If you’re nice, you get presents from the Big Guy. If you’re naughty, you get justice.
David Harbour reprises his role as Santa Claus in Violent Night 2, a propulsive new chapter in yuletide mayhem from 87North, produced again by 87North founders Kelly McCormick and David Leitch —the powerhouse producers of Bullet Train, John Wick, The Fall Guy, Atomic Blonde and the Nobody franchise—and returning action director Tommy Wirkola.
In 2022’s bare-knuckle holiday sensation, Violent Night, an embittered Santa, armed with lethal combat skills, took out a team of mercenaries to rescue a girl and her family. Now, not-so-jolly Saint Nick suits up again to take on a ruthless gangster (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Jared Harris) terrorizing the merchants of the Silver Bell Mall.
But when Santa forgets the true meaning of Christmas, he finds himself in the heart of a lively mall community in desperate need of his help. Sapped of his magic, he’ll need another way to take on the goons threatening the mall, and time is running out. Santa has to rediscover his faith in goodness and call in some last-minute reinforcements from the one person no baddie wants to tangle with: Mrs. Claus (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Kristen Bell).
Along with David Harbour, Jared Harris and Kristen Bell, the dynamic cast includes Emmy winning screen legend Joe Pantoliano (The Last of Us, The Sopranos), Daniela Melchior (Fast X, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Andrew Bachelor (Greenland, The Walking Dead), and AEW professional wrestler Maxwell Friedman (The Iron Claw, Happy Gilmore 2).
To celebrate the launch of Violent Night 2‘s first trailer, Nick L’Barrow spoke with director Tommy Wirkola about how the action has evolved from the first film, exploring more of Santa’s backstory, and what he brought to this film from working on his own previous sequels.
Nick: Once again, the action looks absolutely insane. I’m curious to know what the conversations were like about how the action set pieces were going to evolve for Violent Night 2?
Tommy Wirkola: Obviously we had a lot of action in the first one. So it really was about how can we top it? How can we improve on that? How can we give people something they haven’t seen before? Which is getting harder and harder to do in the action space. And that’s something I would put the producers of this film (David Leitch and Kelly McCormick of 87North) at fault with because they’ve made so many great action movies! But with this film, we have our secret ingredient, which is Santa. In the first film, we got a glimpse of his backstory, and him as a Viking. So, without spoiling too much, we are going back to that and getting a little bit of flavour of how he was back in the day. And now he ends up being on the naughty list himself, and getting stripped of all his powers while stuck in this mall. There is one fight in particular that pays homage to one of my heroes, Sam Raimi. It’s this huge fight in a kitchen in the mall. Plus, we get the introduction to Mrs. Claus here, and when she comes into the movie, she brings her own energy and fighting style. We get a fun taste of what the dynamic between the two is like. There were a lot of elements that we pulled together to make the fights stand out again.
Nick: This is not the first time you’ve made a sequel. Were there lessons you were able to take away from making Dead Snow 2 that you were able to apply here?
TW: I guess so. I mean, I wrote Dead Snow 2, and I was lucky here that Pat (Casey) and Josh (Miller) came back as writers for this film. And they’re amazing partners to have. But if there was one thing I took away from making Dead Snow 2 it was to not play it safe. It took a long time to get the script right, and we tried a couple of different approaches before we landed on this story. As soon as we did, it felt right. It’s tricky with sequels because you want to give people what they want and expect, but you also want to surprise them and bring them to new places. Luckily with the first one, we had a few things in there that were unanswered, on purpose. We didn’t want to bog the first film down with backstory and exposition. And because we’re lucky enough to make this sequel, we have places to go, and things to reveal, and mysteries to solve. There’s questions that will be answered, but at the same time we’re not playing it safe when it comes to his journey. Even with the tone as well. Tone was important in the first film, and I think the tone of this one will surprise people.
Nick: Sometimes a film can only be as good as its villain. John Leguizamo was incredible in the first film. But, you do have the incredible Jared Harris this time around. What were the conversations with Jared like in building this new villain for Santa?
TW: John was an amazing villain. He brought such an energy and sense of humour, and quality that only he could bring to that character. But, Jared is an actor I’ve admired for a long time. I remember being blown away by the stuff I’ve seen him do over the years. And we actually tried to keep him light in the trailer on purpose. But in the film, he basically is a mobster that runs the mall that Santa is in when he’s stripped of his powers. Jared is an amazing actor and an amazing guy. He had a lot of great ideas on how to shape this villain. How to make him feel unique, and a really menacing foe for Santa. I’m trying to talk about this without spoiling anything! Can I say this… Look, I can’t go there. But these movies do really need a strong villain, and I do really think we have that here. There are some amazing scenes in the film between David (Harbour) and Jared. And where John’s character in the first film was a clear homage to Die Hard, Jared’s character feels more like he’s out of a Western, and Santa is the lone hero coming to help these shop owners. So it’s a different dynamic and feeling to this film that Jared really had a lot of fun with.
Nick: I was surprised at how much the first film really honed in on the Christmas spirit feeling in the story, and I loved how much it worked. It definitely feels like that is an important element for Violent Night 2, as well. But, I’m curious to know – what does Christmas mean to you?
TW: That’s pretty easy – it’s family. You know, I’ve been away from my hometown and my family for many years. And to me, it’s all about coming back and seeing mum and dad, brothers and sisters. Being around the snow with my wife and family. And of course, the movies really have that tone. As much as there is action, and gore, and humour, Christmas is the beating heart of the movie. I would say we tried even harder this time around to embrace that. And it’s not just about what the meaning of Christmas is, but the ending of the film is all about what Christmas means to Santa too. Because it can be so different for so many people, and that’s the journey he must go on. Hopefully that’s a journey we all go on when people see the movie.
Thank you to Tommy for his time, and to Universal Pictures for organising the interview! Violent Night 2 is in Australian cinemas December 3
