CATCHING UP ON CHRISTMAS COMEDY ‘NUGGET IS DEAD’ HOLIDAY RELEASE
‘A dying staffy might not scream the makings a of Christmas classic, but in the week since its release, Nugget is Dead has sat among Stan's top-streamed movies — and raked in 2 million viewers on US free-to-air, where it debuted on CBS.
It's vindicating for Nugget's co-writers and stars — Australian comedians Vic Zerbst and Jenna Owen — who fought to keep the film's title when executives were worried audiences might not get it.
When asked for alternatives, Zerbst made a PowerPoint of intentionally "horrific" options, including Our Dog Nugget is Not Okay, A Christmas Tail, Nugget is Alive… for Now!, and Nugget Has a Terminal Illness. The title was one element that the duo, also known as Freudian Nip, didn't want to budge on.
"It doesn't take itself too seriously," says Zerbst. "It's a very Australian thing: it's tongue in cheek, like He Died with a Falafel in his Hand."
The film — the fifth of Stan's annual Australian Christmas movies — was inspired by one of Owen's more memorable silly seasons.
While she would usually wait until the eleventh hour to return to Wollongong from Sydney for festivities, a few years ago she rushed home early when family dog Zuri was sick. It was absolute chaos, with the illness only heightening existing tensions.
"The reason this was always a comedy is the voice messages Jenna would send me from Wollongong," says Zerbst.
"My family can be quite dysfunctional and there's a lot of it represented in the film," says Owen. "It's not entirely a parallel. There's lots of bits of Vic's family dysfunction in there as well, which is good, because no one person will be deeply hurt and scarred."
As echoed in the movie, each of Owen's family members reacted differently to the dog's illness. Her father was ready to throw all funds away to fix Zuri, even if it meant bankruptcy. Her mother, meanwhile, constantly followed the dog around, while her brother consulted Dr Google for cures. Owen wasn't immune, admitting she fixated on tricking Zuri into eating, freezing meat into icy poles that melted in the December heat.
"That felt too disgusting to put in the movie," laughs Zerbst. "But it felt like such a funny contrast, dealing with something that is so full of pain while also wearing a tinsel hat."
An unconventional olive branch
In Nugget is Dead, Zerbst plays Owen's proxy: Steph Stool, a dermatologist-in-training (or, as her dad says, a "pimple popper") looking to ditch her family's backyard barbecue Christmas to spend it with her wealthy, cultured boyfriend in his family's mansion home.
But when aging family dog Nugget is suddenly on his deathbed, she races to say goodbye. As he toughs it out, Steph is stuck in suburbia, all the while hoping to make it back to Sydney.
The self-styled black sheep who moved away to the city, Steph could learn to be a little less judgemental of what she sees as her family's low-brow lives, typified by her activewear-loving, lash artist cousin Shayla (Owen).
It's a tendency both Zerbst and Owen, now in their early 30s, see within their younger selves, having moved to Sydney's Inner West as soon as they could.
Nugget is Dead is something of an olive branch to their respective families, with Steph learning to love her family for, not despite, their differences (this is a Christmas movie, after all).
"I definitely feel quite disconnected from my family in a lot of ways," says Owen. "They don't understand the concept of why anyone would want to live in the city. And that's something I love so much. I love a small plate! I love wine bars! I love not being able to find parking! All of those things, J'adore.
"I don't think we've always been able to find the middle ground. That's what a family Christmas movie means to me. It's that middle ground."'‘
