← The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast
The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast
Movie Review: Elf! I Kingdom Story Series Episode 6
00:42:06
Is there a modern Christmas movie that’s more classic than Elf??
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- [00:00]
A
Sometimes there's like a whole different thing with Guy with Boys Humor.
- [00:03]
B
Yeah.
- [00:04]
A
That mom doesn't get. And it just goes a little bit too far because you guys think that like making fun of each other is funny.
- [00:12]
B
Yeah.
- [00:13]
A
I'm like, yeah, girls don't do that. You know what I'm going to say? Life is like a roller coaster, but it's so much better when we go through it together. Welcome to the Candace Cameron Bury podcast. In this six part series, we've been talking about your favorite movie and the stories behind them. My guest co host is awesome film director Andy Irwin from Kingdom Story Company and host of the Storytellers podcast. Come join us, Andy. It's our final week together.
- [00:51]
B
I feel sad it's over. Can't we just like, just add some more stories and be like.
- [00:55]
A
Yeah, I feel like we might have to. If you guys, I will come back anytime. Us talking about movies, we'll do more.
- [01:02]
B
We need to hear it in the comments. Like, if you enjoy it, we'll do more of it. If you don't, then Andy was a nice little road, you know, diversion.
- [01:09]
A
But they can listen to you.
- [01:11]
B
Yeah.
- [01:11]
A
Every week.
- [01:12]
B
Yeah. We've got, we've got a. We've got the Storytellers podcast. I'm kind of stepping into your world here and so I've been learning a lot from you guys. It was not something we ever really planned on doing, but we focused so much on making the movies really good that we just didn't have a conversation with the audience. We didn't let them in on it. And so it was like, for me, I felt like I don't feel I'm as fascinating, but I've got a lot of really cool friends and so that's how I feel.
- [01:40]
A
My podcast, you're here.
- [01:42]
B
That's. That's a lie because you're totally fascinating. But, but for me, yeah, it's just like, it's that idea of like, it's more fun with friends.
- [01:48]
A
Yeah.
- [01:48]
B
So what would it be like to invite these storytellers that we get a chance to work with on a, you know, weekend week out basis and let people be a fly on the wall to the conversations we have, you know.
- [01:59]
A
When nobody's listening and you have storytellers from all different perspectives. Right. Not just, not just directors or just actors.
- [02:06]
B
It's a little bit of everybody. Like, you know, coming up this season we've had, we just finished our first season back in May and then we're about to come out with season two right around like we're coming out with them right when these are releasing. And so for us, like the guests coming up, it's like this. Some of my heroes, we got, you know, Gary Sinise, you know, we're gonna have Hillary Swank, we've got Dallas Jenkins is going to be on the Kendrick Brothers, and then we've got some musicians like, like Shania Twain is going to be a part of it. And then back from my ESPN days, my sideline reporter, Holly Rowe. It's just a lot of Scott Hamilton, the figure skater.
- [02:43]
A
Yeah.
- [02:43]
B
Just all the people that have a story that has impacted the world and then like, talk about the stories that inspired them and their faith and the different things that really inspire the things that they do. So, like, I've never had more fun just because I get to sit down and just, you know, glean knowledge from these people that I really, really respect and figure out, you know, how they found their voice.
- [03:02]
A
That's so great. I love it. Thanks for including me on. Yes, you were asked to your episode three. Enjoyed the conversation.
- [03:10]
B
You broke. You broke me in, like, I was just like, I need friends that know what they're doing is like, candace, come on. Like, let's. Let's have some fun. And then you came in and you were a dream. Your stories were fascinating and, and people can go back and listen to it, right?
- [03:23]
A
Yeah. We'll link that in the show notes, both of our episodes. That will be great. Well, today on this final episode, we are bringing it home with one of my all time favorite movies and my family's all time favorite movie. And we watch it every single year, if not a few times a year because it never gets old and it's never not funny.
- [03:47]
B
I know. It gets. I think it actually gets funnier with time.
- [03:50]
A
Yes.
- [03:50]
B
Like, you watch it, you know, all the jokes are coming like, oh, here comes. It's like you sit on a bag of lies and everybody's laughing.
- [03:56]
A
Yes.
- [03:56]
B
It's so good. It's so good.
- [03:57]
A
And that movie is Elf, Elf, Elf itself. Elf.
- [04:02]
B
Yeah.
- [04:03]
A
I love a good Will Ferrell comedy. I mean, they're just some of my favorites. And then this one is all about Christmas and he's such a joyful human being. I can't get enough. It's infectious.
- [04:16]
B
It's so infectious. And I remember, like, when I, when I first started seeing, like, promotions for it and I saw Will Ferrell walking around New York City in those yellow tights, I was just like, what the heck is this?
- [04:28]
A
Totally.
- [04:28]
B
And then I watched it, I was like, I can't stop smiling and I need to watch it again.
- [04:32]
A
Yeah.
- [04:33]
B
And it was just, it was one of those that just over time, it grows on you more and more and more.
- [04:37]
A
And I think if you, if you've never met Will Ferrell in person, which I have not. But you don't realize how tall he is.
- [04:45]
B
Yes. He's quite a large human being.
- [04:48]
A
Yes.
- [04:49]
B
Like six foot four.
- [04:50]
A
Like he is. And you really see that in this movie Elf because of when he is working with Santa's elves. But then there's so many shots of him in New York City and walking with people and so the perspective of that, because here's a little, you know, maybe it's an insider thing or maybe it's not to you if you're in the industry. But I'm a relatively short person. I'm considered petite. I'm five two. And half my career I've stood on an apple box. Because when I have a male co star that's 6 foot 4, the distance for the camera angle to hold us, even in a two shot, it's like I come up to his shoulder. So a lot of times when you don't see our feet, they've put me on an apple box, which is basically a wooden box. How did it become an apple box? Does anyone know why that's.
- [05:42]
B
Now I'm. Now I'm not a professional because I, I call it so long. I've never even asked that question.
- [05:46]
A
I don't. Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. And sometimes. And there's different heights with an apple box. There's a full. There's a half apple, there's a quarter apple. And so a lot of times I'm standing on these different heights of a quarter of a apple box so that it evens out. It just doesn't look so like such a huge space.
- [06:04]
B
I'm always like amazed with when you, when you, and like you guys step onto that alpha box. The dismount is really impressive because you go from being like, you know, six inches higher to standing on your tippy toes to then kind of gently like lowering your heel. And it's like, it's always like, I'm fascinated. I can't quit staring because I'm like, how do you do that?
- [06:24]
A
No, smooth, legit. I have a director that I work with all the time on my movies. His name is Martin Wood.
- [06:30]
B
Right.
- [06:30]
A
And he loves the jokes. And we have an ongoing. I mean, it's been over 10 years of short jokes for me. And he talks about how what a tiny human being I am.
- [06:41]
B
I love it.
- [06:42]
A
And I'm small. I don't think I'm that small. But he just exaggerates it. And he has done scenes with me. He built, in one movie, an entire ramp out of Apple boxes so that he could have the camera in between a stack of library books. We were in the library, and so he said, well, I need to see you between the top of the books and the next shelf. But, you know, you're so short, the camera can't see you. So he built this ramp that, I'm not kidding you, was, you know, probably at least 15ft long. And we had a whole walk and talk, and it was on this ramp. And then he would talk about, well, then when you get off that, like, the dismount, you can't just walk off of it. I'm seeing it in the camera angle. So you have to, like, gently. And graduate.
- [07:33]
B
The amount of pain. I watched, like, an actress that's doing that, like. Like Britt Robertson from I Still Believe She's.
- [07:38]
A
She's.
- [07:39]
B
She's about your petite size. And, like, I would watch her, like, with the. You know, with her feet and, like, walking on this. The edge of her toes. And then. Yeah, you, like, elevator it down. And I'm like, how are you even doing this? It's not even human.
- [07:51]
A
All these things that we have to learn. And.
- [07:53]
B
And while you're doing that, you need to pretend to be in love.
- [07:56]
A
Exactly. And be natural and remember all of your lines and all of the things.
- [08:00]
B
There's nothing natural about it.
- [08:01]
A
Nothing natural. This one ramp that he built, I finally. We did the scene, and he had me do it over and over and over. And then I'm like, wow, real. Like, really? You couldn't. Like. I can't believe you took the time to build a ramp for me. And we couldn't get that shot. And he's like, I didn't need the ramp. All I had to do was move the camera up. It was on the dolly. And I'm like, what? And he's like, yeah, I just thought it was really funny to build you a ramp.
- [08:25]
B
That's pretty cool.
- [08:25]
A
Continue the short notes.
- [08:27]
B
I'm just gonna exaggerate until you cry.
- [08:29]
A
Yeah. And he constantly talks about the glide on and off of how I have to make it smoother. And I've finally caught on over the years. And I'm like, you aren't even seeing me from the knees. Like, below the knees, man. You don't. I don't need to glide on it.
- [08:42]
B
That's hilarious. It's like. It's like, you know, anybody. People say, I could act, I could act. You're like, sure, you can act in your room. Just with you. Can you do it with a crew of 50 guys that are usually look like truckers, like, just sitting there staring at you? And you've got to pretend to be in love and do that while you're walking off an apple box on your tiptoes and do all these things in real time.
- [09:02]
A
Yeah, it's.
- [09:02]
B
What you guys do is fascinating, but it's like with this one, you know, with Elf. So John Berg, that produced the movie, we worked with him on Ordinary Angels, the movie that came out earlier this year. And John Berg was one of the producers on that. And Berg was the one that helped develop this from the start. And he is the real life Buddy the Elf. Like, really legit. Like, when you meet John, he's the most cheerful human being. Same stature as Will Ferrell, same goofy grin, same. And he's a legend. He's a legend, but he is Buddy the Elf. But when they were making it, you know, they did all that man on the street stuff, like when he runs up to when Will Ferrell is in his, you know, he's entering New York City. And for the 1% of people that haven't seen the film, basically, Buddy is this guy that has been raised at the North Pole by Santa. Orphan kid, finds out he's not an elf, goes back to New York City, human to find his father, played by James Caan, and. And he kind of gets thrown into the real world. And it's his optimism and his faith in Christmas that ultimately, you know, saves his dad's soul. But, you know, the idea of this funny, ridiculous stuff they're doing. Well, they. The last day of filming, Jon Favreau, the director, just took a camera person with him in a camera and. And Will Ferrell in full elf costume and just threw him in different places in the city. Like, okay, I want you to walk down Lincoln Tunnel and be like, you know, up against the wall, trying to amount of like fender benders and car wrecks that happened in that tunnel that day. And then the one he goes up to.
- [10:32]
A
I was always wondering how they shot that in the Lincoln Tunnel.
- [10:34]
B
They just. They just shot it. It was man on the street. It was gorilla. It was just. That's ridiculous. Just, Will, I want you to walk down the tunnel or then the. The place where he goes running up to the guy in the red jogger. Suit that looks like Santa. It's like, Santa, you're not him. That was totally just a man on the street. Like, that was not planned. And the guy's reaction was so great. And Will's reaction was so great. Just kept it in the movie.
- [10:56]
A
So when, when they do that, though, they. They have to get release forms from these people.
- [11:01]
B
They put up the signs that say if you're walking in this area, you're agreeing, I think. And then if it's something like that, they probably have to go back and get a release from him. But they didn't tell him in advance. That guy didn't know he was going to be Santa Claus that day. So.
- [11:13]
A
That's incredible.
- [11:13]
B
It was so good. It was so good.
- [11:15]
A
Oh, I love that for you with.
- [11:16]
B
Like, you know, with Christmas movies and you. I mean, I think having done 14 going on 15 Christmas movies, that gives you a right to have the defining opinion about any Christmas movie that's out there. Like, I think there's a PhD that should go with that. So for you, like, what is it that you love about Elf? What. What. What is it that sets that apart from other Christmas movies to you?
- [11:39]
A
There's so much joy in Elf. That's the first word I think about in Elf.
- [11:44]
B
Totally.
- [11:44]
A
I. It is. It is the epitome of childlike joy. I mean, that's who. That's who Elf is. And so when I watch it, it brings me back to that time in my life and to see this grown man who's hysterical, just living. Living his life in a way that he has no adult filter. He hasn't been tainted by the world, he hasn't been hardened by the world. He's like, come from the North Pole where everyone's really happy. And I mean, his. It's. Santa Claus is who he looks up to and he's got this relationship with everyone. And even though, you know, he does struggle in the North Pole a little bit because he's giant size compared to everyone, but, yep, he's a little bit.
- [12:32]
B
Behind in the etching sketch line, so.
- [12:34]
A
Yeah. Yeah. But he's not this jaded person. So when he comes to New York City of all places, and it's just like, hi, how are you? And he really means it. And when he goes and, oh, my goodness. I mean, the first scene, when he goes and gets up into the building to meet his dad, James Caan, the first time, and the, the lady, his secretary's like, oh, my gosh, are you a singing telegram? Like, okay, go ahead, sing. Aren't you gonna sing a song? He's like, I love my dad. It's really great. I can't wait to James Scott's reaction.
- [13:07]
B
When he's a song like, that was weird. It was so good. It's.
- [13:11]
A
It's so. It's just so funny. But it. It makes me laugh with a joy from the inside that I don't get from other movies. It's. It's. It's truly what I. What I love about it. And then helping him, which is the epitome of a Christmas movie, helping the rest of the world find their Christmas spirit.
- [13:33]
B
Yeah.
- [13:33]
A
And I love that. And again, I can then find my own theology in a movie, which. That's easy. And that's not what this movie is about.
- [13:42]
B
Right.
- [13:42]
A
However, I can say, man, they're trying to find the spirit of belief. And that spirit of belief is helping the sleigh that crashed be able to go, yeah. To fly up again. And they're all singing and they have the joy, and he helps his dad find that. And I just feel that way about God. They're looking at, you know, the sky, and they're looking for Santa Claus at the North Pole. But I'm looking at it and going, going, oh, no, it's just a representation of God.
- [14:08]
B
Right. I mean, there is that. That aspect of it. Because, I mean, it is the idea. The whole metaphor of it is that his going back to New York City to find his parents is. His dad is on the naughty list.
- [14:20]
A
Yeah.
- [14:21]
B
And he's trying to. To really save his dad.
- [14:24]
A
Yeah.
- [14:24]
B
And cause his dad to believe again. Now, again, the spirit of Christmas is kind of the representation of. Of what the world defines that as. But we look at it as, like, it's the meaning of Christmas as the truth that we believe that it is everything that points to what the celebration is about as a person. And it's not. Santa Claus is Jesus. And so it's like. Yeah, but it's just a. It's a representation of that.
- [14:47]
A
Exactly.
- [14:47]
B
That really connects on a soul level of the joy that we feel at Christmas is rooted in something we really believe in.
- [14:53]
A
Yeah.
- [14:54]
B
So the other thing I think that's really powerful is there's this element of nostalgia that it. It captures. And, you know, when Jon Favreau, the director, who I'm a huge fan of.
- [15:07]
A
Me too.
- [15:08]
B
Jon Favreau is the man like John Favreau. If you're listening, I would happy to be an intern for you at any point.
- [15:13]
A
Me too.
- [15:14]
B
Yeah, exactly. We're. We're signing up. But Favreau, when he came on board, he had such a clarity of vision. He said, it's the Rankin Bass claymations. That's what this is about. And it's those claymation movies that we've watched for decades on CBS at Christmas time of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and like, all the different, you know, claymations that they did back in the, I guess it was 60s. So he's like, that's the format of this. That's the joy that I want to tap into. So that's why the North Pole is all patterned after the Rankin Bass.
- [15:47]
A
Yeah.
- [15:48]
B
And I think for me, it takes me back to my childhood and all those things that I loved. For you, like, what do you have, you, having spent so much time in your professional career in Christmas, do you have a, like a favorite Christmas memory with your family growing up? Whether it's with you and your, your family now or your family growing up, is there one that stands out that's like, I've, because I've got one in my head, but I didn't know if you had.
- [16:11]
A
Oh, well, I, I, I want to hear yours. You know, one of, one of my favorites as a kid. There were so many good ones. I just, I loved Christmas. And yeah, you know, my parents, I feel like they did it so well. And yes, a lot of times it was about the gifts. But one Christmas stood out to me because my parents decided that we would rent a house in Big Bear, which is like our local mountains. It's about three hours outside of la. And we had a bunch of friends that wanted to do this, and we kind of, we rented this house, which was more like a cabin. It was almost like where a camp would be. So it was like a ton of bedrooms in there, but it was pretty sparse in furniture. But we could all just be together for Christmas. So they put the money towards that instead of gifts.
- [17:01]
B
Oh.
- [17:02]
A
And so we had all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, There was a lot of us. And but we got there on, I think, the day before Christmas Eve, and the first thing we did was get a Christmas tree, because we needed a Christmas tree for Christmas Eve and Christmas and all the lots were closed at that point. It was like, it's already pretty much Christmas Eve. There's, they just weren't selling them anymore. It was too late in the season. We can't have Christmas without a Christmas tree. It's not gonna be Christmas. So a bunch of us cousins, we just went outside and we started gathering branches Outside the evergr trees we started picking up whatever we could and we got scotch tape and we got tacks and we just took the branches, pasted them like on the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree and we made little popcorn ornaments and we just literally taped them up with.
- [18:00]
B
That's incredible.
- [18:01]
A
And it was just so much fun because it was such the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. And it just made that whole Christmas even more special.
- [18:09]
B
I love that. Yeah, that's larger than life like that. That one is my. My story has to do with the real Christmas tree as well. Yeah. We didn't duct tape ours together. Although I mad respect for that for us, my dad. So we lived in Ohio just for a couple of years. I was six years old and when we moved up there we had this old Victorian house that was dilapidated and falling down. But it had these old like old. The old kind of school like high ceiling study.
- [18:38]
A
Yeah.
- [18:39]
B
And it was probably like 20, 20 foot ceilings. So my dad has this, you know, they can always be bigger kind of mentality. And so he's like we can't afford a lot at Christmas, but we can afford. We're gonna go, we're gonna find the best tree ever. So he goes to the Christmas tree lot. I still to this day do not know how he got this Christmas tree home without like a tractor trailer. But like he went and got this tree that legit. Like it was at least 18ft. It was huge.
- [19:10]
A
That's huge.
- [19:11]
B
I just remember that there was a knock at the door and my mom opened the door and all you saw was wall to wall like, like, like foliage.
- [19:19]
A
Like right.
- [19:20]
B
All the branches just pressed up. And my dad at the front this pressed up against the door laughing. And he, he got the whole neighborhood to help pull this tree in and they mounted it in the. It was so big that as a six year old I could stand up under the branches like full on stand up like at the base of the tree and it went all the way to this and I just remember they decorated it and it was just larger than life. We would just sit under the tree and we just watch all the lights and you could just see as. As far as it goes. Like, like lights flickering up in the branches. And it was such a. And it was, it was every bit as wide as it was tall. It was just. It was amazing.
- [19:55]
A
Incredible.
- [19:55]
B
And I remember sitting under that tree and then my present that year was the. The kit Knight Rider toy car with, with. With David Hasselhoff as. As night as Michael Knight. And I remember that was my. It had a talking kind of device in it. And that was my Christmas present.
- [20:11]
A
I was like, best Christmas ever. Moms, dads, and kids are still struggling after the devastation of Hurricane Helene this Christmas season. You can help. Your $50 gift provides emergency essentials like food, water, and other critical supplies. You can make an eternal difference. And your gift will be doubled thanks to matching funds. Give securely through world help. Rated four stars by Charity Navigator. Give it worldhelp.net candice that's worldhelp.net candace.
- [20:48]
B
With elf I think the. The humor in it was just so, so, so well done. And I think it had some icons in it, like Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, which I think the Mary Tyler Moore show is the most perfect television comedy of all time.
- [21:02]
A
Yeah.
- [21:03]
B
And it was just the laughs were so, like, to this day, you like watching it. Like, it's just laugh out loud for your. For your family and your perspective. Like, how important is humor to your family and what makes you guys laugh?
- [21:17]
A
It's so important to us. I also grew up with some pretty great comedians, so I've loved laughing.
- [21:25]
B
Yeah.
- [21:25]
A
And I like all different kinds of humor. But listen, I love a good dad joke. You know what I mean? It's like the cheesier.
- [21:32]
B
Cheesier, the better.
- [21:33]
A
The better it is, the harder I laugh. And we laugh a lot as a family. I think that's something that keeps us really close. My husband's a pretty funny guy.
- [21:43]
B
Yeah.
- [21:43]
A
Once you get the dry humor, once you can break down the seriousness.
- [21:46]
B
Really, I don't know that I've ever gotten past it.
- [21:49]
A
Yeah, maybe you don't know.
- [21:50]
B
I need, I need to keep working past it because I want to see.
- [21:52]
A
The set of out because he's quite funny. And. And my boys and Natasha, like, we, we have a good time laughing sometimes, however, because I think the boys also grew up in the locker room with sports. Sometimes there's like a whole different thing with guy with boys humor that mom doesn't get, and it just goes a little bit too far. And so there's always this balance. Like, if my boys start to go somewhere because you guys think that, like, making fun of each other is funny.
- [22:25]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [22:26]
A
You guys like each other and just like, go, go hard making fun. And I'm like, yeah, girls don't do that. We. We don't.
- [22:33]
B
It hurts our feelings.
- [22:35]
A
It hurts our feelings. So when they start to go in that action, I just give a look to Val and he's like, boys, boys. That's mom doesn't like that one. Mom doesn't like that one. We gotta love on Mom. I'm like, okay.
- [22:47]
B
Outnumbered.
- [22:48]
A
But it. Laughing is just so good for your soul. And especially a. Laughing can change a room. You know, you can be in the seriousness of something so weighty or just very hard in life. And when someone can infuse humor that's appropriate humor, it can just. It can change a room, it can change the direction of a conversation, it can lighten up everything, and it can keep people close together. I think it's such an important part of life to have humor.
- [23:24]
B
Yeah. No, I totally agree. And I think it's also. It presents a gift to be able to communicate important things, because whatever you laugh at, your defenses go down and you don't. You. It takes away fear. You know, when you can bring joy to a situation, there's a moment where people's defenses go down. Yeah. And all of a sudden, there's an opportunity to take a hard right turn to something that's very heartfelt, you know? Yeah. The comedies that I love to do that over the years took advantage of that. Like, I love that you guys did that a lot on Full House. I love. Absolutely love that. You know how Patricia Heaton did that on Everybody Loves Raymond. Like, there was, you know, Mary Tyler Moore show. Like. Like, I still think that the. The Chuckles. The Clown funeral service in Mary Tyler Moore is one of the most iconic moments in television history. But it goes from laughs to really heartfelt. Back to laughs.
- [24:13]
A
Yeah.
- [24:14]
B
And there's just a gift there to communicate in this movie with Elf, in that joy that you're talking about, it really boils down to Buddy's faith. You know, that joy comes out of his faith that he really believes what he's been taught growing up about the power of Christmas. And that infects a very jaded town of New York City. And the stories that we tell and the optimism that it brings. And there's different things that we do, there's different stories for different reasons. But I think ultimately what keeps us telling stories is wanting to leave people with something to really think about. For you, like, with the products that you do and the stories that you tell, what do you want to leave people? What is it that you try to do?
- [24:58]
A
Well, in keeping with the theme of Christmas and the movie Elf, you know, having done so many Christmas movies. Mine are. Mine are a little different because they're. In the sense that even though they're Christmas movies, they're not necessarily about Christmas. They're still about finding love. Like that's kind of been the model of so many of the types of movies that I've done in my career. And while I really enjoy watching those movies and I enjoy making those movies, as I've shifted my career and been able to insert more of a. Of a faith focus narrative in some of the movies, I. I always want to now, you know, go in the last few years and going forward, I always want to nod to what the real reason for the season is. As a person of faith, I think that has been very important to me. And it doesn't have to be over the top. But let's. At least in the. While we're finding love on the farm.
- [26:03]
B
Let'S recognize row of apple boxes walking in a circle. Yes.
- [26:09]
A
Let's recognize that we celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to the world and was the savior of the world.
- [26:17]
B
Yeah.
- [26:17]
A
You know, born a baby on earth and lived this perfect life.
- [26:23]
B
I love that.
- [26:24]
A
Only to willingly sacrifice himself so that we can all be reconciled to God. Now, I might not say all of that in the movie, but I want to just recognize what Christmas is all about in that sense. And then there's also things in the movies that I have said before that I never really liked saying before. There's some of these cliche lines, and pretty. Pretty early on, after saying them a couple of times, I was like, here's some things I'm not gonna say anymore in my Christmas movies.
- [26:53]
B
Okay.
- [26:54]
A
And one of them that's always been a really big theme in Christmas movies is to follow your heart.
- [27:01]
B
Yeah.
- [27:02]
A
Or a lot of rom coms. Follow your heart. Follow your heart. But the Bible says that the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things. That's Jeremiah 17:9. So we're actually not to follow our heart, but to follow the wisdom that God give gives us. So there's things like that where I will look at the Christmas movies and say, hey, what's a different type of line I can say that would either, you know, point to what we should be looking at? God. And maybe it's a direct way of saying it, or maybe it's just in the. In a different type of conversation. But I don't ever want to lead someone in something that I know is deceitful that is not biblically sound. So that's something I look for. And then there. There are another line I've said so many times in movies is like. They're like, oh, so are you seeing anyone? Are you married? And the line is, oh, I'm still waiting for the one still waiting for the one. Still waiting for the one.
- [28:04]
B
14 movies later, you're still waiting for the one.
- [28:08]
A
Waiting for the one. And. But now I found in one of my Christmas movies this year, this line was written. I'm still waiting for the one. And I thought, well how. What's a way I could say that that just gives a little bit of hint, a hint of faith in there. And so we thought of the line together. I'm still waiting for God to bring me the one to love.
- [28:36]
B
Wow. That's a beautiful little little.
- [28:39]
A
And it's like little mini little tweet.
- [28:41]
B
It's a tune up. It's great.
- [28:43]
A
But I love that line. And then while it's not an overtly faith filled movie, it's still a movie all about Christmas and. But it's just a nod to go. I'm waiting for God to bring me who to love.
- [28:55]
B
I love that.
- [28:56]
A
So those are little things that I think about in my Christmas movies now.
- [29:01]
B
That's fantastic. Well I, I love that like and I love that you're continue to find ways to pepper in what you believe into that because I think it is about planting seeds. It's not about, you don't have to have a big altar call and all that.
- [29:13]
A
Right.
- [29:14]
B
Just it's. People know the, the gist of what Christmas is about. You just need to remind them.
- [29:18]
A
Yeah.
- [29:19]
B
And yeah, in the spirit of that, we're trying to step into waters that you have, you know, owned for years. But we've got, we've got a Christmas movie coming out.
- [29:28]
A
I'm so excited to see.
- [29:29]
B
It's really good. So best, Best Christmas Pageant Ever is based on the beloved book.
- [29:34]
A
Yeah.
- [29:35]
B
And Dallas Jenkins from the Chosen. It's been his passion project and it's come to the screen in November. It's so good. And I can't wait for you to see it. But I want to send you.
- [29:45]
A
Me too. I've seen the trailer for it. I'm so excited. Yes, please send me the link. I can't wait to watch it.
- [29:52]
B
For those that haven't read the book and I had, I was one of the ones that hadn't. But Dallas fell in love with this book and he read it to his kids from when they were like 9 or 10 years old. And for years he, he would read the story to them and he chased the rights to it. Finally got it. And so he really wanted to do something that very similar to how Jon Favreau really wanted to do the Rankin Bass thing where it was like a callback to those claymations, Dallas wanted to do something that felt like a nostalgic kind of Norman Rockwell painting meets like a Wes Anderson film. And it's so quirky.
- [30:27]
A
Wow.
- [30:28]
B
And charming.
- [30:29]
A
Yeah.
- [30:29]
B
And it's about these kids, the Herdmans, that are the bad kids in town. And everybody thinks that there's no way the Herdman's could even set foot in church. And they end up signing up to be in this 7 75th annual, you know, Christmas pageant. And. And Judy Greer is this mom that gets put. Named Grace, that gets put in charge.
- [30:50]
A
And I love her.
- [30:51]
B
Oh, Judy is so good. I found out the key, the key to Judy's heart. I say. I was on set and, you know, producing it, and the key to Judy's heart is Twizzlers. So I, I learned early on that I kept watching her send PAs over to the craft services and they come back with Twizzlers. I was like, oh, that's the. So the first time we kind of connected and talked, I brought a giant bag of Twizzlers. And she was like, you would have thought I put a, like a bag of cash in front of her. She's like that, that so. But she's in it. Pete Holmes, the comedian, is in it. And then Lauren Graham is the narrator and plays, you know, amazing. The backbone of the film. And so anyway, that'll be out in theaters November 8th. And really it's about these Herdman kids finding the true meaning of Christmas. And I showed it to my family the other day. My, my little girls watched it with my wife. And at the end, my 7 year old and my wife were both in tears. And it was amazing.
- [31:47]
A
I can't wait to see it. And I love a good Christmas movie at Christmas time in the theater. You know, it's oh, so exciting. So, yeah, go out and watch that. That movie. Okay, should we take some listener questions? This is the final listener question for the series.
- [32:05]
B
I feel so sad.
- [32:07]
A
Me too. This is from Shauna. She writes, how do you reduce. Oh, okay, this is a good one. How do you reduce screens and social platforms that you've once allowed, but unknowingly at the time, realize now that they are not healthy choices. And you see that they're creating a toxic environment without making it feel like a punishment or that your kids are thinking that you are the worst parent for taking them away? This is a great, great question. And I know the struggle. We both know the struggle. Do you guys have parameters around screen times?
- [32:46]
B
Yes. And I.
- [32:47]
A
And remind me how old your girls Are.
- [32:49]
B
So my girls are. Are 7 and 12. And then my son is about to be 16.
- [32:53]
A
Oh, okay.
- [32:54]
B
So. So my oldest is. Is a boy. And then.
- [32:56]
A
Okay, got it.
- [32:57]
B
So, you know, I think it's an ever. It's an elusive thing because it's so hard to regulate.
- [33:05]
A
Yeah.
- [33:06]
B
Now we. We made a firm policy of no social media. So our kids.
- [33:09]
A
Okay. Even the 16 year old, not.
- [33:11]
B
Not until they're 18.
- [33:13]
A
So I just. Shauna, I just want you to hear that there are more parents out there than you think and that your kids will tell you when they tell you everyone's on it. It's not true.
- [33:23]
B
Yep.
- [33:23]
A
And Andy's an example of that. So just a reminder. Okay.
- [33:28]
B
I mean, every time it's the same thing. It's like, you're so cruel.
- [33:31]
A
Yeah.
- [33:32]
B
But no, it's just not good for developing minds to open themselves up to that kind of criticism. The other thing is, for me, you know, it's an elusive. My wife is more the barometer of, like, this isn't healthy. Because a lot of times I'll just be like, it's fine. But it's very easy for the. The. The, you know, the screens to become a babysitter.
- [33:53]
A
Yeah.
- [33:53]
B
And when it becomes that, like, my wife is good to call us back to this is out of balance. And so I remember when Isaac was small, he was about probably nine, it might probably eight. And he was. He was playing his video games. He played Wii back then, and he just was on it way too much. And he, you know, we all have, you know, extreme personalities. They come by it honestly. You know, I have a natural inclination to addictive tendencies like that. And. And so I just was talking with Isaac and I was like, and it's amazing what kids hear and what you say. But I was like, hey, we need to cut back on this. We need to get it back in balance. And then he deflated. And I said, what did you hear me say? He said, I heard you say that I'm out of balance. And I was like, no, the activity needs to be more balanced. You're not out of balance. And so he heard it as a punishment, but then kind of bringing it back to, no, this is about us finding a healthy balance for our family, where this just needs to be part of our lives, not our whole life. And so it's a constant kind of calling back to that.
- [34:53]
A
That's good.
- [34:53]
B
I wish it was as simple. As simple as like an on, off switch.
- [34:56]
A
I know.
- [34:57]
B
And in this society, it's not.
- [34:59]
A
Yeah.
- [35:00]
B
You know, it's part of our industry, so it's kind of like, I don't know exactly how to. But you just try to kind of pull it back and just kind of hold it back and teach them how to. How to regulate and have balance.
- [35:10]
A
But, yeah.
- [35:11]
B
I'm curious, you know, what your methods are.
- [35:14]
A
I think the. I think the pendulum is. Is swing because we, you know, raising my kids and my kids are all in their 20s now, but we are at the very start of social media with them. And even phones.
- [35:28]
B
Yeah.
- [35:29]
A
Like. Like having. There were blackberries for a while, but once we got an. An iPhone.
- [35:35]
B
Yep.
- [35:36]
A
I mean, my kids were already in elementary school, so. So this was all brand new. Like, brand brand new as a parent to now have a smartphone. And so when my kids eventually, you know, we held off in what we thought was appropriate, and my kids didn't get phones until they were 14.
- [35:55]
B
That's good.
- [35:57]
A
And then there was a time when Natasha went on social media.
- [36:02]
B
Yeah.
- [36:02]
A
But we. Again, because this is all brand new, we don't quite know how destructive it can be.
- [36:07]
B
Yeah.
- [36:08]
A
And what doors you're opening those portals. Guys.
- [36:13]
B
The portal is the portal.
- [36:18]
A
But then we actually dialed it back. So with our boys, we. We. We had told Natasha one point, there's. We were cutting back on social media and at these times and don't want you to have accounts for these platforms. And then just told our boys flat out, you can't have it at all until you get to high school. And they're like, but Natasha has it. And I'm like, well, we learned from Natasha. You don't get it. And guess what? I'm mom, he's dad. We get to make not a democracy rules. So this is for your health, it's for your benefit, and we're gonna. We're gonna lay down these rules. And I think the pendulum is swinging right now because, I mean, I stay up on the news in. In that regard, and I see that there are many school districts. There's a lot of. Even public school districts along with private schools that are banning phone use in school now, which I think is really healthy. It's like drop the phone in your bag or your backpack and not saying you can't have it, but you got to keep it in your locker.
- [37:19]
B
Yeah.
- [37:20]
A
And it'll be taken if you don't, because there needs to be a balance.
- [37:25]
B
Yeah.
- [37:25]
A
You know, we still want to be able to get a hold of our kids after school and this and that. And it's like, yeah, great. They can still bring the phone, they just can't pull it out of their backpack while in use. So all that to say is there are a lot of parents that are making firm boundaries and restrictions on those social platforms.
- [37:43]
B
Yeah.
- [37:43]
A
That you're, you're not alone no matter what your kids say. And, you know, you can remind them, even from a biblical perspective, that, hey, God tells me to do things that I don't want to do either, but he says it's best for me. That's how he develops our character. And as mom and dad, I know that this is best for you. That, that, that we're going to have parameters and maybe, you know, 8:00 it gets shut down or you put phones in a basket before you go to bed. We do that so you can't be up all night on the phones. Whatever those boundaries are that you want to create, you're not the worst parent. Don't listen to your kids and remind yourself that you're doing the right thing.
- [38:19]
B
Well, it's refreshing to hear you say that. You kind of had a course adjust after Natasha, because we had to do that. Like, for us, we always felt like, what did we open up by getting an iPhone for our son when he was 13?
- [38:31]
A
Yeah.
- [38:32]
B
You know, because it just opened up so much. Even though, like, we keep a lot of things locked up on it, you know, in the parental locks, it just opened up so much so quickly. And we saw it suck him in. So when we got to our, our daughter, to Amelia when she turned 13, she's like, well, Isaac, you know, got his phone and we're like, okay, well, we're gonna do it different on this. So we, we researched and these, there's these kind of dummy phones.
- [38:56]
A
Yeah.
- [38:57]
B
Called light phones. L, I, T, E, I think. And we, we, we got those and they're just a real basic. It's just talking text. That's it.
- [39:05]
A
Yeah.
- [39:06]
B
And there's no ability to do anything else. It's not even in color. And my daughter actually has really liked it because she's like, it makes me a lot more present than my friends. So I think we've course corrected as we go before we kind of introduce a lot of stuff. So.
- [39:19]
A
Yeah. And you'll be surprised, some of your kids, I mean, listen, my daughter Natasha, social media is her whole life. She's an influencer. You know, she makes her career on social media and. But like my son Lev ditched social media probably four or five years ago and was like, when he started college, he's like, this is a waste of my time. I need to focus on what I need to focus on. And he's never looked back. So, you know, you might. You. There's a struggle, but you. If you put up the. The hard rules, you might find, like your daughter, they go, oh, I actually really like this boundary, and it makes me feel safer. I just didn't know that I needed it.
- [39:56]
B
Yep.
- [39:57]
A
So trust your mom and dad instincts in that way. Guys, that's it. That's it. That's our whole storytelling season. I'm so glad that you joined us. Andy. Thank you so much for being here. This was a blast.
- [40:11]
B
It's been a privilege. You're a great friend and always love hanging out and talking stories with you. So I'd love to come back sometime.
- [40:18]
A
Me too. Would love to have you back and keep working on things together. And I look forward to telling another story on the big screen in the future. One day. Together. Together.
- [40:28]
B
Any. Anytime. Anytime.
- [40:30]
A
Okay, guys, Andy and I have a family entertainment guide for you. And if you ever find yourself just kind of watching movies or shows mindlessly, we have some questions and ideas that'll help you go a little bit deeper. And you can find that@candace.com there's a link in our show notes. Until next time. Be grateful all day, every day. Candy Rock Entertainment. All rights reserved.