The Original Script For 'The Santa Clause' Was A Lot Darker

As Christmas approaches like a runaway Coca-Cola truck, you're probably going to end up watching some festive movies, whether you like it or not. Classics such as Home Alone, The Grinch and Elf seem to pop up on TV frequently at this time of year... and who could forget The Santa Clause?

You remember The Santa Clause? The 1994 family-favourite staring Tim Allen as a dad who accidentally kills Santa on Christmas Eve and then ends up having to finish St Nick's delivery route before travelling to the North Pole, where he magically begins transforming into the big fella? Yeah, that one. Good, wasn't it? Fun for the whole family.

Well it was originally set to be a whole lot darker. While speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Allen revealed that in an earlier draft of the script, Santa was supposed to meet a much grimmer end than the one we saw in the final edit.

"The original Santa Clause is a little darker," he said. "I actually shot and killed Santa in the original movie."

Jesus. Imagine seeing that as a kid?

He added: "He fell off the roof because I thought he was a burglar. 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.'"

However, perhaps unsurprisingly, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Disney chairman at the time, quickly kiboshed the idea of Father Christmas getting shot by the fella off Home Improvement. Probably a smart move, mate - imagine the therapy bills from all the traumatised kids in the audience.

Allen said Katzenberg told him: "We can't start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa." To which Allen quickly replied: "Why not? It's funny. You kill all the parents in all your other movies!" Actually, that's a pretty good point.

via GIPHY

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how dark you like your festive flicks, Katzenberg got his way and Allen never got the chance to shoot Santa, no matter how much he wanted to.

As a result of its more family-friendly script, the movie went on to spawn two sequels, which may or may not have been a good thing. I mean, the less said about the third movie the better...

Topics: Christmas, TV and Film, US Entertainment

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19