Venerable Actor John Rhys-Davies on Hope, Mercy, and the Re-Release of 'Scrooge: A Christmas Carol' Podcast
Bah humbug!! This phrase uttered by the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge, has convicted many a heart over the last 150 years to make positive change in their lives.
Since this cold-hearted, stingy old man who loathes Christmas and treats his employees miserably was first introduced in Charles Dickens’ 1843 short novel, A Christmas Carol, audiences near and far have uncovered some highly valuable truths in how to become a more generous and charitable human being.
It is in this spirit of becoming a better person despite our circumstances, that Hope Media Group and Compassion International has re-released the award-winning Scrooge: A Christmas Carol podcast (available now wherever you get your podcasts) for the 2024 holiday season.
Narrated by venerable actor John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones), the four-episode podcast is a new adaptation of Dickens’ original work and highlights the redemptive tone of restoring a person seemingly lost, who finds light where we least expect it.
With a nod to radio dramas of yesteryear, the podcast also stars some familiar voices including Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings, Rudy) as Scrooge, Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill) as Elizabeth, and Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
I recently sat down with Rhys-Davies for a brief yet compelling conversation about why this iconic character from a bygone era still resonates with audiences today, what he did as narrator to bring out the true essence of the story, and why we must actively seek to rid ourselves of the ‘little bit’ of Scrooge in all of us.
The character of Ebenezer Scrooge is a time-tested character who has been winning audiences over for nearly 200 years. Charles Dickens obviously tapped into something when he created him so long ago. Your thoughts?
He (Dickens) distills in a non-religious way, the spirit and the heart of Christmas and that wonderful sense that even the meanest of us, the unkindness of it can be redeemed, and can change our lives around. And of course, in the writing of the story, he changed his own life and his own fortunes around.
It's that time of year, isn't it? It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It's dark. It's that time of self-reflection at the end of the year. Oh gosh, what have I done this year? Nothing worthwhile, et cetera. And yet it is that light and ultimately it is the spirit of the birth of Christ is, which Western civilization has regarded as being the start of a new period of history. The start of a new hope for mankind. It just reminds us that there is the moment of the year's end, at the depth of winter, where hope is born. And in a way, Scrooge himself is reborn.
You have had such a productive acting career over a long period of time. How did you approach your role as the narrator? What qualities did you try to hone in on to bring out the true essence of this story?
It's always interesting when you ask actors questions like that because we faithfully try to answer you and create some mythical process while we do it. The truth of the matter is that a good actor has empathy. A good actor reads the script, reads the part, and he doesn't really have to. There may be technical problems that he has to solve, but he knows what the character is. He knows how to do it. I've probably done a thousand parts in the course of my life, and I don't know that ever at any time, even when I was a 14-year-old amateur, I don't know that there was ever a time that I didn't see what the part was about. I would do it very differently now, you would hope at the age of 80, I would have more concerns for those around me, and probably be far better because of that. But essentially, you read it, you have an imagination, and as you are reading it, your own mind is molding your performance and your presence to the needs of the character. You become the character.
What I love about this story is that it brings out themes of joy, mercy, hope, and more. Do you believe that even the hardest of hearts, someone like Ebenezer Scrooge, can find redemption in their lives today?
It takes a really scary thing for Scrooge to change his heart. I mean, really scary. This is a nightmare that he's having with his old partner, and the heavy clump of feet as he drags those chains, every link of which he has made in the course of his own life. It's a nightmare. Would nightmares affect some of our great monsters and great masters in our world? Maybe yes, maybe. But for every Scrooge, there are 10,000 who never change. For every Tiny Tim who lives there are 10,000 that never actually do. But let us concentrate on the story. And the story is that Ebenezer Scrooge changes and he becomes as good a man and as generous a man as ever lived.
He's a consummate storyteller. Dickens, he knows the human heart and he knows he can set up one expectation, then confound it, and destroy it. We know the hard-hearted can never change their hearts. Well, here's one that does.
“Scrooge: A Christmas Carol” is available wherever you get your podcasts:
WATCH A TRAILER FOR SCROOGE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL PODCAST:
