Dan Stevens to play Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas
By Lacy Baugher
Dan Stevens playing Charles Dickens in a film that’s a new twist on a heartwarming holiday classic? God bless us, every one.
Remember when Dan Stevens left Downton Abbey ? And we were all heartbroken because we knew he was probably never going to get a role as good as Matthew Crawley ever again?
Well, it looks like the joke’s on us. Because Stevens has done pretty much nothing but win since he left Highclere Castle behind. This year alone he played the Beast in the blockbuster live action version of Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast, starred in indie drama The Ticket, and headlined the critically acclaimed FX drama Legion. Matthew who?
And now Stevens returns to the familiar world of period drama for his newest role. He’ll star as famed author Charles Dickens in holiday film The Man who Invented Christmas.
Based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford, the drama tells the story of the six weeks in which Dickens penned A Christmas Carol. And if the trailer is anything to go by, it offers a somewhat fantastical, but thoroughly entertaining vision of how the author came up with Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the other classic characters we know so well today.
It may not be entirely—or even terribly close to—historically accurate, it looks like exactly the sort of heartwarming fare we all crave during the holiday season.
Stevens is joined by Christopher Plummer as the infamous—and, here, completely imaginary— Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as Jonathan Pryce, Donald Sumpter, and more.
Watch the trailer for yourselves below, complete with an introduction by Plummer.
Honestly, I was fully prepared to roll my eyes for days after reading the premise of this movie. But this looks almost painfully charming. Basically? If you ever wanted to know what the work of Dickens would look like with a big, heaping dollop of magical realism on top? Then this is probably the movie for you. (I, for one, am so very here for it.)
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The Man Who Invented Christmas hits theaters Nov. 22.