Orson Welles returns!

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Much like Vigo the Carpathian, death is seemingly just a door for Orson Welles, who is back and contributing to a brand new film.

All right, so it’s just his voice, discovered on some seemingly “lost” recordings of him reading a children’s book called Christmas Tails, which will be used to help make a new movie. It’s to be based on a rare recording of the actor narrating a book of the same name and will be a hybrid CG/live-action fantasy.

Drac Studios, a company that has produced practical special effects and make-up for the likes of Benjamin Button, is stepping up to produce a whole film based on recordings that Welles made in 1985 for his friend, writer Robert X Leed.

Leed taped Welles reading his story so that he could pass the narration to friends alongside the book. But most of the copies were lost and Leed let the originals sit on a shelf for 25 years before Drac studios head Harvey Lowry learned of their existence.

A quick call to the Welles estate, and he had permission to use the actor’s words as narration for a movie based on the book. "It's a movie about how Santa's dog saves Christmas, but on one level, this is a story about the discovery of Orson's lost tapes," Lowry tells The Hollywood Reporter. "This is a substantial find. It's something that a filmmaker dreams of."

Christmas Tails finds Santa’s reindeer getting sick and his canine friends stepping in to make sure the presents are delivered. Drac’s effects team will create animatronic animals and use CG to whip up the North Pole surroundings.

Actors are apparently queuing up to play the roles in Matt Thompson’s screenplay, tempted by the idea of performing alongside Welles’ narration. The plan is to shoot the live action in the summer or fall for a Christmas 2011 release in 3D. THR says the incorporation of Welles’ narration will be like Boris Karloff’s in 1966’s animated The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

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THR says the incorporation of Welles’ narration will be like Peter Lorre’s in 1966’s animated The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Eh- that would be Boris Karloff...

Whatever source you copied that from, their copywriter sucks.