The elf is cool with the family being there… until they start breaking his rules.
Then all hell breaks loose.
How did you end up in a Norweigan holiday horror comedy?
Martin Starr in There’s Something in the Barn.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
Martin Starr: I worked with the producer previously and he reached out.
At the time I couldnt be a part of it because there was a scheduling conflict.
And so he reached out again and I had the chance to do it last November.
A crop of the poster for the film.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
But I liked the script.
But I like the aesthetic of the 90s.
It doesnt quite get to where the standards are these days.
Starr along with Zoe Winther-Hansen as his daughter, Amrita Acharia as his wife, and Townes Bunner as his son.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
But we also didnt have the budget.
This wasnt like a $100 million movie, you know.
I was like, This reminds me of Christmas Vacation.
Townes Bunner as the son in There’s Something in the Barn.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
Is Martin playing Chevy Chase in a new Vacation?
Starr: [Laughs.]
Starr: We didnt have a discussion about it.
Kiran Shah in the film.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
To me, it seemed obvious so I just kind of went with my instincts on the page.
io9: Was there anything in particular in your performance choices that you felt was Vacation-inspired?
Starr: I wouldnt say specifically Vacation-inspired.
Starr vs Elves.Image: Sony Home Entertainment
And I like it.
I mean, its so fun to be the bumbling idiot.
io9: Thats awesome.
Starr reprising his role in No Way Home.Screenshot: Sony Home Entertainment
How excited were you to finally be like Yes, I am the guy in this movie.
Starr: Uh, it isnt a goal.
So you were more excited than I was.
The movie always felt to me like a story between the elf and the boy.
It always felt like that was the connection.
That was the driving force in the heart of the movie.
So thats kind of always how it played in my mind anyway.
Yeah, but Im glad you were excited.
io9: I was excited.
Ive been watching you since back in the day.
So, youre also an executive producer on the movie.
Starr: No, I mean, I came to it pretty late in the game.
It was more casting.
[Also] she has Norwegian roots.
She was raised there for a good portion of her childhood.
io9: Those are great.
Starr: Yeah, and she was great.
It was fun to get to work with her in a more intense, bigger setting.
Starr: So massive.
io9: Yes totally.
Did you have anything you wanted to talk to him about as you were working together?
You know, he did some stunts that you wouldnt have expected of someone his age.
But he did it with excitement and passion.
He brought so much emotion to a character just using guttural noises.
And it was really fun to bear witness.
Starr: Oh, itd be fun to go back.
I love going to Norway anyway.
But no, we dont.
I dont think about it.
Hopefully, people enjoy this as much as we enjoyed making it.
It just so perfectly has that 90s horror movie vibe mixed with Christmas.
But I love it.
io9: Tell me a little bit about the discussions of balancing that tone.
What went into balancing that?
Starr: There were so many discussions kind of figuring out what the tone was.
But there were certainly edits of this movie that were like just a kids movie.
And it felt like it lacked the kind of core of what it needed to be.
I think it needs some level of scary for adults for it to really hit.
And the adult humor is obviously there.
And the humor, I mean, we had some of the most hilarious Norwegian actors.
We were very lucky.
And it translates into English well, it turns out.
I want to know how that came to be and what was it like doing that?
And I was like, Sure, Im game.
Im game for whatever to help a buddy.
But I had also seen the movie at that point.
It was so funny and such a unique story to tell.
It was a tough movie to understand before you went to see it.
Just because Dungeons & Dragons, the name, theres such weight to it.
And so I think people have a different impression perhaps of what that means to them.
And some are more excited to see what that gets interpreted to in a long-form movie.
But I loved it.
It didnt beat you over the head with the theme of Dungeons & Dragons.
Now, youve been in a lot of big hit movies, but nothing quite like that.
Starr: I didnt know anything.
I didnt meet them or see them.
But it sounded like a whole lot of fun.
Its weird to only go into that for one day.
But yeah, that whole series, it was really fun to be a part of that trifecta.
io9: Yeah, its so great.
Okay, last thing, kind of big picture.
This is coming out around the holidays.
Everybody has their holiday movies that they revisit.
Starr: [Laughs] Yeah, Im revisiting this.
After making it last year were revising it this year.
io9: And every year.
But I dont have a movie like that necessarily.
But I have some good friends who watch Lord of the Rings every year around Christmas.
And so were actually going to do that here this year.
And Im excited for that.
Starr: But theyre they are great movies.
Im not going to argue.
Theres Something in the Barn is now out on digital.Read our review hereandwatch it on all digital formats here.
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