Vaughn reportedly received his first $20 million payday for his third collaboration with director Dobkin (Clay Pigeons, Wedding Crashers), a salty comedy in which he plays Santa Claus's loutish older brother. "He's a repo man from Chicago, and he gets in trouble trying to hustle some deals," says Dobkin. "Santa bails him out of jail." To pay him back, Fred agrees to move back to the North Pole and work during the hectic three weeks before Christmas; meanwhile, Santa (Giamatti) and Mrs. Claus (Richardson) are getting audited by an evil efficiency expert (Spacey) who plans to shut Santa's shop down. Adding to the yuletide tension are Fred's not-so-merry feelings toward his mother (Bates), who views Santa "as the big success of the family," says Giamatti. "There's a lot of humor in their messed-up relationships." Although he acknowledges 2003's Elf as an influence, Dobkin says he didn't watch any classic Christmas movies while prepping, choosing instead to draw on his own instincts. The result? "There are 40 female Russian midget acrobats playing elves," Giamatti says. "It's just nuts."