Lennon fueled by ‘genuine weirdness’ of ‘Kringles’ film
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The new film "Christmas at the Kringles" comes to theaters this weekend. It is a comedy horror film about a family struggling to connect who moves next door to a family who seems to get along and be filled with joy due to their obsession with Christmas. But as the film goes on, it becomes clear that the Kringles are psychopaths, rather than the boisterous but gentle folks they might first appear to be.
The Dominion Post had the opportunity to speak with Thomas Lennon, who plays Nick Kringle in the film. People may recognize him from his years on Comedy Central's "Reno 911!" where he played Lieutenant Jim Dangle. As such, he has a knack for playing characters that lean into the absurd.
When we asked him about playing this kind of character, Lennon told us, "I play everything I ever do like I’m in a drama. Whether it’s 'Reno 911' or whether it’s a movie like this, to me, you just play everything needs to play straight. Nick Kringle is a real person to himself in the real world, and is probably the hero of this film to himself. So that’s a very easy way to look at it. I always play everything like I’m trying to get a sincere acting award for it. It hasn’t happened yet, which is interesting. But I still keep doing it."
Working on a film is a collaborative effort. We asked Lennon about that aspect of "Christmas at the Kringles." He shared, "I think the extra fun part of this movie is the casting of Arden Myrin with me because she’s the most upbeat person you’ll ever meet in your entire life. But when we’re together, we’re both a little bit unhinged. She’s such a great improviser that it felt during the movie like we almost are of one mind. We had such a great connection that we’re almost playing that couple as a character, which was very fun. I was very, very lucky to have her in that."
Even though Lennon has hundreds of acting credits, there is always something to be learned from a new project. We asked him what he would take from his time working on "Christmas at the Kringles," and he told us, "If you take a great script, and take a fearless director, and then take really great actors, you can just make a really crazy piece of art. It may not be for everybody, but I actually really love this movie a lot, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much genuine weirdness it had. I mean, my character, Nick Kringle, at one point in the movie explains that he was the only baby on the Edmund Fitzgerald, and no one knew he was there. So that shouldn’t be in any movie, but I got it in this movie, and it was really, really a thrill. So, I guess I learned to keep taking big swings."
"Christmas at the Kringles" is playing at the AMC Morgantown 12 theater now.