To many, Tim Allen will always be Santa. But as it turns out, the original 1994 family film “The Santa Clause” was supposed to be “darker.”
“The original ‘Santa Clause’ is a little darker, written by two comedians, and I actually shot and killed Santa in the original movie,” the actor explained to Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday’s episode of “The Tonight Show.” “He fell off the roof because I thought he was a burglar.”
He added, “He gives me the card – the whole movie starts. The kid actually starts, ‘You just killed Santa.’ And I said, ‘He shouldn’t have been on the roof when he wasn’t invited.’”
Allen then explained that the head of Disney at the time, Jeffrey Katzenberg, told him that they can’t start a Disney movie with Allen killing Santa.
“I’m a comedian — why not? It’s funny,” he explained, adding that he said at the time, “You kill all the parents in all your other movies!”
What we got instead was Allen’s character Scott Calvin spooking Santa while he was getting ready to climb down the chimney, causing him to fall off the roof. After finding a card on Santa saying if anything should happen to him to put on the red suit, Allen becomes the next Santa.
“I’m literally the last guy in the world who should be Santa Claus because I don’t like kids all that much,” the actor joked. “I’m not going to hurt them, I don’t say inappropriate stuff, just don’t like them.”
Allen also starred in the franchise’s two sequels: “The Santa Clause 2” and “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.”
Watch the video above.