The Night Before (2015 film)

 The Night Before (2015 film)

The Night Before is a 2015 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jonathan Levine, written by Levine, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie, and is about an annual reunion of three childhood friends on Christmas Eve.
Principal photography began on August 11, 2014, in New York City. Good Universe and Point Grey Pictures produced the film, which Columbia Pictures released on November 20, 2015.

 

Plot

Christmas Eve, 2001
Ethan Miller (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) just lost his parents in a car accident. His best friends Isaac Greenberg (Seth Rogen) and Chris Roberts (Anthony Mackie) stay by his side and start a tradition to hang out every Christmas Eve. In 2008, while out at a bar, the guys meet a woman that tells them they came from the craziest Christmas party ever - The Nutcracker Ball. For the next few years, the guys try to find out where the party takes place, but they never succeed.

Cast

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt^[5] as Ethan Miller
• Seth Rogen^[5] as Isaac Greenberg^[6]
• Anthony Mackie^[7] as Chris Roberts
• Lizzy Caplan^[8] as Diana, Ethan's love interest
• Jillian Bell^[9] as Betsy, Isaac's wife, who gives the pals a cornucopia of drugs on Christmas Eve so they can have one last blowout together.
• Michael Shannon^[10] as Mr. Green
• Mindy Kaling^[10] as Sarah
• Lorraine Toussaint^[11] as Mrs. Roberts, Chris' mother
• Jason Mantzoukas^[12] as Bad Santa #1
• Jason Jones^[12] as Bad Santa #2
• Ilana Glazer^[13] as Rebecca Grinch
• Nathan Fielder^[10] as Joshua
• James Franco as James
• Tracy Morgan as the Narrator/Santa Claus
• Miley Cyrus as herself

Production

Development

On February 10, 2014, it was announced that Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt would reunite in the film, following 50/50, in which they co-starred. On May 13, Anthony Mackie joined the cast.^[7] Jonathan Levine, director of 50/50, directed The Night Before from his own script.^[5] Good Universe and Point Grey Pictures produced the film, which Sony's Columbia Pictures is distributing.^[5]

Casting

On August 7, Jillian Bell was cast to play Betsy, the wife of Rogen's character, who gives the friends a cornucopia of drugs on Christmas Eve so they can have one last hurrah together.^[9] On August 8, Lizzy Caplan joined the cast to play Diana, a love interest of Gordon-Levitt's character.^[8]

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on August 11, 2014, in New York City.^[14][8][15] On August 14, filming was taking place around 112th street and Broadway in NYC.^[16] On August 22, Rogen was spotted filming scenes outside a church in Manhattan.^[17] On January 5, 2015, filming was taken place in and around Rockefeller Center, where the crews were taking some shots of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.^[18]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on December 11, 2015, but Sony moved the release date over to November 25, 2015,^[19] and later to November 20, 2015.