The comedian, 65, spoke about the movie while on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night, revealing that his character, Scott Calvin, was originally directly responsible for how Santa Claus died. (St. Nick ended up being surprised on the rooftop of Calvin’s home, slipping and falling to his death.)
“The original Santa Clause is a little darker, written by two comedians, and I actually shot and killed Santa, in the original movies,” Allen said.
“He fell off the roof because I thought he was a burglar [in the actual film]. He gives me the card, the whole movie starts,” he explained. “[In the original script,] the kid actually starts with, ‘You just killed Santa.’ And I said, ‘He shouldn’t have been on the roof when he wasn’t invited.'”
Allen said he thought the more gruesome premise was hilarious.
“I’m laughing so hard, but the head of Disney at the time, [Jeffrey] Katzenberg said, ‘Well you can’t start a movie like that.’ And I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘We can’t start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa,'” he explained.
Allen continued, “I go, ‘I’m a comedian. Why not? That’s funny. You kill all the parents in your other movies anyway.’ Don’t they?”
The Santa Clause centers on an ordinary man, Calvin, who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof on Christmas Eve. When he and his young son, Charlie, finish Santa Claus’ Christmas deliveries, they arrive at the North Pole, where Calvin learns he must become the new Santa due to a contractual clause.
The film made over $189 million in the world box office and over $144 million in the U.S.
It was followed by two sequels, The Santa Clause 2 in 2002 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause in 2006.
