Richard Curtis brings his Brit magic to ‘That Christmas’

Richard Curtis, the British screenwriter-director-producer whose many hits include “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love Actually,” “Mr. Bean,” “Blackadder” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” finally has his Oscar!

While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is traditionally resistant to recognizing comedy, Curtis at 68 was given an honorary Oscar in November, in recognition of his legacy of work at the 15th Governors Awards. Specifically, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, presented to him by Hugh Grant.

Now comes his Netflix animated debut “That Christmas” adapted from his trilogy of children’s books, “That Christmas and Other Stories,” and directed by Simon Otto (the “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy). Brian Cox of “Succession” voices Santa and Ed Sheeran contributes an original song.

“It really is a movie about family, community. And a little bit about love,” Curtis said in a virtual press conference.

“Simon’s been in this for his whole life. This is my first animated movie and I must admit, it’s been a gorgeous experience. Really interesting this late in my career.”

Asked how this ranks among his most memorable Christmas stories, “This whole film is, or chunks of it are, based on, in fact, the Christmases I’ve had for the last 25 years,” he answered.

“Because we live in this little village” – Walberswick, Suffolk – “which is very like the village in the movie. And 25 of us have Christmas lunch together. So our Christmases are generally very sweet.

“The Christmas I most remember? A Christmas when I was very young, when there was a famine in Biafra. And my mum got the family together and said, ‘We’re going to cancel Christmas and we’re going to give all the money that would’ve gone on presents and everything like that to this appeal.’ And weirdly I remember it was like our best Christmas ever.

“Because we could just watch the telly!  Because one of the problems in the old days was right in the middle of Christmas lunch was the one TV program, ‘Christmas Top of the Pops,’ that you really wanted to watch. Just didn’t want to miss it. But you had to because you had to have the damn turkey. So, I remember weirdly that.”

For “Succession” fans it might seem strange to see Cox as a cuddly Santa. But not for Curtis.

“There’s this thing I saw on YouTube about five years ago, Brian teaching his grandson how to do the ‘To be or not to be’ speech from ‘Hamlet.’ He guides him – and it’s the sweetest thing in the world.

“So we knew underneath that bluster that it was in there. And we had a really good time with him.”

“That Christmas” streams on Netflix Dec. 4