Scrooge came to Cannes in a horse-drawn carriage Monday to promote Disney s 3D holiday special A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey and a host of other Hollywood A-listers. Carrey plays the eponymous Ebenezer Scrooge as well as various other ghoulish characters in the movie set for worldwide release ahead of the Christmas festivities. The giant Disney machine pulled out all the stops for the event, transforming the elegant beachfront Carlton hotel into a winter wonderland, complete with giant snow-covered Christmas trees and artificial snow flurries. Carrey arrived in a Victorian-style horse-drawn carriage for the event on the fringes of the prestigious film festival. He was accompanied by long-term girlfriend Jenny McCarthy and other cast members, including Mamma Mia! star Colin Firth and Cannes jury member Robin Wright-Penn. Disney s high-tech remake of Charles Dickens yuletide classic is the second 3D film to be promoted at this year s Cannes fest, underlining the increased interest in making movies which are being touted as the future of films. I believe we will change the industry and filmmaking from here on in, Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook told a press conference. The film, also featuring Gary Oldman and Bob Hoskins, is produced by filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, whose previous films include 3D movie The Polar Express. Carrey, who plays all the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, as well as the bitter, money-grabbing miser, Scrooge, said it had been challenging to play such a wide variety of characters. He said he had to develop a wide variety of different vocal tones to portray the different ghouls as well as a seven-year-old Ebenezer. But getting into character wasn t that hard, he added. I am visited by ghosts constantly, he joked. Firth, who takes the role of Scrooge s downtrodden employee, Bob Cratchit, defended Dickens s classic tale s appeal to a worldwide audience. It s not just a British story, Firth said. It s such a beautiful story. It gets me teared up every time and it also has enormous versatility, he added. Reporters were given clunky plastic 3D glasses to better appreciate the stunning special effects of film extracts shown to the press. The cutting edge technology can enhance performance and take us to a place and time as never before, Carrey noted. You take the meanest man alive and show him the error of his ways...and we get to come along for the ride, said Zemeckis.
