Sumith Prasad
Directed by David Gordon Green, Hulu’s comedy-drama film ‘Nutcrackers’ centers on Michael “Mike” Maxwell, a Chicago-based “bigshot” executive who shows up at a rural Ohio farm to care for his four nephews. Justice, Junior, Samuel, and Simon are mourning the loss of their parents, Janet and Steve, who died in an accident. Mike becomes their guardian unwillingly as their case worker struggles to find a foster home for the boys. Even though he is eager to return to the Windy State, he remains with his nephews longer than originally planned, paving the way for the formation of an endearing bond between them. Mike’s heartwarming tale is presented with utmost realism, which makes its roots intriguing!
David Gordon Green and Leland Douglas Conceived Nutcrackers Partially Based on the Lives of the Janson Brothers
The inspirations behind ‘Nutcrackers’ are none other than Homer, Ulysses, Atlas, and Arlo Janson, the four child actors who play Justice, Junior, Samuel, and Simon, respectively. They are the sons of Karey Williams, a longtime friend, collaborator, and film school classmate of David Gordon Green. Karey and Green attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts together, and the former was even part of the cast of the latter’s 2003 romantic drama ‘All the Real Girls.’ After their film school days, Karey moved back to Ohio, got married, and gave birth to the four Janson brothers. She raised her family on the same farm we now know as the Kicklighter farm in the movie.
Green and Karey reconnected after around ten years on her farm, where the filmmaker also spent time with her four children. Gradually, he became nothing short of an uncle to them. These interactions and visits gave birth to ‘Nutcrackers.’ “As we [Green and the Janson brothers] kept up and they grew up, I was always blown away by their charisma and charm, and every time I’d go over there and hang out, I just felt there’s a movie here if we just bring a camera next time,” the filmmaker told TIME about the inspiration behind making the movie. While spending time with the boys, Green constantly thought about the comedy films he loved when he was young.
The comedy films of the 1970s and 1980s inspired Green to integrate the Janson brothers’ life on the farm into a comedic holiday narrative. Garry Marshall’s ‘Overboard,’ John Hughes’ ‘Uncle Buck,’ and Michael Ritchie’s ‘The Bad News Bears’ are some of these films. The filmmaker brought his longtime friend Leland Douglas on board the project as the screenwriter to craft a “heartwarming holiday movie” with familiar tropes but with an “absurdist and independent filmmaker-minded artsy-fartsy spin” on them, as per Green’s interview with Screen Rant.
The Main Storyline of Nutcrackers and the Protagonist, Michael “Mike” Maxwell, Are Fictional
Even though David Gordon Green and Leland Douglas drew inspiration from the lives of the Janson brothers, they didn’t want to create a biographical drama. Instead, they wanted to craft a holiday comedy movie without completely adhering to reality. There are several similarities between the Kicklighter and Janson boys. Both sets of brothers are homeschooled and live on a farm surrounded by art. Like the Kicklighters, the Jansons are also ballet dancers. Even Junior’s ‘The Nutcracker’s Mustache’ is based on Ulysses Janson’s version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker.’ During the film’s shooting in Ohio, Ben Stiller, the lead actor, was able to watch his co-stars perform the ballet in a local theater.
However, the similarities end here. The Janson brothers’ parents, Karey and Jeff, are alive. Janet and Steve Kicklighter’s deaths in an accident do not have real-life parallels. Their passing is a fictional plot point created as the foundation of the film’s comedic narrative and the arc of the protagonist, Michael “Mike” Maxwell. The creation of Stiller’s character is seemingly rooted in ‘Uncle Buck,’ which revolves around a bachelor looking after his brother’s children in the wake of a family emergency. The similarities between Mike and Buck Russell in John Hughes’ film are unignorable.
Mike introduces conflict in the narrative of ‘Nutcrackers.’ His eagerness to give away his nephews to foster parents and return to Chicago is the foundation of the movie’s main storyline. But nothing remotely similar has happened in real life as far as the Janson siblings are concerned. Although ‘Nutcrackers’ is a fictional film, it appears realistic and authentic because of its connections with real-life figures. Green and Douglas succeeded in combining reality and imagination to offer a heartwarming holiday treat.
Read More: Nutcrackers Mid-Credits Scene and Post-Credits Voice-Over, Explained
