NEW YORK - Academy Award winner, Mel Gibson stars as Santa in the dark comedy “Fatman.” In the film, this real-world Santa is in the middle of an identity crisis and is not his old jolly self. Instead, he’s struggling to make ends meet while others make money on his name.
What You Need To Know
- Mel Gibson plays a real-world Santa with money problems and a case of the blues
- A spoiled rich kid, played by actor Chance Hurstfield, puts a hit on Santa to pay him back for his present, a lump of coal
- In the film, this real-world Santa is in the middle of an identity crisis and is not his old jolly self. Instead, he’s struggling to make ends meet while others make money on his name
“It's quite different. You know, you take these iconic legendary, fantastical people who have been in all our lives and imagined well, and you basically put them in a Western. So it has an absurd nature to it. That and the bizarre occurrences in it are amusing,” Gibson tells NY1’s George Whipple, about this new take on Santa Claus.
Trouble comes for Santa when a spoiled rich kid, played by Change Hurstfield, gets a lump of coal for Christmas. Hurstfield says he liked playing the bad guy.
"I did enjoy playing a despicable child. When he gets that piece of coal, that is the turning point to where he goes, Okay, you want to play that game? Let's play the game and I'm gonna hire him in to kill you."
Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste says she enjoyed playing a Mrs. Claus who tries to encourage a Santa who has lost his way. “I loved it. It was so refreshing for me, exploring who this person is, this sort of mythical creature.”