Come on by to Candy Cane Lane to see a neighbourhood filled with Christmas spirit. Follow along as Chris (played by Eddie Murphy) goes above and beyond to win his neighbourhood’s annual Christmas home decoration contest. Each year, he goes all out for Christmas, but this year is even more critical and the stakes have never been higher. After Chris (Eddie Murphy) inadvertently makes a deal with a mischievous elf named Pepper to better his chances of winning, she casts a magic spell that brings the 12 Days of Christmas to life and wreaks havoc on the whole town. At the risk of ruining the holidays for his family, Chris, his wife Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross), and their three children must race against the clock to break Pepper’s (Jillian Bell) spell, battle deviously magical characters, and save Christmas for everyone.
Premieres Globally on December 1, Exclusively on Prime Video
Directed by Reginald Hudlin
Written by Kelly Younger
Produced by Brian Grazer, Eddie Murphy, Karen Lunder, Charisse Hewitt-Webster
Executive produced by Doug Merrifield
Starring
Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Ken Marino, Nick Offerman, Robin Thede, Chris Redd, Genneya Walton, Madison Thomas, D.C. Young Fly, Riki Lindhome, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Lombardo Boyar, Danielle Pinnock, Timothy Simons
BEHIND THE SCENES
Eddie Murphy, Reggie Hudlin (director) and Brian Grazer (producer), are reuniting after 30 years with a fun, new action adventure spin to the Christmas movie genre we didn’t know we needed, Candy Cane Lane. Set in El Segundo, California, near the Los Angeles Airport, Candy Cane Lane is a real place where every year people come in droves to gaze in awe at the amazing Christmas displays.
“What we wanted to do was an original Christmas movie, something you’ve never seen before, something where people go ‘Wait a minute, this is Christmas, but boy, that was a cool action sequence!’,” said director Reggie Hudlin.
For Eddie Murphy and for his character Chris, there is nothing more important than being with family during the holidays. “The Christmas spirit, when you get older it’s harder and harder to feel that feeling, but it makes it much easier when you have the little ones around,” said Murphy. “Christmas is the best time to reconnect with family, friends and the people who matter most to celebrate the good times.” He hopes this movie brings families together and keeps the Christmas spirit alive.
“I’m a big Christmas person,” said Hudlin. “I love Christmas, I love Christmas music, I love Christmas traditions, and I always wanted to make a Christmas movie. So, when I got Kelly’s script and I read it, I said, ‘Man, this is exactly a movie that I relate to a hundred percent’.”
The relatability is not fictional. Kelly Younger, the screenwriter, infuses Candy Cane Lane with a lot of personal truth. “My parents have lived in El Segundo for nearly 30 years. My wife was born and raised in El Segundo. We’ve been going to Candy Cane Lane since before our kids were born, and we’ve been taking them and all their friends to Candy Cane Lane since they were in strollers,” Younger explained. “It’s a family tradition we look forward to year after year. And that’s what I hope this movie inspires for others.”
“So much of this screenplay is really grounded in his own experiences,” Hudlin revealed of Younger and his Candy Cane Lane backstory. “His father was a truck driver but had an incredible artistic side. He was a real folk artist who handmade all these amazing ornaments and really had a big impact on every other house because he wasn’t just buying store-bought stuff. He was really expressing himself and that joy in his heart spread through the whole neighborhood.”
“No one loves Christmas more than Eddie Murphy. Christmas at Eddie’s house is a very big deal!” producer Charisse Hewitt-Webster confirmed. “I just loved the family aspect of the script, and knew he would relate to the character of Chris. That initial phone call with Karen Lunder was one of those magical moments; we knew we were onto something.”
“We’ve been working together since Boomerang, actually and I’ve known him before that. It’s a crazy coincidence that Eddie, without me knowing, really wanted to make a Christmas movie. At the same time, I had just gotten this script from my team written by a writer that lived in this neighbourhood that once a year transformed into Candy Cane Lane,” Brian Grazer said. “I said, ‘Well, I happen to have a Christmas script. Eddie immediately read it and said, ‘Let’s do it; let’s find somebody great to direct it; we’ll do it at Amazon.’ Coincidentally, or serendipitously, Amazon also wanted to make a Christmas film. So all three parties were really into doing this without knowing it.”
Jillian Bell as ‘Pepper,’ Eddie Murphy as ‘Chris Carver,’ and Madison Thomas as ‘Holly Carver’ star in CANDY CANE LANE Photo: CLAUDETTE BARIUS © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Excited to do his first Christmas movie, Murphy wanted to create a holiday film that represented the same nostalgia as the classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. “We wanted to find a script that would be a forever classic. When I read the script, I knew people would want to watch this one over and over again,” Murphy added.
Reteaming with Eddie Murphy after the romantic comedy hit Boomerang in 1992 was a natural move for Hudlin. As he explains, Candy Cane Lane like Boomerang comes at the right time of each of their lives. “When Eddie and I worked together on Boomerang, that was thirty years ago. We were both single men, living in New York. When we talked about making the movie, we started talking about the clubs that we both go to,” Hudlin recalled. “So we really made a movie that reflected where we were in our lives. Cut to thirty years later, we’re both parents living in Los Angeles.”
“The same way Boomerang really captured where we were in our lives, Candy Cane Lane is the same thing,” Hudlin explained. “We’ve made a movie that we both really have a personal investment in. So it’s that feeling of this is us, that we’ve made the right movie at the right time with our full heart. There’s nothing like it.”
Eddie Murphy concurred, reminiscing on their time working together. “We went from being young bucks to old goats. I loved working with Reggie again. On set, I started remembering and reminiscing about our time on Boomerang. It was a trip, we are still around and everybody still has a little twinkle in their eye…it was special,” added Murphy.
This is the first film Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross have worked on together. “We immediately had the chemistry on set,” Murphy said. “She’s a real comic actress, she is great at improvising and just goes for it…I think she is very funny.” Murphy also enjoyed working with TJ, Genneya and Madison as well. “They are all such wonderful and funny actors,” Murphy added.
