{"id":122283,"date":"2021-12-23T06:27:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T06:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=122283"},"modified":"2022-12-21T13:09:14","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T13:09:14","slug":"jingle-all-the-way-at-25-director-brian-levant-on-turbo-mans-unlikely-cult-resurgence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/dvd-and-bluray\/jingle-all-the-way-at-25-director-brian-levant-on-turbo-mans-unlikely-cult-resurgence\/","title":{"rendered":"Jingle All The Way: Director Brian Levant on Turbo Man\u2019s unlikely cult resurgence"},"content":{"rendered":"

These days it may be considered a campy classic but back when it was first released, Jingle All The Way<\/em><\/strong> was hardly a Christmas hit. Unlike its much sought-after maguffin, director Brian Levant couldn\u2019t seem to give his festive family comedy away when it arrived in multiplexes in December 1996. Just two years earlier, he\u2019d brought The Flintstones<\/em><\/strong> into live action territory and now he was swapping Bedrock for binge-buying to tell a cautionary tale about the perils of last minute Christmas shopping. However while his story may have been all-too-relatable, it\u2019d be decades before it fully connected with viewers.<\/p>\n

Written by Randy Kornfield and punched-up by Home Alone<\/em><\/strong>-helmer Chris Columbus, Jingle All The Way<\/em><\/strong> saw Arnold Schwarzenegger deliver perhaps his broadest comedic turn to date. He starred as Howard, a workaholic father determined to get his son Jamie (Jake Lloyd) the must-have toy of the holiday season – a Buzz Lightyear-eque Turbo Man doll. Unfortunately, every parent in the world has the same idea and when he crosses paths with world-weary postman Myron (Sinbad), the duo end up fighting it out to bag the perfect Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the story of Jingle All The Way<\/strong><\/em> is sort of a Christmas miracle,\u201d chuckles Levant, reflecting on the movie\u2019s unlikely legacy. \u201cIt was a film that was reviled critically. We never landed that knock-out punch with the audience – but over the years I\u2019ve seen a sprinkle of affection turn into a thunderstorm,\u201d he smiles. \u201cSomething\u2019s happened and I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s just the generation who grew up with it clinging onto a memento of their past – but Jingle All The Way<\/strong><\/em> has entered a nostalgic area in people\u2019s hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jingle All The Way director Brian Levant says the story of his festive cult favourite is a ‘Christmas miracle’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps this is unsurprising given Levant\u2019s directorial expertise. Known for creating family-friendly blockbusters like 1992\u2019s St Bernard comedy Beethoven<\/em><\/strong>, it was the wholesome idea of a father desperately trying to connect with his son that initially drew him to the project. \u201cI had a father who wasn\u2019t too attentive,\u201d admits Levant, \u201cso when I became a parent I was always coaching teams and bringing my kids to set – but you always saw so many kids who suffered from parents who weren\u2019t looking at them when they needed to be looked at. Everybody who\u2019s a workaholic has to figure out what\u2019s important – and I think we did that well in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jingle All The Way<\/em><\/strong> also placed action-icon Arnie into the world of comedy, a genre he\u2019d dabbled in before with 1988\u2019s Twins<\/em><\/strong> and 1990\u2019s Kindergarten Cop<\/em><\/strong> – but not to this slapstick degree. \u201c[20th Century Fox] wanted to reunite Arnold with Danny DeVito as Myron but while Arnold wanted to do it, DeVito didn\u2019t,\u201d reveals Levant on a failed return to the Twins<\/em><\/strong> dynamic. \u201cWe had to find a suitable opponent for Arnold and when Sinbad came into read, he brought something we weren\u2019t expecting: a very sharp, improvisational style. He\u2019s a big guy too, so he wasn\u2019t afraid to grapple with Arnold,\u201d laughs the director. \u201cThis seemed like more of a fair fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Danny DeVito was originally wanted for the role of Myron but putting Arnold up against Sinbad seemed like a fair fight!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Levant gave his stars carte blanche to lean into the comedy – and they did – with Schwarzeneger even trying his hand at off-the-cuff improv. \u201cWe did a lot of Arnold mugging,\u201d laughs Levant, \u2018but if you\u2019re making a big, over-the-top movie, he\u2019s got to react. He can\u2019t just play it stoic – and he had fun doing it.\u201d Meanwhile, Sinbad – then at the top of his comedy career – was having equal fun off-set during the film\u2019s Minneapolis shoot. \u201cHe had a great time hanging around with Prince, Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam. I\u2019d be like \u2018What did you do this weekend?\u2019 and he\u2019d say \u2018I went to Prince\u2019s house\u2019. I\u2019d say \u2018Why didn\u2019t you tell me? I want to go to Paisley Park!\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie also marked one of the first roles for a soon-to-be Jedi: \u201cWhat I liked a lot about Jake Lloyd was he was sweet,\u201d says Levant on his decision to cast a future Anakin Skywalker<\/a>. “He looked like he could be Arnold\u2019s son and he played the drama well, even the stuff where he didn\u2019t like his father.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Before he was Anakin, Jake Lloyd played Arnold’s son Jamie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then there was the film\u2019s other star – Turbo Man – and for a mega-collector like Levant (seriously, just check his Insta<\/a>), creating this make-believe hero was a dream come true. \u201cWe get to design a superhero with a contemporary latex suit? What a joy this is gonna be!\u201d he says, remembering the moment he first heard of the task at hand. The only problem? His team\u2019s designs looked a little too much like every other superhero.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, I brought in Ben Edlund who created The Tick,\u201d continues Levant, detailing his expert-led workaround. \u201cHe took a swing at it alongside Tim Flattery, an amazing concept artist who\u2019s done everything from Thanos\u2019 glove to Batmobiles. We came up with a contemporary latex suit that was kind of a cross between a concorde and a 69 Cadillac with rims and lights. We threw all this together and created the ultimate new hero,\u201d he grins. \u201cThen we realised he looks a lot like Iron Man\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiences didn\u2019t seem to mind. Cut to over 25 years later and fan-love for Turbo Man remains strong. Funko even released their own take<\/a> on Arnie\u2019s super-suited alter-ego – further proof of Jingle All The Way<\/em>\u2019s<\/strong> unlikely cult-movie status.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy movies are there to make families laugh and have a good time and to let parents share in their children\u2019s joy,\u201d explains Levant. \u201cWhat\u2019s even more rewarding is the people who grew up with the film are introducing it to their children. People are rediscovering it and it has become, I\u2019m not to say a classic, but I\u2019ll say a holiday classic,\u201d he smiles. \u201cYou get lucky sometimes and with Jingle<\/strong><\/em> we didn\u2019t feel lucky when it came out but now we feel very fortunate and grateful. It warms my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jingle All The Way is available on Blu-ray<\/a> now.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We put the cookie down and speak to Jingle All The Way director Brian Levant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":122286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2617,1718,7],"tags":[7315],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/03_JingleAllTheWay.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126688,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122283\/revisions\/126688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}