Netflix is showing a hugely popular Christmas film which is almost entirely improvised. Take a look at the trailer below:
The 'most wonderful time of the year' has arrived on Netflix and a host of classic Xmas movies have made their way onto the platform.
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From Deck the Halls to The Christmas Chronicles, there's a load of festive hits to pick from.
Although fans will be delighted that a newly uploaded gem has made its way into the Netflix Top 10 and that's 2009's Nativity!.
"Elementary school teacher Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) is charged with producing the school's musical nativity play," the synopsis reads.
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"Competing against the fancy rival private school and his arch rival Gordon Shakespeare (Jason Watkins) for the honour of best reviewed show in town, the stakes are raised when Paul idly boasts that his ex-girlfriend Jennifer (Ashley Jensen), a Hollywood Producer, is coming to see his show with a view to turning it into a film.
"The only trouble is - they haven't spoken in years. With one 'little white lie' escalating events out of control he becomes a local celebrity and at the centre of quarrelling parents and over-excited children desperate in their bid for fame and fortune.
"Maddens' only hope is to get back in touch with Jennifer and lure Hollywood to town so that everybody's Christmas wishes come true."
Nativity! is considered to be a unique Christmas classic because most of the film was improvised, with the producers telling the actors what would happen in the scene, and the actors acting it out, with no script, according to IMDb.
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Freeman told The York Press that he's used to working under those conditions after having previously worked with writer-director Debbie Isitt on another improvised film, Confetti.
“We had a meeting back in December 2007 about her next idea – she just described the outline of my character and his journey, and I was hooked,” he says.
“She has a good way, even just one to one, of telling a story, not showily but really enthusiastically. She said, ‘It has to be you Martin’ – she’s very good at flattery, and she has a very popular touch. She has no shame at all about loving children’s films, and it’s quite infectious.
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“In Confetti, in the course of a scene, if the characters decided to take it north or east, that’s where the scene and story went.
“For Nativity!, Debbie’s general modus operandi would be, ‘We need to get from this point to this point by the end of the scene, away you go’!
“How you get there is down to you, but you have to hit certain landmarks along the way.
“I think Debbie likes the uncertainty of what can happen in a moment.”
Featured Image Credit: BBC FilmsTopics: Christmas, TV and Film, Netflix