growing deaf to the bell over the years as their belief faded. However, despite the fact he is now an adult, the bell still rings for him, as it does "for all who truly believe." Voice cast Tom Hanks as Hero Boy (Chris) (adult voice and motion-capture), Hero Boy's father, Conductor (James), Hobo, Santa Claus, and Ebenezer Scrooge puppet Josh Hutcherson as Hero Boy (additional motion-capture) Daryl Sabara as Hero Boy (child voice) Nona Gaye as Hero Girl (Holly) Darrian O Driscoll as Hero Girl (additional motion-capture) Meagan Moore as Hero Girl (singing voice) Tinashe as Hero Girl (motion-capture model) Peter Scolari as Billy the Lonely Boy (motion-capture) Hayden McFarland as Billy the Lonely Boy (additional motion-capture) Jimmy Bennett as Billy the Lonely Boy (voice) Matthew Hall as Billy the Lonely Boy (singing voice) Eddie Deezen as Know-it-all (Lenny) Jimmy Pinchak as Know-it-all (additional motion-capture) Michael Jeter as Smokey and Steamer (voice) André Sogliuzzo as Smokey and Steamer (additional voice) Leslie Zemeckis as Sister Sarah (motion-capture) and Hero Boy's mother Isabella Peregrina as Sister Sarah (voice) Ashly Holloway as Sister Sarah (additional motion-capture) Dylan Cash as Boy on Train (voice) Brendan King and Andy Pellick as Pastry Chefs Josh Eli, Rolandas Hendricks, Jon Scott, Sean Scott, Mark Mendonca, Mark Goodman, Gregory Gast, and Gordon Hart as Waiters Julene Renee as Red Head Girl and an Elf Chris Coppola as Gus the Toothless Boy and an Elf Connor Matheus as Toothless Boy (additional motion-capture) Phil Fondacaro, Debbie Lee Carrington, Mark Povinelli, and Ed Gale as Elves Charles Fleischer as Elf General Steven Tyler as Elf Lieutenant and Elf Singer Production Development Hanks optioned the book in 1999 with the hopes of playing the conductor and Santa Claus. One of the conditions of the sale was that the resulting film not be animated. Zemeckis, however, felt that a live-action version was unfeasible, claiming that it "would look awful, and it would be impossible – it would cost $1 billion instead of $160 million." Zemeckis felt that such a version would rob the audience of the art style of the book which he felt was "so much a part of the emotion of the story". The two acquired the rights to the book the following year. In order to keep his vision a new process was created by which actors would be filmed with motion capture equipment in a black box stage which