Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
"A Christmas Carol" gets thrill ride movie treatment
Tue Nov 3, 2009 3:26pm EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Take a classic Christmas tale, a dollop of Jim Carrey and a sprinkling of innovative movie technology.
Bake for 96 minutes, Hollywood style, and you've got the latest version of "A Christmas Carol", arriving in movie theaters around the world on Friday before nary a seasonal "Bah! Humbug!" has been heard.
Billed as a "multi-sensory thrill ride", Walt Disney's 3-D animated version of the 19th century Charles Dickens ghost story follows more than 20 previous movie and TV treatments, including those starring Barbie, Mickey Mouse and The Muppets.
But director Robert Zemeckis believes none of the previous incarnations have captured Dickens' original vision. This time around, the "Forrest Gump" Oscar winner thinks he has the mix.
"It has not been realized in the way it was actually imagined by Dickens as he wrote it. I thought this would be the perfect way to tell a classic story that everyone was familiar with and re-envision it in a new and exciting way," he said.
"I think it might be the greatest time-travel story written in the English language," he added.
Carrey, best known for playing multiple personalities in movies like "Me, Myself and Irene", provides the voice and image of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge -- at every age -- as well as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come in what he called both a daunting challenge and an actor's dream.
"Every spirit is an aspect of Scrooge himself," Carrey said, explaining his casting. "I think Scrooge is a guy who was abandoned and unloved...and who has slowly been disappointed by life over and over again."
"Scrooge was also the first corporate scumbag," he added.
HORROR, HUMOR, HOLIDAY CHEER
The Zemeckis version of "A Christmas Carol" sticks closely to the well-known Dickens tale that sees Scrooge starting the holiday with contempt, then being visited by spirits who help him open his heart to undo years of ill-will toward his family, his faithful clerk Bob Cratchit and sickly Tiny Tim.
The movie uses the motion capture technology Zemeckis showed off in "The Polar Express" (2004) and in "Beowulf" (2007) that merges an actor's facial expressions and physical likeness with computer-generated, animated characters.
It allows Carrey, and fellow cast members Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins and Robin Wright to bring several roles to life while giving Zemeckis the freedom to take the audience hurtling through time, space and snowy Victorian London skies while adding elements of horror and slapstick humor to the mix.
"We can do things in this new form of cinema that you couldn't do before," said producer Steve Starkey.
Scrooge has been played by actors ranging from the Britain's Alastair Sim in a 1951 black and white movie version to Bill Murray in the modern "Scrooged" (1988) and Michael Caine in "The Muppet Christmas Carol" in 1992. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
"Conchords" star Clement says HBO show may end
Also On Reuters
Analysis: CIT's bankruptcy exit fraught with uncertainty
Blog: Are some insurers saying "no" to abuse victims?
More people now likely to invest with Buffett
More Entertainment News
Rihanna "humiliated" by leaked photo after attack
"Conchords" star Clement says HBO show may end
Oscar screenplay race lacking originality
Kate Winslet wins damages over exercise libel
Berlin holds MTV awards, 20 years after fall of Wall
| Video
More Entertainment News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Buffett buying Burlington rail in his biggest deal | Video
UPDATE 1-Virginia, New Jersey races may test Obama's clout
UPDATE 2-China clamps down on Activision's top online game
Beefeaters "harassed" lone female Tower guard
Kids will need two doses of H1N1 flu vaccine
Q+A: What are the stakes in the U.S.-China yuan tussle?
Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012
Dow dips, S&P and Nasdaq up as downgrade hits semis | Video
WRAPUP 1-India buys half of IMF's gold for sale; who's next?
Lloyds, RBS agree to massive shake-up
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Space hotel on schedule to open
Former KGB spy killed in Moscow
Obama urges 'new Afghan chapter'
Karzai to tackle corruption
Japan's pregnant pose nude
Playfish hits real revenue stream
WTC ship arrives in New York
Deadly Typhoon Mirinae hits Vietnam
Taiwan president in plane fire alert
Nuclear watchdog urges Iran
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.