Richard Curtis on the Magic of “That Christmas” and Living in the Philippines

Richard Curtis, the esteemed scriptwriter of some of the most memorable contemporary romcoms such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” and “Love Actually” has written an animated film based on his Christmas children’s books trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories. “That Christmas” follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys! This heartwarming comedy from Locksmith Animation marks Curtis’ first foray into animation, serving as the film’s writer and executive producer, and also the feature directorial debut of renowned animation veteran Simon Otto (Love, Death & Robots, How to Train Your Dragon films). Nicole P. Hearon (Moana, Frozen) and Adam Tandy (The Thick of It, Detectorists) are producers. That Christmas is now available to stream on Netflix. In this interview, we talked about his interest in making the film, the magic of Christmas, and living in the Philippines!