The upcoming slasher-comedy “It’s a Wonderful Knife” just got its first trailer! As the name may have implied, it will pay homage to the 1946 holiday favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart.
“It’s a Wonderful Knife is a spin on the classic It’s a Wonderful Life,” director Tyler MacIntyre (“Tragedy Girls”) said. “It’s about a young woman named Winnie Carruthers who lives in this town that’s obsessed with Christmas. There’s this tragedy that strikes the town, and she rises to the occasion, but her best friend is killed. We jump forward a year, and she’s wracked with guilt, and she’s unable to move on, and in her spiral she ends up making this wish that maybe things would be better if she didn’t exist. She wakes up into a nightmare version of this town, and there’s many more people dead, and it’s up to her to solve this mystery before it’s too late.”
Winnie will be played by Jane Widdop, one of the stars of the Showtime series “Yellowjackets.” That MacIntyre is a fan of, he “loved that cast, loved that show, and thought [Widdop’s] character was a great comic relief, but also had a lot of heart. They were on my list of younger performers to consider when we were trying to find Winnie and they just did an amazing read.”
MacIntyre will be directing from a script by Michael Kennedy (“Freaky”). With other cast members including Jess McLeod (“One Of Us Is Lying”), Joel McHale (“Community”), and Katharine Isabelle (“Ginger Snaps“). With Justin Long (“Tusk”) playing the town mayor.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Justin’s work for many years and I love the out-there stuff like Tusk,” says MacIntyre. “I was looking for a big Christmas villain. We talked about a lot of references of showman-politicians, and that sort of baby boomer-smarminess, and he was channeling some of that.”
Since Stewart isn’t really known for doing films that featured blood, guts, and gore. It begs the question of how he might feel about a horror reimagining of one of his most iconic roles.
“I love Jimmy Stewart,” says MacIntyre. “He’s my template for a very empathetic performer. Nobody is as nice in real life as Jimmy Stewart is in my mind. I can’t really even imagine him disliking something, let alone our movie.”
“It’s a Wonderful Knife” premiered at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on October 8th. It opens in theaters on November 10th, you can check out the trailer below:
