Netflix has announced the star-studded voice cast and brand new images from Locksmith Animation (Ron’s Gone Wrong) and director Simon Otto’s (Love, Death + Robots; How to Train Your Dragon trilogy) upcoming CG animated feature That Christmas. The film will debut on Netflix later this year.
The film stars Brian Cox as Santa, Fiona Shaw (voice of Ms. Trapper), Jodie Whittaker (Mrs. Williams) and Bill Nighy (Bill) as the residents of a charming seaside town where things turn upside down one Christmas. That Christmas follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys!
That Christmas is an adaptation of the beloved children’s book series (The Empty Stocking, Snow Day and That Christmas) written by BAFTA Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated writer and director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday). A film of firsts, it marks Curtis’ first animation project as well as the directorial debut for animation veteran Otto.
“Becoming an animator had been on my Christmas wish list ever since I was a child and watching animated movies was one of the biggest Christmas traditions in my family. But never could I have imagined that one day I would get the chance to direct a Christmas film written by the one-and-only Richard Curtis and collaborate with some of the most iconic voice talents,” said Otto. “Watching this cast bring life to these heartwarmingly funny tales and infuse them with the magic of animation is truly a dream come true. I hope That Christmas becomes a cherished tradition for audiences worldwide.”
The film also stars Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, India Brown, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer, Jack Wisniewski, Rosie Cavaliero, Paul Kaye, Guz Khan, Andy Nyman, Kuhu Agarwal, Bronte Smith, Freddie Spry, Ava Talbot and Rhys Darby.
Written by Curtis & Peter Souter and produced by Nicole P. Hearon p.g.a and Adam Tandy p.g.a, the festive feature boasts a score from Academy Award- and BAFTA-nominated composer John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, Happy Feet, Shrek). Curtis also executive produces alongside Mary Coleman, Natalie Fischer, Julie Lockhart, Elisabeth Murdoch, Bonnie Arnold, Lara Breay, Sarah Smith, Rebecca Cobb and Colin Hopkins.
“This has been the most amazing adventure, my first animated film. It’s been especially exciting to see the whole world I imagined come to life beyond my wildest dreams — and populated by a dream bunch of actors, their wonderful voices turned into such rich and funny characters,” Curtis shared.
That Christmas is part of Netflix’s original slate of animated features which includes Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the Academy Award-nominated films Nimona, The Sea Beast, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and Klaus; the BAFTA-nominated Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; and the comedy fan favorites Leo and Back to the Outback. Upcoming animated features also include Thelma the Unicorn, Ultraman: Rising, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, Spellbound, In Your Dreams, The Twits, Pookoo and an untitled Wallace & Gromit film.
Born and raised in Switzerland, Simon Otto studied animation at the prestigious Les Gobelins Animation School in Paris, France. Prior to joining the team at Locksmith Animation, he directed the Love, Death + Robots episode from Season 2, The Tall Grass, and developed, executive produced and served as the supervising director on the successful Netflix series A Tale Dark & Grimm. He also directed episodes on the Netflix animated series Dragons: Race to the Edge and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.
Otto spent over 20 years working at DreamWorks Animation, most notably as the head of character animation on the Oscar-nominated How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. In that role, he oversaw the character animation and was instrumental in designing and developing the look of the characters, their personalities and the overall style of the animation, while also working in the story department as a story artist. He first joined DreamWorks in 1997 to work on the groundbreaking The Prince of Egypt and worked as a supervising animator both in hand-drawn and CG animation on many of the studio’s features including, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the Aardman co-production Flushed Away.
