After writing the script for Freaky (2020), Michael Kennedy returns to the horror genre with a new and bloody spin on It’s Wonderful Life.
By: Isabella Soares
Jane Widdop as Winnie Carruthers in It’s a Wonderful Knife (Image via RLJE Films and Shudder)
Writer and producer Michael Kennedy’s latest onscreen endeavour, It’s A Wonderful Knife, brings a new twist to the 1940s holiday classic by turning it into a slasher.
The film is focused on Winnie Carruthers, played by Yellowjackets’ alum Jane Widdop, a girl who struggles to carry on after she saves her town from a masked serial killer. As she wishes to have never been born, Winnie ends up in a parallel universe that shows her what would have happened to her family and community if she didn’t exist.
It isn’t the first time that Kennedy has come up with a slasher based on a feel-good classic. His first venture was in 2020 with Freaky, a body-swap horror film that was inspired by the Freaky Friday series. The positive feedback and memorable experiences on set on his previous project were what drew him to partner with director Tyler MacIntyre to work on It’s a Wonderful Knife, both as a writer and a producer.
Ahead of the film’s sold-out screening at the 2023 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Kennedy spoke with CanCulture about the behind-the-scenes process of writing the script, casting Justin Long as the devious Mayor Henry Waters (aka the psychotic serial killer tormenting Angel Falls) and how Freaky prepared him to be a producer for the first time.
This film is a spin on a holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life. Why did you decide to use this holiday favourite as inspiration for the script?
I always wanted to do a Christmas slasher. So I instantly thought of It's a Wonderful Life because it was my dad's favourite movie. I thought it was a nice way to honour him since he passed away five years ago. That was the first movie that came to my mind, and I started running through the plot in my head, and I was like, yeah, this (a slasher) would actually make a really fun spin on it.
What I really like about this film is that you already know who the killer is right off the bat. This is different from other slasher films like Scream (1996), which always make you wonder who the killer is. What led you to this creative decision?
I wanted to subvert expectations. I also didn't want to have a kill in the first five minutes, so that's kind of a bit different too. I knew there was no way to avoid revealing who the killer was. If the basis of the movie was going to be about somebody who kills, stops a killer, and then wishes their life away. That killer is still going to be around.
I thought it was a fun and a deeper way to examine that portion of life that you never get to see in these slasher movies unless there's a sequel a year later where you get a quick up-to-speed on what that person's been up to but you never get to see the post effects of the hero taking down the villain and what that does to their mind.
How did you find a balance between horror and the uplifting feel of a holiday film in this Christmas slasher?
Christmas is also a rough time for a lot of people, so I thought there was an interesting way to discuss that through the movie. For me it was really natural cause I love horror and I absolutely love Christmas. I love Christmas horror movies.
You're also a producer in this project, which is really exciting because it allows you to also figure out casting. When did Justin Long's name come into the conversation?
It was pretty late, honestly. We literally cast him, I think the week before we started shooting. We were in negotiations with him for a few weeks before that, but his name came up pretty late. The character kept changing, quite frankly. The original draft of the script had more of an older guy, in his fifties or sixties.
It was a role that we were just struggling to cast. So then about a month before we started to shoot, we had the whole movie filled, except that role.
We had a conversation, and I was like, I think we need to make him a man my age. I'm 43. That was when someone from the studio was like, oh, we should get Justin Long for that.
As a producer, were you on set with the director and cast every day?
It's different in every movie, depending on what capacity you produce. But for me, yeah, I was there every day. I was involved from day one, even before there was a word written. I weighed in on casting, I weighed in on locations, and I weighed in on hiring Tyler (director).
Tyler fosters a really collaborative set and we had a really fast shoot. Thank God it came naturally for everybody because there would be days when I'd be writing based on the location.
We had a day that we completely got rained out, so we had to take an entire day that was supposed to be outside and move it inside and figure out a way that made it work and make sense to the movie. It was crazy because I'd never produced before.
How was your experience on Freaky compared to this set, where you had a chance to be more involved in the production process?
We shot Freaky for over 35 days and I think I was there for 25 of them, but I was mostly there to learn. Normally, the writer isn't usually on set, but I wrote the movie with Chris, who directed it, so as he was prepping the movie, I said, can I come? And he goes, yeah, if you want to come, definitely come. I felt like Freaky was my film school and It’s a Wonderful Knife was my coming out party as a filmmaker.
It’s a Wonderful Knife arrives in select theatres and VOD on November 10.