Movies

George Michael gave his blessing for new film Last Christmas which means we’re even more excited to watch it


The movie will feature Wham!’s and his hit songs (Picture: Getty Images)

Emma Thompson got George Michael’s blessing to write the movie Last Christmas before he died.

The actress revealed that she met up with the star to discuss potentially getting the feel-good project off the ground.

Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the 60-year-old said: ‘He was just the loveliest guy you could imagine.

‘[He loved] all of these themes in the movie; he was passionate about homelessness, and he had this great social conscience.’

The rom-com centres around the music of George and stars Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding.

Emma, who worked on the movie’s screenplay and also stars as Adelia, spoke on deciding to join the project.

She said: ‘This wonderful producer, David Livingstone, said, “Do you want to write a screenplay, a rom-com sort of thing, because we need a new Christmas movie based on Last Christmas” and I said, ‘Not really, because it’s not my favourite Christmas song.’

If George approves, then so do we (Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Then what is your favourite Christmas song, Emma?

However, the Love Actually star eventually changed her mind.

‘I got really enthused and we started to write, and then – of course – he had that tragic early death in 2016, on Christmas Day,’ Emma said. ‘So we lost him, and I miss him so much.

‘I wish he was here because I know he’d love it, because the film’s like being hugged, and all of his music — we’ve got 15 of his songs, including a new one at the end — is so cool.

‘Heal the Pain, which is my favourite of his songs, it’s like it was written for the movie. He said that.’

The movie’s release will also coincide with the third anniversary of George’s death on Christmas Day in 2016.

Emma and Emilia and Last Christmas’ premiere (Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Universal Pictures)

Sadly, George isn’t around to see his music bring magic to the love story of Emilia and Henry’s characters Kate and Tom, but a close friend says he would have been thrilled by the mere idea of it.

Shirlie Holliman, who sang as a backing singer for George’s pop group Wham!, told Metro.co.uk: ‘I know it would all have been done with his permission. So I’m sure he had a talk about the movie.

‘It’s lovely to think I’m going into Christmas and can have nice memories of Christmas and his music all around it. I just kind of go by my gut instincts and I do feel really good about this idea of this movie with all his songs in it.’

Last Christmas premieres on 15 November in the UK.



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