Can you believe it has been 28 years since Tim Allen’s first The Santa Clause film arrived in movie theaters? Now three films and nearly three decades later, Tim is back in his jolly red and white suit to reprise his beloved Christmas role in the form of a new original series titled The Santa Clauses, now streaming on Disney+.

This six-episode limited series takes its loyal movie fans, as well as a new generation of believers, along for the (sleigh) ride as viewers catch up with Tim’s character Scott Calvin, better known as Santa Claus, as he deals with changes in age and the struggles of maintaining the holiday spirit within our modern society.

When I first sat down with Tim, who is also an executive producer on The Santa Clauses, I informed him that I was eight years old when The Santa Clause film came out in 1994 and that the “kid at heart” in me has nostalgically enjoyed seeing him return to the screen in his iconic holiday role.

Tim replied, “More than that, I’m excited that we won’t disappoint. I wouldn’t of let it go, as far as I could tell, until we honored exactly what turned me onto that first [film] and people that did it, too. I loved what we did there. I loved what John Pasquin, the director did. I loved what the writers did, but I appreciate what you’re saying.”

Being 16 years since he last donned the Santa suit in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, I wondered how the talks initially started between Tim and Disney to ultimately turn this series idea into a video streaming reality.

“Disney+ needed content,” Tim continues. “On our side creatively, how do you make the first [film] relevant and better? That’s all I needed to hear. Eventually with Jack Burditt, the writer, [he] framed a new idea that we tweaked, we meaning me. I said, ‘I don’t like any of this, pull that out, but that little core is wonderful.’ Jack Burditt also penned the original idea for Last Man Standing and molded it into the show that we had.”

Tim’s The Santa Clauses co-stars, including actress Elizabeth Mitchell who has played Tim’s on-screen love interest Carol/Mrs. Claus since The Santa Clause 2 & 3 films, briefly spoke with me about the joys of acting alongside Tim today.

“Working with Tim always makes my stomach hurt because he makes me laugh,” Elizabeth reveals. “At the same time, I trust and love Tim and getting to be with him, getting to be with his daughter because Elizabeth was there. Jane was with us most days, Tim’s wife – so heaven! Had the best time with them.”

Kal Penn joins the Santa universe as the not-so-nice-list big business executive Simon and expressed to me his enthusiasm to get to work with Tim. “Obviously, I’m a huge Tim Allen fan,” Kal continues. “Same with Elizabeth Mitchell. I think the first Santa Clause movie came out when I was in high school, so that quickly got added to the rotation of classic Christmas films. The nerdy kid in me was like ‘I can’t believe I get to be part of the continuation of this.’ It’s not a replacement or a remake – it’s the continuation of those iconic films, so super excited about that.”

Actor Devin Bright, who plays Santa’s right-hand man Noel in The Santa Clauses, says of Tim, “He’s always super funny. He makes jokes off-camera – he’s just as funny off-camera as he is on-camera, but he can also like flip that switch as soon as the cameras start rolling and get to his character. Then also just learning from him – how he operates and thinks how scenes work. Learning how he cares for the stories and wants to make sure everything makes sense is really cool.”

Actress Matilda Lawler, who plays The North Pole’s operations leader Betty, reiterated Devin’s points about Tim, saying, “I wasn’t really sure what to expect at first because I know how funny he is on-screen, but he’s just as funny off-screen. He’s really just a joy to be around. He always brings a good mood to set.”

Santa’s teenage son Cal in The Santa Clauses is played by actor Austin Kane, who tells me he felt a connection with Tim and Elizabeth as his on-screen parents from the very start of filming. “We immediately dove in and it was like a second family,” says Austin. “The chemistry was already there.”

As for the debut of Tim’s second on-screen child Sandra, the chemistry most likely came even more naturally for him, being that the newcomer actress playing the role is Tim’s real-life daughter, Elizabeth Allen-Dick. With The Santa Clauses being her very first Hollywood role, Tim reveals to me what was supposed to just be a quick walk-on role as an elf in the background waving to the camera turned into a leading character performance when casting executives on the Disney+ series got sight of her audition.

When speaking of his interaction with The Santa Clauses casting team during daughter Elizabeth’s audition, Tim says, “They go ‘Has she ever done this before?’ I went ‘Well, she read all the comedy bits with me on Last Man Standing because I wanted to get the timing right, so she understands that.’ She got the part all by herself.”

After his daughter was cast, Tim shared with me the playful warning he gave his newest co-star on-set. “I sat on the stage and I told her ‘When I’m on-stage, I’m Tim Allen, the comedian, actor and potty mouth. So, I don’t want you telling your mom anything I said here.’ That being said, there’s other kids so I had to watch myself, as I normally do, which is a bit in itself. This filthy comedian dressed as Santa Claus around children. It’s a recipe for disaster! My kid – I was pleasant, I did my job and I stayed out of her way. She shined and was respectful and acted like she has done this for years. I don’t know what else to say. It was amazing.”

With Tim’s celebrated career that spans beyond his memorable Santa performances, including his other starring roles on popular sitcoms like Home Improvement and Last Man Standing, I was curious how the longtime actor would say his approach towards the business side of the Hollywood industry has evolved since his early acting years.

Well, I just adapt,” Tim reveals. “Right now, what was network TV was simple – it was Nielsen ratings translated into advertising dollars. Very simple. Movies – box office is king. You do a big box office, you know exactly what you make. This new one, streaming, and along with you want to be politically correct. I mean, Bill Maher’s old show Politically Incorrect used to be what I loved – is let’s dance around the censorship. Right now, it’s different and a little disguised. I don’t know what streaming makes. I’m not part of Netflix or Disney+. It’s not for us, so it’s difficult to be a negotiator when you don’t really understand the whole business. I don’t know what the analytics are, so it’s very different now. On the other hand, it’s not what motivates me right now. What motivates me is creativity and entertaining and making people excited, funny, happy, whatever we’re attempting to do. So to me, it’s all about the union and the crew. If everyone is taken care of there, I’ll get taken care of. We’ll figure that out.”

By Jeff Conway

Source: forbes. To see more, https://www.forbes.com/