Claus and effect

Vince Vaughn delivers offbeat Christmas message

By JIM SLOTEK, TORONTO SUN
Found Here

LOS ANGELES -- It flies in the face of Vince Vaughn's reputation of being single-and-darned-well-going-to-stay-that-way, but he says one of his favourite TV shows is the reality series Supernanny.

"The kids on the show are, like hopped up on Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola and they're uncontrollable," Vaughn says. "And the Supernanny comes in and sets boundaries and says, 'Use your words' and they start listening.

"I got a nephew and nieces, and my sister says, 'Don't talk to me about that damn Supernanny!' But sometimes I'm left alone with them and I don't want to be the uncle that disciplines them. I'm the one they have fun with. But they start hitting each other and you have to have some kind of law."

Supernanny dovetails nicely with Fred Claus, the offbeat take on the Santa Claus story in which Vaughn stars as Santa Claus' resentful "naughty" brother. It's a movie that takes on the naughty-or-nice legend with its message that "there are no naughty kids -- just misunderstood ones." Like that little Hussein kid Saddam, he just needed a hug. But I digress.

Fred Claus, the latest addition to the Santa Claus movie pantheon, begins in the 12th century with the sibling rivalry of a pudgy Nicholas Claus, who gives away his Christmas presents to the less fortunate, and brother Fred, who, unable to compete as a good kid, goes the other way.

Nine centuries later, Fred (Vaughn) is a repo man with dubious debts to pay. And Nick (Paul Giamatti)? He's got this job up at the North Pole, overseeing a bunch of toy-making elves. Happenstance finds Fred getting a job at his brother's factory, just as an efficiency expert from "The Corporation" (Kevin Spacey) arrives to write a damning report on the whole operation.

The idead for the film began as a bedtime story writer Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam) told to her daughter, Molly. "My daughter one night asked me if Santa Claus had a family, and I thought, 'Of course he did!' And then, 'What would it be like to be Santa Claus' brother and live in the shadow of that, and how hard would it be to be Santa as a kid, to be the perfect kid, pudgy and jolly all the time.

"And a few nights later, I was watching The Godfather and I thought, 'Oh, he's got to be called Fred, as a tribute to (Michael Corleone's brother) Fredo.'"

The project landed in the lap of director David Dobkin, who had directed Vaughn in Wedding Crashers and the lesser-known 1998 dark comedy, Clay Pigeons. And it was a short hop from there for him to cast his favourite child-man Vaughn.

That the star of Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up and Swingers could convincingly play an immature "bad boy" wasn't exactly a shock. What did surprise some was the knack he had with children.

"My daughter was on the set with us the whole time," Nelson says. "And Vince used to crack me up because they'd shoot a scene and he'd turn to the 10-year-old on the set and say, 'How was that, Molly? Did you believe that line?' "

"He talks to kids like adults," director Dobkin says. "We really felt he could bring heart to the story of a naughty kids' Christmas, and the message that there are no naughty kids."

Okay, maybe just a little naughty. Like when Vaughn is asked a generic question about what he'd consider the perfect Christmas gift, he answers, "A hot tub, a couple of girls from Brazil and a 'Do Not Disturb' sign ... And oh yeah, peace on Earth."

It turns out Vaughn isn't finished with Christmas yet. As soon as this year's holiday break is over, ironically enough, he begins shooting Four Christmases opposite Reese Witherspooon. "It's about people that come from divorced families, so you're forced to go to four Christmases. And it's about the kind of stress that comes from being forced to be with people you don't get along with.

Posted by Christine at November 4, 2007 3:33 AM | TrackBack