(Photo by Patrick Lewis/Starpix. Courtesy of Bleecker Street)
Based on a book by FIU Professor Les Standiford, a major motion picture, The Man Who Invented Christmas, opens nationwide on Nov. 22.
Starring Christopher Plummer as Scrooge and Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens, the film tells the story of a struggling Dickens who pens A Christmas Carol in a last ditch effort to save his career. The beloved Christmas classic was rejected initially by publishers and Dickens decided to publish it himself.
“What a thrill it is to have your book made into a film with such care — acting, costuming, set design, music,” said Standiford, director of FIU’s Creative Writing Program. “Hopefully, it means a brand-new audience will come to understand that one of the most widely read books in history very nearly didn’t get written.”
Standiford first told the true story of The Man Who Invented Christmas in a 2008 non-fiction book of the same title, which was included in The New York Times Editors’ Choice list. The author of 21 books and novels, Standiford also served as a consultant on the film and spent time on set in Dublin, Ireland.
