David Harbour wasn't always big on the holidays. Until the "Stranger Things" star had a family of his own, he says, the yuletide blues made him downright "anti-Christmas." Now the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor is embracing the spirit of the season in Universal's R-rated "Violent Night" as a Santa Claus with a dark past who takes on armed mercenaries on Christmas Eve.
The gory holiday action comedy, scripted by "Sonic the Hedgehog" duo Pat Casey and Josh Miller and directed by Norwegian helmer Tommy Wirkola ("Dead Snow," "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"), imagines a Santa who reluctantly takes up arms — and a giant hammer affectionately nicknamed the Skull Crusher — when a little girl (Leah Brady) and her family are taken hostage during his yearly rounds. Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, John Leguizamo and Beverly D'Angelo, in a comical 180 from her "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" matriarch Ellen Griswold, also star.
Various Christmas mythologies offered a wealth of character inspiration, Harbour said, including who's nice, who's naughty and the possibility of redemption. "The Christian tradition of Old St. Nick comes from St. Nicholas, who was this patron saint of repentant sinners," he said. "I thought that was so interesting, this idea that you could turn it around and get on the 'nice' list."
