Interview: David Talbert and Keri Hilson of “Almost Christmas”

The producers of one of my favorite holiday movies, “Next Christmas,” are back with “Almost Christmas,” another story of the ups and downs of a family Christmas, this one starring Danny Glover, Mo’Nique, Gabrielle Union, Nicole Ari Parker, J.B. Smoove, Romany Malco, and Omar Epps.

In an interview, writer/director David Talbert and actress Keri Hilson talked about their own favorite holiday memories. Talbert said that every year he and his brother would find the toys and unwrap them to see what they were getting before Christmas morning. “One Christmas my mother found out that we did that and she said she was taking all the toys back, ‘You boys aren’t getting anything.’ We were like, ‘Oh, man,’ and so she played that all the way up to Christmas morning. Then we go out and all the toys were there.”

He talked about the difficulty of reconciling the holidays we would like to have with what actually happens. “It’s always better in our minds than it is in reality. The holiday season is funny because it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year but it is one of the saddest times of the year, too. You’re thinking about family members that may not be with you anymore, relationships that may have been broken. We go through so many dysfunctions but it helps to remember that it is the most wonderful time of the year and family is the most important thing at the end of the day. That’s what this movie is about.”

In an all-star ensemble cast, Hilson’s challenge was to make her character vivid in the midst of the group. “That was my objective to show up, be prepared and don’t get lost in the sauce and I think I did a pretty good job. There were a couple of scenes where it was harder than others, one in particular where all of us are present and I had to make sure that I stayed there, stayed present in the moment, in the scene.” “Keri is a competitor,” Talbert added. “So she was going to make no one outdid her in the scene. In the big dinner scene which is a classic scene in this movie she is throwing lines and ad libs that we ended up keeping, that drives the comedy in the scene.” Working with so many talented comedic performers, Hilson was “just a sponge. It was a really good learning experience for me.”

Talbert praised Hilson’s performance. “Keri is such a strikingly beautiful woman. The sensuality just jumps out of the screen and we were able to do that. She did that effortlessly; she did not need any direction.”

A pioneer in taking his theatrical works to movie audiences, Talbert talked about the challenge of moving from the immediacy of plays to a more visual medium. “Writing theater it really is a hindrance as a playwright, a hindrance to directing film because it’s all about the words in theater, where it’s all about the pictures in film. So it took me a couple of years to really find a balance. But in both it’s really understanding the performance and understanding what is true and what is honest. Performance is really what helps me the most in film from a theater world because I can communicate to actors which is what theater is and that’s what I bring to it, I am comfortable communicating to actors and figuring out collaborating on what is the best path to get the best performance.”

As a director, Talbert also had the challenge of balancing all of the characters and moods of the story. “You just hold on. It’s kind of like a bucking bronco and you really hold on and try not to get your ass just kicked off of it because everyone has a specific point of view, everyone is bringing something to the table. And the smart thing as a director is get out of the way and let it happen. You know there was magic that was happening, Keri was bringing her character, she was totally in character, she wasn’t Keri Hilson anymore as she sat at that table, she was the character Jasmine who been invited to dinner, who is just happy to be here. And Mo’Nique wasn’t Mo’Nique; she was Aunt May. All the actors really locked into their characters. So then it was less about me trying to direct a movie, direct lines I had written, and it became about capturing this real life that was happening at the table. I think that’s why people can relate to it the most from Danny Glover down to the kids, everybody was bringing real life to the table and I was fortunate enough to have great camera men and DPs that captured it for me.”