ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Nutcrackers stars Linda Cardellini and real-life brothers Ulysses and Atlas Janson. The trio discussed filming on the Janson family’s actual farm, performing ballet, and more. Directed by David Gordon Green, the holiday comedy movie will be available to stream on Hulu starting November 29, 2024.
“Nutcrackers follows strait-laced and work-obsessed Mike (Ben Stiller) as he is suddenly thrust into being a caregiver for his rambunctious, orphaned nephews,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Such a pleasure to speak with you all. This was such a fun movie. And, Linda, this is such a wholesome movie with a great message and I imagine some of that positivity came from being on the set because I can’t imagine having a bad time with these four fun kids and Ben Stiller. So how did that translate from set to screen?
Linda Cardellini: Oh, these are the greatest kids. They’re the kindest, sweetest, most talented kids. It’s just easy. It’s so easy, and you watch them and there’s this chemistry and charisma that they all have, and especially when they’re all together, it’s just so beautiful. You really can’t manufacture it. So getting to be part of that is truly special.
Ulysses Janson: Thank you, Linda.
And this has such a really cool discovery and [Ulysses], in this film, you and your brothers perform a spin on Nutcracker, which is the Nutcracker’s mustache. And I heard you guys got to help craft that ballet because you guys have a ballet background. How special was that?
Ulysses Janson: It was just amazing. My ballet teacher, Ms. Claudia Barrett, she’s a well-known ballet dancer in Cincinatti. When she got the school together, Ballet Tech of Ohio, she saw all these other nutcrackers all these other famous ballet schools were doing. And all of them had different little things, but they’re all like, the same, so she would kind of break off and make her own little branch of a nutcracker that is just more fun. And then when she was asked to choreograph for this, she went completely out on the fun part.
Yeah, it really shows, it’s such a fun cap off to the movie as well. Atlas, it’s really cool that this was filmed on your actual family farm. How was that transition of, you know, just living regular life one day and then there’s a movie going on next? That’s so crazy.
Atlas Janson: So surprised that we got to film our house, cameras all over our house, filming animals, our pets, our house, our farm. It was just such a good experience, if you wanna be a camera operator, you just see that and when you grow up, you be a camera operator. It was just amazing seeing our farm in a movie.
Yeah, and it’s a great locale. It’s a gorgeous farm. Linda, I really liked how the film ended because we get this nice montage and, it wraps up the story nicely. You see where all the characters end. How nice was it to kind of goof off in these moments and have this nice resolution for everybody?
Cardellini: I think it’s really great and I think it’s earned for her character, too. You know, for Gretchen, she’s really wanted them to end up together. She wants them to stay together as a family. And so in the end, I think she really sees Ben’s character for sort of the nicer person that he is inside of there. And then the idea that there might be something beyond that for them is, I think it’s really fun. And those scenes that we did sort of out by the fire in the back of the farm, they were so much fun to shoot and we were really standing there in a bonfire with, you know, sparklers and all that stuff.
Ulysses: They actually left tons of those little fireworks.
Cardellini: Oh really?
Ulysses: Uh huh. They couldn’t sell them or do anything with them, so they were just like, “there you go.”
Cardellini: Did you keep them? Did you guys use them yet?
Ulysses: No, not yet. We’ve used some [laughs]
Ulysses, your mom actually went to film school with the director, David Gordon Green.
Ulysses: Yes.
How nice was it that you actually had that friendship with David before the film?
Ulysses: So the first time we met David was after my mom went out from film school with him, they did films together. Then our mom moved to Ohio. She was fourth generation, she got married, had us, so that was like a 10-year gap where David and her were seeing each other. So he’s like, “Okay, I have two days to fly out and meet your family.” So he came out first we were like, “Who’s this David?” So then when we met him, we were trying to be like all nice and then he was just so nice, he immediately became an uncle figure. He swam in the pond, had leeches and you could see that little…that little spark where you have an idea. So two months later, Leland Douglas, the writer of the movie, and Chelsea, his assistant, came out. They were immediately family as well. We did all the same stuff, we broke some four wheelers with them and then two months later, 81 friends come out and we started making a movie.
Thanks to Linda Cardellini and Ulysses & Atlas Janson for taking the time to talk about Nutcrackers, which is out November 29 on Hulu.