The John Lewis Christmas advert for 2019 has introduced us to another cute character for this year’s campaign.
Edgar the excitable dragon gets the gift of acceptance from the villagers in a historical village after his fire-breathing threatens to ruin Christmas.
The 90-second advert, featuring a cover of REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling by Dan Smith from Bastille, was unveiled online today.
It will play in full on Saturday during Celebrity X Factor and on Sunday during the launch of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! on ITV.
A huge amount of work went into creating the minute and a half we get to enjoy. Here’s what went on behind-the-scenes.
The advert was filmed in Budapest in 35 degree heat
While it might look like a quaint medieval village somewhere in Britain, the town where Edgar and his pal live is actually in Hungary.
The campaign ad was filmed back in August in stifling weather, so it’s incredible how they have managed to make it look so wintry.
The historical village set was a pre-existing location
A small village didn’t need to be built from the ground up in Budapest as the set was ‘already there’.
The snow you see isn’t real
It being summer, snow wasn’t readily available to use. The Christmassy white flakes we see are fake snow made from a ‘biodegradable’ material.
It took two weeks to complete
That’s a lot of man hours for 90 seconds of film.
Casting for Edgar’s friend took place in the UK
The casting for the role of Edgar’s thoughtful young friend took place in England and Scotland. After open auditions, 10-year-old Ruby Dailly was chosen.
Ruby was cast because she is a ‘firecracker’
Ruby’s acting skills were praised by John Lewis, who said she was ‘good at taking direction’, ‘very talented’ and had a ‘firecracker personality’.
In the advert she helps Edgar to control his fire by tying a woolly scarf around his mouth, before having the very good idea of buying him a Christmas pudding to set alight instead.
Edgar’s changing look
The creators of Edgar the dragon went through various different designs before settling on the adorable character we see in the advert. Other versions portrayed Edgar as an adult dragon with a much more ‘Game Of Thrones’ look.
Excitable Edgar was just one of a few ideas submitted for the 2019 Christmas campaign
John Lewis went through a few storylines and scripts before choosing the story of Excitable Edgar. While they wouldn’t reveal what the other scripts were, there’s a chance we might see one next year. Or the year after…
You can buy Edgar’s Christmas pudding at Waitrose
Of course.
For more on the John Lewis Christmas advert, click here.
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