Directed by Bharat Nalluri ( Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), The Man Who Invented Christmas shows how Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens, the beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) mixed real-life inspirations with his vivid imagination to conjure a timeless tale, forever changing the holiday season into the celebration we know today. The magical journey that led to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge (the indomitable Christopher Plummer), Tiny Tim and all the classic characters from A Christmas Carol, receives an elegantly appointed update courtesy of executive producer (Miami’s own) Mitchell Kaplan. 20, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave.FREE SCREENING with Introduction by Les Standiford and Mitchell Kaplan A discussion with author Les Standiford, director Bharat Nalluri and producers Mitchell Kaplan, Paula Mazur and Robert Mickelson will take place 7-10 p.m. “The Man Who Invented Christmas” will open Wednesday, Nov. Charles Dickens was a social reformer, and he struck a chord dealing with issues of humanity during a time with rampant poverty and few labor laws.” “People like origin stories, and ‘A Christmas Carol’ is one of the biggest selling books in history. “That’s our secret sauce: We work from the written word, and turn them into films,” says Kaplan, who has 15 film projects in development, including “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society,” due in theaters next spring. The reappraisal of a literary titan and his best-known work also appealed to Kaplan, who says he started producing films through a desire to tell the stories of the books he sells in a new medium.
“ was a talented guy who believed in his belief system, and he spent every penny he had to borrow from his friends, because he was certain the book would be a hit,” Standiford says.
The film’s screenplay, from writer Susan Coyne, reflects that connection by showing how Dickens drew from his backstory to craft characters such as Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the penniless but warmhearted Cratchit family. That was Dickens’ genius.”ĭickens’ impoverished childhood echoes in the pages of “A Christmas Carol,” Standiford says. Christmas wasn’t about gifts, but about the debilitating effects of ignorance and want and the possibility that anyone can be redeemed through charity and love. Christmas used to be a second-tier holiday, second even to Boxing Day, but took this underappreciated holiday and shot it through with a worldly Christian parable.
But I know now that Dickens single-handedly reinvigorated Christmas in his day. “Did I know that Dickens was at the end of his financial rope and in despair? No. “I didn’t know any of these things at the time,” Standiford admits.
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