Reynolds & McElhenney give M&S Food a hand

Directed by Dom & Nic and created by The Mill London, the third appearance of Dawn French's Fairy in the brand's Christmas campaign sees her give life to a pair of misplaced mittens, Left and Right, who enjoy their first taste of Christmas.

In the 80-second spot, Fairy treats the reindeer-shaped hand-warmers, voiced by Welsh football wunderkinds Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, to some Christmas fun and games before leading them to a magnificent feast set on a dining room table. “This is not just food… This is M&S Christmas food,” says Fairy in closing the spot, abundant with Reynolds' trademark wry humour as well as some classic Christmas tradition, reflecting the Marks & Spencer brand.

“The mittens were two of the most complex characters I have ever been involved in creating!” says The Mill’s Creative Director, Andy Steele. "The team remade the underlying animated structural rigs several times in order to capture a range of motion and emotion. “Having all this functionality in one rig – being able to see every knitted thread in the mittens, for example – offered creative freedom to shoot without cutting corners.” 

“We found inspiration for their movement style in Forky from Toy Story 4,” adds David Bryan, Animation Director at The Mill. Inspiration also came from Sesame Street and The Muppets in the way characters can speak convincingly, with limited tools, with The Mill focusing on, says Bryan, “syncing the head and body of the mittens, paired with a simple yet charming mouth action, to match the energy in Rob and Ryan’s voiceovers.” 

Of his all-star British and American cast, Steele says; “With such amazing voice talent for the performances, the animation team really invested themselves in the project. It’s not every day you get the chance to work with the likes of Dawn French, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Everyone involved was really pumped about it, and you can see it in the creativity of the spot.”