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Sir Roger Moore will be appearing as Santa Claus
this Christmas! MI6 has the behind the scenes story
to the UNICEF Christmas e-card...
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The Fly Who Loved Me
10th December 2004
Sir Roger Moore is making his animated debut as Father Christmas
in a new short cartoon, "The Fly Who Loved Me", in support
of UNICEF,
written and produced by Olly Smith and directed by Dan Chambers.
With Rudolph laid up on the sofa, Father Christmas despairs of
getting presents to the children this year…. until a determined
fly from his bin insists on taking over the job. To spread a jolly
jolt of Christmas cheer, The Fly Who Loved Me will be available
to watch free of charge on the web at www.flywholovedme.com
from 9am on Friday 10th December.
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Writer Olly Smith tells MI6 the story behind the production and working with
Roger.
"Dan Chambers (the director) made a short cartoon
called "Roger
Moore's Requiem" and released it onto the internet.
Roger was sent the animation through a series of serendipitous
quirks and loved it. He emailed Dan thanking him for the
left-field tribute and as a huge fan of Roger's, I seized
the opportunity to collaborate with Dan on our first project
with Roger: "Sir Roger Moore: Spaceman".
"We made the pilot for this 10x3 minutes series with
the support and kind help of Gareth Owen (Roger's PA). Dan
and I flew out to Monte Carlo feeling suitably thrilled
and awestruck to record the voice track with Roger and found
him to be a magnificent voice artist and a very warm person.
We both came away inspired by Roger's dedicated work for
UNICEF and resolved there and then that we wanted to support
his work in any way that we could."
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Above: Stills from "The
Fly Who Loved Me" |
"I burrowed into my office and scribbled a script for the new cartoon
"The Fly Who Loved Me" which will be available
to watch from Friday 10th December at the official
website.
The idea for this cartoon is to entertain a worldwide audience
and offer a link back to UNICEF's website where they can
find info on UNICEF and purchase Christmas cards, wrapping
paper, e-cards and a whole host of festive paraphernalia."
Right: Roger Moore records his voice-over
with Olly Smith.
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"Dan and I had several meetings and pored over the script before
pitching it to Roger. He came back with an emphatic yes."
Above: Stills from "The
Fly Who Loved Me" |
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"We had great fun recording the voice
track for "The Fly Who Loved Me" with veteran
sound engineer David
Thomas who has done an outstanding job for the project.
Roger gave a magnificent performance as Father Christmas
and I performed opposite him as the Fly. A total joy. "
"Dan then set to work working day and night in addition
to his day job at Tiger Aspect to direct and animate the
cartoon. My thanks to him are just huge, he's an amazing
director with a unique vision, a hilarious friend and a
privilege to work with. We were helped by Dan's work buddies
Tim Fehrenbach and Sam Wooldridge who assisted with the
animation."
"Everyone involved with this project has donated their
time and expertise to support Roger's UNICEF work. I hope
The Fly Who Loved Me entertains and encourages people to
visit UNICEF's website" - Olly Smith.
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Related Articles
"The
Fly Who Loved Me" Official Site
UNICEF
Online Shop
Many thanks to Olly Smith. Photos copyright David
Thomas.