Russo Brothers working on new 'A Christmas Carol' movie
After Cherry and The Gray Man, the Russo Brothers are working on a modern version of Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol. Anthony and Joe Russo have commissioned two well-known screenwriters, Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, to create the blueprint of their take on the Dickens classic. Swift and Shannon's last film as screenwriters was Baywatch (2017), which failed both commercially and critically.
Having been commissioned by the @Russo_Brothers to write a modern version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, we have seen every version that exists. I am here to tell you that the Muppet version is Top 3. A must see every Christmas. It’s wonderful.
— Shannon Swift (@shannonandswift) December 24, 2020
(And hopefully ours will be made in 2021!) pic.twitter.com/YbUzKdACHd
The screenwriter duo had recently tweeted about the development. Briefing about the project, they tagged the Twitter handle of Russo Brothers, adding that the screenwriters have seen every Christmas Carol film ever made. Talking about their preparations, they wrote: "I am here to tell you that the Muppet version is Top 3." Here, they were talking about The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).
There are no reports on casting decisions about the film, but Shannon and Swift added that they hope their version gets made in 2021. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a musical fantasy comedy film directed by Brian Henson, starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. The movie experienced nothing short of a holiday miracle recently, as deleted negatives of a song sequence were retrieved.
The novella deals with self-exploration wherein a person undergoing extreme misery is revived into a better man with reflections from the past. The story revolves around Scrooge, an old man, who despises the Christmas, disowns it so much so that he refuses to donate to charity on the auspicious occasion. Ghosts from different timelines and his dead friend Jacob Marley revive Scrooge.
There have been several feature film adaptations based on this classic piece of literature. The latest film on this story is directed by Steven Knight and stars Guy Pearce as Scrooge, with the film exploring the darkness behind the indifference at Christmas holidays originally portrayed by Dickens. Executive produced by Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott, it aired on BBC One in 2019.
