- Notes provided by Sony Pictures -

The 3D, CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before-seen answer to every child's question: ``So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night? The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero: Santa's youngest son, Arthur. When this amazing operation misses one child out of hundreds of millions, Arthur, the least capable Claus, embarks on a hilarious, exciting rogue mission against the clock with his politically incorrect grandfather Grandsanta and a giftwrapping-obsessed elf named Bryony, to deliver the last present before Christmas morning dawns.

Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation present an Aardman production, Arthur Christmas. Starring the voice performances of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen. Directed by Sarah Smith. Produced by Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Carla Shelley, and Steve Pegram. Written by Peter Baynham & Sarah Smith. Co-Producer is Chris Juen. Co-Executive Producer is Peter Baynham. Co-Director is Barry Cook. Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

The film includes the song "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" by Justin Bieber from his new album "Under The Mistletoe" (featuring the new single "Mistletoe").

Arthur Christmas has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for some mild rude humor. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on November 23, 2011.

HOW DOES SANTA DO IT?

Imagine a city under a starlit sky. It's Christmas Eve, and the children are nestled in their beds, dreaming of Santa on his sleigh pulled by eight beautiful reindeer. Suddenly, a shadow comes over the city. A million pinpricks of light. A million figures descend. The invasion has begun and there's not a jingle bell to be heard...

...but don't panic. This is how Santa gets the job done every Christmas: with a huge, mile-wide, state-of-the-art sleigh with stealth cloaking technology, and a million elves, working in precision teams of three, who have 18.14 seconds to get into each house, deliver the presents, and move on to the next one.

Santa Claus is coming to town, but this time, he's not coming down the chimney.

``They have all the technology in the world and no expense is spared, says Sarah Smith, who directs and co-wrote Arthur Christmas, the new 3D, CG-animated film from Aardman for Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation. ``This movie reveals what their equipment looks like and how they do it.

Arthur Christmas is Sony Pictures Animation's first film collaboration with Aardman, the landmark animation company best-known for their award-winning and crowd-pleasing stop-motion films Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The winners of over 400 international awards, including four Oscars(R, three for Best Animated Short Film, and one for Best Animated Feature Film for Were-Rabbit), Aardman delivers their second CG-animated project with Arthur Christmas, and takes on an ambitious subject: the delivery of two billion presents in one night.

At the top of the organization is the man himself, Santa - but these days, he's more of a figurehead facing the prospect of retirement. Arthur Christmas has a second incredible secret to reveal: the Clauses are a dynasty, a long line of Santas stretching back over 1,000 years! Running the day-to-day is Santa's firstborn son, Steve - an alpha male, the next in line to wear the red suit. Santa's own dad, Grandsanta, used to wear that suit - and he'll grumble to anyone that he wore it best - but he's long since been put out to pasture, along with his lovely old sleigh, ``Eve. Mrs. Santa, the North Pole's highly capable First Lady, keeps the home fires burning - in between opening elf hospitals, negotiating treaties with Greenland, completing online degrees, and stirring the Christmas Day gravy.

And then there's Arthur, Santa's youngest son.

``Arthur believes in Christmas, and not just because he's been born into the family business, says James McAvoy, who voices Arthur. ``He believes it in his soul - there's nobody else in the world who cares about Christmas more than Arthur.

However, love of the holiday only counts for so much. Not the most practical Claus in history, Arthur's struggled in just about every job his father's placed him in - even ordinary tasks, from wrapping to maintenance. Yet, as the story begins, he's finally in a position he loves: in the Letters to Santa Department, where he revels in the hope of countless children - not just asking for presents, but sending gifts and drawings and asking questions about how it's all done.

Arthur is the unlikeliest hero-that is, until he discovers a single child's present wasn't delivered and he takes the reins to deliver the one last present the old-fashioned way

Arthur finds an ally in his grandfather, Grandsanta, who has his own reasons for wanting to go on the mission. ``Grandsanta is cranky and a nuisance, but he and Arthur share something: an uncomplicated, deep, and profound commitment and enthusiasm for the idea of Christmas, says Bill Nighy, who voices the role. ``He's the only one who can truly help Arthur.

Grandsanta isn't interested in saving Christmas just because it's the right thing to do - it's also a chance for the crotchety old codger to show his family that the old way of doing things is truly best by using the old sleigh. But even Grandsanta has a chance to come around: ``I like that he starts one way and finishes another. All of his impulses in the early part of the movie are unattractive, but he is rehabilitated by events, says Nighy.

Hugh Laurie joins the cast as Steve. ``Hugh is marvelous as Steve, says Smith. ``The character is incredibly cool and slightly in love with himself - the kind of character that just doesn't quite get it. But Hugh completely gets it, and gave us a beautiful and funny performance.

``Steve isn't the head of the operation. As part of the Claus family, he plays a subordinate Claus, says Laurie. ``But that is a terrible joke, unforgiveable, and if you use that, I will sue.

The film is directed by Sarah Smith and written by Peter Baynham & Sarah Smith. ``Pete is one of my oldest friends and collaborators, says Smith. Not long after Smith started work at Aardman developing a new slate of films, ``He rang me up and said, 'I think I've had one of the best ideas I've ever had - and he pitched me the idea for Arthur Christmas. I loved it from the beginning. It's a big, emotional, funny story - my favorite.

``I'd started to wonder how Santa actually does it, says Baynham, whose many credits (including co-writing Borat) have earned him a BAFTA TV Award and an Oscar(R) nomination. ``What does he get around in? Presumably something bigger than a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. How come, with all our radar and satellites, we don't see him? This felt like a very exciting world for a movie. But I'm always drawn to comedy; so then came the notion of what if Santa had a son as utterly impractical as me, massively into the magic of Christmas, but who you don't really want pressing any buttons, especially in such a high-tech operation.

For producer Peter Lord, one of the founders of Aardman, the idea hit home immediately. ``You get a thousand ideas a year, and you're waiting for the one that means something to you - the one that really works, he says. ``This was that idea.

``When Aardman first pitched the story, we always saw it as such a big idea, recalls Bob Osher, president of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, who, as the senior animation executive at the studio, was a frequent visitor to Aardman's Bristol base. ``This was something that had the potential to bring the wonderful Aardman appeal to a wide audience.

``It really appealed to us at Aardman because it was that big, simple idea, with broad appeal - but what we loved about it was the humor and the characters, says Carla Shelley, a producer of the film. ``It felt very Aardman - the characters are slightly flawed, not quite perfect.

``The movie is really funny and very clever - in just the way that all Aardman material is, McAvoy continues. ``It's ingenious, inventive, irreverent, different, and funny - I suppose that's what drew all of us to do it.

For Smith and Baynham, half the fun of writing the screenplay was working out the math of Santa's operation - and of Arthur's heroic mission. ``Once you start working out how Santa does what he does, it's madness, says Baynham. ``You start thinking, well, he'd have to start at the southern tip of New Zealand and then zigzag around the world to do it in twelve hours. We got into a big argument about time zones and whether Santa could fly into daylight and then back into darkness. The idea that the elves have exactly 18.14 seconds per household is based on calculations we did.

``We had to figure out how many children there are in the world, how many presents they'd get, how long it would take to travel, Smith continues. ``Then we researched the distance between all of the places that Arthur and Grandsanta fly to. We worked out how fast the sleigh would need to fly with eight reindeer for Grandsanta to get around the world back in the day. Then what happens if they lose a reindeer - now how fast do they fly?

``They did all of this research for the logistics of the story, and we found little ways to incorporate it, says Alan Short, senior supervising animator. ``We made a timeline, a chart, of what happens throughout the film and when. Whenever you see a clock in the movie, we figured out what time should be on that clock, so it all fits together chronologically.

But don't worry - there won't be a quiz. Smith and Baynham crunched the numbers so you don't have to. Instead, they hope that the audience focuses on what really matters: the heart of the story. ``The biggest principle Pete and I worked by when we were writing the movie was that we wanted to feel the emotion ourselves, the truthfulness of it, says Smith. ``It was important to us not to borrow the emotion, but to have it come from a real place. And because the movie has our genuine emotions in it, the final result is a film that is very special to us.

``We start by asking: 'How does Santa do it?' adds Baynham. ``But as the story progresses, the issue isn't so much how, but why.

ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

Arthur (James McAvoy)
``Santa's my dad! Despite living in a world devoted year-round to the business of Christmas, Arthur LOVES everything to do with the season. He is especially passionate about what Santa - who he adores as both dad and figurehead - means to children, whose identities sometimes get lost in the huge logistics of the operation. Trouble is, in the ultra-efficient, high-tech delivery operation of Christmas, Santa's youngest son is a spare part. Allergic to snow and suffering from a fear of heights, reindeer, and high-speed travel, Arthur isn't exactly a natural Claus. The family loves him - but has never quite known what to do with him. And although Arthur's office in the Letters Department is a chaotic mess of snow globes and pictures of Santa, it's a magical little corner where Arthur alone revels in the joy of it all. In Santa he believes.

``Arthur reads every single letter that comes to the North Pole, because he believes that every child deserves to receive a present at Christmastime, says James McAvoy, who voices the role. ``You know, he's relegated to the mailroom, because he's caused a lot of accidents at the North Pole, but it's just perfect for him - he gets to read these letters about the importance and the essence of Christmas, every second of every day.

``Arthur cannot bear the idea of a kid waking up on Christmas morning and finding out that Santa didn't come, says Smith. ``Arthur sees the world through that kid's eyes - it would be the end of the world.

``Arthur is a fanboy and a workhorse for Christmas, McAvoy continues. ``He wouldn't want to do anything else - he lives for Christmas. It's exciting to play somebody that fulfilled because you get to keep increasing the energy, as the character tries to maintain that fulfillment.

Steve (Hugh Laurie)
``Christmas isn't a time for emotion. Santa's oldest son Steve is the hereditary heir to the Claus reign. He's extremely qualified for the job, having introduced high-tech efficiency, military-style precision and the S-1: a mile-wide, invisible sleighship. Steve has dreamed of being Santa all his life; he's even redesigned the Santa suit into something more akin to Versace than Saint Nick. But Steve might still have a little catching up to do in the heart department.

``For Steve, running Christmas is the biggest challenge he could ask for, says Smith. ``It's like he's running FedEx, UPS, and an army, all at once. But he's frustrated, because he can't take what he sees as his rightful place as Santa Claus.

``Steve takes himself a bit too seriously - he's sort of laughable at times, because he gets it so wrong, says Laurie, ``But we all do that from time to time. He's a very confident fellow who has plans for modernizing and updating the operation - he's looking to run a state-of-the-art Christmas and he's impatient with the softer, fluffier sides of the holiday. He's driven to maximize the gift-giving. He might not have all the social skills you'd want in a boss, but he's just doing things the way he thinks they ought to be done.

Grandsanta (Bill Nighy)
``I could still do it now! And I wouldn't need a trillion elves in bleepy hats. Santa's father but also the previous Santa Claus, Grandsanta, now 136, is the archetypal old codger who complains constantly that ``Things were better in my day, when he used to go out in a lovely red sleigh pulled by eight beautiful reindeer. Frail old Grandsanta may have been put out to pasture, but he's still a proud man who has never fully adjusted to retirement. Arthur's mission just might be the thing to pull him back in for one more go.

``Arthur and Grandsanta share something special, says Bill Nighy, ``an uncomplicated, and undamaged enthusiasm, a deep, profound commitment and enthusiasm for the idea of Christmas. It's a tender relationship, and, ultimately, a successful and important one for them both.

Grandsanta is stuck in his ways, but Nighy says that he sees the character's point of view. ``Gransanta doesn't reject the 'new, improved' Christmas out of nostalgia - it's because he quite properly considers it to be an inferior way of going about things. He doesn't consider what's happened to Christmas, technologically speaking, to be a progression of any kind.

Santa (Jim Broadbent)
Ever think your dad works long hours? Spare a thought for Santa. A big, jolly, white-bearded man in a red suit, Santa Claus (the 20th in the line) is every inch the hero of children's Christmas dreams. However, in recent years, as the operation has grown more complicated, he's become more of a figurehead. He still delivers the presents as the General of his vast army of elves, but it's Steve who coordinates it all, even if dad seems a little oblivious to that fact.

``Santa has been running the show for the past 70 years - he is Santa as we know and love him, says Jim Broadbent. ``It's a great honor to be asked to play him. I didn't feel worthy of the responsibility, but I took it on with humility and excitement.

``Santa loves being Santa, says Smith. ``He's the most adored man in the world - he's spent years and years being utterly beloved by children. At the same time, he is a man of conflicting emotions. ``He's very tired. He's been Santa for a long time, his every move is monitored by Mission Control. But he's terrified of retiring - he's been Santa for so long, what would he do if he wasn't Santa anymore?

Finding the character's voice, Broadbent says, began with seeing a drawing of the character. ``You get the image, and then you find the voice from the image, he explains. ``It was quite easy to imagine a voice to fit such a detailed and inspiring model.

Mrs. Santa (Imelda Staunton)
Like the wives of most world leaders, Mrs. Santa is a highly intelligent, capable, caring woman forced to exist in her husband's shadow while quietly running a huge amount behind the scenes. But when it comes to the crucial moment when Santa has to step up and go back out into the world in order to do the right thing, it's Mrs. Santa who takes charge, using knowledge gleaned from decades of reading, studying, and taking internet classes in everything from global navigation to flying a microlight aircraft.

Smith says, ``Mrs. Santa is a bit like the First Lady. She has to let the men run it - but behind the scenes, she keeps a lot of things in good running order. She's the power behind the throne.

``Mrs. Santa is the one who keeps everyone together and keeps everyone organized, says Imelda Staunton, who voices the role. ``She is like most women - not seeming to run everything, but in fact running everything.

Santa is getting to that age where he's thinking about retirement - an idea that Mrs. Santa fully supports. ``What she'd really love is for Father Christmas to be at home a couple of Christmases, which is rather sweet, says Staunton.

Staunton previously teamed with Aardman on their first feature film, Chicken Run, and takes on a third role in their next film, The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Not only that, but Staunton was the inspiration for the character of Mrs. Santa in Arthur Christmas, even before she was cast in the role. Of course, the admiration is mutual. ``When it's anything to do with Aardman, whether it's one word or 10,000, you say yes, she says. ``Who isn't a fan of theirs? I feel lucky to be a part of it.

Bryony (Ashley Jensen)
Bryony Shelfley, Wrapping Operative Grade Three, is an elf, a lowly member of Santa's Giftwrap Battalion. A loyal if somewhat manic footsoldier, she is utterly obsessed with her job and can list every one of the 118 types of ribbon bow. But all elves live for the chance to go out in the world in the service of children, and Bryony is no exception. So when the opportunity arises for Bryony to join Arthur and Grandsanta's rogue mission to deliver the last present, there's no holding her back.

``She's a feisty little worker - she loves rules and a little bit of order, says Ashley Jensen, best known for her award-winning work on ``Extras and ``Ugly Betty. ``She is very excited to be part of Arthur's mission to deliver the final present. She's like a good, well-behaved child; she obeys and does what she's told, and if there's any deviation from routine, she goes into a bit of a panic.

For her inspiration for the role, Jensen didn't have to look too far. ``We knew that because she's an elf, she'd have a small voice - like a small child, she says. ``I often look at my child and go, 'Here, listen to this tiny voice box.' I think my son really did influence this character. It's like having my own wee elf in the house.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The Aardman / Sony Pictures Animation Collaboration

In taking on a project with the scope and scale of Arthur Christmas, Aardman - a company best-known for the clever humor and idiosyncratic designs of its signature stop-motion films - took on a great challenge: how to translate the characteristic Aardman sensibility to a 3D-animated form.

``At Aardman, we always say that the house style is in spirit more than anything else, says Peter Lord, a producer of the film and a co-founder of Aardman. ``We like to make different sorts of films. This one was radically different than anything we've done before - different because it's CG, of course, but also different in scope, different in design, and different in its style of writing. It's very skillfully detailed, verbal, witty, and clever. But we're happy with the ways it's different, because it still feels very much like an Aardman film at its heart.

The project became a merging of the minds between the storytellers at Aardman, the creative animation team at Sony Pictures Animation, and the CG artists and technology at Sony Pictures Imageworks and Aardman. Bob Osher, president of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, says that the animation studio's unique expertise made it a perfect match for Aardman. ``It was extremely important to all of us that every nuance and character trait that is unique to Aardman's style of animation be facilitated as the project moved into the digital pipeline. Imageworks, our digital production facility, has always tailored its resources to serve the look and style of each film, just as Sony Pictures Animation has never established a house look because we want each movie to determine its own visual style, says Osher.

``This movie always had the scale and landscape - there was no question it would be a CG film. There was no way we were going to build a million elves as individual puppets! says David Sproxton, a producer of the film and Aardman's co-founder. ``We knew that the only way to do it was CG. It just made so much sense to partner with Sony Pictures Animation.

The job began at Aardman's home studio in Bristol, England, where the filmmakers worked on the design of the characters, their world, and the story. Several key members of the Sony Pictures Animation and Imageworks teams took up residence in Bristol to work closely with the Aardman team and ensure a smooth transition into digital production. Among them was Sony Pictures Animation's Donnie Long, who moved to Bristol as the film's head of story. ``The Clauses are a British family, so there was no better way to get some of the finer points of life - and some of the more unusual references - than to see it firsthand. I'm an enormous fan of many classic British comedies, from television to movies to standup to social commentators - not to mention Aardman's animation and their sensibility - so to be able to go there and work there was really a dream come true for me. It was a great experience to actually be in the UK, working on the story, says Long.

When they were ready to begin animation in earnest, the core Aardman crew moved to Culver City, California, where they integrated with the Sony Pictures Animation team. ``We shut the production down in Bristol on a Friday, and opened up in California the following Monday, explains producer, Steve Pegram. ``Sony Pictures Animation has a wealth of creative talent and a fantastic set of tools at Imageworks - it made sense for Aardman to come here and learn about CG films from people who have been doing it for many, many years.

``Aardman had a great story concept - they just needed a place to make it, says co-producer Chris Juen, a longtime Sony Pictures Imageworks producer whose credits include Spider-Man, Stuart Little, The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Sony Pictures Animation's Surf's Up and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. ``I think they felt that we could do their story justice. I'm proud of the job we did - it's a large-scale and ambitious film, and frankly, I'm blown away by how good it looks.

So, the primary question became: how to make this ambitious, CG project also a distinctively Aardman project. Character designer Tim Watts says that the goal of the design and animation teams was ``to achieve a look that was Aardmanesque - retaining the simple shapes of Aardman designs - but also a little different, a little more grounded.

``Early on in character design, we tried to figure out what makes an Aardman character, says Juen. ``Because they work in clay, there's an endearing imperfection to the characters. However, trying to make a computer image imperfect is a very complicated thing to do. We spent some time messing with the symmetry of the characters - as they become less perfect, I think people relate to them more. That was very important to Sarah, right from the beginning.

The production designer, Evgeni Tomov, agrees: ``We definitely wanted to integrate some of the British quirkiness, but the big challenge was to create a film that is recognizable as an Aardman look and yet different from the stop-motion aesthetic the company is known for. It had to be believable without being hyper-realistic.

In a sense, because Smith and Baynham have a history in live action, they approached the project with a live-action sensibility. ``I actually first envisioned the movie as a live-action movie - I had even pitched it that way - until Sarah convinced me it had to be done in animation, says Peter Baynham. ``And she was right. You know, sometimes I'll see a Christmas movie and think, 'Well, that's a famous actor in a Santa suit,' but I see our movie and I think, 'That's Santa.' A live-action movie could never portray Mission Control or the S-1 as animation can. I'm so happy we did it this way.

There is no one way to write an animated movie, but because of their backgrounds, Smith and Baynham were able to avoid some of the clichés of the medium- avoiding fast-moving animation and focusing on the true emotion of the scenes. ``Without realizing it, Pete and I set up a ridiculously big challenge for an animated movie - it depends on detailed emotional performances from human characters, says Smith.

``We talked a lot about it, says Alan Short, the film's senior supervising animator. ``We tried to avoid the clichés wherever we could. How do people really behave? How would we do this if it was live action?

Though animators work with their hands, the characters they create have to give performances that are as subtle and emotional as any actor's. Short says he is proud of the work done by his team, especially as the film reaches its conclusion. ``We have full-face characters on screen, acting emotionally. It's sentimental, but not schmaltzy. We encouraged the animators to film themselves acting to give them a reference - not because they're the greatest actors in the world, but to give them a framework to work from, a grounding in the real world. Creating that really required the animators to put themselves out there - you feel naked when you create a performance like that. Those were the most exciting moments for me, during production - the animators would bring something to life, and even though I knew what was coming, I'd feel it, because suddenly it was real and alive. It was a tremendous challenge, and I'm proud of what they achieved.

In a way, Smith's and Baynham's live-action approach dovetailed with Aardman's signature style: stop-motion is grounded in a similar reality. In CG animation, anything can be modeled in the computer, and the virtual ``camera can be placed anywhere in space and shoot at any angle. A stop-motion animator has to work with real modeling clay and a real camera, just as a live-action filmmaker has to work with real actors and equipment.

On the other hand, maybe it's not such a difference after all, says Sproxton. ``Everything has to be made in the computer in the same way that every prop in stop-frame has to be made and crafted out of wood or resin. Sure, you may be able to hit 'copy and paste' in a way - but everything has to be handcrafted in the same way. That runs through every film we do; that craftedness, that attention to detail. The crew throws themselves into it and the love and care that goes into the movies is definitely there on the screen, I think.

The visual effects supervisor, Doug Ikeler, says that approach freed the animators to open themselves up to new possibilities. ``Sarah took us out of our comfort zone, he says. ``Because she wasn't as familiar with the limitations as we were, she'd ask for things that seemed undoable - and we'd stop and think about it, and find that, y'know, maybe we could do it after all.

Christmas Stars: The Character Design

The design of Arthur Christmas began with the characters. ``For us, it's all about character, says producer Steve Pegram. ``We never say that we want the film to look a certain way - we find the personality of the characters, and the look follows.

Tomov agrees: ``Once the characters are created - when we know how stylized or realistic they are - we can start creating an environment for them to live in.

For the character designs, the filmmakers first turned to Peter de Sève, a well-known illustrator and animator, for a first pass at what the characters might look like. From these early sketches, character designer Tim Watts translated the inspiration into a full-fledged character that could be animated in three dimensions.

``We always start with drawings, he explains. ``When we had a drawing Sarah liked, we'd take it to the sculpt stage, to explore how those proportions would work in three dimensions. On many CG-animated films, this modeling is done directly in the computer, but for Arthur Christmas, Watts did it the old-fashioned way: with clay.

``Sarah was very involved, says Watts. ``I remember having a model of Grandsanta and I'd be sculpting in front of her, adding a bit more on here, cutting away there, as we spoke. It was quite interactive.

Of course, the lead character is Arthur. ``He doesn't realize how he appears to everyone else, says Watts. ``Everything he wears is unhip - he has his horrible Christmas sweater. We made him skinny, so the sweater just didn't fight right.

For the big man himself, Watts says that he created a Santa with ``an archetypical look, but also a wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights gaze - he just doesn't quite know how these new-fangled ways took over the operation.

When a model is approved, it is scanned into the computer and cleaned up. ``We remove the lumps and bumps, and it gives the animators a solid shape to work with, says Watts.

About the Production Design

Much of the early development work on Arthur Christmas took place at Aardman's home base in Bristol, England. ``We had sixty or seventy people working there, including several artists from Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks, says Pegram. When the production moved to Sony Pictures Animation in Culver City, California, ``we brought 15 or 20 people with us, Pegram continues. ``Aardman's a very individualistic company - it works in a certain way - so there was a little nervousness about how the relationship would work. But Sony Pictures Animation welcomed the Aardman team, both groups showed great creativity, and it came together very, very successfully.

Tomov and his team of 25 artists were charged with creating the film's production design. ``This film is very ambitious, he says. ``The locations vary from the North Pole to Mexico to Toronto to Africa to Europe. All of those locations had to fit stylistically in the same world, and it needed a lot of research.

``Some of the places we visit in the film are only on screen for a few minutes or even a few seconds, and they have to convey the essence of that place without a caption at the bottom of the screen telling the audience where it is. We'd ask ourselves, what makes Africa Africa? Tomov says. ``On the other hand, there are other locations that are intended to be a surprise and get revealed as the film goes on; that was also a challenge.

Much of the film is about the clash between Steve's and Grandsanta's different approaches - one ultramodern and high-tech; the other, warmer, but belonging to a world that is slipping away. ``It's a challenge to make these two different worlds look like part of the same film, says Tomov. ``Steve's world is very contemporary, while Grandsanta's world carries the soul and warmth that everyone associates with Christmas. Much of the movie is about the conflict of those two worlds, and, of course, at the resolution of the film, the story confirms that they don't necessarily have to be in conflict.

Arthur's office at the North Pole is in the Letters to Santa department. ``His office had to be the beating, warm heart of Christmas, says Tomov. ``We tried to make it a slightly chaotic environment - the letters are piled up in a very spontaneous way. But it was the lighting that really helped - we were able to give the office a warmth and a special, golden glow that was a good juxtaposition to the surrounding cold, icy corridors.

``His office is just loaded with Santa paraphernalia, says Doug Ikeler, the visual effects supervisor. ``Every country, every age group, every little Santa tchotchke you can think of is in there. I'm really proud of the work that went into that - the Sony Pictures Imageworks modelers, texture artists, lighters really did some knock-out work that I hope the audience never notices - I hope it just seems like a real location.

For the animators, creating Steve's high-tech world offered a wealth of creative possibility. ``Everybody wants to animate science fiction at some point in their career, says Short. ``The elves are pretty well-organized - there's the sergeant, who's the commanding officer of the group, and a delivery elf, who needs a special backpack to deliver the gift, and the gadget elf, with specialized bits of equipment to help overcome any obstacles, from alarms to unruly pets to squeaky floorboards. The gadgetry was a lot of fun for us - it plays out as comedy.

But perhaps the greatest challenge was to wrap the final present - a bike - as Arthur is riding it, using only three pieces of tape. Is such a thing even possible?

``We got a bike and gave it to one of our superstar animators for research, says Alan Short, the senior supervising animator. ``Well, the next time I saw him, he was in the corridor, trying to wrap a child's bicycle using only three pieces of tape. Later, the supervising animator on that sequence, Alan Hawkins, planned it out meticulously - he could tell you the path the bike takes and how much of the bike is wrapped at any given time.

Ikeler adds, ``We had a little competition amongst the crew - wrap the most exotic thing you can think of. And I'm just saying, if you need to wrap something with three pieces of sticky tape, you can do it. You can absolutely do it.

The S-1

Along with Steve at the helm, and the one million elves, the S-1 is THE answer to the big question, how does Santa do it?

It takes a very special aircraft to circle the globe and make its deliveries all in one night. When the mystery of how Santa can possibly deliver all those presents in one night is revealed, it is Santa's new sleigh that stands out as a feat of engineering - and design.

The S-1 is enormous: large enough to cover a city while the three-elf teams descend into homes and leave presents for the children. And fast: it travels at 10,368 km/h or 0.92 million miles per hour, 8.4 times faster than the speed of sound.

The S-1 travels at equipped with camouflage ``skin that allows it to project any image to help camouflage the ship. It's very chameleon-like in the way it can reflect the image that is below it and then the look as if the S1 had disappeared.

Here's the tale of the tape on what gives the S-1 its oomph:

? Width: 1.16 miles
? Length: 2.08 miles
? Speed: 0.92 million miles per hour. (8.4 times faster than the speed of sound)
? Power: 15.22 trillion watts RP (Reindeerpower)
? Propulsion System: STRICTLY CLASSIFIED (except to Clauses and Elves above Level 12. Hacking this information is Level 1 Naughty and WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF PRESENTS!)
? Carbon emissions: 0.0000000000000000000000000000000015 g per 1,000 miles.
? Camouflage System: K-MELION X 1000 'Video Skin' enveloping craft projects any environment onto itself, rendering craft 100 invisible*
? Color (at rest, non-stealth conditions): Festiva Red Metallic Finish

Personnel Capacity
? Elves: 1,000,023
? Clauses: 5

Hold Capacity
? Presents: 2,000,000,000
? Stocking Filler (chocolate coins, candy canes, small toys, oranges): 121,000,000 metric tons

Miscellaneous
? Bathrooms: 62,103
? Coffee Machines: 1
? Airbags: YES
? Rear window defogger
? USB port with smartphone connectivity
? Time to wash: 3,876 Elf Hours

MORE FUN FACTS

- CELEBRITY CAMEOS - Many celebrities and production crew members recorded cameos for the film including:
o Andy Serkis (``The Lord of the Rings)
o Joan Cusack (``Toy Story 3, ``Working Girl)
o Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the ``Harry Potter movies)
o Dominic West (``300)
o Sanjeev Bhaskar (``Notting Hill)
o Jane Horrocks (``Chicken Run)
o Rhys Darby (``Yes Men, ``Flight of the Concords)
o Michael Palin (Monty Python) as the elf Ernie Clicke
- 20TH SANTA - Santa Claus at the start of the film is the 20th in history.
- MRS. SANTA - Mrs. Santa was actually inspired by Imelda Staunton long before she was even cast. The designers looked at the strong determined jaw, the intelligent, twinkling eyes, and the apple cheeks that surely are a Mrs. Santa essential.
- FUN CAMEO - When Steve is sneaking into a Gwen's home towards the end of the movie, he almost steps on a Shaun the Sheep toy (from Aardman's popular TV show; Shaun was first introduced to audiences in the Oscar-winning Nick Park short, ``A Close Shave)
- SWEATER - Arthur has a different Christmas sweater for every day of the year. His Easter one features the Easter Bunny leaving an egg for Santa on the front, and Santa leaving a Christmas present for the Easter Bunny on the back!
- Arthur loves Christmas so much, he has a 365 Day Advent Calendar.
- Arthur can sing ``Silent Night all the way through backwards.
- Arthur is believed to be working on a version of 'The 12 Days of Christmas' called 'The 365 Days of Christmas' with 365 verses.
- Some animators working on the movie bedecked their work spaces with Christmas trees, decorations and lights for the WHOLE two years they were animating!
- Peter and Sarah first worked together in radio in the UK in 1990. The first time they worked together was on a topical sketch show called 'Weekending' for BBC Radio 4.
- Since Peter and Sarah started work on Arthur Christmas, they estimate that Santa has delivered 5,411,987,195 presents to 476 million children!
- It is rumored that Santa's favorite pizza is 14 inch thin crust with pepperoni, olives, anchovies and mushroom. Unfortunately, the nearest delivery pizza restaurant to the North Pole is Classic Pizza, in Longyearbyen, Norway - 511.2 miles away. Unfortunately the distance and terrain are too far and the wrong terrain for the restaurant's bikes, so Santa has microwaved ones instead.
- Arthur - and the way he fits (or rather doesn't) in the workings of The North Pole - is based on writer Peter Baynham, especially his experiences in the British Merchant Navy as a Navigating Officer, which he joined, inexplicably, even to him, when he was 16. He ran away to sea at this young age, then almost immediately realized he was totally unsuited to this macho world of practicality, organization and navigating by the stars. He stuck it out for five crazy years, during which he lost a lot of tools, nearly died from electrocution while using an electric drill in three feet of water, and the first time he was left in charge on a ship's bridge - a noxious chemical-filled floating version of the S-1 - he panicked, forgot all his training, and nearly collided with a ferry in the English Channel. If Peter was Santa's son, he would have flooded the elf barracks long ago!
- Grandsanta is based on older relatives of Sarah Smith's and Peter Baynham's, who would say awful un-PC things at the dinner table.

FUN FACTS: Exploring Arthur's Office

BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS THEM DETAILS
- Almost all the pictures on Arthur's wall were drawn by children of the production team or their friends and relatives, and are addressed to Santa. The rest were (very skillfully!) drawn by the production team.
- All the mail in his office are categorized and sorted by country; you will see little stamp-sized flags sticking out of the boxes here and there.
- Arthur has a round stamp with the North Pole logo that he uses to sign his letters. This was also made into a real stamp and was used on letters in the production team.
- All the toys in Arthur's office had to be designed and built/colored/painted from scratch.
- There are Christmas PEZ dispensers somewhere around and a Santa bubble gum dispenser.
- There are about 30 different baubles all designed and with different colors/patterns, plus 5-6 different type of strings and tinsel and light string variations.
- There's a Christmas tree shaped lava lamp in the corner of his room, an elf clock on the wall with the elves' hands being the minute and hour arrows
- There is a Santa jack-in-the-box.
- There are "Russian nesting doll-type Santas scattered around.
- Next to his computer is a Santa shaped walkie talkie.
- The production crew tried many different handwritings for Gwen's letter to Santa before they found the right one.
- There is a "Whack an elf" game somewhere and a dancing Christmas tree with sunglasses (like the dancing cola cans).
- Some of the elf gadgets have funny names and details. There's some goggles with the name SNOWY on them, a play on SONY.
- There are some fun books on Arthur's office shelves with titles like:
- HOW TO WRITE A CHRISTMAS LIST by JUSTIN CASE
- HAROLD ANGELS by LOTTIE WINGS
- XMAS ANNUAL by BJORN. A. GAIN THE SNOW WOMEN by I.C.ROADS
- SNOW SNAKES OF THE WORLD by ANNA CONDA
- FREEZE A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW
- and CHRISTMAS TINSEL TOWN by DEC. O. RATION
- WAYNE AMANGER by B CAROL
- THE REIN DEER HUNTER with a picture of a reindeer holding a smoking gun.
- ELF AND SAFETY MANUAL
- HOLY CHRISTMAS by TIM BURR

FUN FACTS: Elves

There are one million elves that work on this mission: a gigantic advanced, covert operation all in the name of preserving the magic of Christmas. The elves work in teams of three, each team composed of one Field Elf Sergeant, one Field Delivery Elf and one Field Gadget Elf. Each team is only allowed 18.14 seconds to complete a delivery per household.

In addition to the strike teams, there is an assortment of specialty Elves able to handle any situation. There are also the Elves who staff Mission Control and the Field Elves who deliver the presents.

Here is a full list of the 13 Elf Rankings:

Field Elf
Feeler Elf
Alarms/Gadgets Elf
Wrapping Elf
Sorter Elf
I.T. Elf
Listener Elf
Paramedic Elf
Delivery Elf
Mission Control Elf
Special Santa Unit Elf
S-1 Crew Elf
Helmsman Elf

TRIVIA: The elves carry Chimney Lube!

FUN FACTS: Elf Gadgets

All of the elves have a variety of different gadgets and props that enable them to do their jobs. These include:

ELF-DOWN EMERGENCY C-CRACKER (aka ECC)
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
*for all ED ('Elf Down') Situations, where personnel may be left behind by mission.

Contains:
Glucose Bar
Milk (1/4 pint)
Compressed Foil Blanket
Tent Capsule (1 cm long . Crush in forefinger and thumb to release one-elf tent. NEVER place in mouth).
Distress Ornament
Chocolate Coin
Candy Cane
Emergency Christmas pudding
Miniature Christmas Tree.
Magic Dust Pellet (Break over head to enable floating escape)
Emergency Christmas Carol
Lightweight Fold-up Child Costume -- to be donned IMMEDIATELY if left behind.
Interrogation Response Statement. For use in event of detention by Non-Polar Authorities or curious children); 'I am not an elf. I am a human child. My pointy ears are the result of a medical condition. Please allow me to use your telephone or computer so I may contact my parents.' (Printed in six languages).

CORNERCAM CC-8
For use by MISSION ELVES, RESIDENCE PENETRATION SPECIALISTS (RPS)
For all client residence stealth operations. Able to peer around corners, under beds, into pet dwellings etc.
For use with CPS (Close Parental Situations) and to evade curious children.

LOBE-2 Headset
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Featuring Universal Elf Ear Molding
For rapid distribution of operational commands and listening to approved carols.

V-800 LEAVOUT SUCTION GUN
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Laser guided pump action device for sucking up liquids, beverages and small food items left out for Santa. Settings: Milk, Rice Pudding, Oatmeal, Nip of Whisky, Cookie, Mince Pie, Shoe Full of Rice.
If food item too large for suction pipe, break in half as per maneuver learned in Basic Training.

ST0CK-1NG STOCKING FILLER GUN
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Pump-action, repeating. Can fill whole stocking in 1.14 seconds. NEVER fire at own face or child. This may result in rapid discharge of candy canes, chocolate coins and small toys at the target and make a big mess. Replenish on S-1, Level 5.
**NLB - NEVER LEAVE BEHIND! Children could replace contents with water, tennis balls or small pets.

WRIST-MOUNTED DROP COUNTER
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
For continuously updated 'Drop Time': number of seconds per household.
Mission average 18.346 seconds for house of 2.698 children.

NIGHT VISION INFO-SPEX
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Darkness-enabled goggles. Inner lens displays mission updates, child data and residential hazards, e.g. squeaky steps, aggressive pets and suspicious kids with cameras.
WARNING Use in daylight may result in dizziness and banging into things.

PET-STOP 1000 ANIMAL TREAT RIFLE
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Fires species-appropriate treats into mouths of noisy house pets. DO NOT USE on animals below 2 inches in length! Pat these creatures to achieve silence. For oversize pets, e.g. horse, bear or above, liaise with your Team Leader.
Settings: PARROT, PONY, DOG, CAT, RABBIT, GOLDFISH.
Personal Consumption from Pet-Stop during mission IS FORBIDDEN. A chocolate coin and festive energy bar are in your backpack.

NIGHT-CUT X1225 LASER-GUIDED SCISSORS
For use by GIFTWRAP BATTALION ONLY
Power-assisted, laser aided scissors for covert wrapping, repairs and rewraps in the field.
DO NOT RUN with this item.
Non-mission use, i.e. cutting hair, uniform repairs and dividing up pizza STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.

SHOULDER-MOUNTED TAPE GUN
For use by WRAPPING BATTALION ONLY.
High velocity precision tape dispensing pistol for wrapping, repairs and rewraps in the field.
Features tape-coming-off-roll silencer for child-proximity situations and electronic thing for finding the end.

SNOW GRENADE
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
For covert camouflage and security camera disorientation.
When detonated, equivalent to 16.76 snowmen of High-Whiteness Polar Snow.
DO NOT explode near to angry polar bears or in a colleague's bunk as a practical joke.

CH0MP-500 VACUUM/MUNCHING DEVICE
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
For precision biting/chomping/sucking up food & beverages left out for Santa and reindeer:
Settings: Santa (Cookie/Mince Pie/Shoe full of rice) and Reindeer (Carrot).
Any use on fellow personnel, either as practical joke or during argument, is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN and will result in disciplinary action, e.g. loss of presents.

SUCKER X-15 Back-Mounted 'Leavout' Tanks
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
For use with CH0MP-500 VACUUM/MUNCHING DEVICE.
For containment/disposal of food and beverages left out for Santa and reindeer. Capacity: 1.3 gallons of festive gunk.
ONLY DISPOSE OF CONTENTS ABOARD S-1!

GRAPPLESUCK G-6 BUILDING ACCESS GUN
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
For access to high windows. High tensile cable connected to rubber suction cup with sticking power of 10,000 MegaSucks. NEVER fire at moving object such as car, train, airplane or rampaging elephant.

HOHO 3000 -- HANDHELD OPERATIONAL AND HOMING ORGANIZER
For use by: ALL NORTH POLE PERSONNEL (except Arthur and Grandsanta)
100 Million Terabyte Personal Comms Unit.
For communications, navigation, emergency alerts ('Elf down' 'Waker', 'Total Rewrap Required'), data storage, texting your friends and remotely checking the temperature of a roasting turkey.
Must be turned off for S-1 launch and landing.

HoPAD
Currently used by HEAD OF POLAR OPERATIONS STEVEN S CLAUS ONLY!
No further information available at this time.

X-DROP ELF BACKPACK
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Lightweight Mission Backpack. Contains: Compass, Emergency Magic Dust Capsule, Spare pet treats (see Pet-Stop 1000), First Aid kit, Giftwrap Repair Kit (Giftwrap Battalion only), vacuum-packed socks, spare earplugs, mittens, Emergency Mistletoe, and 'Elf Down' instructions in case of stranding.

SNOW-BLASTER SKI BOOTS
For use by MISSION ELVES, ALL RANKS
Airjets in heels enable instant removal of footprints from rooftops. Tele-skis on command for rapid rooftop access (DO NOT ACTIVATE IN CONFINED SPACES. SKIS COULD INJURE A COLLEAGUE'S SHINS)

UNIVERSAL LOCK DEMOBILIZER
For use by MISSION ELVES, HOUSE ENTRY SPECIALISTS
Attaches to any lock in the world and instantly opens it.
EXTREME CAUTION IN HOMES OF CHILDREN WITH NAUGHTINESS SCORE OF 70 OR MORE.

KIDSCAN 500
For use by MISSION ELVES, HOUSE ENTRY SPECIALISTS
Back-of-hand Mounted Behavior Sensor.
Scans target children for Naughty/Nice score through year.
Wireless connection dictates STOCK-1NG Stocking Filler gun delivery amount.

ABOUT THE CAST

Golden Globe nominated actor JAMES MCAVOY (Arthur) won over American audiences with his critically acclaimed breakthrough performances in The Last King of Scotland and Atonement. McAvoy continues to test himself with a wide variety of work, on stage, television and film and is regarded as one of the industry's most exciting acting talents.

McAvoy can be seen in the summer hit X-Men: First Class, where he plays Charles Xavier (the young Professor X) alongside Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Nicholas Hault, and Kevin Bacon, with Matthew Vaughn directing. He is currently filming Eran Creevy's action thriller, Welcome to the Punch.

McAvoy was most recently seen alongside Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, Robin Wright and Alexis Bledel in The Conspirator. Directed by Robert Redford, the film was released in April 2011. McAvoy was last heard as the voice of Gnomeo in the 3D animated comedy, Gnomeo and Juliet, opposite Emily Blunt.

In 2009, McAvoy took to the stage at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End playing the two roles of Walker and his father Ned in Richard Greenberg's ``Three Days of Rain, which earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. In February 2010, McAvoy was seen on screen in The Last Station, directed by Michael Hoffman and co-stars Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti and Anne-Marie Duff.

He also starred in Julian Jarrold's Becoming Jane with Dame Maggie Smith and Julie Walters, as well as Penelope, directed by Mark Palansky and co-starring Reese Witherspoon, Christina Ricci, and Richard E Grant. McAvoy also starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie in Wanted; directed by Timur Bekmambetov and based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar, the film grossed over $300 million world-wide.

Other film credits include Atonement, directed by Joe Wright and co-starring Keira Knightley and Romola Garai in which McAvoy received Golden Globe and BAFTA Best Actor nominations and won awards from The London Film Critics Circle, the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the UK Regional Critics for his performance.

In 2006, McAvoy took the lead role in the adaptation of the hugely popular David Nicholls book Starter for Ten, for HBO Films. The film was directed by Tom Vaughan and produced by Tom Hanks. The film was released in the UK in October 2006 and premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival before a February 2007 US release.

December 2005 saw the arrival of Disney's film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Directed by Andrew Adamson and co-starring Tilda Swinton, the film became one of twenty highest grossing films of all time. McAvoy was nominated in the British Actor in a Supporting Role at the 2006 London Film Critics Circle Awards for his performance. It also helped him win the Rising Star Award at the 2006 BAFTAs.

McAvoy took on his first feature film lead role in Inside I'm Dancing (US title: Rory O'Shea Was Here), directed by Damian O'Donnell and co-starring Romola Garai. The film was released in the States in February 2005 and McAvoy was nominated in the Best British Actor category at the 2005 London Film Critics Circle Awards for his performance.

In the summer of 2005, McAvoy traveled to Uganda to take on the lead role in The Last King of Scotland, directed by the Oscar(R) and BAFTA winner Kevin Macdonald. McAvoy was nominated for a BAFTA, a European Film Award, a BIFA, and a London Film Critics Circle Award for his performance.

McAvoy's popularity in the UK grew with his portrayal of the car thief, Steve, in the BAFTA-winning, Channel Four series ``Shameless, which began in the UK in early 2004. Written by Paul Abbott, McAvoy was nominated in the Best Comedy Newcomer category at the 2004 British Comedy Awards for this performance.

In 2004, McAvoy impressed audiences in Stephen Fry's comedy Bright Young Things, which was released in the US the following year. The film had an all-star international cast, including Emily Mortimer, Sir Peter O'Toole, Jim Broadbent, Richard E Grant and many more.

In the autumn of 2003, McAvoy played Dan Foster in the BAFTA-winning BBC political drama series State of Play, with Bill Nighy, John Simm and Kelly Macdonald. Written by Paul Abbott and directed by David Yates, the series ran in the UK, debuted on BBC America and became one of the most successful UK exports of the last decade.

Although McAvoy took on small parts in high-profile projects like the World War I drama ``Regeneration and the hugely-successful HBO series, ``Band of Brothers, he first came to prominence in the UK with the role of Josh in the Channel Four adaptation of Zadie Smith's popular novel ``White Teeth, with Geraldine James, John Simm and Naomie Harris.

McAvoy was born in the Scotstoun area of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1979 and is a graduate of the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Known for possessing a keen eye for the complex characters he creates as an actor and a writer, HUGH LAURIE (Steve) currently brings that talent to his work on the critically acclaimed FOX series, "House."

The innovative and uncompromising series features Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, an antisocial and brutally honest doctor who combines an unconventional approach to his cases with flawless instincts. His performance has garnered him two Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Emmy Award nominations. FOX's hit medical drama also stars Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, and Olivia Wilde, and began shooting its eighth season in September.

Laurie's New Orleans blues album was released in September 2011 worldwide by Warner Bros Records. The album, produced by two-time Grammy Award winner Joe Henry, will feature both musical and vocal collaborations. Laurie, who has played piano for much of his life, is predominantly self-taught and has been singing, performing, and writing music throughout his career.

Laurie will next be seen in the independent film The Oranges. Laurie was last seen on the big screen in Hop, starring Russell Brand, James Marsden, and Chelsea Handler. Blending state-of-the-art animation with live action, Hop is a comic tale about the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. He will also be seen opposite Catherine Keener and Leighton Meester in the independent film The Oranges.

In 2009, Laurie also lent his voice to DreamWorks' 3D animated hit Monsters vs. Aliens alongside Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogen. Other film credits include director David Ayer's Street Kings opposite Keanu Reeves and Forrest Whitaker; Flight of the Phoenix opposite Dennis Quaid; Peter's Friends, directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh; Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet; Cousin Bette; The Man in the Iron Mask; 101 Dalmatians; Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2.

Laurie previously starred in a number of groundbreaking British television comedy series', including four seasons of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie," which he co-wrote for the BBC with Stephen Fry; three seasons of "Blackadder," written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton; and three seasons of "Saturday Live." In addition, four seasons of "Jeeves and Wooster," based on the novels of P.G. Wodehouse, aired on PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre" from 1990-1995.

On American television, Laurie portrayed Vincente Minnelli opposite Judy Davis in the network telefilm "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows." He also appeared in "Tracy Takes On" and "Friends."

In addition to acting, Laurie has directed television programs and commercials, composed and recorded numerous original songs and written articles for London's The Daily Telegraph. Four volumes of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" scripts have been published by Mandarin and his first novel, The Gun Seller, was published in both the UK and the US to critical acclaim and has been adapted into a screenplay for MGM.

While filming ``House, Laurie lives in Los Angeles.

BILL NIGHY (Grandsanta) won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Love Actually and the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for his role in ``State of Play. He has also received a Golden Globe for his role in the television film ``Gideon's Daughter and was nominated for his role in ``The Girl in the Café. He recently appeared in the first installment of the two-part adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Further film credits include roles in Glorious 39; Chalet Girl; G-Force; Valkyrie; Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; Pirate Radio; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End; Shaun of the Dead, Enduring Love, Easy Virtue, Hot Fuzz, Still Crazy, and The Constant Gardener, among many others. On the stage, Nighy was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in ``Blue/Orange. He has a long association with David Hare, having appeared in the BBC telefilm ``Dreams of Leaving, Hare's plays ``Map of the World, ``Pravda, ``The Vertigo Tour, ``Skylight, and Hare's production of ``King Lear; he was also part of Hare's company of actors at The National Theatre, which also included Anthony Hopkins. Nighy also starred in Tom Stoppard's ``Arcadia, revivals of Harold Pinter's ``Betrayal and ``A Kind of Alaska, and Chekhov's ``The Seagull. Films for release this year include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and David Hare's Page Eight.

Academy Award(R) winner JIM BROADBENT (Santa) is one of the finest actors of his generation. His touching performance in Iris, as Iris Murdoch's patient and long-suffering husband John Bayley, earned him the Academy Award(R) and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. A regular collaborator with Mike Leigh, recently worked with Leigh for the seventh time on the film Another Year, which followed the stage plays ``Goosepimples and ``Ecstasy, the films Life Is Sweet, Topsy Turvy, and Vera Drake, and the television short ``A Sense of History, which Broadbent wrote.

Broadbent's many feature film credits include Perrier's Bounty, The Damned United, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Young Victoria, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hot Fuzz, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, Little Voice, Moulin Rouge, Bridget Jones's Diary, Gangs of New York, The Gathering Storm, Nicholas Nickleby, Bright Young Things, Vanity Fair, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2006, Broadbent took the title role in the Tom Hooper-directed ``Longford, which earned him the TV BAFTA for Best Actor. He will next star as Denis Thatcher opposite Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.

His extensive theatre and television work includes National Theatre productions of Martin McDonagh's ``The Pillowman and the stage adaptation of ``Theatre of Blood, Jimmy McGovern's ``The Street for ITV, and the BBC's ``Einstein and Eddington.

In 2004, IMELDA STAUNTON (Mrs. Santa) portrayed the title role in Mike Leigh's drama Vera Drake, delivering a performance that was heralded by both critics and audiences. For her work in the film, Staunton earned numerous Best Actress honors, including Academy Award(R), Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award(R) nominations. She also won a BAFTA Award, an Evening Standard British Film Award, a British Independent Film Award, a European Film Award and the 2004 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress. In addition, Staunton was named the Best Actress of the year by many top critics groups, including the New York Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics, London Critics Circle, Toronto Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics, among others.

Staunton's most recent film work includes reprising her role as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, a role she first played in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She will next appear in The Awakening, opposite Rebecca Hall and Dominic West. Other recent films include Mike Leigh's Another Year and Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, and she also lent her voice to Tim Burton's blockbuster Alice in Wonderland. Her additional film credits include Richard LaGravenese's Freedom Writers; Kirk Jones' Nanny McPhee, with Emma Thompson; Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things; John McKay's Crush; John Madden's Oscar(R)-winning Shakespeare in Love, for which she shared in a SAG Award(R) for Outstanding Cast Performance; Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night; Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility"; the Kenneth Branagh films Peter's Friends and Much Ado About Nothing; and Beeban Kidron's Antonia & Jane. Her voice has also been heard in several animated features, most notably the clay animation hit Chicken Run.

Recognized for her work on the London stage, Staunton received her seventh Olivier Award nomination this year for her role in "Entertaining Mr. Sloane." She has also won three Olivier Awards, for her performances in "A Chorus of Disapproval," "The Corn is Green" and "Into the Woods," and three more nominations for her work in "Uncle Vanya," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Guys and Dolls." Her theatre repertoire also includes "There Came a Gypsy Riding," "Calico," "The Beggar's Opera," "The Fair Maid of the West," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?," "Habeas Corpus," "Travesties," "Electra," "A Little Night Music," "Mack and Mabel" and "She Stoops to Conquer."

Staunton is also well-known to British television audiences for her roles in such projects as "Return to Cranford," "Big and Small," "The Wind in the Willows," "My Family and Other Animals," "Little Britain," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Fingersmith," "Cambridge Spies," "David Copperfield," "Citizen X," and "The Singing Detective."

In 2006, Staunton received an OBE on the Queen's New Year's honours list.

ASHLEY JENSEN's (Bryony) breakout performance came as the loveable loser Maggie Jacobs on the BBC/HBO series, ``Extras, in which she stars opposite Ricky Gervais. For her work in ``Extras, she has received two British Comedy Awards (Best Actress, Best Newcomer), the Golden Rose of Montreaux award, Best Actress at the Monte Carlo International Television Festival, Glamour Magazine's Comedy Woman of the Year award and she was nominated for a BAFTA and Emmy award. Other notable television work includes ABC hit drama ``Ugly Betty and the CBS comedy series, ``Accidentally on Purpose.

Jensen's film credits include Topsy Turvy for director Mike Leigh and Tristram Shandy, opposite Steve Coogan, for director Michael Winterbottom. She completed production on the television drama ``The Reckoning will and can be seen opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal in the upcoming feature film Hysteria. Her voice may also be heard in Gnomeo and Juliet and in Aardman Animations'/Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

SARAH SMITH (Director, Co-Writer) marks her feature animated film directorial debut with Arthur Christmas.

In March 2006, Smith joined Aardman as Head of Feature Development. Within a year she was promoted to Creative Director, Features, with artistic responsibility for the studio's development and production slate, in which role she steered forthcoming releases The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Arthur Christmas from inception to greenlight. But having developed the story and then co-written the screenplay for Arthur Christmas with her long standing collaborator and writing partner Peter Baynham, she was compelled to see it through to the screen as its director.

Smith brings extensive credentials in British comedy writing, directing and producing to her current work. After her first assignments in theatre, she joined BBC Radio Entertainment where she produced and directed a wide range of classic and original comedy shows. From there she moved to BBC television, spending over ten years at the BBC devising, writing, directing and producing a slate of original programming, including cult comedy sketch shows such as ``Fist of Fun, topical satire with Armando Iannucci including ``The Friday Night Armistice, Malcolm Bradbury's comedy drama ``In the Red, and the multi award-winning hit black comedy ``The League of Gentlemen. Her work won every major industry accolade including a BAFTA, Royal Television Society Awards, Sony Awards for Radio, and the Golden Rose of Montreux.

She left the BBC to pursue a freelance career with a focus on directing and writing across an acclaimed slate, including Julia Davis' black comedy ``Nighty Night, the ``Armando Iannucci Shows, the Johnny Vegas hit ``Dead Man Weds, comedy dramas ``Thin Ice and Sue Townsend's ``Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, and Christopher Morris's ``Brass Eye.

Smith also spent a period in New York as executive producer overseeing two series from Oscar(R)-winner Michael Moore for British and US television.

Her career first crossed into animation when she wrote episodes for the series ``Bob and Margaret (with Peter Baynham as the show runner), and in 2005, she collaborated again with Baynham, best known for Borat and ``I Am Alan Patridge, to create and co-write the BBC2's award-winning adult animated sitcom ``I Am Not an Animal, starring Steve Coogan and Simon Pegg.

Smith studied at Oxford University, where she was president of The Oxford Review.

PETER BAYNHAM (Co-Writer, Co-Executive Producer) is an acclaimed screen and television writer whose credits include the hit comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, for which he earned Academy Award(R) and Writers Guild Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy and was on the American Film Institute's 2006 Best Movies list. Baynham also co-wrote the story for Bruno, its successful follow up.

Baynham's television credits include writing two seasons of the BBC's critically acclaimed, extremely popular ``I'm Alan Partridge, starring Steve Coogan. The show won a British Comedy Award and Baynham received a BAFTA Award for Best Series. He also received a BAFTA Best Comedy Series nomination as co-writer of BBC 2's highly acclaimed, groundbreaking series ``The Day Today, which was also nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Series. In addition, Baynham co-wrote Channel 4's controversial comedy series ``Brass Eye and ``Jam.

Baynham's performances on television include the highly popular character Peter from the BBC's ``Fist of Fun and a co-presenter of the satirical comedy series ``Friday Night Armistice. Baynham also wrote and directed his own acclaimed BBC2 animation comedy series ``I am Not an Animal.

Baynham most recently wrote the screenplay for Arthur and is an Executive Producer on Larry Charles' The Dictator, a comedy feature starring Sacha Baron Cohen to be released in May 2012. Another upcoming project in development with Sacha Baron Cohen is comedy feature Accidentes, charting the rise of a Latino ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer.

Baynham's path to his profession was circuitous to say the least. Growing up in Wales, he ran away to sea at 16. However, his encounter with the romance of the high seas was an unmitigated disaster when he nearly collided with a ferry; he was asked to leave the Merchant Navy. Baynham headed to London to pursue a more suitable job as a writer. He remains an appalling navigator.

PETER LORD (Producer) is co-owner and Creative Director of Aardman, which he co-founded with his long-time collaborator David Sproxton in 1972. As a director, Lord has been honoured with two Academy Award(R) nominations for Best Animated Short, the first in 1992 for Adam, and again in 1996 for Wat's Pig. He has also earned BAFTA nominations for Adam, The Amazing Adventures of Morph, and War Story.

In 2000, Lord teamed up with Nick Park to co-direct Aardman's first full-length feature Chicken Run, starring the voice of Mel Gibson, which was a commercial and critical smash. Lord also produced the Oscar(R)-winning first feature length film starring Wallace and his faithful canine sidekick Gromit. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released in 2005.

Lord first met David Sproxton in the early 1970s at school, where they started experimenting with animation techniques on their kitchen table. They tried a range of methods before settling on plasticine/clay model animation. While they were still in their teens, a BBC children's television producer offered them the chance to make short animated films for his program Vision On. Their first character as professionals was Morph, who later starred in his own series, The Amazing Adventures of Morph. As a testament to Morph's enduring appeal, he still appears in new productions today.

Moving to Bristol in 1976, Lord and Sproxton built Aardman into one of the world's leading model animation studios. In 1978, Aardman was commissioned by BBC Bristol to make two short films entitled Animated Conversations. The resulting Down and Out and Confessions of a Foyer Girl, both co-directed by Lord and Sproxton, broke new ground in animation by using recordings of real-life conversations. That led to a series of five Conversation Pieces for the UK's Channel 4, all of which were co-directed by Lord and Sproxton, including Early Bird and On Probation. Expanding into music videos, Aardman collaborated with director Stephen Johnson and the Brothers Quay to create Peter Gabriel's award-winning video ``Sledgehammer. In 1987, Lord created the video for Nina Simone's ``My Baby Just Cares for Me. Two years later, Channel 4 again commissioned Aardman to create the five-picture Lip Synch series, which included Lord's War Story. Lord's other directing credits include Going Equipped and Babylon. Together with Sproxton, Lord has also played a major role in encouraging and promoting new directors. His executive producer credits with Aardman include Creature Comforts, Rex The Runt, HumDrum, Stage Fright, and more recently, A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Aardman's special brand of animation has also been seen in TV commercials in various countries for such products as far ranging as Chevron, Lurpack, Mita Copiers, Cadbury's Crunchies and Polo.

Lord was involved in the production of Aardman's first CGI feature film Flushed Away which was produced in collaboration with DreamWorks in Glendale LA. It was Aardman's first foray into CGI and was released worldwide at the end of 2006. Lord is currently directing The Pirates! Band of Misfits - a delicious confection of piracy on the high seas - for Sony Pictures Animation.

Peter Lord is a visiting professor at UWE and also attends numerous animation and film festivals to give talks and sit on jury's.

In 2006 Peter Lord and David Sproxton celebrated 30 years of Aardman and were awarded CBE's in the Queens Birthday honours list.

DAVID SPROXTON (Producer) is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman. Together with co-founder Peter Lord, he has overseen the development of the company from a two-man partnership to one of the pre-eminent animation houses in the industry. David has served as a producer, director or cinematographer on a number of animated projects at Aardman.

Sproxton and Lord met at Woking Grammar School for Boys, and in 1970 made their first animated film using David's Bolex camera. It was a crude piece using cutouts and chalk drawings yet showed enough talent for a BBC Children's Television producer to offer the pair a chance to make short animated films for his programme ``Vision On.

After graduating from Durham University, David decided to pursue filmmaking full-time. In 1972, Sproxton and Lord formed Aardman and in 1976, moved to their permanent home in Bristol, England. Their first professional creation was the character Morph, who went on to star in the BBC series The Amazing Adventures of Morph.

During this period, the duo made two short animated films, Down and Out and Confessions of a Foyer Girl, to which they applied the groundbreaking technique of using recorded conversations of real people as the basis for the script. Later, five more films called Conversation Pieces, using the same ``vox pop technique, were commissioned by Channel 4. ``Vox pop was also utilized in Aardman's Lip Synch series for Channel 4 which included Nick Park's Oscar(R)-winning short Creature Comforts.

In addition to Nick, the studio is known for discovering and nurturing new filmmakers. These include Steve Box, who won a BAFTA Award for his direction of Stage Fright and co-directed Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with Nick Park; the Oscar(R)-nominated and BAFTA-winning Peter Peake, the director of HumDrum and many commercials; and Richard Goleszowski, who directed the Rex the Runt series for BBC 2 and the Creature Comforts series for ITV; as well as Darren Walsh (Angry Kid) and Stefan Marjoram (BBC3 Blobs and Presentators for Nickleodeon).

Sproxton co-produced Aardman's first feature film Chicken Run (2000), the Wallace and Gromit feature The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and the CGI feature Flushed Away (2006), made in association with DreamWorks. He is currently involved in the production of The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which Aardman is producing for Sony Pictures Animation. He is also involved in the many TV projects the studio is producing including ``Shaun the Sheep, ``Chop Socky Chooks, ``Angry Kid, ``Timmy, the Wallace and Gromit film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, and the Wallace and Gromit series, Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention.

David Sproxton spent 9 years on the board of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Trust and three years on the Board of the UK Film Council. He is now chairman of Encounters Festivals (Bristol's celebration of the Short film) and a board member of At-Bristol and the National Film Television
School.

In 2006, Aardman's 30th year, David and Peter Lord celebrated being awarded CBEs in theQueen's Birthday Honours list.

CARLA SHELLEY (Producer) is Head of Feature Production for Aardman. She has produced a number of acclaimed and award-winning features, shorts and commercials during her time with the company.

In addition to serving as a producer on Arthur Christmas, Shelley is executive producing Aardman's upcoming stop-motion feature film The Pirates! Band of Misfits, due for release in 2012. Previously, she was one of the producers of Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), which garnered many prestigious international awards including the Academy Award(R) for Best Animated Feature Film and a BAFTA for Best British Film. She served as the line producer on Aardman's first full length feature, Chicken Run (2000). Both Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit were produced in association with DreamWorks Animation.

Shelley won a BAFTA Award for her work as producer on Nick Park's Oscar(R) winning short film A Close Shave (1995). She also produced Peter Peake's Oscar(R) and BAFTA nominated short Humdrum (1998), as well as his BAFTA nominated Pib and Pog (1994) for Channel 4. In addition, Shelley worked on the series ``The Amazing Adventures of Morph for BBC television.

Before moving into film production, Shelley was head of Aardman's commercials division for four years. She has produced many commercials, including the Lurpak campaign; the Heat Electric ads featuring Nick Park's famous ``Creature Comforts characters; and ads for Cadbury's Crème Eggs.

Prior to joining Aardman, Shelley had a background in radio production, working for the BBC.

STEVE PEGRAM (Producer) started his animation career working for director Richard Williams on Walt Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which won the Academy Award(R) for best visual effects in 1988.

In 1989, Pegram joined Steven Spielberg and Universal Pictures' feature animation studio in London, Amblimation. That studio produced the feature films Balto, Journey of Courage, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

After five years with Amblimation, Pegram joined DreamWorks Animation, where he worked on the epic The Prince of Egypt and the animated adventure The Road to El Dorado.

In 2000, Pegram joined Aardman Features, first as Production Manager before becoming Head of Feature Production in 2002 on Nick Park and Steve Box's Wallace and Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which went on to win the Academy Award(R) for Best Animated Feature in 2006.

Pegram also served as associate producer of the BAFTA nominated feature film Flushed Away, a co-production with DreamWorks Animation, and producer of Wallace and Gromit's A Matter of Loaf and Death, which won Best Animated Short at the Annie Awards in 2009 and a BAFTA for Best Short Animated Film.

CHRIS JUEN (Co-Producer) is a digital producer at Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Juen's Imageworks credits include co-producer of the animated hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, visual effects producer on Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, digital producer on Sony Pictures Animation's Surf's Up, and visual effects producer on The Polar Express and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Juen was a digital production manager on Imageworks' first Oscar(R) winning animated short The Chubbchubbs!(tm) and the Academy Award(R) nominated films Hollow Man and Spider-Man(tm). He also served in this capacity on Stuart Little 2, winner of the VES Award (Visual Effects Society) for Best Character Animation, and The Astronaut's Wife.

In 1998, he received his first credit on a feature film as lead technical assistant on Godzilla for director Roland Emmerich.

Juen joined Imageworks in 1997 as a technical assistant on Contact.

Prior to joining Imageworks, he served in the United States Navy.

BARRY COOK (Co-Director) made his feature film directing debut on the animated Disney film Mulan, achieving a major goal in his lifelong desire to make movies. The movie received a total of nine ASIFA Annie Awards including an award for Cook for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing.

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Cook began making films when he was just ten years old. Inspired and encouraged by artistic parents - his mother a quilt-maker his father a painter - Cook began experimenting with making his own films using the family super 8 camera. At age 12, he won top prizes in the local PBS-sponsored Young Filmmakers Festival with his horror genre send-ups, ``The Vampire and ``Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A few years later, he made his first animated short, titled ``The Saga of Benny Caru.

In 1977, at the age of 18, Cook moved to California to pursue a career in motion pictures. He studied at Columbia College in Hollywood and spent many hours helping fellow students shoot and edit their films. An internship at Hanna-Barbera Studios gave him his first job in the industry as an assistant animator.

In 1981, he joined Disney as an effects animator on the film Tron. He went on to animate or supervise effects for other Disney films including Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. Additionally he contributed visual effects to such live-action films as My Science Project and Michael Jackson's 3D music video Captain EO. In 1989, Cook was part of the original team of artists to relocate to Disney's Florida animation studio.

At Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, Cook directed an innovative short film combining hand-drawn and computer-generated animation titled Off His Rockers. The short was made with a group of Disney artists during their off-hours but soon garnered the attention of studio executives and was released theatrically in 1992. His next assignment at the studio was the Roger Rabbit short Trail Mix-Up, a co-production of Disney and Amblin Entertainment.

Cook recently penned the screenplay for an Anime short titled My Last Day which was produced by Studio 4C in Tokyo. He is currently directing the feature Walking with Dinosaurs for the BBC and Evergreen Films.

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS (Music by) is one of Hollywood's most sought after composers, whose scores span the spectrum of high-profile projects from action to drama to animation - each infused with the emotional punch and atmospheric intensity that mark his distinctive musical style.

Gregson-Williams is renowned for his early collaborations with Hans Zimmer and for his long-lived creative relationships with such filmmakers as Jerry Bruckheimer, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Tony Scott, Andrew Adamson, Joel Schumacher and Ben Affleck, resulting in the memorable music behind myriad blockbusters of the last decade. His work was most recently heard in the action thriller Cowboys & Aliens directed by Jon Favreau for Universal Pictures and DreamWorks and in his first documentary outing, Kevin Macdonald's Life in a Day.

He has received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score, a Grammy nomination for Best Score Soundtrack Album, and an Ivor Novella nomination for his music to Andrew Adamson's epic fantasy The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, based on the classic C.S. Lewis novel. Recently, he received acclaim for his characteristic blend of electronic and live instrumentation in the score for Ben Affleck's searing crime drama, The Town.

Gregson-Williams' musical career began as a child, when he toured extensively in Europe with an ensemble from the music school of St. John's College, Cambridge. By age thirteen, he had appeared as a soloist on over a dozen records; and he went on to earn several musical scholarships, culminating in a coveted spot at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Following his own musical education, Gregson-Williams' passion turned to teaching, as he began instructing music to children of all ages abroad, notably in Alexandria, Egypt. Returning to his native London, he sought out prolific British film composer Stanley Myers, who recognized a kindred spirit in Gregson-Williams. As an orchestrator, arranger and writer on many of Myers' subsequent films, he rapidly learned the techniques of film scoring and formed relationships with other top composers including Hans Zimmer, who had also previously been a protégé of Myers. It was through his association with Myers that Gregson-Williams also became friends with legendary filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, and after Myers' death, he composed his first feature film scores for Roeg's Full Body Massage and Hotel Paradise.

In 1995, Gregson-Williams moved to Los Angeles on Hans Zimmer's invitation, and worked alongside Zimmer on numerous projects including The Lion King, Crimson Tide, Beyond Rangoon, K2 and Two Deaths. Soon after, he launched his career as a composer in his own right.

After collaborating with Zimmer on The Rock, Gregson-Williams would go on to compose the high-adrenaline scores for several of Jerry Bruckheimer's blockbuster action-thrillers. He teamed with legendary rock guitarist Trevor Rabin for the scores to Bruckheimer's Armageddon and Enemy of the State, which also marked his first outing with director Tony Scott. From that time forward, Gregson-Williams would compose for all of Scott's hit films, including Spy Game, for which he received a Golden Satellite Award nomination, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Unstoppable, for which he received an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Original Film Score. He also worked with Tony's brother, Ridley Scott, on Kingdom of Heaven, for which he was nominated for a Classical Brit Award.

He has continued working with Bruckheimer, most recently composing the Middle Eastern-inspired score for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Gregson-Williams further established a fruitful partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg at DreamWorks, composing the score for the company's premiere animated feature, Antz, with John Powell and going on to create with Powell the beloved score for the Oscar(R) winning, animation classic Shrek. The score garnered a BAFTA nomination and won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score, as well as the Annie Award. Gregson-Williams's animation work has also included DreamWorks' critically acclaimed Chicken Run, Shrek 2; Shrek Forever After; Shrek The Third and Flushed Away.

In the midst of his animation journey, Gregson-Williams met director Andrew Adamson, for whom he would write the award-winning score for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe and reunite with for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Gregson-Williams struck up another long-lived association with director Joel Schumacher, collaborating with him on such diverse films as Phone Booth, Veronica Guerin, The Number 23 and Twelve. He also penned the emotional score for Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, before reuniting with Affleck recently for The Town.

Gregson-Williams' body of work also includes The Whole Wide World, Smilla's Sense of Snow, Deceiver, The Replacement Killers, The Borrowers, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Outside of film, Gregson-Williams has scored for television, creating music for FX's ``The Riches starring Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard, DreamWorks' animated ``Father of the Pride and the television movie ``Witness Against Hitler, among others. Gregson-Williams entered the gaming world in 2001, creating the score for the popular ``Metal Gear 2: Sons of Liberty as well as ``Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater and ``Metal Gear 4: Guns of Patriots.

Williams has had the distinction of receiving the Hollywood Composer of the Year Award from the Hollywood Film Festival, as well as the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement from the BMI organization's Film/Television Music Awards.

Harry Gregson-Williams currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

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