Readers were impressed with the audacity of Charlotte Gale, a massage therapist from New Jersey, who bought a small island in Maine.
“I think I learned all the different types of fog,” said Charlotte Gale, describing her first full summer as owner and sole resident of Duck Ledges Island, the one-and-a-half-acre rocky outcropping complete with tiny cabin that she bought last year in Downeast Maine.
Indeed, it was an unusually wet summer in Maine, clouding the coastline on most days and turning Ms. Gale into an expert in weather. “I thought it was just fog,” she laughed. “No, there’s a dry fog. And a wet fog. And a steamy fog.”
Ms. Gale’s plans to host visitors on her picturesque island, which sits in Wohoa Bay, a 20-minute boat ride from the lobster fishing town of Jonesport, were done in by the rain. Aside from a mother and daughter who traveled from Kansas, most everyone who had planned to stay on Duck Ledges canceled.
Nevertheless, Ms. Gale spent several nights sleeping in her cedar-shingled cabin, listening to the sounds of the water lapping against the rock ledges. “There’s a lot of beauty out there,” she said, “and you can walk in the beautiful — even in the fog.”
The story of how Ms. Gale, a massage therapist from New Jersey who experienced a few rough years during the pandemic, came to own an island off Maine’s Bold Coast, captivated Times readers. Many were impressed by Ms. Gale’s pluck and her willingness to make a bold life change nearing retirement age.
Ms. Gale at the beach near her winter rental.Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
For weeks after the article ran, Ms. Gale said, she received emails numbering in the hundreds from strangers congratulating her.
A woman, who said she has a disability and is a single mother of three children, wrote to tell Ms. Gale that she found her story inspiring. “One day I will get to do something as cool as you did,” the woman wrote. A man from Ottawa, Canada, likened Ms. Gale’s simply furnished cabin to the way of living espoused by Greek philosophers and the teachings of Zen Buddhism.
A husband and wife who are in the film and TV business and self-described “adventurers” wrote to ask if Ms. Gale would allow them to stay in her tiny cabin for a week. And the travel journalist and photographer Peter Guttman and his wife, Lori Greene, did make it to the island for a stay.
Ms. Gale took much of her life savings and purchased Duck Ledges and the little cabin upon it for $339,000. She didn’t own a boat — still doesn’t — and had spent limited time in Maine.
“I did something very unconventional,” she said. “I think it spoke to people who want to do something unconventional or who want to know that it’s OK. You don’t have to worry about being judged.”
In September, Ms. Gale hired a local crew to come out at summer’s end with heavy tarps. They brought everything that was outside the cabin inside if possible, battened down the wrought-iron garden table and other patio furniture and locked the cabin’s door. She drove back to New Jersey, where she is renting in the off-season.
Ms. Gale has stayed in touch with the local lobstermen, who alert her to inclement weather, as when Hurricane Lee blew through in September (her island took no damage). She hopes to establish a migratory pattern — the Jersey Shore in fall, winter and spring, the Maine coast in summer.
“I found that winter rentals are one of the few hidden gems of New Jersey,” she said. “The rent is reasonable, I’m still my mermaid by the beach, and the time when I’d have to move, I’d want to be up in Maine anyway.”
One of her priorities for next summer is to get her family to the island; they have yet to visit. Ms. Gale herself will be there come rain or shine or fog.
December 27, 2023 at 05:04PM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiVmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm55dGltZXMuY29tLzIwMjMvMTIvMjcvcmVhbGVzdGF0ZS93b21hbi1idXlzLWR1Y2stbGVkZ2VzLWlzbGFuZC1tYWluZS5odG1s0gEA?oc=5
She's Still in Love With Her Little Island - The New York Times
Hugh Jackman's happy feet almost got him into trouble.
The big screen legend admitted Monday he jumped a barrier to get close to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City, much to the chagrin of a nearby security guard.
"I highly recommend getting up really early on Christmas morning and taking a walk to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree," he told fans on Instagram.
"It’s so beautiful and not crowded at all. I did get in trouble for going beyond the barrier but the security guard was nice and let me go with just a warning."
Jackman posted video of himself walking toward the tree as passersby appeared oblivious to his playing the role of a New York City tourist.
December 27, 2023 at 02:33AM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5iY25ld3MuY29tL25ld3MvdXMtbmV3cy9odWdoLWphY2ttYW4tY29wcy1nZXR0aW5nLWxpdHRsZS1jbG9zZS1yb2NrZWZlbGxlci1jZW50ZXItY2hyaXN0bWFzLXRyLXJjbmExMzEyMjnSAStodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYmNuZXdzLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FtcC9yY25hMTMxMjI5?oc=5
Hugh Jackman cops to getting a little too close to Rockefeller Center Christmas tree - NBC News
Stacy Jo Rost came home on Christmas to find her parents had adopted a wild raccoon.
The raccoon, dubbed Little RIck after Rost's stepfather Rick, is treated to daily cooked breakfasts.
Rost said despite their love for the animal she's doesn't think Little RIck can be trusted not to murder them.
Imagine coming home for the holidays to find your parents have adopted a wild raccoon and are treating it like furry, small-pawed royalty.
That's exactly what happened to Seattle Sports radio host Stacy Jo Rost, who chronicled her stepfather Rick's feral new friend, suitably named Little Rick, on X over Christmas. Tens of thousands of people followed along.
"My parents had to put their dog down two years ago and it's been really hard on them," Rost wrote in an X post that garnered 269,000 likes. "Unfortunately my stepdad, Rick, has found the worst way to cope: feeding a one-year old raccoon and letting him live on their porch."
The raccoon "has a messed up back leg and they saw him when he was a little raccoon baby and didn't think he'd make it," she continued. "So now they're attached."
The raccoon, nicknamed Rickoon, started appearing on her parents' porch scavenging for food months ago. Stepdad Rick and Rost's mother began making the injured animal breakfast, feeding him an enviable selection of sardines, berries, and hardboiled eggs. They provided him with a bowl of water so "he can wash his little people-hands" post-scarfing.
"I mean they make him breakfast every morning. My mom claims she's against this because he's a wild animal and dirty but she's lowkey in cahoots. This woman is lying to my face," Rost wrote.
Then things got weirder. According to Rost, her parents purchased the feral animal a selection of toys and a bed. Little Rick has dog toys.
"Need I remind you: Little Rick is not a dog. He's a raccoon. He will bite. They're in denial. He's using you for eggs before he kills you in your sleep," she wrote.
Her family insisted that Little Rick was harmless, but Jost wasn't having it:
“He’s cute!”
“Leave him alone!”
“Let them do it!”
No. He’s a wild animal. This raccoon looks cute until it tries to kill you. Y’ALL. LOOK AT THIS. LITTLE RICK CANNOT BE TRUSTED pic.twitter.com/9cxnlXjfM6
December 26, 2023 at 11:21PM
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Woman's story about spoiled egg-eating raccoon Little Rick goes viral - Business Insider
Tom DeVito Sr. found out about his son’s benching the same way as any other Giants fan watching at home on Christmas.
With the Giants in a 20-3 halftime hole against the Eagles and head coach Brian Daboll looking for a “spark,” Tyrod Taylor took over at quarterback to start the third quarter as DeVito stood next to the injured Daniel Jones on the sideline.
“I thought he was hurt, maybe,” Tom Sr. told The Post. “Maybe something happened. He usually in the past would text me from halftime if he’s hurt or something, so I didn’t get any of that. Then I just heard it like you guys did from the sideline reporter, ‘Coach’s decision.’”
“Yeah, I’m his dad, of course I wanted him to play, but I guess the offense wasn’t doing much so they tried something else. Then you just root for the team and see what happens.”
Images of the celebrating DeVitos in the crowd and hosting Italian-feast tailgates became fixtures during telecasts as Tommy led the Giants to three straight victories.
But the family didn’t travel to Philadelphia, so Tom Sr. was awaiting clarification when his son returned home.
“I was a little perplexed by it. I didn’t see him do anything wrong,” Tom Sr. said. “The obvious thing was you don’t see any interceptions, so you’re like, ‘I guess I’ll find out after film.’ Even the coaches really don’t know during the course of a game because there’s so much going on until they watch film to see, ‘Hey, he missed this, or he missed that, or that WAS his fault or WASN’T his fault.’”
Tommy DeVito on the Giants bench during the loss to the Eagles on Dec. 25, 2023. Bill Kostroun for the NY Post
Tommy briefly explained it to his father the way Daboll explained it to him.
“Coach wanted to spark something,” Tom Sr. said, “and that was it.”
If DeVito is benched, it won’t be the first time, as he lost the job at Syracuse before transferring to Illinois.
“That stuff’s out of our control. It’s coach’s decision,” Tom Sr. said. “Obviously it’s my son, of course I want him to play, but … I taught Tommy that a long time ago: Stuff’s not in our control. See what’s best for the team. I guess whatever the coach and management thinks is best for the team, it’s all we can do, you know?”
Tommy DeVito’s dad, Tom Sr. (c.), was “a little perplexed” by his son’s benching. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Tom Sr. will be back in his familiar seat Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Will he be disappointed if his son is on the bench?
“Oh, who wouldn’t be?” he said. “If he was playing awful, I don’t think he’s playing awful. But certainly can play better, that’s for sure.”
But how will Tommy handle it? He started the season behind Jones and Taylor before starting the last six games.
“Like a professional, because that’s what he is,” Tom Sr. “It’s a coach’s decision, and he’s there to be their soldier and be a good teammate under any circumstances. Appreciate the opportunity he’s been given, and we’ll see what happens.”
After winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week for leading a game-winning drive against the Packers, DeVito has a 69.7 quarterback rating with no touchdowns or interceptions over the last two defeats.
“I’m just disappointed that they didn’t win the game,” Tom Sr. said. “It’s two weeks in a row the offense hasn’t been very good. It takes 11 guys and the coaching staff, but most importantly it takes the quarterback — and he just has to get better at whatever they want him to get better at. That’s a conversation between [him] the coaching staff, and sometimes Tommy shares that with me after film.”
December 27, 2023 at 02:25AM
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Tommy DeVito's dad was 'a little perplexed' by his son's Giants benching - New York Post
An older couple in Washington appears to have unofficially taken a hobbled raccoon into their care -- which has horrified their daughter ... but captured the hearts of thousands online.
Seattle sports radio host Stacy Jo Rost has documented this fur ball all weekend, who she calls "Little Rick" ... named after her stepdad. She says after having to put their family dog down 2 years ago, Rick Sr. and her mom have turned to the raccoon as a way to cope.
My parents had to put their dog down two years ago and it’s been really hard on them. Unfortunately my stepdad,
Rick, has found the worst way to cope: feeding a one-year old raccoon and letting him live on their porch. His name is Little Rick aka Rickoon. And by “feeding” him, pic.twitter.com/H2gcEfHtjC
Basically, her folks have resorted to feeding Ricky here ... and the 1-year-old raccoon comes over to their property regularly for his meals, which are scheduled and on the dot, it seems.
Stacy posted a ton of videos capturing Little Rick's eating habits, including some hasty attempts at asking for more morsels ... by scratching at the window in what looks like an attempt to come inside. He even tried biting at Stacy's finger through the window pane!
Spotted: Rick walking around to fix the lights, Little Rick following (imo stalking before murder) from a safe distance pic.twitter.com/Xf1gUuAy5m
Stacy says her parents found Rick when he was tiny, and they noticed his back leg was injured. So, it sounds like they started to attend to him -- from a bit of a distance, though -- and now ... LR comes by their place as a place of comfort and food, limping at that.
Like we said, you can tell SJR is not a huge fan of this ... pointing out it is, in fact, a wild animal and not a pet -- even though her mom and dad seem to be treating it like one.
The amount of people supporting LR. I know you’d try to pet him. He’d bite all your fingers AND your toes too. pic.twitter.com/H9wphdMacd
Funny enough, if you hop into the Little Rick trend on Twitter ... you'll see a fair amount of people actually supporting the adoptive human parents, and arguing Stacy's being harsh.
But she's sticking to her guns -- warning everyone not to trust Little Rick, cute as he may be.
December 26, 2023 at 02:15AM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRtei5jb20vMjAyMy8xMi8yNS9saXR0bGUtcmljay1yYWNjb29uLWFkb3B0ZWQtaHVtYW4tcGFyZW50cy12aXJhbC1zdGFjeS1qby1yb3N0L9IBXWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRtei5jb20vMjAyMy8xMi8yNS9saXR0bGUtcmljay1yYWNjb29uLWFkb3B0ZWQtaHVtYW4tcGFyZW50cy12aXJhbC1zdGFjeS1qby1yb3N0Lw?oc=5
'Little Rick' Raccoon Adopted by Caring Human Parents Goes Viral - TMZ
An older couple in Washington appears to have unofficially taken a hobbled raccoon into their care -- which has horrified their daughter ... but captured the hearts of thousands online.
Seattle sports radio host Stacy Jo Rost has documented this fur ball all weekend, who she calls "Little Rick" ... named after her stepdad. She says after having to put their family dog down 2 years ago, Rick Sr. and her mom have turned to the raccoon as a way to cope.
My parents had to put their dog down two years ago and it’s been really hard on them. Unfortunately my stepdad,
Rick, has found the worst way to cope: feeding a one-year old raccoon and letting him live on their porch. His name is Little Rick aka Rickoon. And by “feeding” him, pic.twitter.com/H2gcEfHtjC
Basically, her folks have resorted to feeding Ricky here ... and the 1-year-old raccoon comes over to their property regularly for his meals, which are scheduled and on the dot, it seems.
Stacy posted a ton of videos capturing Little Rick's eating habits, including some hasty attempts at asking for more morsels ... by scratching at the window in what looks like an attempt to come inside. He even tried biting at Stacy's finger through the window pane!
Spotted: Rick walking around to fix the lights, Little Rick following (imo stalking before murder) from a safe distance pic.twitter.com/Xf1gUuAy5m
Stacy says her parents found Rick when he was tiny, and they noticed his back leg was injured. So, it sounds like they started to attend to him -- from a bit of a distance, though -- and now ... LR comes by their place as a place of comfort and food, limping at that.
Like we said, you can tell SJR is not a huge fan of this ... pointing out it is, in fact, a wild animal and not a pet -- even though her mom and dad seem to be treating it like one.
The amount of people supporting LR. I know you’d try to pet him. He’d bite all your fingers AND your toes too. pic.twitter.com/H9wphdMacd
Funny enough, if you hop into the Little Rick trend on Twitter ... you'll see a fair amount of people actually supporting the adoptive human parents, and arguing Stacy's being harsh.
But she's sticking to her guns -- warning everyone not to trust Little Rick, cute as he may be.
December 26, 2023 at 02:15AM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRtei5jb20vMjAyMy8xMi8yNS9saXR0bGUtcmljay1yYWNjb29uLWFkb3B0ZWQtaHVtYW4tcGFyZW50cy12aXJhbC1zdGFjeS1qby1yb3N0L9IBXWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRtei5jb20vMjAyMy8xMi8yNS9saXR0bGUtcmljay1yYWNjb29uLWFkb3B0ZWQtaHVtYW4tcGFyZW50cy12aXJhbC1zdGFjeS1qby1yb3N0Lw?oc=5
'Little Rick' Raccoon Adopted by Caring Human Parents Goes Viral - TMZ
[This interview contains major spoilers for Merry Little Batman.]
DC Studios’ Merry Little Batman sees Bruce Wayne in an unusual turn: donning his dad hat during the holidays.
The Warner Bros. Animation film follows the relationship of Bruce and his son, Damian, an 8-year-old desperate to be just like his crime-fighting father. The only problem — beyond him being a literal child — is that crime no longer exists in Gotham. Batman decided to clean up the streets for good to give Damian a shot at the safe, crime-free childhood Bruce didn’t have.
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But when his overprotective father is called to save the day in Nova Scotia on Christmas Eve and becomes stranded in a trap laid by Mr. Freeze, Damian is left home alone with no one to help him as two criminals break in. The hapless burglars manage to make off with his newly gifted utility belt, leading Damian on a chase through Gotham’s wintry streets as he encounters the Rogues Gallery: Penguin, Bane, Poison Ivy, and none other than The Joker.
The film, which stars Luke Wilson as Bruce Wayne, Yonas Kibreab as Damian, and James Cromwell as Alfred, alongside David Hornsby (The Joker), Therese McLaughlin (Poison Ivy), Brian George (The Penguin), Chris Sullivan (Bane) and Dolph Adomian (Mr. Freeze), was initially set to debut on Max. But like a litany of other projects slated for the streamer, it was axed as part of a series of tax write-offs that downsized the company’s pandemic-fueled content library. Luckily, Merry Little Batman found a studio interested in bringing the Dark Knight’s fans a little Christmas cheer.
An elf, Santa Claus and Damian at the mall in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
“When Warner Bros. was bought by Discovery, there were, obviously, a lot of changes and some course correction. The good news was, we had an animatic, and it was in very good shape. We were all very happy with it, and [WBD], from what I understand, did like the project, so they allowed us to continue producing it and making it with the idea that we find a new home for it,” recalls the film’s director Mike Roth. “We pitched it around, and Amazon got very excited and bought it, thankfully.”
The Warner Bros. animated film is also attached to a spin-off series, similarly canceled at Max and revived by Amazon, that will expand the world teased in Batman’s first real Christmas film, which is visually inspired by the art of Ron Searle. It’s a universe that doesn’t forget to pay homage to its previous iterations either, with Ka-Pow jokes and more easter eggs for just about “every iteration and generation” of Batman fans, says the director.
“That’s what the nipple suit is in the Batcave. That is 100 percent a nod to George Clooney and that whole suit,” Roth says, speaking to one of the movie’s easter eggs. “Damian’s like, well, that leaves nothing to the imagination, and I feel like everybody watching that movie for the first time had a similar thought.”
Merry Little Batman is a film chock-full of inspirations and homages — from Home Alone to Shel Silverstein — and even features fun musical touches like “All I Really Want For Christmas,” from Lil Jon and featuring the Kool-Aid Man (yes, the actual drink mascot). Roth notes that music choice, in particular — lyrics that “speak exactly to Damian’s POV” alongside “a bassy, booming beat” that drives audiences through a sequence where Damian is “beginning to get all he really wants for Christmas”— had him feeling like the song “was written for this moment.”
“We knew we wanted a needle-drop Christmas song here,” Roth tells The Hollywood Reporter about the music supervision choice. “We also wanted a song that quite frankly ‘kicked-butt,’ to really put an exclamation point on the excitement Damian is experiencing. And for the audience we wanted it to have an MTV music video vibe.”
Roth spoke to THR about all of this and more, including scraped movie ideas, how the TV show was born, and whether Batman Returns is a Christmas movie following the release of Merry Little Batman.
***
The film holds a sort of unique place in the Batman canon, which has been around as long as a whole person’s — or multiple people’s — lifetime. Can you talk about your approach to taking him into dad and Christmas territory?
There’s 90 years of history with Batman, so he’s had lots of different iterations, but like you said, it’s a lifetime, basically, since we’ve ever seen this type of Batman. Usually, he’s a brooding, stoic presence. For us, we got an opportunity to explore the dad side of Bruce. He’s still Bruce because he still has that laser focus, but he’s vanquished all the crime in Gotham, so … now he’s taken all of his laser focus, and he’s put into being a dad.
When exploring that space, we took some of our own daddisms — who we are as dads — and we put that into him, while still being true to his character. He’s still stoic, but he has this loving, touching side, and because he’s so laser-focused on raising his son, he no longer needs a debonair style. He’s grown a beard. He’s got a flannel on. He’s got his dad sneakers. He’s in full dad mode, or as we affectionately call him, a “bat-copter dad” — a helicopter dad. (Laughs.)
When it was originally imagined, the idea was, let’s have a Christmas story with Batman. It had some homages to Home Alone and still has some of that DNA in there, though, originally, it was even more Home Alone-ish. But what better way to tell a Christmas story than through the eyes of a child? Very early on, there was an idea — it didn’t last long — about, what if Batman was a kid? But I think people love Batman, and they want to see the Batman they want to see.
Damian in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
It seemed natural then to go this [movie’s] route because Batman does have a child, Damian. He’s an interesting character, and I feel like people love him, or they hate him. (Laughs.) But because he’s 13, he’s a little bit petulant and at that point where he talks back, and that wasn’t quite the angle that we needed. So we dialed the clock back on him and we made him eight.
To be honest, when we were first exploring this branch of Batman, we didn’t jump 100 percent into dad-mode. The story kind of took it there, and I think it’s for a whole bunch of reasons. We’ve never seen this type of Batman before, but the story opened up a door for us to see a side that we normally wouldn’t see.
You mentioned not going with Bruce as a kid, but you’re still exploring Batman tropes with Damian. They’re just almost inverted, like the bat-signal, which inspires fear instead of hope because crime has been wiped out. Why and how did you and the writers, Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci, want to play with those specific tropes even though you weren’t telling a Bruce story?
Damian gets his belt for Christmas and all that is, is the macguffin. What Damian wants more than anything is to be Batman like his dad, but there are two things stopping him. One, there’s no crime left in Gotham, and two, Bruce is overprotective. So the door opens up for Damian when Bruce gets tricked into going to Nova Scotia, and then, lo and behold, these two criminals break in and crime is back. So what we’re seeing is Damian beginning and completing this journey of becoming Batman.
All those tropes, as much as we possibly could, we strategically placed them so that we could see this growth. He first gets in the Batmobile, he can’t really use it. (Laughs.) Ok, the Batpod is a piece of machinery he can handle. He’s starting to become his dad now. He’s having fun, and he’s still very childlike — still focused on getting the belt, but as it’s happening, he’s growing into this superhero. Now he’s got big Rogues Gallery villains. These aren’t B-villains. This is the real deal. We’ve got real stakes, he could die. He’s up against some of the worst, and it just keeps escalating.
Bane, Poison Ivy, Damian Wayne, the Joker, and Penguin in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
That zoo scene says so much about those tropes because [Damian] sees Bruce’s angle for the first time. He’s starting to understand why his dad is who he is, which is really the growth of a child moving towards maturity. Then in the very, very end, when he goes to fight the Joker and everybody, he finally learns his lesson. He says, “I’m going to have to sacrifice this thing I love. That’s what dad has been telling me all along, and now I get it. I’m going to sacrifice this belt, and I’m going to do everything I can to defeat these villains and save Christmas.”
And at the very end, of course, which is one of my favorite parts, Bruce Wayne doesn’t even see it at first. (Laughs.)
Batman has been both serious and comedic onscreen, with some of the lighter, more self-aware moments as a crime-fighting superhero in the ’60s series and ’90s live-action films. Your movie does this, too. How did you think about being funny without making fun of being a vigilante dressed as a bat or undercutting the dangerous moments for Damian?
I think a lot of that stuff happened organically while putting the story together because we’re also fans of Batman. I don’t want to date myself too much, but I’m almost 50, so I grew up with the ’66 Batman when it was very fun and campy. But even in that ’66 Batman, he’s still a stoic, stern gentleman type. You don’t really see behind the mask, even when he’s not wearing a mask. That was a fun space to explore for us. You can see jokes littered throughout the whole project that are nods to all the different Batmans. Some of that was for ourselves, some of that we placed for the fans.
I always said, with the humor in our project … we could never go full Mel Brooks. I’m not knocking Mel Brooks. He’s my favorite. But for us, we wanted to create this world that had real pathos for Damian, so we needed a universe where an anvil hits you over the head and it will kill you. The comedy had to come from a place where it couldn’t get so zany that it was Tex Avery because then you would never believe that this little kid is actually in danger. It’s a restraint that we put on ourselves on purpose. It gave us the emotion that we needed.
The bat-signal and Damian in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
Another thing with this property that was a bit of a balance is wanting that co-viewership. We didn’t want to make something that’s just for kids or just for adults. We wanted grandparents to enjoy it, too. What’s their Batman? That’s part of why in the sound design, there are a lot of analog-type sounds. The phone for example has more tactile buttons. The rewind button, it’s clearly a VHS tape. The fight sequences with Mr. Freeze, that’s very much for the middle-aged generation of Batman fans, and then a bunch of stuff in there for the kids as well.
You both follow and buck the unspoken rules of kids storytelling. Damian goes on some dangerous adventures without an adult, but then you give him an AI “Bat-Dad” when he thinks Bruce might have died. It’s an interesting workaround to letting a young child loose in Gotham and a twist on Bruce’s story. Damian now lives in a world where, unlike Bruce, he can grow up with his dad even if he’s gone. But what did you want to achieve including an AI Bat-Dad?
He’s a child going on this journey becoming an adult. His real wish fulfillment is to be his dad at some point, so having Bat-Dad come along with him, it gave us a couple of devices. One, it can be there as a guiding light, but I think the more subtle part of it is, it is his dad, but it’s not his dad. It’s almost like a carrot. He’s almost got his dad and then it dies and then he does get his real dad in the end.
For us, it’s always been a story about the relationship of a father and a son, so having Bat-Dad on that journey with Damian changes that chemistry a little bit. It’s teasing a father presence in there, plus Bat-Dad’s super funny. And when Bat-Dad dies, it gets me every time. That zoo scene where he really makes this connection with his dad and you see that this dad respects him — but it’s not his dad. It’s a computerized version of his dad. It’s almost there, but it’s not.
As a filmmaker, what I wanted was to keep that tension alive. Damian wants his dad, but he can’t have his dad. When his dad shows up at the end of the movie, and he sweeps through the candy factory, I hope that the audience gets that experience of, “Oh, thank goodness. They are finally together.” (Laughs.) And Bat-Dad helps that journey.
Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
The Ron Searle-inspired art was lovely, and the right kind of menacing when it needed to be with the Bat villains. They’ve also got this Shel Silverstein, caricature-like look to them — with that added visual movement. It feels different than where a lot of the experimentation in animation style is these days post-Spiderverse. How did you approach delivering a classic art look in our modern, CG-dominated animation world?
That’s very observant. Shel Silverstein also was an influence for us. Even at times Gary Larson and Far Side. There’s like a little bit of Calvin and Hobbes in there as well. Nothing comes from no place, you know what I mean? And it’s not like we just want to do something different. The driving force behind this project has always been, it’s a Christmas movie, so how do we tell that? What’s the visual storytelling that also paints this Christmas picture? Some of that is color. Some of that’s putting in Christmas trees and lights and decorations.
But we also wanted something that felt like a picture book. Almost like something you read Christmas Eve to your kids that has an illustrative feel to it and maybe rings a little bit of Charles Dickens. Ron Searle is such an interesting choice to me because the drawings themselves are very sketchy. There’s a visceral-ness to it, and a crudeness, which to me represents Gotham. At the same time, they’re also very funny. That kind of bookends it. It balances the seesaw of the two things that we need this property to be.
With Batman, there is an expectation, especially now, to have a grittiness, too. It’s so baked into him. You want to feel that a little bit. So then it was just a matter of taking Ron Searle’s sketchiness and applying it to a production pipeline for animation. Those drawings are hard to replicate because they’re so loose. We needed some rules and parameters. I don’t know if 50 years ago, this style would necessarily work. With computer technology, we’re able to get that line and color boil that would be so insanely expensive to do 50 years ago.
Damian rides a Christmas mall train in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
It’s just one of these things, right time at the right place. The technology’s there and the idea is there. Everything came together, but it was a very complicated style. Even early on, there’s that little voice in the back of your head that’s going it’s too complicated to animate. But luckily we found a production solution to it, and we were able to put it together. My art director, who’s amazing, Guillaume Fesquet, and then assistant art director, Daby Zainab Faidhi, who is also super amazing, very much found that style.
The other thing was I’ve always wanted to do a monochromatic color style. Those types of color choices are so powerful — like a single color dominating a scene. Blue has a very visceral, emotional response. The Joker’s office is green and it feels disturbing and unnerving. Throughout the whole film, we very meticulously went through and chose colors that would sell the emotion that we wanted.
Vox recently published a piece arguing that Batman Returns is a Christmas rom-com. Since you’re technically the first certifiable Batman Christmas movie, what’s your take on that film as a Christmas movie?
That’s a tricky one. There are Christmas themes in that and it’s just fun. It’s interesting to see this dark, brooding world with the backdrop of Christmas. Because Christmas is so vulnerable and Gotham is so much the opposite, it automatically elevates the stakes. I think that’s probably the reason why it works so well. Christmas in Metropolis feels a lot different than Christmas in Gotham. So Batman Returns in that sense, it’s great. It’s a great setting.
But with our movie, what we want to do is tell a true Christmas story. Not Christmas is the backdrop but that Christmas is part of the DNA. Our whole story revolves around Damian chasing down a Christmas gift that was stolen from him. So in my opinion, our project is more of a Christmas movie. It’s the Christmas season story that hopefully, in my opinion, can become perennial, that people come back to and watch every Christmas. That’s not to take anything away from Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher — all of those. They’re all just so fun.
Damian over Gotham in Merry Little Batman. Warner Bros. Entertainment/DC
Merry Little Batman is currently streaming on Prime Video.
December 26, 2023 at 12:30AM
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How ‘Home Alone,’ Lil Jon, and ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Helped ‘Merry Little Batman’ Deliver the DC Hero’s First Christmas Movie - Hollywood Reporter
