‘Tis the season to binge-watch Christmas movies.
From Elf to Die Hard; Home Alone to Miracle on 34th Street, there’s no shortage of holiday classics – both new and old – to enjoy.
One of the ones we’re always going to have a bit of a soft spot for, though, is The Santa Clause.
The 1994 festive flick starred Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, a workaholic dad who accidentally ends up becoming Santa after the real St. Nick falls off his roof.
Which, yeah, is kind of dark – but the very family-friendly movie managed to never actually seem that way.
However, it turns out that the original idea for the beloved ’90s film was a whole lot darker – at leat, according to Tim Allen.
The comedian appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk about Toy Story 4 but, given the time of year, the conversation soon turned to the classic Christmas comedy.
He explained:
“The original Santa Clause is a little darker, written by two comedians. I actually shot and killed Santa, in the original movie.
“And he fell off the roof, because I thought he was a burglar. 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 idea was axed by the then-head of Disney – and the reason why makes plenty of sense.
Allen recalled:
“The head of Disney at the time said, ‘Well, we can’t start a movie like that.’
“I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Well, we can’t start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa Claus.’
“I said, ‘I’m a comedian. Why not? That’s funny. You killed all the parents in your other movies anyway.’
“Don’t they? They do that. I’m a comedian!”
The script was eventually re-written, with Allen’s character no longer shooting and killing St. Nick – which is definitely for the best, if you ask us.
You can check out his full interview below.