Vandits is a Hilarious New Christmas Comedy Caper

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Before we answer that, let’s unpack a few things…

First off, my name Is Stu Stone. I grew up a child of the 80s and a teen of the 90s, which means most of the pop culture that formed my movie-loving dopamine, came from these glorious decades. I grew up a movie lover who didn’t really get to experience Christmas, other than in the movies. I was raised in a Jewish household, we celebrated Chanukah, but there wasn’t too much movie excitement surrounding the festival of lights. I didn’t love Christmas movies, because I couldn’t really relate to them. When it came to classic films, I was more of a Reservoir Dogs guy than a Miracle on 34th Street type. When Home Alone came out, it instantly became one of my favourite movies. Sure, it took place on Christmas and sure it was filled with themes involving appreciating family, but at its core, it was a movie about a failed heist. One that the wet bandits got to keep trying to unsuccessfully pull off. It was Rambo wrapped in bow with a Christmas card. I often tell people it’s my favourite movie, most of them think I’m just trying to be funny. I’m not.

Secondly… Many years later, while in Los Angeles, my business partner Adam Rodness and I were both hanging out a recording studio with some old friends and when one of them said goodbye and got in his car to leave. Three of us, without ever talking to each other about it, had a really weird feeling… That he was going to die. I know. It sounds crazy, I’m sure, but it really happened. A three-way premonition. We couldn’t believe that ALL of us had the exact same vision of doom. We immediately called him and begged him to come back without telling him why. We figured we could change the path of his future by interrupting it, using logic from the movie Back to the Future. We took him for pancakes at 1AM. We ate. We laughed. He eventually left again and drove himself home. Did he die? No. He lived! And just like it worked for Marty McFly in the movie, it worked for us! It was on that night, a movie idea was born with a storytelling device that was not only real, but it scared the hell out of us.

Thirdly… In 2015, I came back to Toronto to start our film company (5’7 Films) with Adam and we were off to the races, doing horror movies and living our dreams. My social life wasn’t exactly on the same successful path. It took me a while to adjust to the time zone and as a result there were a lot of bored late nights. That’s when I re-discovered the game of bingo. But not the kind I played as a kid with my grandparents. The real deal degenerate version of the game, at a bingo hall in Toronto on St. Clair Avenue, for their 1am game. All it took was one visit and I was hooked. I wasn’t the only one. There were always the same half dozen or so people there. I would see them there every time, and eventually, they would see me as I saw them, we were the “regulars.” But there was nothing regular about any of us. There was the dabber guy, the troll doll lady, the guy with the oxygen tank who chain smoked cigarettes and of course, there was the less than charismatic Bingo caller who would command the floor.

I picked up on all of the lingo, the insider terms, the dabber collection, but the one thing I never did, was win. I would drag friends there – they wouldn’t win either. I eventually started thinking, the only way I would ever leave there with more money than I came with, would be to rob the place. It would be so easy to do. There was no real threat in there, the players were all seniors, the staff was unmotivated and tired and the security guy was usually asleep. It would be the perfect robbery. Although I never actually attempted the robbery, I pulled it off successfully in my mind, every single time.

This brings us to the now. Adam and I wanted to make a movie that would tie in our premonition experience with a heist. The bingo hall was a perfect setting. We thought we could combine our love for films like Oceans 11 and Groundhog Day and take the setting and characters out of films like Fargo. When we finished our first draft, we felt it was still missing something. That’s when it hit us… Christmas. Yes, Christmas was the missing element we needed to take our story to the next level. We immediately went back to writing and now our main characters, a ragtag group of small-time crooks calling themselves “The Vandits” would attempt to pull off a heist, at the bingo hall, on Christmas Eve. They would all, without talking to each other about it, have the same premonition that one of them was going to die. Our creative juices were pumping! Using their premonitions as a tool, we could have them each living in their own warped Groundhog Day where they get to keep attempting to pull off the ridiculous Christmas caper over and over again, until they get it right. Our viewing audience would go along for the ride each time while viewing the heist it from a different character’s perspective. We were now ready to make our Christmas movie miracle come to life!

We pitched the concept and to our excitement, got the green light to shoot our 5th feature, now simply called Vandits, in a small town north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We had never been there, but we knew it would be the perfect small town setting. Our cast turned out to be a dream come true. We scored an all-star Canadian cast who we didn’t even think would be interested in our genre bending comedy. All it took was for them to read the script and suddenly they were all in.

We were blessed with the most incredible ensemble cast including acting dynamos Tony Nappo and Enrico Colantoni, Trailer Park Boys star Robb Wells and multi time CSA and Juno award winner Jann Arden and incredible newcomer Victoria Turko, our Indigenous female lead, who gave a star making performance. With these talented actors all signed on, we immediately knew this movie had a chance to really make an impact on the independent film scene we love so much.

Together, we all braved the elements, the covid restrictions and the lack of gear (our actual grip and electric truck got stolen the day before shooting started  – a true story for another time) and as a team, pulled off our very own Christmas caper.

Vandits was made with love and includes themes like the importance of family, team work, loyalty, sexual identity, love and making choices in life that can cause a chain reaction of events for the other people in your life. Oh, and of course, it all takes place on the night of all nights… Christmas Eve.

We know viewers will have fun living vicariously through the characters of this film who attempt to change their lives by taking the easy way out, only to find out the easy way in life, is actually the hardest way possible.

Vandits is a heist movie, a genre-bending thriller, a comedic crime caper but most of all, like Die Hard, it is a Christmas movie.

Hope you have as much fun watching it as we had making it.

Find the next play times for Vandits (2022) on Hollywood Suite