Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have one mode in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: withering disdain. They’re there to neutralize the Griswalds, cinema’s most chaotic family. With a few snooty glances and snide rejoinders, Todd and Margo Chester — the Griswalds’ ultra-hip Chicago neighbors — epitomize the sort of detachment that’s too chilly for the holidays, too cold for friendship. To be fair, they put up with a lot. In addition to causing a citywide power outage, Clark Griswald (Chevy Chase) accidentally breaks one of Todd and Margo’s windows, drenches their carpet in melted icicles, and damages their expensive stereo, all so he can string up some lights. Nonetheless, the couple’s thin sunglasses and black wardrobe announce their unapproachability from across the driveway. These people could not possibly be bothered to acknowledge anything as uncouth as Christmas.
Todd and Margo are arguably the funniest part of Christmas Vacation, thanks to Guest and Louis-Dreyfus’s exasperated performances, projecting a vibe before everything was a vibe. Now that the movie airs relentlessly during the holiday season, new generations of Griswald admirers have come to treasure Todd and Margo’s extremely late-’80s airiness. The movie, written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, wouldn’t be the same without them. So we got Guest on the phone to reminisce.
It’s rare to flip through cable channels in the month of December and not find Christmas Vacation airing on one network or another. Do you ever watch it?
Sometimes I’ll watch certain scenes, just for fun, if it happens to be on. I was sitting on a plane a couple of years ago, and the woman next to me asked me what I had done, and I mentioned it, and she immediately wanted a picture to send to her family. That’s the thing I get a lot. It’s become — can I use the word iconic?
What’s your earliest memory of Christmas Vacation?
I got a call from my agent about an audition. I went in, and I believe it was just myself and the director. That’s rare these days. But there I was, and I started to read whatever scene I was given, and he said, “Actually, you wouldn’t say it like that” — which is rare, too. It’s outrageous when I think about this, but I said, “Actually, I would.” It was very Todd Chester. But I left thinking, Great job, Nick. You’ve screwed this up. But this is the kind of thing that does happen, where, in the subconscious, something is there that the director is looking for. I know this for a fact: If I had said, “Oh, okay, let me see if I can adjust it,” I would not have gotten the part. I’m sure of it.
In that moment, do you think you were attempting to be in character, or were you just voicing your opinion and it happened to align with the character?
I really don’t know. It’s a mysterious process. Geena Davis was talking about an audition where she was absolutely terrified and didn’t know what was going on. She came into the room, and it was exactly because of the state she was in that she got that part, and she got the Oscar for that movie. It was The Accidental Tourist. As actors, we don’t know when we come in. Once, for another job, I started improvising right away, and they started laughing. It could have gone either way, you know? But anyway, then I got a call to do an audition with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. There was a connection right away. Then we met for a rehearsal, and the director was so specific. He said, “They hate this music; they love this kind of music.” He really described the couple. That was fun.
What music did they hate?
It was stuff that was hip at the time but sort of annoying. I wouldn’t want to say even if I did remember the name of that kind of music. The other incredibly luxurious thing, because it was a big-budget film for the time, was that they filmed me in different costumes. The costumes were incredible. Sometimes at the end of a film I’ll say, “Can I buy this?” One of the suits I had on was a $5,000 Japanese-designed suit.
Do you still have that suit?
No, I did not buy that suit. But a lot of other things I have. They gave me a really lovely jacket that has a sort of emblem, so I prize that. I think there’s a really nice bag. The thing about that job was the director knew exactly what he wanted. He’d say, “Stand here, do this, fall here,” and not in an annoying way. He had directed a lot of commercials, and he had a great sense of timing.
I assume, given both of your backgrounds, that you and Julia Louis-Dreyfus would have improvised a lot. Did you?
No, the script was fantastic. The first time we filmed was at, like, two in the morning, which I didn’t mind. I was just so happy to be on it. We were brought out, and they created snow. This was at the Warner Bros. ranch. It was when Chevy Chase is sawing in the garage, and we had just pulled up and were the quintessential yuppie couple — incredibly well dressed. Right away, you see the arrogance. The chemistry was just unbelievable. I just looked over at her, and it was weird how easy it was. We knew exactly who these people were in relation to Chevy. I had met Chevy many, many times, and I had worked with Randy Quaid on The Long Riders, even though I wasn’t in scenes with him. It’s just a comforting feeling when you see people you’ve worked with.
So many people who wrote the movie when it came out used the same word to describe Margo and Todd: yuppies. It was a very common label in the late ‘80s, but is that how you guys described them, too? Or how the script described them?
Not really, but they were, in effect, yuppies. They were not interested in kids — they were just interested in looking at themselves in the mirror. Everything had to be perfect for them, and the comedy comes out of that, like when she punches me. We had a stuntman, but it was amazing. It was just who these people were. Jeremiah instilled in us the notion that they were absolutely the opposite of Chevy and his family: material-minded and standoffish.
The production design in the house is integral to these characters, too. It’s cool in a sterile way. It’s part of the joke. What was the house like?
It just felt like we lived there. It all just fell into place. They have that expensive stereo setup and those slick tracksuits. I can’t imagine them inviting anyone over to dinner unless they were exactly like them.
Todd and Margot are mostly on hand to give little elitist reactions to what the neighbors are up to. But there’s a fair amount of physical comedy, too, like the Christmas tree blasting through their window at the end. What was it like to sit there at the table anticipating the crash?
It was in the air that everything was going to go awry for them. The obsession with the fact that the carpet is now wet — everything is a total nightmare. It’s a fun thing that I do with my own family, like, “This is a nightmare that the bus is late.” Everything is bigger than it needs to be. They wanted nothing to do with the family surrounding a tree. They just wanted to listen to that music. Am I allowed to say what it was?
You’re asking me? Yeah, of course.
I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. I believe the director said they listen to The Wave. Do you know what that is?
No. Is that a band?
It was a station called The Wave. It was a little bit Muzak-ish. It was certainly not Bob Dylan — oh, by the way, the Bob Dylan movie is extraordinary; I’ve seen it twice now. The Wave was the antithesis of fun, of sweetness. It was kind of sterile. Here I am speaking ill of The Wave. I’ve never listened to it myself.
Because of the practical aspect of the Christmas tree blasting through the window, is that something you had to get in one take?
I don’t remember, but you don’t want to have to do it again. It’s such an exciting thing when you do have the budget and you have people working on it who are incredible. The professional standard is just incredible, so things generally do go right the first time.
You mentioned Chevy Chase, somebody whose complicated reputation precedes him. He’s known for being a particularly difficult personality within Hollywood. How did you find him during this experience?
I met him years and years before that, so there was a really warm, lovely connection. I never had any strange thing with him. After that first scene, he was complimentary. I was mostly just with Julia, though. One fun thing is that Bill Hickey (who plays Uncle Louis) was my first acting teacher. I didn’t get to work with him, but it was thrilling to just be in a movie that he was in.
I don’t know if you were on the set long enough for this, but do you remember any kind of wrap party?
I remember we were invited to see the movie for the first time. It happened to be at Sony, and I didn’t have a clue what it was going to be like. The moment it started, I thought, Oh my God, this is unbelievable, with the animation at the beginning and the music. It’s an amazing thing about film. Our daughter just directed her first feature film. Actually, my wife and I are in it. We play her parents. The atmosphere that our daughter created as a director and actress was wonderful, and that was the same case with Christmas Vacation.
Have you had a hand in helping her prepare her for that kind of experience?
Well, she’s been really lucky. I did this sitcom called USA High on the USA channel. I played the British headmaster. This was the late ‘90s, and she was there after school all the time. So she saw me on location, and she’s done an enormous amount of improv. She had done a one-woman show that still may be filmed at a certain point. I think that directors who are actors can be fantastic. For example, Alan Arkin was a mentor to me when I was starting out. I remember going with him to this Broadway set where they were having trouble with the show. The actors were not happy, and he went to each actor. He was massaging them and talking to them and, above all, making them laugh, and the show improved. It’s an amazing process.
I don’t guess there was ever talk of bringing Todd Margot back for another National Lampoon movie?
That would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Periodically over the years, I’ve run into Julia. She’s the same down-to-earth wonderful person. I think it would be a great idea. I just feel very, very grateful to have had the experience of it. It’s obviously reached a lot of people and continues to bring joy. It’s wonderful when something does well, and comedy is so important, maybe more than ever before.
