We’re seeing Santa Claus like we’ve, probably, always imagined him… it’s Kurt Russell in a red suit! In Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles, available to stream on Nov. 22, Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy Pierce (Judah Lewis) create an epic plan to try to catch Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) on camera! However, their plan derails (along with Santa’s sleigh!) and the unlikely trio, with the help of Santa’s loyal elves, need to rush to save Christmas. Ahead of the film’s release, Darby, 11, and Judah, 17, stopped by HollywoodLife.com to talk about filming the holiday movie and working with the iconic Kurt Russell! “He’s sassy, he’s fun, he’s Kurt Russell!” Judah exclaimed in our EXCLUSIVE interview. “He’s like an actual Santa, he can leap from house to house and it’s so cool. I think that he’s just so different and the movie; the concept is different, too, it’s such a cool adventure. I think that everybody’s going to love it. I love that he’s Santa Claus; he’s the best Santa Claus that I’ve ever seen,” Darby added.
Ahead of being cast for their roles, both Darby and Judah had each other in mind to play their sibling! “I was thinking, this character of my younger sister Kate; it has to be somebody good, it has to be somebody who can actually act,” Judah explained, and Darby had the same thought. “We actually had an ongoing Nerf war, and from hanging out and messing around on set, we became close and that came through on camera.” When it came to working with Kurt, both Judah and Darby were filled with compliments for the legendary actor. “I think what really struck me about Kurt is he that he has such a high status in Hollywood and he’s done such an incredible range of characters in films which is something that I aspire to do. I think what I loved about working with him was that his status didn’t effect how he behaved towards anyone,” Judah said.
He recalled one night, after Kurt wrapped his scene, he waited for Darby and Judah to finish theirs in the 10-degree weather at 11:30 PM. “For the entire night in the cold he was there. He gave his performance a hundred and ten percent, and he didn’t need to stay. Nobody would’ve second guessed it, but he was there just to help us out and help get our performances to where they needed to be,” Judah explained. Darby added that when she struggled to get into her emotions for a scene, Kurt pulled her aside to talk her through it. “He talked to me off camera about how my dog passed away when we were filming. He just talked to me about personal stuff which made me get into the sad spirit, and he really helped me with that scene,” she added.
You should be excited to see this dynamic trio save Christmas together in The Christmas Chronicles! The holiday film will be available to watch on Netflix, Nov. 22!