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When Larry King set out to produce a movie called "Christmas Eve," he had no idea what other Christmas films it would have to compete with. Turns out the answer is slim to none, depending on your definition of a Christmas movie.
"When I think of Christmas movies, I think of 'It's a Wonderful Life.' But Christmas movies aren't what they used to be," King quipped.
Indeed, two major contenders for this year's Christmas box-office are an R-rated raunch comedy called "The Night Before" and a horror film about Santa's demonic alter ego called "Krampus."
Which means Utah moviegoers are going to face a stark choice when they make their movie decisions over the Christmas holiday; whether to support R-rated movies that have nothing to do with the spirit of the holiday or a family-friendly, uplifting film like "Christmas Eve."
"Moviegoers vote with their wallets," states Mitch Davis, the writer/director of "The Other Side of Heaven" and the filmmaker behind "Christmas Eve." "When moviegoers decide to see an R-rated Christmas movie, they are telling Hollywood to make more movies like that. And Hollywood defines the popular culture we raise our children in."
"I don't know what they're thinking," King muses. "Christmas for me is about being with Shawn and the boys at our house in Provo. It's about getting together with family and friends."
And making new friends is the theme of "Christmas Eve," which tells the story of six different groups of New Yorkers who get trapped inside elevators overnight on their way home for Christmas.
"I'm a New Yorker and I know how that city works. It never stops. Except on Christmas," King explains. "I've also been trapped in an elevator a time or two and I know how that works. Not good. So I loved the script the minute I read it, and I said to Shawn, 'Let's make it!'"
Shawn King, who co-produced the movie with her husband, also took a role in the film, that of an operating room nurse transporting a sedated patient when she gets stuck inside an elevator with the seemingly heartless surgeon who just declared that patient terminal.
"I am stuck in this elevator with a woman who is going to wake up and discover she is going to die, and I am debating her fate with this sarcastic, atheist surgeon, played by Gary Cole. We talk about God, man and the universe but in a way that never seems forced or didactic," Shawn explains before adding, "And did I mention the film is a comedy?"
Shawn and Larry confess that their first fight as a married couple came the night they got stuck inside an elevator with, among others, Sylvester Stallone and Cher.
"It was after a benefit for the Larry King Cardiac Foundation. Bono had performed and we were leaving the theater inside an elevator with Sly and Cher when all of a sudden it grinds to a halt," Shawn recounts.
Larry continues: "We were just barely married and I didn't know it but Shawn's greatest fear is getting stuck inside an elevator, so she starts to hyperventilate. Then, before I know it, Stallone walks over and pulls the metal doors open like Superman."
Shawn smiles and chimes in, "More like the Hulk."
"And then he lifts Shawn up like she was a feather and places her on the floor above the elevator," Larry explains. "I got a bit jealous. And it was a very quiet ride home."
Not long after that incident, the screenplay for a movie that was then called "Stuck," was submitted to Larry and Shawn by Mitch Davis, who they both knew from "The Other Side of Heaven."
"We thought Mitch did a fantastic job with 'The Other Side of Heaven,'" King praises, "so when he sent us the script, we took it seriously. And we were not disappointed. It was fantastic! And we signed up."
Shawn recalls, "We were vacationing in Mexico with Carlos Slim on his yacht, and I kept laughing out loud. Then suddenly I'd be crying. Carlos was like, 'Shawn, what are you reading?'"
Turns out she was reading the script that she and Larry would devote the next few years of their lives bringing to the silver screen.
"It's a terrific movie," Larry exclaimed. "It's tailor-made for anyone who loves Christmas, anyone who loved 'It's a Wonderful Life.' It's exactly what a Christmas movie ought to be."
"Christmas Eve" will be available everywhere December 4. Check to see if it will be playing in a theater near you.
