Private Project

Silent Night, Evel Night

Four mysteriously dead reindeer...one desperate Santa...one man and his motorcycle. The never-before-seen story of how Mini Evel helped save Christmas, as told by the only witness to the events of that fateful night.

  • James J. Butler
    Director
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing
  • Charles Austin Muir
    Director
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing
  • James J. Butler
    Writer
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing, Many professional scientific papers that aren't nearly as cool as Mini Evel
  • Charles Austin Muir
    Writer
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing, This Is a Horror Book, Slippery When Metastasized
  • James J. Butler
    Producer
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing
  • Charles Austin Muir
    Producer
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing
  • Mini Evel
    Key Cast
    The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Action, Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 23, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    12 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - James J. Butler, Charles Austin Muir

James J. Butler is a professor of physics at Pacific University where he has developed and implemented innovative teaching methods and built a successful program of optical materials research. He combines his passions for physics and motorcycles through his research, which focuses on the development of high-speed, self-healing fabrics for motorcycle protective gear. Or, as his students put it, James is developing superhero clothes. He lives in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Charles Austin Muir is the author of This Is a Horror Book and Slippery When Metastasized. He read his short story "The Time I Took Hamlet Right into the Danger Zone," about a Faster-Than-Light Speed motorcycle, at the 2019 International Journal of Motorcycle Studies Conference in a humorous presentation he gave with James Butler. He has worked as an obituary writer, freelance writer, and therapeutic exercise trainer. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In their independent film short, “The Unbearable Lightness of Crashing,” James and Charles paid tribute to stuntman Evel Knievel. They showed Knievel’s undersized, mechanical counterpart, “Mini Evel,” jumping over a row of toy cars. In “Silent Night, Evel Night,” they pair Mini Evel with another of their nostalgic obsessions: The television Christmas special. They felt that Mini Evel’s heroic jump in the first film, though it ended in disaster, deserved a shot at redemption. Mere months before COVID-19 struck, they imagined Mini Evel wandering upon a desperate Santa at a scene of mysterious devastation. Could Mini Evel conquer his inner demons and take to the air again? Could Mini Evel save Christmas? And what could a piece of plastic teach us about how to live with each other through a global health crisis? To answer such questions, James and Charles made this tongue-in-cheek Christmas special celebrating Mini Evel and his reflection of the human struggle to give aid and rise to the challenge during a time of unprecedented darkness.