Dan Stevens is Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas trailer

The Man Who Invented Christmas (out Nov. 22) describes — in rather fantastical fashion — how Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) wrote his classic holiday tale A Christmas Carol and dreamed up the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, who is played in the film by Christopher Plummer.

“The Man Who Invented Christmas is a magical realist story based on some truth about the period of time that Charles Dickens spent in the run up to publishing A Christmas Carol,” says Stevens. “I just thought it was a really fresh take on that whole world. Particularly in England, Dickens is placed on a pedestal. But the guy was, at turns, quite playful and childish, and, at turns, quite dark and not a very pleasant man.”

The Man Who Invented Christmas is directed by Bharat Nalluri and is itself written by Susan Coyne, based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford. The film costars Jonathan Pryce.

Watch the new trailer for The Man Who Invented Christmas above and see the film’s new poster, below.