Last Train to Christmas: Michael Sheen on his time-shifting festive film

When Michael Sheen first appears in the film Last Train to Christmas, sporting a blonde mullet wig, you could think you had tuned into a Peter Stringfellow biopic.

And, looks aside, we learn that Sheen's character Tony Towers is indeed, like the late Stringfellow, a nightclub owner. The year is 1985 and Tony is taking a train to join his family at home for the festive period.

But this is not a film about night-time culture - and this is no ordinary train. Tony realises that by walking through the different carriages he is sent backwards and forwards in time, with his actions in one compartment having major consequences for what happens in the next.

The film could be considered a modern-day Christmas Carol, with a nod to Sliding Doors and a smidgen of Back to the Future.

However, Tony is far from being an Ebenezer Scrooge. He's sociable, always up for a good time and a man who enjoys chucking his money around.

"I think when Julian Kemp wrote and directed the film, he was very much influenced by using Peter Stringfellow or someone like Peter Stringfellow as a starting point, at least," Sheen explains.

"But it's not in any way based on his life or who he is. It's about a character who is very much living in the moment.

"He's not spending a lot of time thinking about what he's done in his life. He's not thinking about his choices, and then suddenly he gets the chance to really look and maybe make changes and that's a very new experience for Tony."

Early reviews of the film have been fairly positive, with much praise for Sheen - but some have suggested his performance makes up for other shortcomings.

"Last Train to Christmas does go on a bit too long, and rather bombards you with more timelines than a Marvel movie, but it's certainly a must-see, and Michael Sheen is brilliant throughout," said Dom Robinson of DVD Fever.

In her three-star Guardian review, Leslie Felperin said: "It's a pretty high concept posited by writer-director Julian Kemp, made even weirder by the way Sheen's Tony just sort of rolls with it all, swiftly working out how to tinker with his futures in order to either benefit himself or save loved ones from ruin. But Sheen is an engaging enough actor to pull it off."

As Tony's life is unravelled, we learn of a family secret, fierce sibling rivalry, shattered ambition and failed relationships.

Game of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel is cast as Tony's much younger fiancée Sue, who he meets after the break-up of his first marriage.

Emmanuel says of the character: "She definitely doesn't suffer fools. Tony is a very big personality but she really knows how to put him in his place and she does challenge him. And your first idea of her is kind of turned on its head really."

Sheen adds: "It's about meeting someone who you fall in love with, maybe taking characters at face value to begin with and then discovering there's a lot more to them underneath."

Tony's decisions have an impact on his troubled relationship with his brother Roger (Cary Elwes), who is also his business partner; his romance with Sue, and the relationship with his parents.

Have Sheen or Emmanuel ever thought about how life might have turned out if they had chosen a different path or a particular chance hadn't come their way?

"As I get older it hits me more and more about the randomness of life," Sheen says.

"You think about the main relationships in your life, if I hadn't been at that cafe that day, or if I hadn't made that choice, and you think about all the thousands of choices you make just in one day.

"It's kind of a bit overwhelming and a bit frightening. And maybe there is kind of a design underneath? Maybe there is a path. Who knows?"

Emmanuel even has her own real-life train tale. "I actually met one of my best friends on a train and I very nearly missed that train.

"I basically fell onto the train, just as the doors closed, with a couple of my colleagues and we sort of overwhelmed this man's table. I was like: 'Sorry, can we sit here?' And he's been my friend for 15 years.

"Who knows what could have happened if I hadn't made that train? Maybe I'd have met him in another place at another time? But I do think that everything happens as it should and as it's meant to be and I would be careful not to mess with that if I had the chance to."

Tony does have the unique opportunity to go back and try to alter the course of history. But, Sheen explains, the outcome isn't good. "The difficult thing for Tony is he tries to make things better and he keeps making things worse.

"And that would be the danger, I suppose. So what I've learned from this is that I should probably leave well alone."

Accordingly, Guardian critic Felperin said this attitude is evidenced by Tony's conclusions on life: "By slow degrees, he (Tony) brings a tender sort of sadness to the story, full of wistful regrets and zen resignation to the contingencies of fate."

Now Sheen and Emmanuel are starring in a Christmas film, do they have a favourite festive movie themselves?

"We always watch The Snowman every year, Home Alone comes on at some point, and The Grinch. Three classics," says Emmanuel.

"My favourite Christmas film for a very long time has always been It's a Wonderful Life. I just think it's a great film, let alone a Christmas film," says Sheen.

"But in the last few years, I have started watching Elf a lot. We will probably watch that quite a bit.

"My little one Lyra will at some point start to have a favourite Christmas film herself. And if my oldest daughter Lily is anything to go by, we will watch it possibly three or four times a day. So I hope she chooses wisely."

Last Train to Christmas will premiere on Sky Cinema on Saturday 18 December.