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Vince Vaughn has had quite a hot streak of comedies from Dodgeball to Wedding Crashers and his pet project The Break-up. It’s about time for audiences to turn on him, quite frankly. We saw it with Will Ferrell the year of Kicking and Screaming and Bewitched. We saw it with Adam Sandler over Little Nicky, Jim Carrey when he got serious.

It’s only temporary. Everyone bounces back, but Vaughn is due. Early critical buzz on Fred Claus is negative, though the eternally optimistic Vaughn won’t let the cycle of popularity faze him.

"I never even think of that," said Vaughn. "I think there’s room for everybody and those guys have done great stuff. I just don’t approach it that way. I never have. You can’t control it. I leave that to you guys. I just am fortunate that I try to find stories that I think are going to be fun like from a child place to go work on. Boy, it’s easy when you’ve got David Dobkin directing a movie, and look at the actors I have the fortune of working with. Everyone’s been nominated or won but me."

Speaking of his co-stars, Paul Giamatti and Kevin Spacey, Vaughn turned self-deprecation into a comedy bit. "I sort of get a complex on the set after a while. Spacey would look at me like, ’Well, that’s a choice. You could do that. That’s nice, you’re making a nice turn in the movie.’ But now, we had such an unbelievable cast of actors that really elevated everything. Then David’s so good both at shooting and then finding the story in the editing room."

Fred Claus stars Vaughn as the older brother to the Christmas saint. Giamatti is Santa and Spacey plays an efficiency expert sent to evaluate the north pole’s productivity. With his sibling rivalry, Fred gives Vaughn plenty of opportunities for his trademark rants, but also a holiday message about children and families.

"I just think that what really worked most in this film was the unique thing about are there naughty kids or not? It’s such a drama that’s been done so many times, I think [screenwriter] Jessie [Nelson] was able to stumble on a different way of looking at the Christmas holiday movie."

Most of Vaughn’s comedies have been adult-oriented, even if they were rated PG-13. For his first full-on family movie, Vaughn just stayed true to his form and let the director figure out the tone.

"I think it’s a testament to David, in that I loved those clay-mation films growing up, and this kind of feels like a live action one of those. It has such great heart to it. I think it works on a smart level. Kevin and me were talking about a scene that we are not supposed to talk about but if you have seen the movie you know what we’re talking about, which is a really smart kind of adult themed scene. The movie never has to be risqué or shock value or gratuitous in order to accomplish that. So the adults really are following it on one level, and the kids are really connecting on another level."

For his own Christmas, Vaughn is wishing for more than just material things. "My secret gift wish was understanding. Sometimes you have to wait until next year and be thankful for the things that I did get. Thanks for asking. Sometimes under the shell of this turtle is kind of a soft interior. As a kid Christmas is fun because you want toys. Then when you get socks or shirts you kind of don’t want those. As you get older that is all you get. It’s nice to have kids around because you kind of get to enjoy Christmas. I have a nephew and some nieces and them opening presents and being excited in that way is fun."

Growing up with older sisters, Vaughn’s Christmastime illusions were shattered early on. "I remember the day I had neighbors that let me know, I was six years old, that there was no Santa Claus. They go ’You know there’s not a Santa Claus, right?’ and of course covering in front of them I was like ’Well, yeah. Of course there’s not a Santa Claus, guys.’ Then I went to my sisters and they said ’Okay, now you know the painful truth, there is not a Santa Claus. Don’t tell Mom and Dad because then we may not get gifts anymore. You got to keep pretending that you think there is Santa Claus, or you are not going to get any gifts.’ I was like 16 going, ’Dad, when is Santa coming down?’ My Dad was like, ’Look it’s getting weird, you are getting older, you know there’s not a Santa. We’re going to keep giving gifts, but there is no Santa. You know that, right?’ I said ’You’re going to keep giving gifts? Yeah, there is no Santa. I get that. I totally get that.’"

This year, however, kids are believing in Fred Claus. "We just did this fun short for the World Series with these kids. We did Fred Claus kind of coaching. We did the whole thing and it was over, one of the kids, he had to be about nine or 10, came running up to me afterwards. He goes ’Hey, Fred.’ I felt like Joe Green in that Coca Cola commercial. He’s like ’Hey, Fred.’ I turned and looked at him, I said ’Yeah.’ He says ’Tell your brother to get me something this year.’ I looked at him and I said, ’Oh, I got you. I got you.’ So, now I’m just hoping that this guy is getting something good. Otherwise he’s going to hunt me down."

There was a magical atmosphere on the set as well. A few celebrity elves were created by digitally putting famous heads on little bodies, but the majority of elves in Santa’s workshop were little people from Russia.

"These guys were really our good luck charm. They perform in a circus in Russia and came in and they had such great spirits every day. That was a lot of fun to be around."

This Christmas, things might remain hot for Vaughn as his family deals with the California wildfires. "My sister, she lives near Griffith Park. So over the summer it was very hot. On a couple of different occasions there were fires there. It is obviously a very scary and unfortunate thing for families, to be presented with losing their homes. Even when the earthquake happened a few years ago and people went through that, even on a much larger level what happened with Katrina. Anytime you have natural disasters occurring, and people’s foundation with their homes and stuff, start being uplifted or kids being moved, its never an easy equation for people. I will also say, nothing screams Christmas more than California brush fire."

Fred Claus opens Friday.