PHIL HAWKINS TALKS PRANCER: A CHRISTMAS TALE
"We are unified by that sense of wonder"
Daniel John
Christmas is nothing if not a nostalgic time. Looking back a bit, how did you get your very start as a filmmaker?
My start came after watching 'Jurassic Park' for the first time. I was completely in awe of the film and the magic Spielberg and his team created to make something I knew was artificial absolutely real. It blew my mind. I spent so long going over the very limited amount of behind the scenes images from the set to try and figure out how it was done. This was pre-YouTube, pre-internet, there wasn't a wealth of information available so I basically wore out my copy of the VHS studying the movie. That obsession with figuring out filmmaking led me to making my own short films. I was probably eleven years old when I made my first. I made countless films all trying to fix something I wasn’t happy with from the last. I suppose that was my film school! Eventually some of these films were seen and I fell into the commercials industry and worked up the ranks that way until I got my shot at directing professionally. I didn’t go to a formal film school. I learned so much from being on set, watching and asking questions and by getting stuck into the process.
You’re a bit old-school I feel like, not unlike directors such as Spielberg, Dante, or Zemeckis, one can feel your own sense of wonder for what you do, you could probably helm any genre and really still have that. But of course absolutely perfect if making a Christmas film?
That’s very lofty praise! They’re directing heroes of mine precisely for that reason. Film is escapism for me, and I’ve always wanted to tell big stories that speak to as many people as possible. We’re unified by that sense of wonder, accessing that childlike viewpoint on the world. Some can be disparaging about Spielberg’s style and heightened emotional viewpoint on a story but that is so, so difficult to get right and you can't deny that it works. He’s an absolute master. And it’s not just with stories involving children, look at some of his more "grownup" movies and that wonder is always there. I’ve been lucky enough to work in a number of genres from Classic Greek Tragedy in 'The Women of Troy', comedy satire with 'Being Sold', which was a feature film I shot in just two days, and psychological horror with 'The Last Showing' but I felt very at home making 'Prancer'. It's a grounded and character driven story with a sense of magic and wonder, it's a difficult balance to get right both on the page and directorally but I’m very proud of what we all achieved. There is a responsibility, and a power, to making a Christmas film. I really didn't want to make a film that felt throwaway or superficial. My lofty ambition was to try and make a film that could stand the test of time. Whether we have, we’ll have to wait and see. But the themes of the movie are universal. Yes, it's a fun adventure about a little girl re-connecting with her grandad and a magical reindeer but beneath all that it’s a story about grief and closure. It's about what that does to a family dynamic that already has wounds that never healed. Christmas is a time where family, like it or hate it, comes together and Bud’s accident means that they need to do just that, they need to face the very things they’ve been avoiding. So, we’re not a “kids” movie, it’s a family movie. There is hopefully something for everyone.
It’s been thirty-three years since the original ‘Prancer’ film first came out in 1989, with a sequel to follow as late as twelve years later. ‘Prancer: A Christmas Tale’ now comes out twenty-one years after we last saw the mysterious deer. How familiar were you with those films before taking on this third movie as the kind of Richard Marquand of the franchise?
(Laughs) I need more Ewoks! Hopefully I’m “the JJ” by re-imagining the franchise but enough of the 'Star Wars' geekery! I remember seeing the ’89 original as a kid but only recalling parts of it. I remember the sequence with Sam Elliot and the newspaper, the set piece with Prancer eating all the food in the kitchen, I must have been very young. The rest of the story, and a rather dark story at times, must have gone completely over my head. Rewatching before I made my version was a totally different experience both as an adult and a parent. You can see why it's a classic because it works on many different levels which I aspired to as I’ve mentioned. Rebecca Harrell, who played the lead young girl, delivered such a wonderful performance and I really hoped I could find someone who could do the same. Luckily we did with then ten year-old Darcey Ewart who's an absolute star. I think the line in the original that really stood out was when Jessica, played by Rebecca, said, “If Santa isn't real then heaven isn’t real, and if heaven isn’t real then where's my mom?” Such a powerful line coming from such a young actor and why the film worked so well for me. I hoped to have a similar emotional punch with 'Prancer: A Christmas Tale'. The sequel, 'Prancer Returns', I was less keen on. I do not like to be negative about other filmmaker's work as it is very, very hard to make a film but it's a very different movie to this new version. I think 'Prancer Returns' was solely made for kids and it served as a touchpoint of what I didn’t want to do, if that's fair to say.
What is it like to have the Universal Pictures-logo appear before your own film?
I did actually shed a tear when I saw it in the final-mix for the first time. I knew it was on the film but I delayed seeing it, my editor and post technicians always knew when playing the film not to show the logo as I don’t think I was ready to experience that! There is huge power and personal connection to that logo, especially with the Spielberg movies I grew up obsessing over, so it was a proud, bucket-list moment for sure!
From the very beginning having done it all. Directing short films, fan films, TV-movies, indies, mini-series and shows, how was it different making a proper so-called studio film. Was it?
For the past five years of my career I've made a conscious effort to solely focus on getting that "studio gig". It has always been my ultimate goal and having made five indie feature-films previously, I could see that I needed to make a piece of work that could rise above the crowded marketplace. I mean unless you win Sundance or a Bafta, that low budget-indie is very different to get traction on from a studio level, if I'm being blunt. Or maybe the films weren't good enough! Regardless, I spent three years making a 'Star Wars' fan film called 'Star Wars Origins' that mashed up the 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones'-franchises to tell a story set on Earth. It was shot in the Sahara Desert, and we went all out to make it a “studio level” short. It started making some waves, then Covid hit! When productions started again, it caught the attention of Universal and producer Raffaella De Laurentiis, who were making 'Prancer' next, and I got the gig. I suppose the only difference really is that you are not chasing the money to make the film in the first place. Having directed commercials for fifteen plus years, I’ve been well versed in being a direct that is able to explain a vision and ensure everyone knows we are making the same movie. Actually, studio executives are easier than commercials clients, so that was a breath of fresh air. I think a lot of credit should go to my producer Raffaella who supported my vision for this film every step of the way, and probably shielded me from other conversations too so I could get on and make the best film that I could. Ultimately, the actual directing is the same. You have a story to tell, actors to work with, a vision to communicate to a crew, a budget to adhere to, and an amount of pages you must complete in a day, this one also happened to have kids and a reindeer too as an added challenge, one I embraced whole-heartedly!
In this film, Gloria and her recently widowed grandfather, Bud, are the ones to befriend Prancer. Having an equally as fun as loving dynamic between them. It must've been an absolute delight particularly getting to direct James Cromwell in it though?
It was a gift! What a wonderful experience I had working with him. I know every director says that about their cast but, come on, 'Babe', 'L.A. Confidential', 'Star Trek', 'The Green Mile'. He has worked with so many great directors both on stage and screen that he brings a wealth of experience but never let his reputation proceed him. He was so giving and supportive of my ideas, especially when I wanted to shoot five pages of dialogue in one shot at times, he totally understood! He’s a director himself so could understand the reasoning too. I also admire his activism for animal rights, he’s doing great work for brilliant charities alongside a very busy acting career. I learned a lot working with him both as a director and as a human being.
All credit to him, as well as to Darcey Ewart playing Gloria, of course. It is not your first time directing some of the most renowned actors in the world though. Be it Christopher Walken or Al Pacino. Did any of it prepare you for directing a deer?
(Laughs) I think the only way of preparing for working with deer is to expect the unexpected. You can’t train them. Our animal handler did an amazing job at working with Elin over a period of months, to get her used to being around groups of people and also being in small spaces, this wasn’t a “film reindeer”, they don’t exist. But she was a smart, beautiful and gentle animal and it was a really pleasure to work with her. I think the cliche of “Do not work with kids and animals” comes from directors and producers who think they can assert control over everything they do. And when they don’t because, you know, they’re animals and kids, people get frustrated. I’m the exact opposite. I want to embrace what a young actor or a animal brings to a scene by being them. That’s how you get naturalism, then you use every tool in the filmmaking kit, editing, camera angles, sound, music and so on, to craft a “performance” from what is essentially a wild animal. All you can do is do everything to make them comfortable and build trust that they’re safe. It’s all about patience, and knowing when you have “the moment” you need from a storytelling perspective. That might happen take one, it might happen after rolling the camera for ten minutes but you’ve just got to be ready.
