A Chrstmas Carol Fantasy Cast

Robert Downey Jr. as Ebenezer Scrooge
One of the top celebrities working today.  A likable actor who can get away with playing unlikable characters.  A natural performer that could bring a lot to the character of Scrooge.  Can do a very convincing British accent and he personally knows what it is like to have a life change for the better.

Other Potential Choices: Hugh Laurie, Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Eddie Murphy, Sam Rockwell, Tom Hanks, Jude Law, J.K. Simmons, Steve Martin, Michael J. Fox

Kristen Wiig as Cratchit
I would take a cue from Scrooged and recast Bob Cratchit as a single mother.  A mother who is looking forward to spending Christmas with her child is a great take to have on the honorable character.  Kristen Wiig can play timid and personal while still expressing joy.

Other Potential Choices: Judy Greer, Joan Cusack, Tig Notaro, Julia Roberts

Morgan Freeman as Jacob Marley
There is nothing quite like getting a talking to from Morgan Freeman.  Glory, Shawshank Redemption, and pretty much every other movie has Morgan Freeman putting someone in their place with an eloquent, intimidating speech.  If Morgan Freeman as a ghost told me to heed the warning of three spirits I would take him seriously.

Other Potential Choices: Andre Braugher, Ed Harris, George Clooney, Willem Dafoe, Samuel L. Jackson

Julie Andrews as The Ghost of Christmas Past
Instead of going with The Ghost of Christmas Past as a child, having some age and experience would be an interesting take.  Julie Andrews is a legendary entertainer that commands respect.  There is a warmness to her, but she can also be intimidating.

Other Potential Choices: Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Doris Roberts, Bonnie Bartlett

Dwayne Johnson as The Ghost of Christmas Present
The Rock is huge in physique and in personality.  He is a larger than life entertainer and one of the most likable people on the planet.  There is a sense of joy to him.  Not sure how he would look with a full beard and a wreath on his head, but he could definitely act the part.

Other Potential Choices: Terry Crews, Will Smith, John Ratzenberger, Ken Marino, John Rhys-Davies, Leonard Maltin (odd choice, but Maltin has one of the best smiles and could be fun in the role)

Doug Jones as The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
This is the spirit that traditionally does not speak.  Casting an actor who can be expressive without dialogue will be important. 

Other Potential Choices: Andy Serkis, Bill Hader

Alfred Molina as Fezziwig
Fezziwig needs an actor who can just have fun.  While Molina is traditionally cast as a villain he is a diverse entertainer that would be fun to see in a different role.  He can ham it up and can do a lot with small roles like these.

Other Potential Choices: Michael Keaton, Christopher Walken, Jason Alexander, Kelsey Grammer, Joe Lo Truglio, Mark Hamill

Neil Patrick Harris as Fred
Youthful appearance, natural performer and extremely likable.  Fred needs to sincerely love Christmas and be a good enough actor to subtly show some love towards his cold uncle.

Other Potential Choices: Eddie Redmayne, Jake Lacey, Skylar Astin, Donald Glover, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pine, Tobey Maguire

Maya Rudolph as Belle
Maya Rudolph is a great actress that does not get enough work.  Scrooge's former love needs an actress that is just naturally likable.  Rudolph can play a love interest and bring a lot to underwritten characters.  You need to be able to understand why this woman means a lot to Scrooge and Rudolph can embody that.

Other Potential Choices: Zooey Deschanel, Amy Adams, Rosario Dawson, Lake Bell, Kristen Bell, Anne Hathaway

Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as Collectors for the Poor
Casting a duo in the role of the charity workers that are turned away by Scrooge could be a lot of fun.  Sudeikis and Day have incredible chemistry.  They have done great work together in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Saturday Night Live, Going the Distance and Horrible Bosses.

Other Potential Choices: Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker

Kevin Spacey as Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol needs a classy, eloquent narrator.  I am surprised that Kevin Spacey has not hosted any award shows before, because he seems like a natural fit for that sort of performance.  He is a trained stage actor with an amazing voice.  Would be the perfect celebrity to tie this all together and keep it moving.

Other Potential Choices: James Earl Jones, Seth MacFarlane, Craig Ferguson, Sean Hayes, Bob Balaban, Robert Lipton, William Daniels

The Need for A Christmas Carol

            I get into the Christmas spirit very easily and wholeheartedly.  I love Christmas.  Outside of religious reasons I love Christmastime because it is the one time of year when it is encouraged and normal to be interested in toys, cartoons and to have a childlike mindset.  Christmas is always full of memories for me and I always seem to come across new ones.

            I completely devour everything related to the holidays.  I watch a lot of movies, read a lot of stories, listen to a lot of songs and watch a lot of cartoons.  As a consumer of Christmas there is one thing about the holiday that is very evident: There are a lot of adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

            There are movies of it, it is spoofed on sitcoms, theatre groups perform it and references to it are part of our cultural vernacular.  And every year there are even more versions added.  Each person has their personal favorites.  Be it the 1938 MGM film, Alistair Sim, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Mr. Magoo, Scrooged, Flintstones, Patrick Stewart, or the original book.  The three Carols I watch every year are the lesser-known 1971 Richard Williams animated short, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Mickey’s Christmas Carol, which is my all time favorite holiday special.  Each has its individual take on Scrooge’s journey.

            So why are there so many tellings of A Christmas Carol?  And why do we keep retelling the story?  We all know the story by heart and it is one of the most retold stories in our culture.  An argument could easily be made that since it is such a familiar story that it is very marketable.  But that does not explain why we keep buying it.

            I think that the simple answer is that we keep telling and listening to A Christmas Carol, hundreds of years after it was originally published, is because it is a story we need to be reminded of.  If we look at our own lives we are most likely more like Scrooge near the beginning of the story than near the end.  No matter how many times we hear, see or tell it we are not learning from it.

            We are all uptight, concerned about gain or practicality.  We easily forget the good things that Christmas represents.  Things such as family, faith, good will to others and basic positive traits are easily forgotten amidst busy lives.

            Now I will never tire of A Christmas Carol, it is a perfect story that I always love.  But my challenge for everyone and myself is to try and act like Scrooge after he was visited by spirits.  To be open to change and focus on helping others, remembering family, being joyous in our actions and to keep Christmas with us throughout the year.

            Oh and God bless us, everyone!  Have a Merry Christmas!

Over/Under: Christmas Movies

Christmas season seems to start earlier each year, so I will start my new blog with a look at some of the best, worst, overrated and underrated Christmas movies that I've seen.

The Most Overrated Christmas Movie- Elf (2003)

I could have easily gone with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, White Christmas or even A Christmas Story (great gags that definitely hold up and are iconic, but 24-hours of it?  Really?), but my pick is Elf.  I have never really enjoyed Elf.  I like Will Ferrell in plenty of things, he is clearly talented but he has played several characters that I just find grating and irritating.  And Buddy the Elf is one of them.  He plays the character too hyperkinetic and stupid and it lacks the sincerity, innocence, and likability that aloof characters like that need.  It is by no means a bad movie, it is worth a watch.  But a holiday classic that is often quoted and overplayed every year?  Yeah, definitely overrated.

The Most Underrated Christmas Movie- Babes in Toyland (1961)

I am one of the biggest Disney fans ever, but I didn't see this movie until a few years ago.  And I enjoyed myself the whole time, I couldn't believe that Disney had essentially hid this charming treasure.  It is bright, colorful, energetic with a lot of creativity in the old school animation, costumes and special effects.  In many ways this is Disney's Wizard of Oz, while not anywhere near as perfect as that masterpiece it has that same classic fantasy musical feel (this movie also taught Disney a lot of lessons that he improved on in Mary Poppins).  The cast is great with Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello, Ray Bolger (of Scarecrow fame) and the always entertaining Ed Wynn.  The best musical numbers are Castle in Spain and I Just Can't Do the Sum which features some great Disney creativity.  The final battle scene is full of great stop-motion special effects.  I really wish that this movie had a wider audience because it should be on TV every year or at least have a good DVD release.

Honorable Mention: Joyeux Noel, The Nativity Story

The Most Disappointing Christmas Movie- A Christmas Carol (2009)

How do you mess up A Christmas Carol?  It is such a simple, basic story that has been perfected in many various adaptations.  And the collaboration of Disney, Zemeckis and Jim Carrey on a holiday classic seems perfect on paper.  But this movie is so dull and pointless, aside from a good opening scene at Jacob Marley's funeral it never provides a unique take on Dickens' story.  Motion capture is completely unnecessary for a feature film, it limits both the animators and the actors.  Most of the big special effects scenes were forced and unrelated to the story and this has to be one of the worst Bob Cratchit's ever (sorry Gary Oldman).  You really should be able to expect more out of Robert Zemeckis.

The Most Surprising Christmas Movie- Arthur Christmas (2011)

I did not expect much out of this movie.  It was mis-marketed and seemed like a Dreamworks version of Prep and Landing.  But I should have known better because the master storytellers at Aardman's created one of the funniest and most heart-warming Christmas movies ever and one of the best animated movies of 2011.  It is a real shame that this movie did not catch on with audiences, because it is an ingenious explanation of Santa Claus and one of the most accurate depictions of a family I've ever seen.  There are no bad guys in Arthur Christmas, just natural conflict and personal shortcomings from a family that puts too much pressure on themselves.  Do yourself a favor and check this out, you will not be disappointed.

My Guilty Pleasure Christmas Movie- Borrowed Hearts: A Holiday Romance (1997)

Okay I get it, there made-for-TV movies are shameless, schmaltzy and overplayed.  But this is my favorite schmaltzy, shameless Christmas movie.  It always gets me, I know that it isn't great entertainment but who cares?  It's Christmas and I'm going to watch a sentimental movie.  Roma Downey and Eric McCormack have great chemistry and fun romantic comedy setups.  McCormack in particular gives a great performance in a scene when he recalls disappointing his father as a child, that scene always gets me.  The dependable Hector Elizondo gives one of his best performances in a more substantial role than he usually receives.  Sure this movie pulls all of the low blows with the cute kid, absentee father, jobless mother, etc.  But I really do love it.

My Favorite Christmas Movie- The Santa Clause (1994)

I was born in the early nineties so The Santa Clause was one of the more popular family movies that I grew up with.  And it was one of the best family movies of the decade.  It was creative, heart-warming, irreverent, clever and timely.  Tim Allen makes a great cynical father and St. Nick in his best performance as he shows a great range and character arc.  The cast is all solid with Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, talented child stars and David Krumholtz as a great curmudgeon of an elf.  This is the feature length Christmas movie that I have to watch every year and could probably recite by heart.  I know there were two terrible sequels, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a great family holiday movie.

The Worst Christmas Movie- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)

Don't get me wrong, I love Rankin-Bass.  The original Rudolph and Frosty have always been Christmas traditions in my house and I watch plenty of their other specials (including the overlooked Story of the  First Christmas Snow and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus) every year.  When Rankin-Bass is good they are good.  But when they are bad, they are almost unwatchable.  And I would say that this is their worst holiday effort.  Worse than Leprechaun's Christmas Gold, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey and Pinocchio's Christmas.  One of the reasons that this movie was so ill-conceived is that Rankin-Bass often struggles to maintain quality for thirty minutes, naturally their full-length feature does not go too well.  When you are expanding a franchise to a theatrical film they should do something new and cinematic with it, but the animation looks cheaper than any half-hour or hour long television special.  When Frosty's Winter Wonderland and Rudolph's Shiny New Year are preferable to this that is not a good sign.

The Best Christmas Movie- Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Of course you can poke holes through the logic in this classic, but why would you want to?  There really are few films as warm and hopeful as this one.  Edmund Gwynn is the screen's greatest Santa Claus, I am still convinced that he is St. Nick.  I love the US Post Office proving Santa's sanity and Natalie Wood was a great child actress.  This movie embodies all of the emotions I want in a Christmas movie without ever being condescending or cheap.  For my money this is the gold standard of holiday entertainment.