Bennett Miller and Tom Stoppard adapting Dickens A Christmas Carol
I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!
That quote from Charles Dickens immortal classic A Christmas Carol is a bit ironic, as the 1843 story has seen nearly two dozen filmic adaptations since the advent of the medium, starting in 1901 all the way through the Jim Carrey/Robert Zemeckis performance capture version in 2009, with just as many done for television. Now, The Hollywood Reporter is acting as the Ghost of Christmas Future, having revealed yet another adaptation is in the works at Megan Ellisons Annapurna Pictures with two-time Oscar nominee Bennett Miller (Capote, Foxcatcher) attached to direct and Oscar winner Sir Tom Stoppard (Brazil, Shakespeare in Love) penning the screenplay adaptation.
Not much is known about this new version of A Christmas Carol other than it will be set in the 19th century, the same as the original story. Ellison and Miller will produce alongside Scott Rudin and Jennifer Fox.
2009. Then before that there was a musical version in 2004 starring Kelsey Grammer, then the 1999 Patrick Stewart version before that, before that there was The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, the George C. Scott version in 1984, etc. It goes on and on and on and on and on and on...and that's not even including Scrooged.
Alistair Sim version for me! They did the best job with capturing the book's dark, creepy aspect.
I urge anyone here who has not done so to read the book. The book has stuff in it that almost never makes it into the movies (such as what happened to Scrooge's jilted fiancee). It's not very long and a very quick read.
I hope whoever does the story doesn't add a whole bunch of junk it doesn't need. It's a simple, powerful story that's great on its own and doesn't have to be tricked out with unneeded stuff.
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a universal tale, making it ripe for adaptations, parodies, and many different interpretations. The most recent one is SCROOGETTE, which brings the story into the modern day and re-imagines the protagonist. Teresa Kale wrote the script, with the film set to be produced by Myriad Pictures.
On Christmas Eve, just as in the original story, a “rich snob high school girl” gets three visits from different ghosts (past, present, and future) to show her the real meaning of friendship and family. The original Ebenezer Scrooge finds his perspective on life changed by the fateful night and presumably so will this young girl. Characters like the nephew Fred and Tiny Tim will likely have re-imaginings as well.
Scrooge has been depicted as a woman before, but never on the big screen. The first iteration was the 1995 TV movie Ebbie, with Susan Lucci playing Elizabeth “Ebbie” Scrooge and set in a department store. Then, Tori Spelling took on the role in another TV movie in 2003, this time depicting Scrooge as a female celebrity. William Shatner also appeared in this take as Christmas Present. Finally, in 2008 none other than everyone’s favorite doll starred in Barbie in a Christmas Carol.
Kirk D’Amico and Theresa Won will be producing for Myriad, with Joe Russo joining them as producer as well.
Previously, Myriad produced Robert Carlyle’s directorial debut Barney Thomson and other films such as Mountain Men and The Curse of Downers Grove.
Kale is best known as a writer for the Disney Channel Series Girl Meets World, which is a follow-up series to the popular Boy Meets World in the 90s.
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