SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
"Oh. What. Fun." is a Christmas comedy that's built around an observation that's hard to dispute.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OH WHAT FUN")
MICHELLE PFEIFFER: (As Claire Clauster) Why does St. Nick get all the credit? Moms do all the work.
CHLOE GRACE MORETZ: (As Taylor Clauster) Mom.
DOMINIC SESSA: (As Sammy Clauster) Mom.
MORETZ: (As Taylor Clauster) My girlfriend is a vegan.
PFEIFFER: (As Claire Clauster) We're eating sirloin.
SIMON: Ho, ho, ho. "Oh. What. Fun." stars Michelle Pfeiffer as a mother named Claire Clauster. The all-star cast includes Felicity Jones, Joan Chen, Jason Schwartzman, Chloe Grace Moretz and, as Claire's lucky husband, Nick, Denis Leary, who joins us from New York now. Thanks so much for being with us.
DENIS LEARY: Thanks for having me.
SIMON: Does Claire's family see what's bubbling up inside of her?
LEARY: No. They're completely - all of us - blind to it, totally taking her for granted. So yeah, you can see why she's so (laughter) - so p***ed off by the time we forget to put her in the car with us when we go to the holiday Christmas show.
SIMON: I mean, every family member - there's a bill of particulars - but is Nick, her husband, ungrateful or just oblivious?
LEARY: Oblivious. You know, he's got an assignment to build this gigantic dollhouse that, he, of course, you know, waited till the last second to do. And he's paying attention to the scores of his favorite teams. He's oblivious.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OH WHAT FUN")
LEARY: (As Nick Clauster) I would like to make a toast to a very special person...
PFEIFFER: (As Claire Clauster) Oh.
LEARY: ...(As Nick Clauster) Somebody that I think is the heart and soul of this operation and somebody that I think embodies the true spirit of Christmas. It's Santa Claus.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As character) Yay.
(CHEERING)
LEARY: (As Nick Clauster) Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
LEARY: Like the kids. Except it's worse, 'cause he lives with her. He's just completely taking her for granted - taking Michelle Pfeiffer for granted, ladies and gentlemen.
SIMON: Didn't think it was possible.
LEARY: It's not possible.
SIMON: Yeah. Of course, it isn't, as we learn. How do you play a husband who doesn't seem to deserve the extraordinary woman he's married? And yet the woman sees something in him worth loving.
LEARY: Well, it's quite a bit like my own life. My wife is - I married above my station, as they say. So...
SIMON: You're married to the well-known novelist Ann Leary.
LEARY: Yeah. And she's an amazingly talented, funny, smart woman. And so I have some experience with taking a really outstanding woman for granted, or not paying - especially at the holidays - not paying enough attention. What I try to do is keep my - I check in every couple of hours. Anything you need me to do? You know, whatever it is. Usually it's moving stuff, lifting stuff - whatever - run to the store, whatever. So I just - I've learned to check in rather than check out.
But I have to say, man, it was - listen, the producers are friends of mine, and when they called me and said, we have a comedy that's co-written and to be directed by Michael Showalter - now, first of all, I've been a fan of Michael Showalter's since he was an actor. But I've also - I'm a fan of his direction. And then they said, it's a Christmas comedy with Michelle Pfeiffer. And I was like, well, I'm in. And they were like, well, we want you to read the script. And I was like...
SIMON: (Laughter).
LEARY: ...I'm - I'll read the script, but I'm telling you, I'm in, you know? 'Cause, first of all, I've never worked with Michelle. Second of all, to do a comedy with Michelle, I mean, come on.
SIMON: Yeah.
LEARY: You'd have to be an idiot not to be excited by the prospect of that - never mind the rest of the cast, which is insane, you know?
SIMON: You have so many performers playing a family. Does a kind of family feeling develop on set as you're making the film?
LEARY: Yes, especially when you have really good actors who can dig in the material and improvise in a real way, not just for laugh, but, like, within character, within the situation. And all those actors - the kids, as I call them, even though they're all grown adults - from the read-through, everybody kind of clicked. And it takes a couple of weeks. And after a couple of weeks go by - our first week is just the read-throughs and wardrobe and taking some of the Christmas photos. You know, one of the first things we do is dress up and act like a family so we can take photos that are going to be all over the house when we start shooting. The vibe was really good. And then, if you have really good actors, within, you know, two, three, four days of working, all of a sudden, it starts to feel like you've known each other for a long time, and you start to improvise together, and that's when it really gels.
SIMON: You, of course, starred in "Rescue Me," a series about firefighters. And helping firefighters and their family has become a real involving personal interest for you, hasn't it?
LEARY: Yes. I started a foundation called the Leary Firefighters Foundation back in 2000 because my cousin, Jerry Lucey, became a firefighter when we were in our 20s. And from my high school - God, there must have been about 35 guys between my class and my brother's class who became firefighters. So I kind of had firefighters in my life. And when my cousin was killed in the line of duty in 1999, right at Christmastime, with five other firefighters, I just decided to help those families and that department, the Worcester Fire Department, up in Worcester, Mass. And some of the first guys to come and dig through the rubble in Worcester, for the bodies, were guys I knew from the FDNY.
And two years later, almost, you know, the same situation happened in New York. So it's been 25 years now we've been helping fire departments all over the country. And it's insane because the request for funds and the need for new equipment and training facilities is bigger now than it was when we started. It's crazy. They keep cutting fire department budgets all over the country. So this year, we're literally sending funds to departments in 50 states.
SIMON: You've got older children now - in their 30s, as I do the math. Another theme in the film seems to be parents still want to know that they're needed - I think the line is, a tiny little bit - as their children...
LEARY: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SIMON: ...Grow up.
LEARY: Really, what it comes down to is, especially for my wife, like, you just want them to check in, and you're kind of hoping that there's something they're going to ask you to help them out with...
SIMON: Yep. That's it.
LEARY: ...You know? I know my daughter did it this week. She called us for some advice, and my wife and I couldn't wait to get on speaker and hear what the problem was and offer up our opinions. In the end (laughter), they took - they listened to us and completely ignored us and made the opposite decision, but that's fine.
SIMON: (Laughter).
LEARY: We just wanted - we wanted to have the phone call where they asked for our (laughter) advice...
SIMON: Yeah.
LEARY: ...Even though they didn't take it.
SIMON: Well, they still had the benefit of your wisdom, right? Even...
LEARY: Exactly. They had the benefit of our wisdom, and they were smart enough not to take it (laughter). So it was fine all around.
SIMON: Denis Leary is one of the stars, along with Michelle Pfeiffer, of the new film "Oh. What. Fun." on Prime Video starting December 3. Thanks so much for being with us, and good holidays to you, Sir.
LEARY: Same to you, Sir. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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