The Man Who Invented Christmas is a 2017 biographical, comedy, drama starring Dan Stevens (Charles Dickens) and Morfydd Clark (Kate Dickens).
It tells the story of how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol.
There is a wonderful scene where Dickens says ‘get the name right and if you’re lucky, the character will appear.’
Then a man appears (Scrooge), and Dickens has a conversation with him. This is a metaphorical version of the idea that writers should write pages of dialogue to get to know their characters. By doing this, you get to understand your characters and why they say and do the things they do.
The ghosts do a great job of capturing the message from the story about being bound by the chains we put on ourselves.
Much of the film is spent with Charles Dickens in conversation with Scrooge and the ghosts while he figures out the story's plot.
And when Dickens is in the real world, he is wrestling with getting the book written & illustrated, and with his family problems.
A constant antagonist throughout the film is the constant interruptions while Dickens is in his study trying to write to a tight deadline.
Charles Dickens himself goes through a similar development to his own character, Ebenezer Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol was published on December 19th, 1843, and was sold out by Christmas Eve.
There was an immediate increase in charitable acts following its publication.
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