Richard Curtis, the man behind the Christmas classic Love Actually, has a new festive treat for us this year. His latest project, That Christmas, is a Netflix animation based on his own trilogy of children’s books. The story follows the residents of the fictional town Wellington-on-Sea as they navigate a series of unfortunate events triggered by a mistake from Father Christmas himself. Despite creating one of the most beloved Christmas films, Richard confesses he doesn’t join the nation in watching Love Actually every year.
In fact, he’s only seen it twice since its 2003 release. “One time was ghastly – my girlfriend told me there was a sing-along version happening in an American cinema. All of us and the kids went along and it just wasn’t,” he shared. “There were six other people in the cinema – two of them were there for warmth, two of them were there for sex. They said it was going to be like Rocky Horror!
(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI)
(Image: Publicity picture)
“The second time was with a live orchestra at Drury Lane and that was wonderful. I made a speech beforehand and said that my mother-in-law and daughter made cameos in the film and had never received applause. Surreally, 1,500 people all cheered when they came on screen. It was a very sweet moment.”
For his latest movie venture, Richard, at 68, took inspiration from his personal festive celebrations for the screenplay, notably a moment where the village folk relish in a bracing dip on Christmas morning. “We’ve celebrated Christmas in Suffolk for the last 25 years,” shared Richard, who fathers Scarlett (29), Jake (27), Charlie (23), and Spike (20) with his partner Emma Freud. “In our village, Christmas Day ends with a swim. I know Simon [Otto, the director] was particularly keen on the oddity of a Christmas film set at the seaside, so I wanted that geography and also to write a film about kids. I’ve been a dad for 29 years – it’s the most interesting subject in the world to me.”
His film interweaves various plots, including mix-ups involving twins Sam and Charlie Beccles by Father Christmas to parents caught in a storm while on their way home from nuptials, leaving teenager Bernie to organise Christmas as well as look after little ones Nisha, Eve, Teddy and Scarlett. “A lot of it is based on stuff in our lives,” noted Richard. “We have a communal Christmas lunch with friends, we don’t split up into our houses. We all get together. My brother has twin girls. And, of course, Santa is a close, personal friend.”
The brilliant cast for the movie includes none other than Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker, lending her voice to Mrs Williams, and Succession’s Brian Cox in the role of Santa Claus. Richard explained, “We wanted Santa to be from the North, as if he were from Scotland, and so we had the idea of casting Brian,” adding that “And Jodie is such a wonderful, vulnerable actor.” Fiona Shaw, known for her role in Killing Eve, portrays Ms Trapper, a lonely teacher who observes everyone keenly albeit with a soft heart. Fiona noted about her character, “She’s initially severe, but she has a very soft underbelly,” and shares, “She’s quite observant and lonely but keeps an eye on everybody.”
Richard highlights the movie’s theme, stating, “The point of the film is that isolation is not good and people should be in a community – and the events of the movie make people come together at the end and, by helping with a problem, their not-so-great Christmases turn into a very good one. I think that’s probably the story of many people’s Christmases.” He also draws parallels between the film’s festive sceptic Bernie and his own feelings towards holiday traditions: “My kids hate the walk, they hate the sprouts,” he chuckled. “We have a tradition in our family where we do a Christmas X Factor after lunch – the dads do a song and the mums do a song.”
(Image: NETFLIX)
Fiona shared, “My mother plays the piano and my brother plays the double bass so we sing the whole time,” about her family’s musical Christmas festivities. In a nod to beloved festive films, viewers will be amused by a reference to Love Actually – when Bernie refers to an “old” Christmas movie.
Richard revealed, “They sprung that on me, by the way. I thought it was a reference to Miracle On 34th Street – grainy stuff with American men in bow ties. But when I watched it, they’d put in Love Actually and I thought, ‘I deserve that.'” Simon, the director, commented, “It was a great moment when we showed that sequence to Richard – I studied his face so closely! Something we both have to accept is that some movies we worked on are very old films to kids today.”
That Christmas is available to stream on December 4 on Netflix.
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