'The Man Who Invented Christmas': A Glimpse Behind Dicken's Classic Holiday Tale - CBN News Alesia Hill, Efrem Graham

 

The holiday movie season is upon us and filmmakers are giving us a new take on an old favorite with the film "The Man Who Invented Christmas". 

The movie is based on the inspiring true story of how Charles Dickens wrote, "A Christmas Carol." 

"The interesting thing is that on surface it's all fun, and roaring fires, and horse chestnuts, and snow, and dancing and blind man's bluff, but the genius of Dickens is that he transcends all that," Bharat Nalluri, the film's director told CBN News. 

"And it's really about being a human being and finding out what it is to be a human being," he explained. "And how you can share the world a little bit and that's why it resonates -- that's why the book gets sold in its millions around the world."  

Nalluri calls the movie an adventure story. 

"People always forget it's a bit of science fiction. It's "Back to the Future.  It's a man who goes back in time and meets himself and becomes a better person for it," he said. 

"I mean no one had ever done it before, even The Time Machine hadn't been written yet. So for me, it's a great frolicking adventure. It always has been," he added. 

"The Man Who Invented Christmas" is based on Les Standiford's book of the same title. The story introduces viewers to a 32-year-old Charles Dickens, who wrote the literary classic in just six weeks, all in an effort to keep creditors at bay. 

The film is set in Victorian England, at a time when the Christmas holiday had become unpopular. 

Dan Stevens, who is best known for his breakout role as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey and the prince in Disney's Live action version of "Beauty and the Beast," plays Dickens. 

 
Stevens was familiar with the story - but did some digging to learn more about his character. He read an annotated edition of  "A Christmas Carol" by Michael Hern. 

"I read accounts from (Dickens) daughter's diary about finding her dad in the mirror making these weird faces in the mirror and conjuring these characters up, and he really had to make them vivid and alive," he explained. 

Watch interview here: The Man Who Invented Christmas