Klaus (2019)
- The incredible score for Klaus was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- Before Jason Schwartzman was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Sergio Pablos originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
Klaus is a 2019 Spanish animated Christmas film directed by Sergio Pablos, the first animated feature produced for Netflix. Jason Schwartzman voices Jesper, a spoiled, lazy young postman who is assigned to the frozen, miserable town of Smeerensburg as punishment by his wealthy father โ the town has virtually no postal service because its feuding clans refuse to communicate. When Jesper discovers Klaus, a reclusive toymaker voiced by J.K.
Simmons who lives alone in the woods with a workshop full of handmade toys, they form an unlikely partnership that accidentally creates the traditions of Christmas โ letters to Santa, gift-giving, naughty-or-nice lists, and chimney delivery. Klaus's animation style was revolutionary โ using a new technique that applied 2D character animation with volumetric lighting that gave flat characters a three-dimensional, painterly quality unlike anything previously seen in animation. Klaus won the BAFTA for Best Animated Film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
The film was praised as one of the finest Christmas films in years.
