Ed Sheeran records “Under the Tree” for Netflix’s upcoming film “That Christmas”

Netflix announced that award-winning singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran has written and recorded an original song for Locksmith animation'S (Ron's departure) upcoming 3DCG animated film This ChristmasThe song “Under the Tree” can be heard in the animated film, which premieres on the streamer on December 6th.

This Christmas follows a series of interwoven stories about family and friends, love and loneliness and one big mistake by Santa Claus, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys! The film is based on the popular children's book series (“The Empty Stocking,” “Snow Day” and “That Christmas”) by acclaimed BAFTA award-winning and Oscar-nominated writer and director Richard Curtis (Four weddings and one death, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday). It is Curtis' first animation project and also the directorial debut of animation veteran Simon Otto (How to train your dragon Trilogy).

The film was produced by Locksmith Animation, directed by Otto and written by Curtis and Peter Souter. Brian Cox plays Santa Claus, Fiona Shaw (Ms. Trapper), Jodie Whittaker (Mrs. Williams) and Bill Nighy (Bill) play the residents of a charming seaside town where everything is turned upside down one Christmas.

“I've been friends with Richard Curtis for years and we had a lot of fun doing charity work. Then both of them were heavily involved in the film. Yesterday”, said Sheeran. “He came to me two years ago to play the rough for me This Christmas. It was just sketches and voices, but it blew me away. So emotional, yet so heartwarmingly funny, like all of Richard Curtis' films. I find since I've had kids, there's been a real lack of great animated Christmas movies for kids, so I thought this would be such a great thing to make and put out into the world. The scene we wrote this song for is so heartbreaking, but so real for a lot of people who spend Christmas without their loved ones, for so many reasons. I got to work on it with my older brother, which is so rare and a gift to work so closely with my only sibling. It felt so good to create something that my kids would watch with their uncle, in the country they live in. I think it's a shame there aren't more animated Christmas movies for kids, but this will be a staple of the holidays, at least in our household. I hope everyone loves it and enjoys the song, we had so much fun creating it.”

“I'm ecstatic to finally be able to talk about this little Christmas miracle that landed in our movie stocking,” Otto added. “An original song by Ed Sheeran. Ed's song inspired us to take the film's key emotional moment differently and allowed us to tie the storylines together in a way we couldn't see before. The song has since become the heart of the film and has motivated us artists to do our best and do justice to the beauty and honesty it brings to the film. I will be forever grateful to Ed for giving us such an honest and beautiful piece.”

“I'm SO thrilled that Ed's beautiful song is in our film,” said Curtis. “The film is set in Suffolk… Ed lives in Suffolk and loves it and he completely understood the pitch and tone of what we were trying to do. We've been friends for many years and – especially now that he's a husband and a father – it's really lovely that he plays such an important role in this film about love, children and family. And of course, even if he wasn't a friend and didn't love Suffolk, it's wonderful to have a wonderful new song from one of the greatest British songwriters of all time.”

In addition to Cox, Shaw, Whittaker and Nighy, the film also stars Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, India Brown, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer, Jack Wisniewski, Rosie Cavaliero, Paul Kaye, Guz Khan, Andy Nyman, Kuhu Agarwal, Bronte Smith, Freddie Spry, Ava Talbot and Rhys Darby. The music is by John Powell; DNEG produces the animation.

Nicole P. Hearon pga and Adam Tandy pga serve as producers; Mary Coleman, Natalie Fischer, Julie Lockhart, Elisabeth Murdoch, Bonnie Arnold, Lara Breay, Sarah Smith, Rebecca Cobb, Curtis and Colin Hopkins are executive producers.

Source: Netflix

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.