Netflix Boards 'A Boy Called Christmas' As Star Cast Assembles

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Apr 15, 2019 4:00am PT Netflix Boards ‘A Boy Called Christmas’ With Jim Broadbent, Kristen Wiig in Ensemble Cast

By Stewart Clarke

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Stewart Clarke

International Correspondent

@varietystewart

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Jim Broadbent Game of Thrones — Courtesy: REX/Shutterstock

Netflix has boarded Studiocanal and Blueprint Pictures’ Santa Claus origins movie “A Boy Called Christmas,” which has just started shooting.

Jim Broadbent (“Paddington”), Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”), and Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”) will star. The ensemble cast also includes Zoe Colletti (“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”), Toby Jones (“Infamous”), Michiel Huisman (“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”), Henry Lawfull (“Les Miserables”), Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”), Rune Temte (“Captain Marvel”), and Indica Watson (“Sherlock”).

Gil Kenan will direct the picture, having adapted Matt Haig’s bestselling book with Ol Parker. Studiocanal will release the Christmas film theatrically in Australia, China, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the U.K. Netflix has it for the rest of the world, including the U.S.

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The film follows an ordinary young boy called Nikolas, who was born on Christmas Day. He sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his woodcutter father, who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm. He takes a headstrong reindeer called Blitzen and a loyal pet mouse for company.

Studiocanal is producing with Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin of Blueprint Pictures. The shoot will take place in Lapland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the U.K. “A Boy Called Christmas” was first published, by Cannongate, in 2015.

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