PicoBlog

Just south of LAX in the Los Angeles neighborhood of El Segundo, there is a street that has been known for decades throughout the city as “Candy Cane Lane.” Each Christmastime, everyone on the street makes a point of decorating their homes.

And you might think, well we all do that where I live, too. But do you do it like this?

Yeah. It is an EVENT, complete with an opening night parade in which Santa Claus himself shows up and lights each house up with the flare of a finger.

L.A. theater and screenwriter Kelly Younger knows about this tradition intimately, because when his parents moved to the top of Candy Cane Lane, his dad—a woodworker—absolutely went to town. Kelly told press that "he overdecorated the house within an inch of its life and caused quite a stir and created quite the reputation.”

And watching his dad and the friendly rivalry around people in the neighborhood, Kelly developed the idea of the new film Candy Cane Lane, in which Eddie Murphy plays Chris Carver, a marketing exec who lives with his family on Candy Cane Lane, loves woodworking, and can never seem to get any love for his Christmas decorations…until he stumbles upon a strange Christmas shop under an underpass (which as someone who spent 11 years in L.A. I have to say is itself a hilarious and delightful idea).

As you might imagine, adventures ensue…

Since release the movie has been the top movie on Prime. And without spoiling anything, it features both some wonderfully fun Santa magic-type ideas and a really fantastic family dynamic. (Honestly, I could watch a whole TV series just about the family. Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross as Eddie’s wife Carol and Genneya Walton, Thaddeus J. Mixson, and Madison Thomas as their kids are all just enormously likable and real.)

I got the chance to talk to Kelly while he was Christmas shopping with his wife. He spoke to me from a corner of the men’s store at Bloomingdale’s.

Kelly Younger with Candy Cane Lane star Eddie Murphy.

Kelly, congratulations on Candy Cane Lane! What does it feel like to have your film out in the world?

It’s been…I’m trying not to say it’s been a dream come true and it’s been magical, because those just don’t describe it. It’s been surreal, it’s been scary, it’s been hilarious, it’s been exciting. I was working on this for a year before we started production, and then pretty much for a year after we started production, not counting the 5-month writer’s strike, which was also difficult, because then I wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody.

So I’m honestly just left a bit speechless, because on the one hand it feels very private and very personal, and on the other, super public and out there in the world in a way that I can’t even get my head around. A friend sent me a text of a picture from Paris, like an entire building with a Candy Cane Lane poster on it and my name. I’ve gotten the same from Piccadilly Square in London, Times Square, Chicago. The scale of it is amazing. I feel like Santa on his sleigh going around the world and stopping everywhere. It’s crazy.

Candy Cane Lane ad covering a whole city block of Times Square.

What was the red carpet like?

I stepped out of the car, was immediately taken by each elbow by two publicists onto the red carpet, and before I can even just stand appropriately, the cameras started firing and it was full paparazzi screaming. The photos are me standing like I’m sitting on something and all of my chins are out. Then they say Thank you, and I’m like wait, what?

The whole thing was a blur. The event of it was unbelievable. I understand why celebrities have these crews around them that just tell them what to do, because you can’t keep up.

So now I’m hiding in the corner of a department store.

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