Richard Curtis Made Sure 'That Christmas' Was Inclusive After Past Films Could Have Been 'Better'

Transcript

00:00Why this book, out of all the other whimsical children's books, did it speak to you?

00:07Well, you know, I wrote these three little stories, and I suppose, you know, they're just like personal.

00:14You write about, you have a little idea, and often when you think of an idea, I always wait for a year

00:21and see whether or not it means anything. And the stories in this movie, you know,

00:26I love the idea that kids would actually organise a better Christmas than adults.

00:32And I love the idea that a child who's naughty may actually be a child who's trying to fix their world around them

00:40rather than accepting things. And I love the idea that someone who's lonely might find that

00:46the best friend they can find is another lonely person too, rather than...

00:51So, you know, they're all things that, little stories that matter to me.

00:56It was, I cried happy tears. And I love how Santa isn't even involved.

01:00It's a very human story, you know, about these characters.

01:04Was that intentional for you to sort of get to what you wanted to convey for the holiday season?

01:09Very much. I mean, I think one of the great things about animated movies is they can create the most amazing,

01:15you know, world of animals or robots or everything like that.

01:19But I've also over the years really loved very small, intimate animated films.

01:24I'm obsessed by the first Charlie Brown's Christmas.

01:28And there was a movie called My Life as a Zucchini, which is just a story as one little boy.

01:33So I love the idea of doing an animation with all its richness,

01:37but actually focusing on really normal kids and families to whom quite normal things are happening

01:44with a bit of a little bit of sparkle in the middle from Santa.

01:47Do you, is it like kids, do you have a favorite, you know, of the characters of the stories?

01:53Do you have a one that sort of tugged at your heartstrings the most?

01:58Well, there is this, there's the story of this little boy called Danny.

02:01And I just quite like that in a kid's film, you can set up that it's a, you know,

02:07sort of latchkey kid whose mom's working in the, you know,

02:12health service and is being forced to work too hard.

02:15Dad ran off and everything.

02:17I liked the fact of having something that feels like a real, you know,

02:212020 family with those problems rather than a kind of Dickensian problem.

02:27So I think that set up is probably my favorite. Yeah.

02:30It felt very, you know, 2020 felt very new, felt very inclusive.

02:35You know, was that very important to you to have sort of everyone be able to see themselves in these characters?

02:40Yeah, I think so. Very much so.

02:42You know, and sometimes I've done things in my past films and I look back at them and think,

02:46oh, I could have and should have done better there.

02:48So I think, you know, it's really important to me to reflect the world we live in

02:53and the complexity of it and the diversity of it.