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Mar 24 | 5 min readA Boy Called Christmas: Cast, plot, release date and everything you need to know
Find out how to watch the magical adventure, which boasts a cast including Toby Jones, Sally Hawkins, Maggie Smith, Stephen Merchant and newcomer Henry Lawfull in the starring role.
We all love a little magic at Christmas time, and Sky Cinema is surely bringing one of the biggest festive movies of the year to your living room.
A Boy Called Christmas is the highly anticipated film based on Matt Haig’s novel, the first of five books in the acclaimed series.
Adapted for the screen by Ol Parker and Gil Kenan, it’s sure to get you in the festive spirit. Here’s everything you need to know.
Check out our interview with Director Gil Kenan and Nikolas actor Henry Lawfull >
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What’s A Boy Called Christmas about?
An ordinary young boy called Nikolas sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father, after he embarks on a mission to find the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm.
Taking with him a headstrong reindeer called Blitzen and his loyal pet mouse Miika, Nikolas soon meets his destiny in this magical, comic and endearing story that proves nothing is impossible.
Who’s in the cast?
The young leads include newcomer Henry Lawfull (Les Miserables) as Nikolas, Indica Watson (The Missing, Deep State, Gold Digger) as Little Noosh and Zoe Margaret Colletti (Fear The Walking Dead, Rubicon) as The Truth Pixie.
Stephen Merchant (The Office, Extras, Jojo Rabbit) provides the voice of Miika, and there are some other very familiar faces in the main roles, including Michiel Huisman (The Flight Attendant, Angela Black) as Joel, Maggie Smith (Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, Sister Act) as Aunt Ruth, Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, The Martian, Ghostbusters) as Aunt Carlotta, Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Happy-Go-Lucky, Made in Dagenham) as Mother Something, Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Wayward Pines, Marvellous) as Father Topo and Jim Broadbent (Iris, Longford, Moulin Rouge!) as Father Vodol.
The film's directed by Gil Kenan, who was behind the Halloween hit Monster House. Speaking about A Boy Called Christmas, Kenan commented:
"I’ve made the kind of Christmas story that I would want to watch with my family every year, which felt like a true adventure, a journey; one that spoke to the transformative power of storytelling itself and that allowed a family story to have a total complexity to it. It isn't just all sugar plums and icing sugar. It has a little bit of that relatability that I think makes a story worthwhile."
Where was A Boy Called Christmas filmed?
Being a Christmas film, the scenery had to be wintery and wonderful to evoke that special seasonal spirit. As well as filming in London, scenes were shot in Lapland, Kilpisjärvi in Finland, and Prague in the Czech Republic.
The film’s director, Gil Kenan, told us about the challenges of filming in freezing cold conditions: “Personally, it brings the challenge of me being sure that the crew doesn’t see that I’m using Bluetooth-heated socks to keep my own feet warm. It brought about challenges that I’ve never had to encounter before.”
Is there a trailer?
Yes, you can watch the magical trailer right here:
How to watch A Boy Called Christmas
Watch A Boy Called Christmas on Sky Cinema and NOW from November 26.
Images copyright: 2021 Netflix US, LLC - Studiocanal SAS
