Glasgow schoolgirl, stars in John Lewis’ new Christmas ad
AGLASGOW schoolgirl is the star of John Lewis’ highly anticipated Christmas advert. Ruby Dailly takes centre stage as Ava in the advert which features an exuberant young dragon called Edgar who almost derails festivities in his firebreathing excitement.
She was discovered after John Lewis conducted castings in London, Manchester and Scotland.
Ruby said: “He’s a friendly dragon ‘cause he’s pals with me! “She keeps on being friends with the dragon, even though he sets everything on fire.
“He can’t help setting things on fire when he’s excited. He doesn’t mean to so he gets sad whenever I’m mad at him.
“It’s been nice to work with everyone behind the scenes. It was fun!”
Ruby’s proud dad Graham Dailly took to Facebook to express his delight over his daughter starring the famous role.
He said: “My wee Rubstar, star of the show. So proud and happy for her.”
The advert is John Lewis’ first joint Christmas campaign with Waitrose and is a return to familiar territory for John Lewis, which ended a decade of heartwarming tearjerkers featuring loveable animals and charming children last year with a star turn from Sir Elton John.
Excitable Edgar is set to a recording of REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling by Dan Smith from the band Bastille, and was filmed over two weeks in Budapest with an extras cast of around 100 people.
It follows Edgar as his excitement about festivities in his village sees him accidentally melting the ice-rink, reducing a snowman to a puddle and setting fire to a Christmas tree as his anxious friend Ava looks on.
Edgar finally shuts himself away in despair, but Ava encourages him to rejoin the village with the gift of a Christmas pudding, which allows him to put his fire to perfect use.
The ad’s creators said they were struggling to come up with the “perfect ending” until the idea of involving Waitrose led to the Christmas pudding finale.