“圣诞节前的战斗”导演关于邻居，节日灯和美国政治鸿沟的导演
‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas’ Director on Feuding Neighbors, Holiday Lights and the U.S. Political Divide
七年前，成千上万的人降落在爱达荷州郊区的杰里米（Jeremy）和克里斯蒂·莫里斯（Kristy Morris）的“圣诞节房子”上，那里的节日灯，骆驼和35名成员的合唱团唱歌颂歌招呼了节日游客。假日活动是为癌症儿童提供筹款活动的筹款活动，非常大，以至于这对夫妇决定在接下来的一年的庆祝活动中需要更大的房子。总部位于英国的导演贝基（Becky）读到了随后的邻里战争和对家庭2015年假期活动的法律斗争 - 诉讼仍在等待上诉 - 在她的苹果电视台和纪录片“圣诞节前的战斗”中。 ，《黑暗和喜剧》的文档提供了圣诞节活动错误的各种观点，并在分裂的美国揭示了灯光。雷德（Read）在纪录片11月26日的首次亮相之前，解释了为什么她被该项目吸引，并在政治战斗中受到了节日装饰的启发。在阅读了与爱达荷州邻居的莫里斯（Morris）圣诞纠纷之后，您决定访问海顿镇（Hayden），与所有参与者会面。是什么让您认为这个故事将成为一部好纪录片？仅标题 - “圣诞节诉讼的战争”和首都的“骆驼” - 令我们震惊的是，这是一个带有扭曲的圣诞节故事。当然，这个小镇的故事在英国的国家新闻中引起了全国新闻，如果它在美国的一个小镇之外引起共鸣，那么可能会有广泛的医生观众。关于圣诞节表演的争论最终在陪审团的审判中出现了，这似乎是非同寻常的 - 因此，讲故事的冲突是内在的 - 一方想要一件事，另一方面想要另一件事。您不仅获得了信任莫里斯（Morris），还有他的父母和不因年度圣诞节活动而着迷的各个邻居吗？杰里米本人很高兴讲述自己的故事也就不足为奇了。甚至暗示（仍然是），我们从中制作了一系列，续集或他的生活故事。克里斯蒂（Kristy）是他的妻子，非常不情愿。杰里米（Jeremy）喜欢在冲突的情况下发表自己的发言权，似乎很自在，但克里斯蒂（Kristy）却大不相同，因为她不想关注他们，也担心他们的孩子。我觉得这对克里斯蒂（Kristy）来说很重要重要的背景解释了与像杰里米这样的人结婚的挑战，他不在一半的时间里做事，并且能够表达我认为杰里米不会或会在镜头前做的事情。相信我并决定参加。许多人认为，因为杰里米（Jeremy）对媒体的生活非常开放，并以前曾联系过他打电话给我们的消息，并且我们正在为他或与他一起制作这部电影。因此，我首先不得不撤消这种看法。在他们的门上，邮寄信件，并试图解释我非常想了解他们对所有这些的看法。我能够让一些人在镜头上与我交谈，以获取嘶哑的胶带（后来有两个人改变了关于在文档中的想法），有些人只会说出唱片和摄像机的交谈。主要关心的是杰里米（Jeremy）的进一步诉讼以及如何感知邻居。2019年12月，很明显，我需要与杰里米（Jeremy）谈论诉讼问题。我们坐在他的办公室里，我解释说，听到他人的故事对电影的工作至关重要，他们都担心他对他们在镜头上所说的任何话都对他们提起诉讼。他同意，他不会为他们在电影中所说的任何事情所说的任何方式提起诉讼。这也非常包裹在一个关于全球的对话中，关于什么是真理，他们的事物的版本以及我们所看到的分裂。”您是否知道真理的主题是这部电影在您开始拍摄之前会探索的主题，还是您在拍摄，编辑或进行采访时发现的话题？而且我们可以很有趣地探索这些东西，使它们所有空间并允许观众决定自己。这是一场精彩的慈善活动还是一场噩梦？可以俩。它有一个类似Rashomon的镜头，我喜欢它。我们都有不同版本的事件和主观现实。我们可以是诚实的人，但仍然是不可靠的证人。当我们进行编辑时，很明显，我们可以让观众在不同时期对不同的人感到同情，因为我自己的同情一直在地面上移动。我想要PEOPLE质疑他们对什么是错误和正确的想法，并看到这部电影的播放时发生了变化，我们揭开了一切的荒谬之处和附带损害的荒谬性。莫里斯圣诞节的故事似乎很有趣 - 最初是可笑的，但是当您您时观看电影您意识到，这不仅是一个关于圣诞节庆祝活动的故事，而且是我们目前居住的分裂国家的冥想。您是如何绘制这个复杂故事的？根据我们在预生产期间与所有可能的贡献者进行的研究电话，在开始拍摄和编辑之前，我将这个故事写成了一个脚本，因此我有了我如何看待这种发展的指南 - 这种方式会揭示出一个惊喜为观众。我认为很难让人们想参与有关政治，分裂和冲突的故事，因此将我们带入最初有趣的圣诞节故事是一个很好的开始方式。我希望人们站在杰里米（Jeremy）的身边，享受他一生的热情nd为什么这对他很重要，然后我们才透露他的角色的另一面，要求您质疑您对他的了解。这个故事自然变成了他反对抵抗时更复杂和黑暗的事物 - 这是关于确保我们从经历过他的经历的人的角度讲述这个故事，所以您在旅途中，但要待在它足够长的时间为了使故事展现出来。这部电影的开幕场面涉及莫里斯一家在一个圣诞树农民中，辩论要购买哪种尺寸的树。这很有趣，很可爱，最终说明了莫里斯是什么样的人。您是如何决定作为纪录片开幕场景的？我和我的编辑对此进行了一些战斗。最终，我们需要一些顶级的东西，这既可以确立杰里米作为角色，又是杰里米（Jeremy）和克里斯蒂（Kristy）的关系 - 杰里米（Jeremy）是这个有雄心勃勃的人，一种有趣的感觉，但同样是谁。SN不听 - 克里斯蒂（Kristy）是必须以某种方式确保事情对家庭安全和实用的人，并且经常拿起这些东西。在我们进入过去时态讲故事之前，它勾勒出了几个盒子，并成为一个不错的场景，而这部电影不是右翼与左翼文档，枪支，宗教和第一修正案 - 所有热门纽扣政治问题 - 都是一部分电影。您认为这是一部政治电影吗？也许这是一部节日雪的政治电影？政治，但被圣诞毯子包裹着吗？我想说这是一部试图轻轻强调政治一切变得多么政治的电影 - 从圣诞节到戴面具。我们想以细微而微妙的方式添加对话，同时又不为火力添加燃料。拥有这个机会真是令人耳目一新。
Seven years ago, thousands of people descended upon Jeremy and Kristy Morris’ “Christmas House” in suburban Idaho, where holiday lights, a camel and a 35-member choir singing carols beckoned festive visitors. The holiday event, which served as a fundraiser for children with cancer, was so big that the couple decided that they needed a bigger house with more property for the following year’s festivities. U.K. based director Becky Read chronicles the ensuing neighborhood war and legal battle over the family’s 2015 holiday event – litigation is still pending appeal -- in her Apple TV Plus documentary “Twas the Fight Before Christmas.”
Executive produced by prolific filmmaker Chris Smith, the offbeat, dark and comedic docu offers various perspectives of a Christmas event gone wrong and sheds light on a divided America. In advance of the documentary’s Nov. 26 debut, Read explained why she was drawn to the project and her take on the political battle the holiday decorations inspired.
After reading about the Morris’ Christmas dispute with his neighbors in Idaho, you decided to visit the town of Hayden to meet with all involved. What made you think that this story would make a good documentary?
The headline alone – “War on Christmas lawsuit” and ‘camel’ in capitals -- struck us that this was a Christmas story with a twist. It was immediately interesting that this small-town story had hit national news in the U.K. Of course, if it resonates beyond a small town in the U.S.A., then there might be a wide doc audience. It seemed extraordinary that an argument about a Christmas show ended up in a jury trial – so the conflict that storytelling is all about was built in – one side wanted one thing and the other side wanted another.
How did you gain the trust of not only Morris, but also his parents and the various neighbors who were not enthralled with his annual Christmas event?
It will be of no surprise that Jeremy himself was very happy to tell his story and was even suggesting (and still is) that we make a series out of this, a sequel or his life story. Kristy, his wife, was very reluctant. While Jeremy enjoys having his say and seems comfortable being in situations of conflict, Kristy is very different in that she doesn’t want the attention and is also worried about their children.
I felt it was important for Kristy to be on board, she adds vital context, explains the challenge of being married to someone like Jeremy, who doesn’t do things by halves, and was able to express things that I don’t think Jeremy could or would on camera.
It was extremely difficult to get the neighbors to trust me and decide to take part. Many thought that, because Jeremy is very open about his life to the press and had previously contacted the news, that he had called us and that we were making the film for him or with him. So I began by having to undo that perception.
I spent from July-September 2019 writing to and calling people, then on the ground knocking on their doors, mailing letters, and trying to explain that I very much wanted to understand their perspectives on all of this. I was able to get some people to talk to me on camera for the sizzle tape (two of whom later changed their mind about being in the doc) and some would talk only off the record and off-camera. The main concern was further litigation from Jeremy and how the neighbors would be perceived.
In December 2019, it became apparent that I was going to need to talk to Jeremy about the litigation issue. We sat in his office, and I explained that hearing other people’s stories was crucial for the film to work and that they were all too worried about him pursuing litigation against them over anything they said on camera. He agreed that he would not pursue litigation against anyone for anything they said in the film which went some way to helping reassure others.
The film’s producer Julia Nottingham stated that, “the story here is wrapped up in Christmas, but it’s also very much wrapped up in a conversation that everyone is having across the globe about what is truth, their version of things, and the division that we’re seeing.” Did you know that the subject of truth was a subject that the film would explore before you started filming or was that a topic you discovered while filming, editing or doing interviews?
It was apparent from early on that this was a film about very different perspectives and that we could have fun exploring those, allowing them all space and allowing the audience to decide themselves. Is this a wonderful charity event or a total nightmare? It can be both. It has a Rashomon-like lens and I loved that about it. We all have different versions of events and subjective realities. We can be honest people and yet still be unreliable witnesses. As we edited it became clear we could allow the audience to feel empathy for different people at different times, as my own sympathies shifted all the time on the ground. I want people to question their own ideas about what is wrong and right and see that change as the film plays out and we unpack the absurdity of how far it all went and the collateral damage.
The Morris Christmas story seems funny – comical initially, but as you watch the film you realize that it is not just a story about a Christmas celebration, but instead a meditation of sorts on the divided country we currently live within. How did you map out this complicated story?
Based on the research calls we had done with all possible contributors during pre-production, I wrote this story into a script before I started shooting and editing so I had a guide of how I saw this unfolding -- in a way that would reveal a surprise for the audience. I think it’s hard to get people to want to engage in a story about politics, division, and conflict, so pulling us into what was initially a fun Christmas story was a good way to start. I wanted people to be on Jeremy’s side and enjoy his zest for life and understand why this mattered so much to him before we revealed the other side to his character that would ask you to question what you thought you knew about him. The story naturally turns into something more complicated and darker as he comes up against resistance -- and it was about ensuring we tell the story from the perspective of those who experienced him as it happens, so you are on that journey but stay with it long enough for the story to reveal itself.
The film’s opening scene involves the Morris family at a Christmas tree farmers debating about which size tree to purchase. It’s funny, endearing and in the end speaks to what kind of person Morris is. How did you decide on this scene as the opening scene for the documentary?
My editor and I had a few battles about that. Ultimately, we needed something up top that would establish both Jeremy as a character but also Jeremy and Kristy’s relationship – Jeremy as this over-the-top guy who has big ambitions, a sense of fun but equally who doesn’t listen -- and Kristy as the one who has to somehow make sure things are safe and practical for the family and often pick up the pieces. It ticked a few boxes as well as being a nice verité scene before we go into past tense storytelling
While the film is not a right-wing versus left-wing doc, guns, religion and the first amendment – all hot button political issues -- are part of the film. Do you consider this a political film?
Maybe it’s a political film under a blanket of festive snow? Politics, but wrapped in a Christmas blanket? I would say this is a film that seeks to gently underline how political everything has become – from Christmas to mask wearing. We wanted to add to the conversation in a nuanced and subtle way while not adding fuel to the fire. It was refreshing to have that opportunity.
“Twas the Fight Before Christmas” debut Nov. 26 on Apple TV Plus.
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发表于 2022-7-5 03:14:14
发表于 2023-5-7 14:36:21