We may have moved on from the Holiday season just a month ago, but the world of Holiday-themed films will keep the sleigh moving with the upcoming Let It Snow, which has just added a huge array of cast members. The novel adaptation looks to be an attempt to create a new Christmas classic that will apparently be focusing on family foibles.
According to a report from The Wrap, the eggnog-pounding project will add: John Goodman, Ed Helms, Anthony Mackie, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei and Olivia Wilde (pictured). The group will join Amanda Seyfried, Diane Keaton, Alan Arkin, Jake Lacy, Alex Borstein, and Jon Tenney in a project that is increasingly becoming a clown car of notable actors.
Getting behind the camera, will be director, Jessie Nelson. Primarily a scriptwriter of family-based comedic dramas, Let it Snow will be Nelson’s first directorial effort since 2001’s I Am Sam with Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film will be clearly targeting a certain demographic, seeing as it is based on the 2008 novel, Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, the author of the hugely-successful book and 2014 film adaption, The Fault in Our Stars. Thus, the project is looking capitalize on the surprising momentum that Stars created last year, tapping into the young adult demographic with a romantic tale about a young couple who connect through their dealings with their impending deaths by terminal disease. Raking in a spectacular $304 million worldwide (on a $16 million budget), Stars likely became the template for a new wave of YA-themed dramas. Naturally, another adaptation of a Green novel was inevitable.
While the original Let it Snow novel is an anthology of three stories chronicling the romantic tumult of young people during the backdrop of the Christmas season, no details have been confirmed regarding the method with which the film will adapt the novel. However, given the breadth of names that have been added to the film, it may be reasonable to expect a shift in focus to the family aspect.
Therein lies what may either be its strength or its weakness. The synopsis that has been given for the film describes it as a single story following "exasperated members of an extended family as they attempt to gather for their annual Holiday celebration." The film will surely be filled with its share of idiosyncratic zaniness as what is described as "chaos" will occur while the characters experience "life transition," ultimately leading them to conclude that a household brightened by laughter is the perfect Holiday aperitif. However, for a project that has clearly come in the wake of The Fault in Our Stars, this cast seems overall… old, and doesn't sound like the "Love Actually for tweens" that one would have thought. It will be interesting to see what kind of a movie manifests, and whether it can tap the demographic it needs.
Let it Snow is currently eyeing a November 13, 2015 release for its brand of familial folly.
