Last Christmas is arriving in cinemas. There I said it, the dreaded C word in November…. Christmas! As much as I love it, it is too early to get excited for the festive season, although that is not stopping Universal Pictures as their new film is here! The storyline is about a woman named Kate who is working as an elf for a department store, however, her life changes when she meets Tom.
The Basics
Directed by Paul Feig, who is an actor and producer who has worked on some major shows such as the American version of ‘The Office’, and ‘Bridesmaids’.
Last Christmas was written by Emma Thompson and her husband Greg Wise. Thomas is known for her roles in ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Harry Potter’ to name a few. Wise is also known for ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and ‘Johnny English’.
The film is rated a 12A and has a run time of 1 hour and 42 minutes.
It stars Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson and Henry Golding. Clarke is best known for her role in ‘Game of Thrones’ and Golding is best known for his role in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’.
The Film
Last Christmas uses the music from Wham as its soundtrack and other music by Georgie Micahel. Thompson revealed that George Michale gave his permission to use the music before he died.
The film is being released on the 35th anniversary of Wham!: Last Christmas (1984)
It was reported in September 2018 that Clarke and Golding would be starring in the film.
In October it was announced Feig would be directing the film.
In the film there is a previously unreleased track by George Michael called ‘This is How (We Want You to get High)’ that his estate gave permission to use.
Filming began in November 2018 and finished in February 2019 and was filmed around West London.
As it was filmed around Christmas in London, the crew had to start filming at 2am to avoid too many crowds. Although Clarke mentioned on The Graham Norton Show that they would be filming as a lot of Christmas parties were finishing, so they had to deal with a lot of drunk people!
Andrew Ridgeley the other member of Wham! Makes a cameo in the film and is seen in the crowd during the Christmas show.
Clarke does all of her own singing in the film.
Thompson first started working on the script in 2010.
Ingrid Oliver who plays a police woman in the film was not asked to read from a script but was asked to improvise with Thompson while Feig watched on.
Although her character has gone through similar health issues to what she has gone through herself, Clark admitted that it was Thompson that drew her to wanting to work on this script.
Other facts
A book will be released with the movie’s release that has been written by Thompson and Wise which will feature essays discussing the meaning of Christmas. There are contributions by Olivia Colman, Emily Watson and Andy Serkis. The proceeds going to Crisis and The Refugee Council.
Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ is still a popular Christmas song having been streamed 7 million times on Spotify on the 24 December 2018.
Artists such as Carly Rae Jepsen, Ariana Grande and Hilary Duff have covered the song.
This is the second collaboration between Feig and Golding, the first being ‘Crazy Rich Asians’.
Last Christman is the first Holiday themed film since ‘Love Actually’.
Clarke’s second romantic film the first being ‘Me Before You’ where she starred alongside Sam Clafin.
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