‘This is a holiday movie we will be watching for the next 30 years’
Diversity and celebration is at the heart of Jingle Jangle, the cast tell Laura Harding
Christmas might feel a bit different this year but a new musical adventure is coming to Netflix to offer a welcome distraction and some very festive cheer.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is set in the vibrant fictional town of Cobbleton and follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle, who falls on hard times after his trusted apprentice Gustafson steals his most prized creation, his book of inventions, which includes the plans for a talking puppet.
It comes down to granddaughter Journey to restore his sense of magic and wonder, and set things right.
With a cast including Forest Whitaker, KeeganMichael Key, Ricky Martin, Phylicia Rashad and Anika Noni Rose, and directed by playwright David E Talbert, it includes songs by John Legend, Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan and while it features a Victorian setting, the music and dance have a very modern feel.
“To me, the diversity is part of the magic,” says 49-year-old Key, who plays dastardly Gustafson. “I like David’s boldness and bravery and foresight, which is ‘we should be doing this too, people of colour should be doing this as well’, and then it shows us as human.
“There is amazing production design and costume design in this picture that is unbelievable and that gives you a sense of that, there’s Kente cloth (a Ghanaian textile, made of handwoven cloth strips of silk and cotton) woven into the Victorian dress and all of those details.
“It’s really well balanced that we get this nice human story – it’s set in what one would say is a very Anglo environment, but it’s informed by this African American experience, and I think the fusion is magical.”
For Ricky Martin, 48, the film gave him the chance to show off his comedy chops (his previous acting role was the Assassination of Gianni
Versace) but also be part of something he could share with his four young children, twin boys Matteo and Valentino, daughter Lucia, and son Renn.
“When I received the phone call I was super excited,” he says.
“Number one because I was going to be working with these actors and incredible people that I’ve always admired, and to be able to work also with David our director, who guided me in such a beautiful way.
“And then it’s about the story, it’s about the dancing, it’s about the beautiful possibilities that this story is about, it teaches you so much. I think this is a holiday movie that we will be watching for the next 30 years, it is so beautifully shot and the message is beautiful and hopeful.”
Less beautiful and hopeful is the puppet he voices, Don Juan Diego.
“He is terrible, he is vicious and Machiavellian,” Martin says with relish.
“And it was the first time I had to tap into that kind of madness for work. Madness in real life, all the time,”
“I have kids and for me to be able to sit down with them, with a family story, it’s very special because they see me in a different light.”
● Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is released on Netflix today