An Aardman production (the people behind ‘Wallace & Gromit’ and ‘Chicken Run’) for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s question: ‘So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’ The answer: Santa’s exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic – a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns. ‘Arthur Christmas’ features the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Ashley Jensen. The film is set for release November 11th in the UK, and November 23rd in the US.
Arthur is really spirited about his mission…James McAvoy: Oh yeah, definitely. In the story every single child must receive a present on Christmas night, every single child in the world. What happens is that one night, one child doesn’t receive a present, and basically the international conglomerate organisation that is Christmas…..and the north pole, as run by Steve and Santa, they decide that actually that’s just 0.0000000000001% of a failure, and when you balance the books that’s ok, because the success rate is so high. Christmas has become a bit of a business, and Arthur decides that’s not good enough.
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Grandsanta and Arthur’s relationship is a big part of the story.
Bill Nighy: Arthur’s naiveté is handy because he doesn’t quite see how pompous and daft Grandsanta is at the beginning, if he did he probably wouldn’t have set off! He doesn’t see through Grandsanta’s boastful ways until later on when everything starts to fall apart. But it’s a tender relationship, and in the end it’s a successful and important relationship for them both (laughs).
James McAvoy: Arthur looks up to Grandsanta, he really respects everyone in his family, he kinda wishes that he could be as involved as they are, or in Grandsanta’s case, were. He’s very much the guy who tells the stories, he’s been through it all, done it all, and Arthur likes to hear all the stories – whether or not they’re embellished or made up, it’s irrelevant, he just likes to hear the stories (laughs). Arthur is certainly a willing audience to Grandsanta. But then what happens is that him and Grandsanta go on the road and try to do a lot of the things Grandsanta has been telling him about, you actually find out that the truth and the reality may not match up with the stories.
Arthur is sort of the odd one out in an already odd family.
James McAvoy: Arthur is pretty much Christmas on legs. He lives in the North Pole so it’s hard to be the most Christmassy person in the world because you’ve got a lot of Christmas heads around you, and even though he’s among all those Christmas heads he is the main Christmas dude – in his head, not with anybody else, because everybody forgets about him and writes him off about being an eccentric…..and maybe a bit of an imbecile. But he cares about Christmas probably more than anyone else around him, including Santa, Grandsanta and his big brother Steve.
Aardman’s movies are always soulful and full of adventure…
James McAvoy: Yeah, ‘Arthur Christmas’ has all the humour, the action, the adventure, all the Christmassyness that all these Christmas movies need to have. But what I think ‘Arthur Christmas’ has got beyond that is that really strong spirit at the centre of it, which Aardman gives everything. And even though that this is a 3D….monster (laughs), it still has an Aardman soul. I think that’s really a wholesome and beautiful thing, I think that will make it a bit more special than the usual Christmas fare.
What was it like seeing your character for the first time?
Bill Nighy: When I saw the images for the first time I was thrilled by them, they are so clever, so witty. There’s a perfect balance between real and not real, it was a bit of a shock to see a bandy legged…balding, or rather bald (laughs), octogenarian bloke in short trousers with a beard, it made me think, “Why did they think of me?!” (Laughs) It was great.
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