Scrooged

Em: 00:02:25

Hi, everyone. I'm Em, and welcome to Verbal Diorama, Episode 325 Scrooged. This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy.

Movies you know and movies you don't. There's a captain of industry, feared by men, adored by women. Most of that is true. Welcome to Verbal Diorama.

Whether you're a regular returning listener, if you are, welcome back. If you're a brand new listener, welcome to Verbal Diorama. Thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast.

There are so many podcasts out there that all have incredible episodes and all want you to listen to them. I am no exception.

However, I'm so happy that you're here and choosing to listen to yet another Christmas episode of Verbal Diorama, mostly for the history and legacy of Scrooge. If you are a regular returning listener, thank you so much for continuing to listen and support this podcast.

This Podcast is seven years old in February of next year, and I really, genuinely love doing what I do.

So it makes such a difference to have people continue to come back to the podcast and continue to send such lovely messages of support on things like email and social media. Thank you so much. It genuinely means so much.

It is the biggest Christmas gift to me to have people enjoying and listening to this podcast so genuinely. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.

This is the second of three Christmas movies this year of Double Diorama last week, which Dingle all the way famously had a reindeer in it. There's also a famous reindeer called Donna. So it makes simple sense that we'd move on to a Richard Donner Christmas movie.

There's also a distinct capitalist feel to all of the movies that I'm featuring this year for Christmas, that Christmas is increasingly becoming about making money and scaring old ladies to death.

Maybe not so much the latter, but it's not easy to humanize Ebenezer Scrooge less so when he's a ruthless yuppie TV executive named Frank Cross, who couldn't care less about giving elderly ladies heart attacks and is annoyed that his secretary has gifted his brother something other than a towel. Trust me, in the 80s, a VHS was an incredibly generous gift to give. As modern adaptations of A Christmas Carol go, Only this one has Bill Murray.

This time he's inadvertently summoning the ghosts instead of busting them. You'll love it. Here's the trailer for Scrooged.

Em: 00:07:14

Frank Cross may be the youngest president of a TV network, but he's also cynical and mean spirited, determined to milk every drop of profit he can from the Christmas season.

He treats his loyal secretary with contempt by yet again gifting her a towel, ignoring her pleas to take her son to the doctor and sacks a member of his board on Christmas Eve for disagreeing with his violent fear mongering ad for a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol. Not only that, but he's alienated himself from his loving and supportive younger brother.

Frank is visited one night by the ghost of his mentor who tells him if he doesn't change his miserly ways, he'll be visited by three spirits. Any guess what might happen next? Let's run through the cast.

We have Bill Murray as Frank Cross, Karen Allen as Claire Phillips, John Forsyth as Lou Hayward, John Glover as Brice Cummings, Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk, David Johansson as the ghost of Christmas Past, Carol Kane as the ghost of Christmas Present, Robert Mitchum as Preston Rhinelander, Alfre Woodard as Grace Cooley, Nicholas Phillips as Calvin Cooley and Michael J. Pollard as Herman. There's cameos, loads of cameos in this movie as well by Lee Majors, John Houseman and Robert Goulet, as well as Bill Murray's brothers.

John Murray as James Cross, Brian Doyle Murray as Earl Cross and Joel Murray as one of James Cross's house guests.

Scrooged has a screenplay by Mitch Glazer and Michael o'Donoghue, was directed by Richard Donner and was based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. And as long as Christmas movies keep getting made, so too will new versions of A Christmas Carol.

y one coming out this year in: 2025

December: 1843

Even back then in the 19th century, counterfeiting was a thing and insensitive copies of A Christmas Carol, as it was most commonly referred to, began to surface.

In January: 1844

It's been translated into several languages and has had countless adaptations, over 150 actually on stage, live action, animated films, television, radio adaptations, opera, ballet, graphic novels, as well as parodies and derivative works.

st adaptation was in February: 1844

A Christmas Carol captured the mid Victorian revival of celebrations of the Christmas holidays, family gatherings, the giving and receiving of gifts, parties and seasonal food and drink. But most importantly to this story, the spirit of the season.

million pounds in: 2018

million pounds in: 2018

A Christmas Carol has been adapted so many times because it's one of the greatest stories ever told. Adapting it to a modern audience is easy because everyone loves a good redemption arc.

And when you have the director of Lethal Weapon and the star of Ghostbusters, you surely can't go wrong, right?

It was the mid-80s when Michael O'Donoghue, the first head writer of Saturday Night Live and the first performer to deliver a 9 on the series, and his friend Mitch Glazer, a former journalist who worked for Crawdaddy, Rolling Stone and Playboy and a good friend of John Belushi, teamed up to adapt A Christmas Carol for the modern at the time 80s audience.

In: 1977

And surprisingly, their knowledge of SNL and the vague actors who worked at SNL in the 80s made setting a contemporary adaptation of A Christmas Carol in the cutthroat world of TV executives make complete sense. And while the script went through countless revisions, the solid source material made it something special. But the question remained how to end it.

In a way honest to Frank Cross and the decade in which it was set. They'd both been living in New York city for over 18 years and they noticed that every year on Christmas Eve, the city would be different somehow.

People would be happier. They'd have more of a spring in their step, a smile on their face, relishing the holiday spirit.

New York City on Christmas Eve was for all intents and purposes a miracle. It wasn't a cheesy Hallmark ending. It wasn't overly sentimental or manipulative. It was honest, heartfelt emotion with an edge.

ight, thanks to Caddyshack in: 1980

It was Ghostbusters in: 1984

He lived in Europe for six months and came back to some scripts after that and just didn't think they were good enough, so he just didn't do them. He received the script for Scrooge two years into his four year downtime. But Murray elected to wait.

When the desire to perform returned, he returned to the Scrooge script and reworked it with Glazer and o'. Donoghue. And by that I mean he literally threw the old script out and they rebuilt it from scratch.

He took a romance that had been removed from an early draft and added more to it, building up the character of Claire Phillips.

He wanted to do more with Frank Cross's family, so they added more family scenes, along with the character of Grace and her family becoming important to the plot, too. Bill Murray is an actor known for his comedy and his improv.

But also, taking a hiatus from acting at the peak of his career meant that his return to acting needed to be something really good. It needed to be the reason for his return.

The idea of making A Christmas Carol and the character of Ebenezer Scrooge funny wasn't going to be easy, but it was something he knew he could do. And the promise of a $6 million salary was enough for him to return to.

The idea being that audiences would pay the big bucks to see Bill Murray, to see him in a Christmas movie, and to see him as, quote, unquote, Scrooge.

The irony of Murray waiting four years would also lead to a delay in filming the Ghostbusters sequel, which then had to wait till Murray finished his commitments on Scrooge. But then, when Murray was ready, the script for Ghostbusters 2 wasn't.

But to be honest, those Ghostbusters movies probably deserve episodes of their own one day. And if you're wondering, no, I never have gone for Ghostbusters 1 or 2 on this podcast, that is something that I probably need to change.

Richard Donner was just coming off the incredibly successful Lethal Weapon, also a Christmas movie. That's episode 279 of this podcast. But he was mostly known for Superman and the omen in the 70s and the Goonies in the early 80s.

Getting Richard Donner as the director would have been a big deal at the time. And Donner was interested in the script. So Bill Murray took Richard Donner out for drinks to see if they would get along, and they did.

And so Richard Donner joined the project, and it was greenlit by Paramount. A Richard Donner movie starring Bill Murray. Again, what could go wrong? You'll see where I'm going with this.

million in: 1982

million in: 1984

Scrooged was mostly filmed on sets, but those sets were elaborate.

They used stage 29 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles for the scenes in Frank Cross's office, Frank Cross's bedroom, and the film set for A Christmas Carol. So this was a fairly lavish production for the time and an incredibly lavish production for a studio comedy. But then there was the people problem.

Richard Donner had never worked with anyone quite like Bill Murray, and he wrote, ring, Direct Bill Murray. You just let him be Bill Murray.

One of Donner's famous quotes about working with him on this movie was, quote, you don't direct Billy, you pull him back. He added, quote, Billy really became an actor to me during Scrooge. I had always thought of him as an entertainer.

Now, having worked with him, I could see him playing a heavy. He's a good enough actor. You give him a platform, make him as comfortable as possible, and he comes at you from every direction. He did for me.

Filming was long. Murray's improvisational style meant he wanted takes to be one and done. He wanted his dialogue to be spontaneous.

He'd worked with Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donaghue on snl. He trusted them and he wanted to follow his own process. Donner had his own way of doing things.

He wanted lots of takes, wanted Murray in full Murray mode. Murray would later say, quote, he kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder. I think he was deaf, unquote.

It was becoming clear both men had different visions for Scrooged. And Scrooged was a difficult movie for Bill Murray. He didn't have the luxury of playing in an ensemble like Ghostbusters.

He was the sole star of the movie and had the responsibility of carrying an entire movie on his shoulders.

Despite a big name supporting cast including Karen Allen, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Glover and Robert Mitchum, Murray had quite a bit of the say on who was cast in the movie, including three of his brothers in various roles, as I've already said, and his friend, singer songwriter David Johansson, the lead singer of the New York Dolls. As the Ghost of Christmas Past. He was even the one who persuaded Robert Mitchum to join the movie. After Mitchum initially turned the role down.

Bill Murray would admit afterwards that the filming of the movie was a miserable experience for him for several reasons. Thankfully, decades later, he would look back at the experience fondly. But then the passage of time tends to change opinions.

Murray's experiences working with Richard Donner were one thing, but his experiences working with Carol Kane were another.

Kane's Ghost of Christmas Present was a beautiful, dainty ballerina fairy, but wouldn't pull her punches when it came to dealing With Frank Cross, quite literally. It was Bill Murray's idea for the scenes to be physical between the two characters and for hers to not hold back from it.

And because of it, Kane would become quite emotional for how violent her character was being. The role was physically demanding for both actors, with Kane punching, pinching and hitting Frank with a toaster.

When she pulled Bill Murray's lip, it really pulled his lips from his gums, injuring him and pausing filming for a few days. Kane would often break down on set, spending 20 minutes crying before filming could resume. And Bill Murray's wasn't the only real injury either.

When Frank is startled by what he thinks is the Ghost of Christmas Future, he elbows his secretary Grace in the jaw. And Bill Murray did accidentally hit Alfre Woodard in the face.

Carol Kane's scenes would feature a ballet dance, and she trained for weeks to learn the dance, knowing that a real ballerina would be doubling for her. She showed J. Michael Riva, the film's art director, her dance at the studio and he started laughing hysterically.

Kate tried so hard to learn the dance and it just turned out to be really quite bad. So instead of having a perfect dance double, they got Kane to dance it for real, just to show the character trying to dance.

Kane would graciously call the choice by Riva and Richard Donner courageous and creative. She would have fond memories of working with Murray. Him, probably not so much.

In a: 1988

Saturday Night Live in early: 1998

He did it ethically, but I concentrated just on the success and drive part of his character and forgot about his ethics, unquote. At the very start of the movie, we see exactly what Santa thinks of terrorists as the Night the Reindeer Died plays out.

Claus, but He died in August: 1987

Lee Manger's action hero role was originally written for Chuck Norris, but reportedly Mel Gibson was also considered and Richard Donner obviously had the guy on speed dial. After Lethal Weapon, everyone was Attracted to the movie because of its great script. But there ended up being a lot of improvisation on set.

rk in the middle of winter in: 1987

s of filming between December: 1987

Many scenes that were filmed but have never seen the light of day, not even an extended edition or director's cut. The fake snow they used on set allegedly caused Bill Murray to cough up blood.

And when it came to the movie's final redemption speech, o'Donoghue and Glazer wrote a moving, inspired speech for Frank Cross. They desperately wanted Bill Murray to read the speech as written in the script.

But Murray instead went off on a big, emotional, completely unscripted tirade. The casting crew thought that he was having a nervous breakdown as gave him a mini ovation at the end of his frenzied speech.

But after the applause died down, o'Donoghue voiced his displeasure, only to be punched in the arm by Richard Donner. Murray's performance during the closing credits to get the cinema audiences to participate in the sing song were also completely ad libbed.

But fundamentally, this is a movie about spirits. And speaking of spirits, this is also the last movie appearance for a couple of people.

Oscar winner John Houseman died the month before the movie was released. Oscar nominee Anne Ramsay died a few months before its release.

Unit production manager and executive producer Roger M. Rothstein and art department set construction coordinator Robert Scaife also passed away shortly after filming. This movie would also be the last on screen appearance for the Solid Gold Dancers.

show was cancelled in July of: 1988

And this is where I segue into the obligatory Keanu reference of this episode.

And if you don't know one of those, it's why I try and link every meal that I feature with Keanu Reeves for no reason other than he is no Scrooge and he is the best of men. But this was actually incredibly difficult because trying to link Keanu Reeves to a character like Ebenezer Scrooge or Frank Cross is not easy.

ie that came out this year in: 2025

It's a movie called Good Fortune and the reason why I'm mentioning Good Fortune is that I found a review that described it as a character having a Christmas Carol style awakening as supernatural intervention shows him what a rich, selfish Scrooge he's become. Keanu Reeves plays an angel in the movie because of course he plays an angel in the movie.

I have not seen Good Fortune, but it is the easiest way to link Keanu Reeves to a character like Frank Cross and a movie that's based on A Christmas Carol. The score for Scrooge was composed by Danny Elfman and this was before Batman and Edward Scissorhands made him one of Hollywood's go to composers.

Scrooged was Elfman's first big budget Hollywood score and had to mix wildly broad comedy, holiday cheer, gothic horror and emotional drama. The song Put a Little Love in youn Heart was released as a single by Annie Lennox and Al Green.

eenings for Scrooge in summer: 1988

rd November: 1988

It would stay in the top 10 over Christmas and into the new year.

Over eight weeks on its budget of $32 million, Scrooge would gross $60.3 million in the US and $40 million internationally for a total worldwide gross of $100.3 million. Not a flop by any means, but still considered a disappointment considering the star power.

Scrooge would later find more success in the home video market and on TV.

st October: 2006

leased on Blu Ray in November: 2011

November: 2023

It currently has a rating of 71% on rotten tomatoes, with a consensus of Scrooge gets by with Bill Murray and a dash of holiday spirit.

the time. Critical reviews in: 1988

Movie critic Roger Ebert said that it was the worst film adaptation of A Christmas Carol that he'd ever seen.

I mean, it's not the best Rog, but it's certainly not the worst, he would say, quote, scrooge is one of the most disquieting, unsettling films to come along in quite some time. It was obviously intended as a comedy, but there is little comic about it, and indeed the movie's overriding emotions seem to be pain and anger.

This entire production seems to be in dire need of visits from the ghosts of Christmas.

The Hollywood Reporter said that the story was uproarious and sometimes vitriolic, labeling it a scathing satire of the entertainment industry that was a wild and woolly holiday feast that should scrape off the competition.

'Donoghue before his death in: 1994

He would say, and I'm using different words here, quote, we wrote an effing masterpiece. We wrote It Happened One Night. We wrote a story that could make you laugh and cry.

You would have wanted to share it with your grandchildren every effing Christmas for the next 100 years. The finished film was A piece of unadulterated, unmitigated S word. Michael o'Donoghue was not mincing his words.

Scrooge would be nominated for Best makeup at the 61st Academy Awards, but it was lose to Beetlejuice, which is another Danny Elfman score on that one. I mean, it's no the Muppet Christmas Carol, but it's decent enough. And let me make it completely clear.

Like Jingle all the Way the last episode, I have zero emotional connection to this movie. I like it, but I don't love it. I love the setting.

Like Jingle all the Way, about the commercialization of Christmas, a modern take on A Christmas Carol. It is a story that transcends time. But while Bill Murray is the star, he's also somewhat its downfall.

It's hard to take a sincere redemption arc seriously when you have Bill Murray ad libbing jokes. Frank Cross is not an easy character to like. That's the point.

But his redemption struggles because of Bill Murray, because he's an actor you really want to like, even when he plays deplorable people.

But the difference between Peter Venkman, a slime bull ghostbuster who flirts with young women, and Frank Cross, who literally fires someone for voicing an opinion, doesn't care. An old lady has died, tells his secretary she can't take time off for a doctor's appointment for her child.

Murray is both the best thing about this movie and the worst. Frank Cross, I fear, might be a bit too mean spirited. He needs to do more to be redeemed.

Ebenezer Scrooge may be a miserable git, but I fully believe Michael Caine was redeemed in the Muppet Christmas Carol. I believe he learned the error of his ways.

I don't believe it quite so much for Frank Cross, mostly because even though he gave Elliot Loudermilk his job back with a raise, the guy still holds up a live production team hostage with a gun. Because redemption arc in real life, Frank Cross is gonna lose his job and Elliot Loudermilk is going to jail.

I don't think the central romance helps much, but it does help. But he treats Karen Allen's Claire awfully. Actually, not once do I think they're suited for each other.

She makes him a better person, but truthfully, he needs to want to become a better person. He rejects her multiple times before he coerces and compels her to join him in front of the cameras, finally choosing her.

And after protesting, she reluctantly obliges. But it's his choice, not hers, to do this. So publicly. And I guess I'm just not a fan of this sort of power dynamic relationship.

Although I will say her inclusion in the movie is better than no inclusion at all. And Karen Allen is, as always, completely delightful as Karen Allen always is.

ng, but up until his death in: 2021

The true redemption arc of this movie sits with one character. The one character I believe in, the one character that made me cry like a baby at the end.

And he didn't even need redeeming, he just needed to believe in something again. And that was young Calvin Cooley. Honestly, that little boy saying, God bless us everyone.

To quote the Ghost of Christmas Past Niagara Falls, Calvin is the tidy Tim, reimagined as a young black boy whose affliction isn't a terminal illness, but having seen his father get murdered. It's heartbreaking stuff.

And for a wealthy white man to not only see the poverty, but of his African American secretary's large family, but also show empathy towards them not only feels progressive for the late 80s, but also feels progressive for a character like Frank Cross. And I actually really like that about him because he showed that empathy early on in the movie. He didn't wait until the end.

And that is one great thing that I really loved about the choices that they made for that character. Scrooged does have a message, but it's so muddled because it can never seem to decide whether TV is good or bad.

Frank Cross is on TV telling people not to watch TV but to spend time with their families instead. So is TV an inherently awful business or is it the source of fond family memories? And maybe that's due to the time the movie was being made.

arkets crashing In October of: 1987

Maybe this is just the ultimate method acting. I did laugh a little at the supposed scenes of the past where they just stuck a long wig on him because he still looks the same age.

It sounds like I'M really pushing back on this movie but there is a lot that I like about it. The ghost of Christmas Future is legit terrifying, as he should be.

Him coming over the TV screens is a truly great scene that I wish I could have found out more about, but there was simply nothing on the Internet that I could find about the ghost of Christmas Future. The soles in his chest, so nice. Frank had to look twice. I really love that effect. I think it's absolutely terrific.

I really like the Night the Reindeer Died sketch. I'm pretty sure that's also the plot for Violent Night, which is a very fun Christmas movie as well.

This is not supposed to be for children and a more modern grown up interpretation of A Christmas Carol is actually very welcome. The themes are pretty universal. Goodwill towards all men, greed, forgiveness, regret, love, family, friendship, charity, mercy, kindness.

It can all be boiled down to one simple idea. Be a good person who dedicates their life to making the lives of others better. The production design is great.

The costume and character work for the ghosts is great. The Danny Elfman score is great. Alfra Woodard is great, as she always is. The fake snow was probably toxic, so not so great.

Carol Kane got to beat down our Bill Murray for a bit. A Christmas Carol, literally. The makeup making John Forsyth look like he just crawled out of a grave is great.

In many ways, this movie was ahead of its time and it is incredibly underrated, possibly even by me.

Frank's trainer for A Christmas Carol is so ridiculous, so violent and so depraved, it may be something a TV network of today would use to get people watching the King's Speech with screaming and explosions. I'd watch it, but while I admittedly merely like this movie, many, many people love it because it's so unique.

It found new life on VHS and DVD and tv. It's become more beloved as the years have passed. If you love A Christmas Carol and you love Bill Murray at his peak, there is a lot to love here.

In: 2015

In: 2016

And yes, I guess I find it hard to not compare it to the Muppet Christmas Carol, which is the best adaptation of the story. That is on me. But if we can take anything from this movie, it's that Christmas Eve is the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer.

We smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be. Except we should be that 365 days of the year.

And hopefully after the events of this movie, Frank Cross did But it's great that you've listened to this episode. Now more than ever, it is important to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Don't miss Richard Donner's immortal classic Scrooged.

Your life might just depend on it. Thank you for listening. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on Scrooged and thank you for your continued support of this podcast.

If you wanna show your support in multiple different ways, you could leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast. You could tell your friends and family about this podcast or you can find me and follow me on social media and you can share the podcast that way.

I am at Verbal Diorama. You can share posts like posts, comment on posts.

It all helps really to get the word out there and to hopefully get other people to know this podcast and know what I've been doing. I genuinely love doing this podcast and anything you could do to help would be so appreciated.

If you like this episode on Scrooged, you should also watch and listen to the episode on the Muppet Christmas Carol, which is episode 185. Genuinely one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time.

I will be watching it again with the kids this year because my love for the Muppet Christmas Carol knows no bounds.

It is in my opinion the superior adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but as I said, A Christmas Carol is such a timeless story that it just works with everything. Whether you are a yuppie TV executive in the 80s or whether you have no cheeses for us. Mises, as always, give me feedback.

Let me know what you think of my recommendation. It is the best one. It just is. The next episode is the final episode of the year on this podcast and it is a very British Christmas favorite.

No, I'm very proud of the listeners that I have in the USA and I'm grateful to know some incredible people over in the US and Americans tend to obsess over A Christmas Story. I didn't even know that movie existed until a few years ago because it didn't really make much of a splash over here.

It's not really a movie that we watch or we talk about because here in the UK we Have Santa Claus the Movie. It is a movie that came out two years after A Christmas Story, a lavish, expensive film about the origins of Santa Claus.

There's also somehow about how evil corporations make money from Christmas. But it is a British festive cult classic. Every year you can guarantee it'll be on around Christmas. In fact, it already has been here in the uk.

But while it was a huge production, it's also a bit of a notorious flop. So join me next week for the history and legacy of Santa Claus the Movie.

That episode is due out the very day the big man himself actually sets off with all of our toys. So hopefully he's got some headphones for the journey to listen to his own story.

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Em: 00:46:01

Bye.