Violent Night: David Harbour's Santa Claus Throws Hand in Exclusive Clip
Ahead of Violent Night's theatrical release and ComicBook.com's exclusive early screening in New York City, Universal Studios has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive clip from the film. In the clip, seen in the video above, David Harbour is Santa Claus arriving at a home invasion. With the robbers being on the naughty list, Santa Claus is given no choice but to start serving up some Christmas butt-kicking with various holiday decorations, toys, and more from his bag of tricks being used to take down the naughty list.
"That stuff is hard work," Harbour told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview available on the Phase Zero channel. "It's so exhausting doing those sequences. They look so fun when they're put together, but my God is that painful to run and do all that crazy stuff. And on top of that you got a huge old fake beard and mustache and a wig and a big fat suit and a leather jacket. And yeah, it was very brutal on the body and the mind. But we did have a good time making it. I really enjoyed making that movie but it was not as fun as you may have watching it. That's for sure!"
Violent Night immediately prompted comparisons to the Keanu Reeves hit franchise John Wick, with Harbour's Santa Claus echoing the well-known action sequences. As it turns out, the film has a direct connection to the Wick saga, with David Leitch and his 87North team having worked on Violent Night. "It was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it was initially taking the meeting and knowing from David, I remember what he did with Charlize and Atomic Blonde and having her do these choreograph sequences," Harbour explained. "And I was so excited to do that as an actor you get to represent all, you kind of want to be you wanna be the guy who does the things, you're always handing it off to the stunt guy. And so I knew he was the guy, David was the guy who trained actors to do these things. And so that was one of the really exciting things about it. I didn't know how painful it was to actually be one of the guys!"
The film also stars Emmy winner John Leguizamo (John Wick), Cam Gigandet (Without Remorse), Alex Hassell (Cowboy Bebop), Alexis Louder (The Tomorrow War), Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones) and Beverly D'Angelo (National Lampoon's Vacation franchise). Directed by razor-edged Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow franchise), Violent Night is produced by 87North's Kelly McCormick David Leitch and Guy Danella. The original screenplay is by Pat Casey & Josh Miller, the writers of Sonic the Hedgehog. The film's executive producer is Marc S. Fischer.
Violent Night officially hits theaters on December 2, 2022. Are you excited for this one? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter!