‘Jingle Jangle’ has the makings of a new Christmas classic.
The Netflix movie musical “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” has all the makings of a classic that endures year after year. It co-stars former Chicago theater actor Justin Cornwell as a toy maker and inventor named Jeronicus who loses his way and eventually sinks into a deep depression that only his granddaughter can help shake.
It is the rare Christmas story set in the Victorian era to feature a primarily Black cast. The bulk of the story centers on Jeronicus in his later years, played by Forest Whitaker; Cornwell plays the younger version of the man, who is a charismatic whirl of energy who tends to ignore the feelings of others, including his apprentice (played by Keegan-Michael Key) — who ultimately turns on him and steals his best ideas.
“My favorite No. 1 movie of all time is the original ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ with Gene Wilder,” Cornwell said. “And on set, (writer-director David E. Talbert) was like, ‘Think Gene Wilder. Give me more Gene.’ He knew that I knew the shorthand for the Geneisms in that movie, and while I don’t think either Forest or I are trying to do a Gene Wilder impression, we’re trying to find that little bit of unbalance. There’s a little bit of madness in the genius.”
I talked with Cornwell about making a film that feels like it could become an annual tradition.
Q: Did it feel like this movie had the potential to become a beloved holiday tradition for years to come when you were shooting it?
A: That was in the air. I remember sitting there with (filmmaker) David Talbert and going, “This might be the highlight of my life!” and he goes,
“Mine, too!”
We were all saying, “We’re trying to make a Christmas classic for everyone that just happens to have us, Black people, leading it.” Just like all those Christmas classics I grew up with. And then when I think about it, I almost forget, oh, we weren’t in those movies.
But I was able to bridge that gap to the emotions, and it was never about this kid doesn’t look like me, it was about that love and that feeling and family and possibility that you got from these movies.
Q: Like “A Christmas Carol,” this story is set in Victorian England. I don’t know that we’ve seen a holiday story that centers Black people in this milieu.
A: There were large Black populations in Victorian England, even dating a hundred years before that. It’s just weird that you never saw us in those narratives. We’ve been here. And it’s not an affront to anyone’s idea of what their history is, but I think we should acknowledge that Black people’s presence was real in all of these stories. And this narrative is seeing us through our eyes.
I had just written a script that focuses on Frederick Douglass’ life in 1846 and 1847 when he was actually over there in Victorian England, and a lot of the costumes we designed (in the movie) were modeled after the kind of stuff he wore.
Q: You sing in “Jingle Jangle” — did you do musicals?
A: (In Chicago) I did “Othello: The Remix,” and I also did the “Q Brothers Christmas Carol.” …“Othello: The Remix” came out a couple years before “Hamilton,” and it had the same formula. I got involved in the show around 2013, and that was my first professional theater experience.