As the Swiss animation veteran Simon Otto makes his feature directorial debut with That Christmas, we spoke with him about this honest and heartfelt Christmas carol from the mind of Oscar-nominated and holiday-stories magician Richard Curtis.
Coming from a career in the animation, how do you feel directing this film and what directions did you give to your animation teams?
It’s a remarkable achievement to complete a film in today’s world, and I couldn’t be more excited—I’m truly buzzing with joy. Leading this original story crafted by Richard Curtis feels almost surreal for me.
My priority was that this film should fit into the canon of Richard Curtis’ films. The challenge was to figure out how to capture that charm into animation, and how animation could contribute to this story. Those films work so well because of the uniqueness of each character that makes them memorable, grounded, funny and entertaining. I was very clear with the animators about staying true to how these characters would behave.
Collaborating with Richard was wonderful and exciting, and what was great about this project is that he was very open to work in a different way. We actually developed the film simultaneously, while Richard was writing the script, allowing us to pitch visual ideas back to him. He was able to see the film as it developed. It was an amazing collaborative experience where we learned from each other’s methods of working.
Could you expand on your visual inspirations behind this film?
We had some references, like Charley Harper’s illustrations, or other Christmas animated films, and obviously Richard’s books with illustrations by Rebecca Cobb. But we quickly realized that we wanted to focus on removing anything that could stand between the audience and the film. How should it feel? How does this town feel, how do the characters and textures feel? I wanted the audience to focus on the comedy, the plotline, and created a grounded style for the film. So I worked with Uwe Heidschötter, who directed The Gruffalo’s Child and designed characters for Revolting Rhymes, and he managed to bridge the gap between the illustrative style from the books and the sophisticated three-dimensional version of the characters that we have in the film.
What is your fondest memory of the production?
I have so many. One that particularly stands out is when we were discussing about music, and Richard told me: “I think I’m going over to Ed’s — Ed Sheeran — and I could take the movie with me”. So he ended up bringing the movie on a laptop with him, they watched it together, and within a week, I received an email from an unknown address, double clicked the file enclosed, and there was Ed Sheeran’s song, the demo version of what is now in the film.
I could also tell you about the fun times we had with Brian Cox. Being a big fan of Succession, it was an incredible experience to see him transform into Santa and share some laughs together. .
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That Christmas hits Netflix on December 4. The film is a UK-US co-production between Netflix Animation, DNEG and Locksmith, and features voice talents such as Bill Nighy, Brian Cox, Jodie Whittaker and Fiona Shaw.
In this multi-threaded whimsical Christmas story, a regular holiday season turns into an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone’s plans, including Santa’s.
