It’s set in the present day, but for filmmaker David Gordon Green and his Generation X peers, Nutcrackers is a nostalgia trip.
The Richardson native affectionately recalls the coming-of-age movies he watched at grungy, defunct multiplexes like the Promenade and the Loews Park Central, from The Bad News Bears to Uncle Buck to Home Alone.
A heartwarming holiday comedy about rambunctious preteen siblings and their uptight uncle who suddenly becomes their caretaker is a change of pace considering Gordon’s recent work reimagining horror franchises Halloween and The Exorcist. It’s also one of the more personal films Green has ever made.
“It scratched a lot of itches. I didn’t have a studio or a fanbase breathing down my neck over something. I got to work with non-actor kids, which I always love, just to broaden the enthusiasm and realness,” Green said. “And yet, I’m taking some of the lessons I’ve learned in these horror movies and trying to make something that feels economically responsible and able to take a lot of risks.”
The story follows Mike (Ben Stiller), a workaholic corporate real-estate executive who travels from Chicago to a rural Ohio farm to sign paperwork for his four recently orphaned nephews, unaware that he would become responsible for them until foster placement. A quick weekend trip turns into an ongoing nightmare for Mike as he tries to find common ground with the mischievous youngsters.
It’s more reminiscent of the freewheeling low-budget films Green made early in his career. Now a father of 13-year-old twin sons, Green, 49, wanted to make a movie that his kids and parents could each appreciate. Plus, as he points out, it’s his first movie with a happy ending.
“My childhood in Richardson, it was very outdoors and active, with animals and insanity and crawling around in sewers and places I didn’t have any business going in,” he said. “If you were today’s more cultured kid, you would be monitored and plugged in on a video game. I really related to the free spirit of these kids, and I wanted to make a movie that captured that in a time capsule, of sorts.”
Green was inspired after reconnecting with an old friend at her Ohio farm and meeting her four sons: Homer, Ulysses, Atlas, and Arlo Janson. They are all first-time actors in the movie, which was filmed mostly on their actual farm, with their animals and equipment, and in the small town near their house.
“They’re as raw and real as little kids can get. They’re climbing trees and riding motorcycles and driving tractors and running a farm. But they also have ballet,” Green said. “A lot of times you’ll meet precocious kids who speak freely to adults, and lot of those kids are annoying. These kids are cool. When you find youthful characters who are that open and expressive and available, that’s something you don’t get in Hollywood casting.”
At the time, Green was busy with the Halloween and Exorcist movies, as well as a new season of HBO series The Righteous Gemstones, so he turned screenwriting responsibilities over to a friend, Leland Douglas.
“After I was reintroduced to these kids, I told Leland to go visit them and see if there’s a movie that can be reminiscent of those movies I grew up on that always had crazy kids and an adult character who was a fish out of water,” Green said. “Let’s try to find enough of the nostalgic tropes that we can pepper into this that feels warm and cozy, but then we’ll put my independent-minded weirdo comedy spin on it, and see what it turns into.”
Green found a willing ringmaster for this circus in Stiller, who enthusiastically jumped into the fray and played something of a paternal role, embracing the day-to-day unpredictability on the playful set.
“I was more interested in the booger-pickers than the perfect pronunciation. We have sloppy haircuts and speech impediments and all the things that we encounter in youth, but Hollywood tends to iron those eccentric qualities out,” Green said. “I wanted to invite those to be a part of the storytelling. This is a portrait of youth that is a little more alive than the other guys.”
Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Nutcrackers was acquired by Hulu, which will begin streaming the film this weekend.
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