Ben Stiller and Linda Cardellini star in the new holiday film Nutcrackers, which arrives Friday on Hulu.

The movie follows a man, played by Stiller, who returns to rural Ohio to care for his recently orphaned nephews. David Gordon Green directed the film, in which he cast actual real-life brothers to play Stiller’s nephews.

“It was refreshing. It was fun for me as an actor to be able to be in scenes with these kids who were kind of like learning as they went along,” Stiller said. “David created an atmosphere for them to just to do their thing and to be real. And it was a fun process watching that happen.”

Cardellini agreed, saying she was excited about the concept.

“When I read the script and I realized they were going to be real brothers, and that this was a very specific and unusual story that David was going to tell, I was so excited about it,” she said. “The idea of playing this woman who is sort of the voice of reason amongst all this chaos, it just appealed to me. I wanted to be part of the project. I thought it was special.”

Stiller said Green wanted to make a movie that felt timeless.

“He’s just such an independently minded filmmaker who comes from that world,” Stiller said. “I think his goal was to make something that was organic and real and kind of imperfect and emotional and funny and reminded him of movies that he watched growing up.”

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