trying to celebrate Christmas, each their own flawed way.
Steve and Buddy have similar hopes and dreams for their families and for the Christmas holiday, it is their styles of communication that fails to jibe despite the growing friendship of their two wives, played by the two Kristins, Chenoweth and Davis.
"That was really fun territory to explore" said John Whitesell, director and producer of the film.
Director John Whitesell added screenwriter Don Rhymer, who he'd just worked with on Big Momma's House 2 along with crack DP, Mark Irwin, "the most underrated cinematographer in the business," said Whitesell.
Indeed. Irwin lensed "Scream," "There's Something About Mary" and many visually interesting films over the years.
"He's so efficient, he shoots quickly and gets every shot," said Whitesell of his friend Irwin. "I will definitely work with him in the future if our schedules permit. The first time we worked together was on 'Malibu's Most Wanted,' he added. "That's the project I met Kal (Penn) on, and that's how his cameo in 'Deck the Halls' came to be, I called him up and asked him to fly up for a day's shoot."
Once pre-production on the film got rolling, Whitesell noted the difficulty in vetting the name of the town where the neighborly Christmas melee was to take place.
"Lots of lawyers had to clear names," he shared. "It is one of the hardest things that always hold up production, the names of the town, the visible stores, the characters even, everything has to be run by the lawyers to check out."
"Cloverdale, Massachusetts cleared, and it worked because we wanted the location to be in the eastern part of the United States, it just seems it is much more traditional there regarding the holidays. We wanted a New England town look and feel that would be home to the Finches' and Halls' dueling houses."
The film shot in British Columbia, Canada, and the location manager found a large, open park field with several houses on its borders that could help duplicate a surrounding neighborhood. The exteriors of the homes were built to spec on the field to provide a natural perspective between the windows of the Finch house and the actual visual of the Hall house. The interiors were built separately.
"Our production designer Bill Brzeski did a fantastic job," noted Whitesell. "Creating these houses was a technical feat for the entire art department and all the construction personnel. "
Whitesell explained how Brzeski designed and constructed two different home exteriors to represent each family: a center hutch Colonial for the more traditional Finches and a more eclectic structure to reflect the bohemian Hall clan.
"It was also important for Bill to use the architectural style of the Hall house with a flat surfaces so once the Christmas lights were added they'd really pop," explained Whitesell.
Just how many lights were used in the Hall house, as it grew in brightness during the length of the shoot?
"I think when it was all tallied we spent $400,000 on the lights, and we had LED lights that really made a difference," added Whitesell.
He noted the frustration we all feel with the burned out bulb mess on a string of lights. " It was a full time job keeping the lights all lit."
Weather and light were daunting challenges for the production too. "We filmed during one of the hottest summers ever in Canada, then we were dealing with other issues, like the nighttime aspect of the film, over 60% of the film takes place at night, shooting was set for summertime Vancouver, when there's only about six hours of darkness per day. I felt that the more we could shoot during the daytime, it would be better for the energy levels of the actors." Whitesell noted that an enormous tent like covering was built over the exterior sets.
"We essentially turned the location into a sound stage."
"Making winter look like winter, especially in the middle of summer, is never simple," says Brzeski, "but we perfected a number of tricks here, especially with our 'snow,' that really helped the seasonal transformation." This "movie snow" was made from fluffy, unrolled paper that was powdered, bleached and then put through a Krendel machine, a device that's used to blow insulation into attics.
The lighting of the Hall house with Christmas lights was the essence of the conflict for "Deck the Halls."
As the ever-increasing holiday light display is being added on to so it can be visible from outer space. "We had nine stages of lights being filmed," explained Whitesell. "Bill Brzeski's challenge was to make the decorations over the top, and we had help from a great lighting consultant, a rock and roll lighting designer who did a great job."
Lighting designer Jason McKinnon, who has worked extensively in the world of rock concerts, was hired to help achieve this "epic" feel. McKinnon created the nine stages of lighting: Zero lights-the beginning of the film, to stage seven, which is the big light show with Buddy in the sleigh at the controls. Level eight is when Buddy starts to pull the lights off, then level nine, in which the whole town helps him put the lights back up.
Before the light design was finalized, a mock-up of the Hall house was built on scaffolding in a parking lot and tested out with the various lighting levels.
"It was actually quite well planned out," says Brzeski. "We rehearsed putting the lights up and taking them down and made installation charts for every phase. We then filmed the tests, showed them to the studio, and made changes based on their creative input. It was a very effective process."
The next step for creating and manipulating the lighting design was the coating of the Hall home in light-emitting diode (L.E.D.) lights, creating a video wall that essentially wrapped around the house. "With the LED, we were able to shoot video and project it onto the house," says Whitesell. "The LED turned the place into a big JumboTron, like something you'd see in a stadium. I don't think anything's ever been done like that before."
Whitesell was happy with his casting choices, and he noted the two performances that made him take notice. "DeVito and Broderick, they are comic geniuses and they do what they do so well, but the two Kristins really did a great job. Kristin Davis, (who portrays Steve Finch's sincere wife Kelly), had the more 'thankless' job and played more straight to the other Kristin (Chenoweth) and they both really came through."
Whitesell also noted the shock value casting choices for "Deck the Halls" with the two tall blonde Aryan poster child princesses who played daughters to the much shorter Chenoweth and DeVito.
Visual gags were also embodied in costuming. Costume designer Carol Ramsey was responsible for the rounding up the selection of over-the-top sweaters that the Finch family donned for their traditional Christmas card picture. "Anything in our modern, fast-paced world that make us feel like maybe there are some traditions left in our life, people tend to glom onto. It's kind of a herd mentality, but I think in a sweet and fun way. Plus, those sweaters do have a certain photographic potential and often make for a funny Christmas card," said Ramsey.
Whitesell is proud of his Christmas comedy, and noted that comedies in general take it on the chin from critics more than any other genre.
"I've seen some tough reviews for 'Fred Claus,' but guess what, my kids want to see it and we will go, you know, the easiest pot shots are given to comedies, and those are the lumps you take, but I am proud of the movie, and enjoyed making a family comedy. Reviews don't matter," added Whitesell.
"I've always had a real love for Christmas movies. The movies that made the impression on me early on were 'It's a Wonderful Life,' Capra's film, it's an emotional trigger and a quintessential film, and the old black and white 'Christmas Carol' too- these movies for me meant the most," shared Whitesell.
The writer's strike that is currently underway has thrown a wrench into the immediate work plans for Whitesell, who noted the timing and the overall tone of the conflict was grim. "I don't know what's going to happen. It's going to be very interesting. I think everybody kind of thought that things would kind of proceed, but the truth is that without the writers it's very difficult. Unless you have a script that's 100% ready to go, it's hard."
Deck The Halls is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Nov. 26th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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