By George! It’s the soppiest festive film since Love Actually
A stellar cast. A snowy London backdrop. And a tear-jerking George Michael soundtrack from beyond the grave . . .
ThERE is no surer sign that the festive season is upon us than the strains of Last Christmas blaring out of shop speakers.
And if George Michael’s Wham! anthem wasn’t iconic enough, it is now the basis of a film that might be the biggest Christmas hit since Love Actually.
Dreamed up eight years ago, the Last Christmas movie was approved by the singer before his death on Christmas Day three years ago, and written by his good friend Emma Thompson.
It uses 15 of his songs to tell the story of Kate, played by Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, a troubled young woman who takes a job as a Christmas elf.
Adding to the poignancy, the final song is a previously unreleased number that George was working on before he died.
here, we reveal every sparkling detail of this Christmas extravaganza and speak to Emilia about why the role means so much to her . . .
GEORGE’S TRAGIC REQUEST TO EMMA
LAST Christmas features a large cast — including co-writer Emma Thompson — in a romantic tale set against a snowy London backdrop, and ends in a tear-jerking Christmas singalong.
But, while the film-makers admit that it aims to mimic the success of 2003’s Love Actually, they say it is intended as a modern ‘reboot’, with shoehorned references to Brexit.
They have been at pains to point out the idea was born five years before the singer’s death aged 53 from heart and liver failure.
The idea of building a film around the 1984 hit came from co-producer David Livingstone, ex-president of marketing at Universal Pictures.
When he put the idea to George, the singer agreed, on the condition that his friend Emma Thompson, who lived near him in North London, could help develop it.
Initially unsure, the actress came up with the plot while walking in Scotland with her husband, Greg Wise. Rather than making it a tale of lost love, like the song’s lyrics, the pair opted for a story about a young woman finding the meaning of true love.
Emma says: ‘I talked to George and had a wonderful afternoon with him. I got really enthused and we started to write. Then — of course — he had that tragic early death. So we lost him, and I miss him so much. I wish he was here because I know he’d love it.’
David Livingstone explains: ‘When [George] sadly passed away, we didn’t want people to think we were being opportunistic, so it was kicked into the long grass for a while.’
But new life was breathed into the idea when Greg contacted him to say that George’s manager, David Austin, wanted to chat about plans for the film, with Livingstone adding: ‘The stars aligned from there.’
ROLE THAT MEANS SO MUCH TO EMILIA
UNTIL now, rising star Emilia Clarke has been best known for playing the dragon-riding — and murderous — Daenerys Targaryen in TV series Game Of Thrones.
This time, she plays a more lighthearted role, as Kate, a Christmas shop elf who wants to be a singer.
But it’s not all sweetness and joy. For we learn that Kate has battled a life-threatening illness — something with which 33-year-old Emilia is only too familiar. Eight years ago, when she was just 25 and settling in to her role of Daenerys, she had a brain aneurysm that nearly killed her; two years later, a second one was discovered, during the treatment for which a part of her brain ‘actually died’ for a few seconds.
Miraculously, she’s made a full recovery from both incidents and is ‘100 per cent in the clear’ in neurological terms. But she says that, for a while, it was touch and go whether she would survive. Speaking to the Mail in Los Angeles, she says: ‘The first one I got was a ruptured aneurysm. Suddenly, I was fighting for my life, which was a shock. And, when the doctors were saving my life after the first one, they saw that I had a smaller one on the other side.
‘ Two years after the first operation, they said: “We need to go in now and do a preventative operation there.” So they did.’
For a long time, Emilia kept the fact that she had been ill private, and Last Christmas director Paul
Feig has said that he was unaware of it when he cast her.
Nevertheless, she admits that, when she first read the script, the similarities all but leaped out at her. ‘It was definitely like: “Oh, yes, I get that!” ’ she laughs now.
‘It was quite cathartic filming some of the scenes — not so much about what happened to Kate when she was ill as her reaction after it.
‘ Because the truth is that, when you’re given a literal life-ordeath experience — unless you’re on a cliff face and about to plummet to your death — you don’t really know it yourself.
‘What you’re normally dealing with is hospitals and doctors telling you you’re not well, and family members looking incredibly concerned — but all of that happens without you actually having to do anything . . . You don’t have time to catch up with the experience of living through it until later.’
Only when she had recovered did she began to understand the scope of what had happened. ‘I never thought I was going to die in that moment . . . but it was what happened afterwards that was difficult.
‘It was a feeling of: “Well, you told me I might die, and now I’m not, so where am I?” You go through all of that and then, one day, they tell you you can go home, which is great.
‘Then you do go home, and think: “Yes, but where’s the beeping to bring the doctor if I need one? You told me I was going to die and I didn’t, and now I’m not in hospital any more and I feel so unsafe and scared. What if I do die?”
‘Anyone who has been seriously ill knows it’s difficult going back into normal life — and the more severe the illness you had, the more time it takes for you to adjust to the life you’ve been given back.
‘For me, what I did was work. I just kept on working through it.’
LOTS OF ROYALTIES IN SANTA’S SACK
ACCORDING to the Performing rights Society, which collects royalties on behalf of UK artists, 35 years after it was first released Last christmas is still the most popular christmas song on the radio.
It generates an estimated £470,000 in annual royalties. Yet it is just one of 15 george Michael songs on the new film’s soundtrack, with others including Faith, Fast Love, Too Funky and Freedom! ’90.
‘It’s not a musical, but george’s songs are carefully placed to underscore the narrative of what we’re saying,’ says david Livingstone.
‘It’s a film that stands on its own two feet, enhanced and inspired by his music, but I think the film captures george’s spirit.’
greg Moore, founder of sound branding agency dLMdd, says it’s likely the film-makers would have done a multi-million-pound deal to use the songs, with the proceeds likely to be divided up between george’s estate, his music publishers and his record companies.
It means the proceeds will trickle down to the beneficiaries named in george’s will. His sisters, Yioda and Melanie, got an equal share of his major assets, with others named including former back-up singer Shirlie Kemp and his producer and best friend david Austin.
‘george’s estate can look forward to a fine, fine christmas,’ adds greg.
POIGNANT LAST SONG IS ‘CLASSIC GEORGE’
THE film’s closing credits are accompanied by a previously unreleased george Michael song called This Is How (We Want You To get High). It’s an oblique reference to his wish to leave behind his drug and alcohol problems.
The track has won rave reviews, with one critic calling it ‘a lovely slice of classic george Michael pop, lent added emotional weight by the knowledge that we are listening to a voice from beyond the grave’.
According to co-writer and coproducer James Jackman, the 2012 song was one of four that george had written for a record he was still working on before his death.
‘george called me one night, saying: “I’ve written a fantastic hook,” ’ says James. ‘You could immediately hear it was classic george.’
david Livingstone adds: ‘We heard it at emma’s house and she was dancing round her living room. It’s got that buoyant beat and brilliant hook that george was so good at, and fits perfectly.’
FESTIVE FILM SET FOOLED SHOPPERS
THE hub of the film is the christmas shop in which Kate works — Yuletide Wonderful, in covent garden’s 18th- century piazza.
Twelve shoots, often starting at midnight, took place there. Tens of thousands of fairy lights and gallons of fake snow were brought in to make the film’s backdrop look as magical as possible.
Set decorator raffaella giovannetti toured festive showrooms all over europe to find the perfect trinkets. So convincing was the end result that film-makers had to bring in guards to stop christmas shoppers bursting in.
‘People didn’t realise the shop was fake,’ says raffaella. ‘We had to put security barriers in front because the public wanted to come inside to purchase items.’
BENEATH THE TINSEL, A SERIOUS MESSAGE
DESPITE the upbeat message, one of the themes running through the movie is homelessness, an issue close to the singer’s heart.
In the weeks after his death, it was revealed that he had worked anonymously at a homeless shelter.
As part of the plot, Kate’s friend Tom (played by Henry golding) does the same, and Kate performs in a concert for rough sleepers.
... AND LOOK OUT FOR WHAM!’S ANDREW
FOR many george Michael fans, the feelgood message of Last christmas is a welcome celebration of the artist’s life.
Though the singer’s death in 2016 resulted in the film being stalled out of respect, emma Thompson says she is convinced he would have loved the movie.
For Andrew ridgeley, george’s former partner in Wham!, the film may help bring some closure.
The 56-year-old makes a cameo as a member of the crowd, joining in a singalong in the final scenes. ridgeley has spoken touchingly in interviews about missing george.
As for david Livingstone, he hopes the film becomes a classic. ‘I always wanted to make something like It’s A Wonderful Life,’ he says, ‘a christmas perennial that has warmth and seasonal loveliness to it, and which stands the test of time.’