• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Netflix has a hugely popular Christmas film which is almost entirely improvised

Home> Entertainment

Published 10:34 10 Dec 2022 GMT

Netflix has a hugely popular Christmas film which is almost entirely improvised

The Christmas hit stars Martin Freeman and Jason Watkins

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

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.

From Deck the Halls to The Christmas Chronicles, there's a load of festive hits to pick from.

Advert

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!.

Netflix is showing a hugely popular Christmas film which is almost entirely improvised.
BBC Films

"Elementary school teacher Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) is charged with producing the school's musical nativity play," the synopsis reads.

"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.

Advert

"Maddens' only hope is to get back in touch with Jennifer and lure Hollywood to town so that everybody's Christmas wishes come true."

BBC Films

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.

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.

Elementary school teacher Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) is charged with producing the school's musical nativity play.
BBC Films

Advert

“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.

“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.

Advert

“I think Debbie likes the uncertainty of what can happen in a moment.”

Featured Image Credit: BBC Films

Topics: Christmas, TV and Film, Netflix

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

10 hours ago
11 hours ago
14 hours ago
15 hours ago
  • 10 hours ago

    Charlize Theron explains why she won't name 'scumbag' director who allegedly sexually harassed her

    Charlize Theron bravely opened up about the harassment in 2019 but says she won't name and shame

    Entertainment
  • 11 hours ago

    Netflix subscribers highlight key issue that makes streamer's latest shows 'pointless'

    Netflix subscribers have highlighted the major issue on social media

    Entertainment
  • 14 hours ago

    Little known Netflix hack shows you exactly how good every show is

    The little known Netflix hack is a game-changer

    Entertainment
  • 15 hours ago

    Jeremy Clarkson leaves brutal comment as Kaleb Cooper posts rare video of lookalike brother

    Clarkson left a brutal comment on the video

    Entertainment
  • Netflix has a new ‘Ozark-like’ series viewers call the best of 2025 after being gripped by very first episode
  • Netflix adds Tom Cruise cyberpunk film that ‘correctly predicted the future’ over 20 years ago
  • Little known Netflix hack shows you exactly how good every show is
  • Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick shot entirely improvised film with nude scene available on Netflix