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“It’s as if Charles Dickens wrote this story to be a movie—it’s so visual and cinematic. It’s the greatest time-travel story ever written and I wanted to do the movie the way I believe it was originally envisioned by the author.” ~ Robert Zemeckis, Director/Producer/Screenwriter.

Thought to be one of the greatest Christmas stories ever told and enjoyed by millions each year at the holidays, “A Christmas Carol” was originally published by Charles Dickens himself in 1843. The novella was an immediate and enduring success.

The filmmakers felt that no film version had truly captured the story in a way that Dickens truly intended. “It’s as if Charles Dickens wrote this story to be a movie—it’s so visual and cinematic,” says Zemeckis. “It’s the greatest time-travel story ever written and I wanted to do the movie the way I believe it was originally envisioned by the author.”

Watch the latest trailer for A Christmas Carol here:


Performance capture is a process that digitally captures the performances of the actors with computerized cameras in a full 360 degrees, allowing the film to be presented in Disney Digital 3D™. The technologies allowed the filmmakers to present a true Dickensian world with no artistic restrictions, transporting the audience to a time and place previously unavailable.

“The technology is liberating for me as a filmmaker,” says Zemeckis. “It allows me to separate the cinema aspect of making a movie, which is something all filmmakers try to control, and realize the magic of the performances from my cast.
It’s the perfect blend of welcoming those wonderful accidents that happen when an actor is performing, and then being able to put the cinema language into the film.”

Producer Steve Starkey adds, “The characters in the story are bigger than life—ghosts and even Scrooge himself who evolves through time. We can do things in this new form of cinema that you couldn’t do before.”

While the technology afforded filmmakers incredible freedoms to create environments and characters that have never been seen on the big screen before, it still comes back to the story, says Zemeckis. “You take the meanest man alive and show him the error of his ways… and we get to come along for the ride.”

The stellar cast is led by multi-faceted actor Jim Carrey who, like many of his co-stars, appears in several pivotal roles. In addition to portraying Ebenezer Scrooge at various ages old and young, Carrey brings to life the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Christmas Yet to Come.

Joining Carrey is a diverse group of gifted actors. Gary Oldman (“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”) stars as Scrooge’s beleaguered employee, Bob Cratchit, his young and ill son Tiny Tim, as well as the ghost of Joseph Marley, Scrooge’s deceased business partner. Colin Firth (“Love Actually,” “The Accidental Husband,” “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”) stars as Fred, Scrooge’s cheerful, good-hearted nephew. Robin Wright Penn (“State of Play”) stars as Belle who long ago stole Scrooge’s heart and Fan, Scrooge’s now deceased sister.

One of England’s most distinguished actors, Bob Hoskins (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) reunites with Zemeckis as Old Fezziwig, to whom Scrooge was apprenticed as a young man, and Old Joe who runs an old rag and bottle shop and purchases the “deceased” Scrooge’s bed linens and curtains. Cary Elwes (“Ella Enchanted,” “Georgia Rule”) rounds out the cast and portrays multiple characters, including young Dick Wilkins, Scrooge’s old roommate.

The creative team includes production designer Doug Chiang (“Beowulf,” “The Polar Express”), director of cinematography Robert Presley (“Enchanted,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” “What Lies Beneath”), film editor Jeremiah O’Driscoll (“Beowulf,” “The Polar Express”), composer Alan Silvestri (“Beowulf,” “Night at the Museum”) and visual effects supervisor George Murphy (“King Kong,” “Constantine”).

A CHRISTMAS CAROL 3D - Starts 5 November