Zack Ward appreciates stories of redemption. In "A Christmas Story Christmas," a sequel to the 1983 classic, his redheaded character, Scut Farkus, who once bullied and tormented the neighborhood kids, has profoundly changed.
But Ward still has fond memories of bad-boy roles, including one notable one from 1997. It was when he knocked out Chuck Norris in an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger."
OK, Ward didn’t actually KO Norris, whose tough-guy status is a carefully guarded legend.
In an episode titled “Mr. Justice,” Ward played “Mad Dog,” Sullivan, a juvenile delinquent who sneaked in from behind and conked Texas Ranger Cordell Walker, Norris’ character, on the head with a tree branch.
“I’m hiding up in the tree and I jumped down behind him, and I totally bushwhack him,” Ward said. “Then, I end up getting away, falling down a cliff thing, and breaking my leg — and he still saves me.”
The next day, Ward unassumingly showed up on set, and “everybody is giving me the stink eye, and I don’t know why. I asked the wardrobe lady, and she said, ‘You knocked out Chuck Norris.’ I’m like, ‘It was in the script! It was a rubber branch!’
“What it showed was that [Norris’ people are] incredibly protective of Chuck Norris. It’s kind of sweet in one way and strange in another.”
Ward, 53, doesn’t walk back his days of portraying bullies early in his acting career. He still casts an imposing glare with his narrow eyes, but he’s more introspective, recognizing the growth in people as they mature.
He’s a director in awe of working with older acting legends George Takei and James Hong ("Patsy Lee & The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms") and advocating for the Alzheimer’s Association. (His father has the disease.) He makes annual appearances at the house in Cleveland where "A Christmas Story" took place and has, ironically, raised money for bullying prevention efforts.
A native of Toronto, Ward has always kept busy as an actor with appearances in "American Horror Story," "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Titus," "Nash Bridges" and more.
Like he does every year, Ward is getting a lot of TV air time this month. In "A Christmas Story," which plays regularly in December on TBS, Ward played young Scut Farkus, terrorizing Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) and his pals. In "A Christmas Story Christmas," now streaming on HBO Max, Ward reprises Scut — with a twist.
Spoiler alert: The sequel is set 30 years after the original, and Scut has traded in his fox pelt hat for a police badge. On Christmas Eve, Scut picks up Ralphie, who has broken into a friend’s business. Ralphie, who was bullied by Scut but raged back in the original movie, now finds himself in the back of Scut’s police cruiser and anticipates the worst. But Scut tells Ralphie the childhood fracas changed him for the better, and he thanks him.
It’s another character development and redemption opportunity, which is kind of the movie’s theme.
Billingsley said he and scriptwriter Nick Schenk didn’t want Ralphie and Scut to renew their conflict as adults.
“That would be the worst sort of thing they could possibly do because people evolve, and [the evolution] would give more meaning to the film in general,” Billingsley said.
“So the idea that [Scut] had turned his life around and actually cites and remembers that event as being a positive for him just added a lot of depth to the story.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Ward discussed what "A Christmas Story" has meant to him over the years.
Q: Sequels for "A Christmas Story" have been tried, but this one seems to connect. What’s special about this one?
A: This one was in development for quite a few years because it was so important to get Peter Billingsley attached to it, to really have him as the heart of the movie. A lot of ideas have been pitched over the years that just didn’t stand up to Bob Clark’s original vision or Jean Shepherd’s original writing style. When this script came around, written by Nick Schenk, they really got the world right. The first one was lightning in a bottle and how it came together and became such an iconic Christmas film, you can’t really replicate that. So they didn’t try to replicate that. They made an original story ... in a way that touches on the first one but doesn’t lean on it so heavily that it feels like it’s trying.
Q: Did you have input on how Scut evolved from rascal to lawman?
A: Jean Shepherd ... had done a lot of spoken word stories on the radio where he actually talks about Scut Farkus and his father. He talked about how [Scut’s father] ran a junkyard and had this guttural accent. [Sheppard] said he was a “blue-faced man,” meaning he always had a five o’clock shadow, very gruff and aggressive. So, I actually had a lot to draw upon. I can look at the writings of Jean Shepherd now and see who Scut Farkus’ parents were and then you actually get into the name. Scut is a Scottish word for [the s-word], so it seems like he came from a pretty rough background.
Q: Are you OK with being primarily recognized as Scut?
A: I’ve just been a working actor who’s recognizable and people go, “Hey, aren’t you that guy from that thing with a face?” And I’m like, “That’s me. Nice to meet you.” I was very fortunate. Honestly, "A Christmas Story" is an experience that has changed my entire life. Everywhere I go, people are incredibly kind, even before they’ve met me. They look at me and smile as if I’m some long-lost relative.
Q: Are you hopeful about how the sequel will be received?
A: I think they’re really going to like it. Yeah, obviously, they’re going to have expectations, and it’s not going to be "A Christmas Story." It’s going to be a great movie with a cast of characters from "A Christmas Story." And it has the same heart as "A Christmas Story." But it’s where the characters have grown up.
———
