UB Film Spotlight: ‘Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey’ | Coming in November
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
A David E. Talbert Film; In Select Theaters in November and on Netflix November 13th, 2020.
FOREST WHITAKER
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY
HUGH BONNEVILLE
ANIKA NONI ROSE
Introducing
MADALEN MILLS as Journey
with PHYLICIA RASHAD
and RICKY MARTIN,
JUSTIN CORNWELL
SHARON ROSE
LISA DAVINA PHILLIP
KIERON DYER
A musical adventure and a visual spectacle for the ages, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a wholly fresh and spirited family holiday event. Set in the gloriously vibrant town of Cobbleton, the film follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker) whose fanciful inventions burst with whimsy and wonder.
But when his trusted apprentice (Emmy® winner Keegan-Michael Key) steals his most prized creation, it’s up to his equally bright and inventive granddaughter (newcomer Madalen Mills) — and a long-forgotten invention — to heal old wounds and reawaken the magic within.
From the imagination of writer-director David E. Talbert, who this year Kimberly Elise shared with UB her favorite role was under his direction; “My role in Almost Christmas, that was directed by David Talbert. With me Monique and Gabrielle Union, Keri Hilson and just an amazing cast. That was the funniest I’ve ever had making a movie! It was fun on steroids.” Kimberly went on to say; “I mean it was fun from the moment we got in the car in the morning, to go to the hair and make-up trailer, to rehearsals, between takes to shooting (laughs). We laughed so much and had so much joy. David creates a real open creative space where you’re just free to really be creative. Which is one of the things that I love about film making, is you really get to express yourself creatively. More than you can doing TV. So as of now, Almost Christmas is the most fun amazing experience I’ve had yet.”
In David‘s new film “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” it features original songs by John Legend, Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan, and “This Day” performed by Usher and Kiana Ledé, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey reminds us of the strength of family and the power of possibility.
A holiday musical event over 20 years in the making, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a timeless yet unprecedented tale of magic, second chances, and the power of love to conquer all obstacles. The film stars Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Emmy Award winner Keegan- Michael Key (Dolemite Is My Name), Tony Award® winners Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) and Phylicia Rashad (the Creed films), Golden Globe® nominee Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Grammy® winner Ricky Martin (American Crime Story) and newcomer Madalen Mills as the denizens of the fictional town of Cobbleton, a place where anything is possible.
Interspersed with whimsical stop-motion animation, show-stopping choreography, and original music by eight-time Grammy Award-winner Philip Lawrence (Bruno Mars’s primary songwriter), Davy Nathan, Michael Diskint, and EGOT winner John Legend, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of imagination and redefines what a classic musical fantasy can be for a new generation of dreamers.
While Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey may be Talbert’s fifth feature film, the prolific playwright and stage director’s career in musical theater spans 30 years with over 14 top-grossing national tours under his belt. To say he’s familiar with the ways music inherently supports a narrative is an understatement. But the earliest inspiration for the film didn’t come in the form of a song; rather it started as a poem that Talbert wrote which ruminated on the healing power of love and the magic it possesses.
“It was something that weighed heavily on my mind as I got older, the concept of time. How do you recapture it? How do you recapture your magic?” says Talbert. “It’s love that makes everything work again. And that’s really the spirit of this story.”
Serving as the film’s primary songwriters are Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Philip Lawrence and Grammy nominees Davy Nathan and Michael Diskint. Best known for his record-breaking work with Bruno Mars and as the maestro behind hits for megastars such as Beyoncé and Adele, Lawrence had been looking to work on a musical film for some time.
The variety of genres they touch in the film are vastly different, yet cohesive in spirit. “We didn’t want the sound to be too R&B, we didn’t want it to be too pop, and we didn’t want it to be too traditional musical theater, either. We wanted something that could live in all those worlds,” say Nathan.
In total, Lawrence and Nathan wrote 7 songs and 5 reprises: “This Day,” “Borrow Indefinitely,” “Miles and Miles,” “Not the Only One,” “Magic Man G,” “The Square Root of Possible,” and “Over and Over.” The eighth song was written by none other than John Legend, one of the film’s producers.
When it came to nailing the film’s extraordinary “Afro-Victorian” aesthetic, David E. Talbert credits the vision and exacting eye for detail of his producing partner and wife, Lyn Sisson-Talbert, for the way all of the artistic elements were able to work in concert with each other. “The hair, the costumes, the production design — just the general wonder of it all — is attributed through her lens,” says Talbert. “The best thing I probably learned in 22 years of marriage is to get out of the way and let her do what she does and that is to make the project better than it would have been. She’s a master of aesthetics.”
