Plummer plays Scrooge, parties like the Dickens
Canadian actor plans to have very merry Christmas indeed, once his schedule clears
Christopher Plummer makes for a very convincing Ebenezer Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas.
But the Toronto-born, Montreal-raised actor is actually a big fan of the festive season, with fond memories of Christmases past — and also yet to come.
Once he’s done promoting his Dickens-themed movie, and also filming scenes replacing scandal-struck Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty in the emergency reshoots for All the Money in the World, Plummer plans to really get down to enjoying his Yuletide break the way he did growing up in Montreal.
“There was lots of wine and lots of eating and drinking. All that part was just gorgeous,” he tells the Star from his Connecticut home.
“I used to go down to that wonderful cathedral, Notre Dame in Montreal, the replica of Notre Dame in Paris. I used to listen to the great tenors singing all the Christmas carols, (including) Pavarotti, singing with the orchestra in the church. It was so gay and colourful, particularly in Quebec.
“And so that was inbred in me. There’s also skiing at Christmas time, and being up in the Laurentians. All the little blue lights on the hill.
“All that stuff gets to you,” he continues. “And I can’t remember another holiday at all. I usually whisk past holidays, ignoring them completely. I only wait for Christmas. Don’t tell me when Easter is; I wouldn’t know.”
Plummer thinks of himself more as a Quebecer than an Ontarian, despite his birth 87 years ago in Toronto (he turns 88 on Dec. 13).
“My whole family history is from Quebec, and I grew up at home. I always joke about it, saying that I was born (in Toronto) in 1929 and Prohibition was still around, and I took one look at it at the age of 1and went to Montreal, where we could drink 24 hours a day with no problem!
“Toronto suddenly burst into a great city. I think it’s a very attractive and wonderful city now. But in those days it wasn’t so great. So we had to grow up in Quebec, where Montreal was a naughty town!”