Dear Santa: Jack Black puts a devilish twist on the Christmas figure in the new trailer

The Farrelly brothers reunite with Jack Black after their 2001 film Shallow Hal in this new Christmas comedy that makes use of the popular joke misspelling of Santa. Paramount has just released the trailer for Dear Santa. The holiday film stars Jack Black, Robert Timothy Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, Post Malone, P.J. Byrne, Jaden Carson Baker and Kai Cech. While both the Farrellys are involved, only Bobby Farrelly directs the movie while Peter Farrelly writes the screenplay with Ricky Blitt.

The holly jolly comedy centers on Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith), a young boy who still believes in Santa Claus. Liam isn’t the best speller, and while writing his yearly note to Santa, he misspells the rotund elf’s name, addressing his wishes to Satan instead. Touched by the boy’s outreach, Satan (Jack Black) visits Liam, bringing the gift of devilish tricks, demonic shenanigans, and laughs to the spirited season.

The script was written from a story by Ricky Blitt & Peter Farrelly and Dan Ewen. The movie is produced by Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly and Jeremy Kramer. The executive producers on board include Kevin Barnett, Pete Jones and Gretel Twombly.

Bobby Farrelly says Jack Black was the first choice to play Satan/Santa. “Jack is just that guy that with his arching eyebrows and his faces and all that, there’s a little bit of mischievous to him at all times, but he’s eminently likable, and that’s just Jack,” Bobby explained. “We never wanted to make it a horror movie or something like that. We wanted it to be comical. So it was a delicate ball of playing this iconic character but doing it in a way that the audience can have some fun with it. And Jack was the perfect guy.”

He also explained, “It is a family story because it is Christmas. But you know what? Pete and I, we’re the Farrelly brothers, so we wanted to put our skewed version on a Christmas story like this, but at the same time, we don’t want to just blow it up. We wanted it to have a sweetness to it underneath all the edge and all that. So that’s the Farrelly Brothers Christmas movie.”

Dear Santa hits Paramount+ and Digital on November 25.