The Naughty Nine Interview: Alberto Belli & Winslow Figley On Bringing Action Adventure To Christmas

The Naughty Nine follows Andy, a mischevious fifth grader who wakes up Christmas morning only to discover no presents from Santa, indicating he has been placed on the naughty list. Feeling unfairly judged, he puts together a heist team made up of others on the naughty list to steal the presents that they feel they are owed. However, the crew soon sees that the best way off the naughty list may be to use their talents for good instead of selfish purposes.

The Naughty Nine was directed by Alberto Belli from a screenplay penned by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas. The movie is produced by Jed Elinoff, Scott Thomas, Suzanne Todd, and Jim Kontos. The Naughty Nine stars Winslow Fegley, Camila Rodriguez, Derek Theler, Deric McCabe, Clara Stack, Anthony Joo, Ayden Elijah, Imogen Cohen, Madilyn Kellam, and acclaimed actor Danny Glover.

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Screen Rant interviewed director Alberto Belli and star Winslow Figley about their new Disney+ Christmas movie, The Naughty Nine. Belli discussed Glover’s Santa, finding the right tone, and why Figley was right for the lead role. Figley explained what attracted him to the movie, Belli’s directing style, and the immersive sets.

Alberto Belli & Winslow Figley Talk The Naughty Nine

Screen Rant: Fantastic job on The Naughty Nine. This film is really a blended genre holiday film with a lot of fun. Alberto being a blended genre holiday film, this feels like a heist movie mixed in with a Western with a little bit of a superhero vibe mixed in there as well, while keeping its integrity as a holiday movie. Can you talk about balancing the film’s tone?

Alberto Belli: Yeah, it was kind of a lot of fun trying to figure it out. How do we make it feel Christmasy while also being action adventure and a lot of it’s your setting. Obviously right, we go to Santa’s Village, and we’ve never seen that before. And also, caring about the kids, heists usually are the most successful one is because you care about the characters, you wanted them to succeed and you’re like, “Oh my God, they have to succeed.”

And, I feel like we did that with this movie. You really care about the kids being successful. So, that was the core of the movie is that and the heist. And then, the other thing is more like an entertainment, kind of like the action and adventure, but yeah.

Winslow, you do a phenomenal job as Andy in this movie. Your character’s the leader of the heist, and I don’t remember recalling too many films that really take place from the point of view of kids on the naughty list. So, that is kind of new and fresh. What attracted you to this project when you read the script?

Winslow Figley: When I read the script, I guess I really fell in love with the idea of mixing a heist movie adventure with a Christmas film. It just sounded like the best of both worlds, and I really fell in love with the character and just the whole idea of what it seemed like it was going to be. And then obviously now watching the final product, I think it’s great. It’s really, really amazing and definitely just how I imagined it, I guess.

Absolutely. Now, Alberto, Winslow is such a talented actor, and he’s really the heart of the film. What did he bring to the role that wasn’t on the page?

Alberto Belli: His charisma. It’s hard. That character is hard to pull off. He could be a little bit of an a–hole. So, you really need someone who has that charm that is like, “Okay, I’m willing to go along with it and root for him.” So, I think Winslow had that attitude of, “I like that guy even he is not the best guy, but I like him.” Yeah.

And Winslow, Alberto did a fantastic job of maintaining the tone of this film, but also it’s a pretty large ensemble cast. What does his directing style add to this film?

Winslow Figley: I think he just did a really great job with making sure, although of course there’s plenty of kids and because of that there’s obviously a lot of energy and sometimes goofing around. So, I think he just did a really good job of just making sure that everybody at the end of the day is doing what obviously they’re coming to work to do.

So, the legendary Danny Glover is in this film. He plays Santa Claus, and he is phenomenal in the role. What is his version of Santa Claus add to Santa’s mythology, Alberto?

Alberto Belli: He is one who is wise. He needs to teach something to the kids, usually Santa’s very chill and joyful, and he just wants to bring joy to the world. And, this one is like he brings joy to the world by teaching them a lesson. So, I think it was very important for us to have that actor who could be charming and also scary, if you will. So, he had done both, so I think he was the perfect choice for this role.

Absolutely. Winslow, the North Pole sets were fantastic and immersive. Can you talk to me about those sets and how that realism helped you get into the role of the film?

Winslow Figley: Sure. Yeah. Well, first we filmed in Montreal, so it was super, super cold, tons of snow on the ground, so none of that had to be faked. And, all these amazing imaginations and this crazy, crazy cool, talented team put together this super, super awesome Santa’s village. And, it was crazy. It was huge, honestly.

And yeah, it really made everything really, really easy because I’d say that 80% of everything that we actually interacted with was real. So basically all of that stuff and that whole environment was just real interacting with what you have rather than, of course, when there’s not something that you have to kind of imagine, whatever. But yeah, they did a really, really awesome job with this.

About The Naughty Nine

A fifth grader named Andy has been a troublemaker this year, resulting in him being put on the naughty list and feeling unfairly shafted by Santa. He assembles a crew with eight other naughty children, with a mission of breaking into Santa’s Village in the North Pole and taking the presents they believe they deserve.