Klaus is a Netflix original Christmas animated movie, that was nominated for an Academy Award.
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- Klaus is a 2019 Spanish Christmas film.
- It is written and directed by Sergio Pablos.
- Klus is his directorial debut.
- The film wasproduced by his company Sergio Pablos Animation Studios and distributed by Netflix.
- It is co-written by Zach Lewis and Jim Mahoney.
- Klus was co-directed by Carlos Martinez Lopez, the traditionally animated film stars the voices of Jason Schwartzman, J. K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Neda Margrethe Labba, Sergio Pablos, Norm Macdonald, and Joan Cusack.
- Serving as an alternate origin story of Santa Claus independent from the historical take of Saint Nicholas of Myra and using a fictional 19th-century setting, the plot revolves around a postman stationed in an island town to the Far North who befriends a reclusive toymaker (Klaus).
- The plot is about a simple act of kindness that always sparks another, even in a frozen, faraway place. When Smeerensburg’s new postman, Jesper, befriends toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions.
- Klaus was released on 8 November 2019
- It received positive reviews for its animation, story, and vocal performances.
- It won seven awards at the 47th Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, and also won Best Animated Film at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards.
- The film was also nominated at the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature.
- It was the first animated film from Netflix to be nominated for an Academy Award, alongside Missing Link and I Lost My Body.
- It lost to Toy Story 4.
- Neda Margrethe Labba, who voiced the Sami girl Márgu, did not speak any English.
- Sergio Pablos traveled all the way to Tromsø, Norway where she lives and did her whole recording session through translation and mimicry.
- This is the first traditionally hand-drawn animated movie to make use of volumetric lighting and texturing to give it a more 3D-like look.
- The film was shopped around to various studios, who perceived it as “too risky,” from April 2015 until Netflix acquired the rights in November 2017.
- The fictional town of Smeerensburg was based on Smeerenburg, an actual town that existed in Norway.
- It used to be a prosperous whaling post during the 17th Century.
- It was originally planned for the Sami people to speak English but this was later changed and they spoke only their native language in the movie.
- When the animators were designing Smeerensburg, they used a lot of sharp angles and triangles to show that the environment wasn’t friendly or comfortable.
- By contrast, Klaus’s cabin and barn were made to look sturdy and strong, much like Klaus himself.
- This was the last film animator Mary Lescher worked on. The film is dedicated to her.
- Jesper was originally conceived as being a poor chimney sweep.
- Each of the residents of Smeerensburg have different hair colors: the Krums have black hair, the Ellingboes are redheads, the neutrals (the Sami people, Jesper, and Alva) are blonde and during Klaus’s flashback, both young Klaus and Lydia are shown to have dark brown hair.
- In addition to Klaus, J.K. Simmons also voices the Drill Sargent at the beginning of the film.
- J.K. Simmons (Klaus) once worked as a mall Santa as he was pursuing an acting career out of college.
- Jason Schwartzman adlibbed a lot of his lines. Director Sergio Pablos reckons only about 40% of his dialogue in the final film is scripted.
- Netflix reported that the film was viewed by nearly 30,000,000 in its first month on the platform.
- Klaus was released theatrically in selected theaters on November 8, 2019
- It was released digitally through Netflix on November 15
- On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90%
- It is based on 30 reviews with an average rating of 7.4/10
- Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 9 critics
- The first teaser for the project was released in April 2015
- At the time, the studio was seeking investment, co-production, and distribution partners
- It was shopped around to various studios
- At first, they perceived Klaus as “too risky”
- In November 2017, Netflix announced that they had acquired the global rights to Klaus
- At the same time, the casting of Schwartzman, Jones, Simmons, and Cusack were announced along with a Christmas 2019 release date
- In March 2019, it was reported that Netflix was planning an Oscar-qualifying run for Klaus in theaters
- And it was listed as one of ten films Netflix was negotiating with chains to give limited releases prior to their online debuts that August
- Sergio Pablos found with working with Netflix was quite different from other studios.
- He would be given notes on creative choices the studio thought he should make – the difference with Netflix was that these were just suggestions and not mandatory.
- It was in development for nearly 10 years.
- The budget came in at $40 million which is surprisingly inexpensive for an animated film.
- 182 postmen were used in the Royal Postal Academy scenes at the start of the film.
- Klaus’s late wife Lydia is represented by the wind, which is seen several times in the movie,
- The Krums wear clothes of green and blue, and their rivals the Ellingboes wear clothes of red and brown. The Sami people wear both red and blue, signifying their ability to live together in harmony.
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