Tim Allen Reveals The Original Plan For 'The Santa Clause' Was Way Too Dark For Disney
We've all seen The Santa Clause at least a dozen times, right? It's a Christmas classic and ever since it was released, it has become a staple in our holiday movie schedule.
There's something about the movie that manages to keep that Christmas feeling without being way too over the top or corny. I mean, sure, Tim Allen literally becomes Santa, but somehow it all feels like that's totally plausible.
The sequels may not have the same realistic feeling, but the original remains iconic. However, Allen just revealed that the original plan for the movie was a lot darker than we all knew.
Sure, the movie's plot gets going when the original Santa falls off a roof to his death before disappearing into nothingness, but the original script called for things to get a little more PG-13.
Allen was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, and because we are approaching the holiday season, obviously they had to discuss The Santa Clause. But instead of just talking about how the movie remains popular after all this time, Allen revealed that the original plot had him getting rid of the original Santa in a much more violent way.
"The original Santa Clause is a little darker, written by two comedians, and I actually shot and killed Santa, in the original movie,” he explained. "And he fell off the roof, because I thought he was a burglar. And he gives me the card, and the whole movie starts. And the kid goes, ‘You just killed Santa.’ And I said, ‘He shouldn’t have been on the roof when he wasn’t invited.’”
The final rewrite of the movie left out the whole shooting part, because apparently Disney wasn't down with the murder.
"I’m laughing so hard, but the head of Disney at the time, [Jeffrey] Katzenberg says, ‘Well, we can’t start a movie like that,’ and I said, ‘Why not?’ And he said, ‘Well, we can’t start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa Claus,’”
He had a good point though, because most Disney movies result in the parents getting murdered in some way, but I guess shooting Santa is more traumatizing.
While he is probably one of the world's favorite versions of Santa, Allen isn't so sure that he was the best choice.
"I’m literally the last guy in the world who should be Santa Claus, because I don’t like kids all that much,” he joked. "I’m not going to hurt them. I don’t say inappropriate stuff, I just don’t like them.”
Allen has children of his own, but the actor admitted that he didn't really know how to handle the questions from kids - especially the ones on set.
Apparently he was getting chased around by all the children who were acting as the elves, and when Allen spoke expressed his frustration to the director, he realized that, "These little creeps think I'm Santa Claus."
"So these kids are asking me questions, ‘What does Santa eat? What does the elves eat?’ And I go, ‘How the hell would I know what they eat?’ But all that comes out of my mouth, I said, ‘Uh, reindeer I guess,’” he continued. "It’s the best I could come up with. ‘Why do you like milk and cookies?’ ‘Because it takes the edge off the Jack and Coke.'"
Even though he claims he isn't good with kids, he was very protective when he showed his youngest daughter the iconic movie, making sure she knew the real Santa gave them permission.
"The younger one, she’s precious, I tried to warn her, ‘We’re going to see this movie, but I want you to know it’s a movie. Your dad plays characters. We did have permission from the real Santa to go to the North Pole and take pictures,’” he recalled.
"But she sees the movie, gets in my lap, and she’s all over it. Crying because I had to leave the boy, Charlie, to go back to the North Pole. Then I had to explain to the kid, ‘Now I don’t want you going to school and telling your classmates your dad is Santa Claus, because he’s an actor.’"
Whether Allen believes he is good with kids or not, he's managed to make a name for himself playing some pretty iconic children's characters, including Santa and, of course, Buzz Lightyear.
Toy Story 4 comes out next year, and I think all of us, including Allen, are in for an emotional movie. He admitted just how emotional he was recording it.
"The last scene of that movie, I couldn’t even get through it. And I thought there was pages after it. It was so emotional. It’s a, 'Scarlett, I don’t give a damn’-moment.”
Well, I don't know about you, but I think the next time I watch The Santa Clause I might look at it a little bit differently. I'm glad they didn't shoot Santa though, I agree with Disney that it would have been WAY too much for kids.
Watch the rest of the clip here to see more from your favorite Santa.
Source - Entertainment Tonight