By the time it made it to the silver screen, Tim Allen’s “Santa Clause” had changed quite a bit.
During an interview this week on “The Tonight Show,” Allen told host Jimmy Fallon that the original script for the beloved Christmas flick was “a little darker.”
“The original ‘Santa Clause’ is a little darker, written by two comedians, and I actually shot and killed Santa, in the original movie,” Allen explained. “He fell off the roof because I thought he was a burglar.”
The 65-year-old actor told Fallon his character, Scott Calvin, scared Santa Claus, who fell off the roof, and then shot the man in red. The movie began with the kid telling Calvin, “You just killed Santa.” Allen said his character replied, “He shouldn’t have been on the roof when he wasn’t invited.”
While Allen thought the idea was hilarious, Disney wasn’t so into it.
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Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was chairman of Walt Disney Studios at the time, told Allen, “We can’t start a movie like that.”
“I said, ‘Why not?’ Allen recalled. “And he said, ‘We can’t start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa.’”
Earlier in the conversation, Allen said he’s “literally the last guy in the world who should be Santa Claus because I don’t like kids all that much. I’m not gonna hurt ’em, I don’t say inappropriate stuff — just don’t like ’em.”