Halloween's John Carpenter almost made this cult Christmas movie
John Carpenter is best known for horror, sci-fi and action. For decades, the writer-director made genre films that both thrilled and terrified audiences, from Halloween, The Fog and The Thing to Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live.
But mid-way through a remarkable celluloid run filled with violence and scares, he nearly made a Christmas movie for kids.
The idea came from father-and-son team Alexander and Ilya Salkind, producers riding high from the success of the Superman movies and looking for another larger-than-life character for their next project. They plumped for Santa.
Speaking to American Cinema Papers about the project in 1983, Ilya was typically bullish, claiming: "It's mind-boggling. Orgasmic. 500 elves. The world's top box-office star as someone other than Santa Claus. A gift for children they'll come back to every year."
That star was Dudley Moore, who had recently enjoyed huge global success with romantic comedy Arthur. Ilya joked that he cast Moore because of his height, with the 5ft 2 Brit playing an elf called Patch. But he was quick to add: "The main reason of course was because he was a wonderful actor, and an enormous star, and a very nice man. He was at the top. Getting Dudley was done really before the script was actually written. He even had input over what was going to be written for his character… that's when we started to look for a director."
Roger Donaldson – then shooting The Bounty in London – was initially considered, but according to that same interview, the first director the Salkinds approached was John Carpenter. Ilya himself acknowledges it was a strange choice.
Carpenter had always been something of an auteur, writing and directing his films, but also frequently producing, almost always crafting the score electronically, and sometimes even appearing on screen in brief cameos.
When Santa Claus discussions began, the story goes that Carpenter laid out his demands to the Salkinds, starting with the plot. Unhappy with the outline Ilya had come up with, he wanted to write a completely new script, for which he would get sole credit. He asked to compose the score, predictably. But Carpenter also apparently demanded final cut, which was less typical for a film of that size. Finally, he wanted to cast Brian Dennehy – at the time best known for First Blood – in the role of Santa.
Giving up that much control was not how the Salkinds worked, and so they moved in another direction. Carpenter lost the gig that could have changed the course of his career. He shot Starman instead, maybe the closest he's come to making a family film. It just about earned its money back, but proved to be more popular with critics than audiences. Carpenter returned to horror and pretty much stuck with the genre until he stopped directing a decade ago.
As for Santa Claus: The Movie, the Salkinds ended up moving forward with two longtime collaborators, hiring David Newman – who had worked on the scripts for Superman I, II and III – to write the screenplay. They asked Jeannot Szwarc – who had just finished Supergirl – to direct.
At $50m, the budget was huge for the time. David Huddleston – best known more recently as The Dude's nemesis, Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski – was cast as the title character. And even before principal photography commenced, Ilya was talking up the potential for sequels, telling The New York Times: "Barring a sleigh crash or other catastrophe, it is virtually certain to spawn a Santa Claus II. We can do Santa Claus and then Son of Santa Claus."
The finished film is quite lovely in its early scenes, beginning in the 14th century, and explaining how a kindly woodcarver became Father Christmas, how his reindeer are able to fly, and how Santa delivers all those presents on Christmas Eve. It's less successful when it reaches the 20th century and the focus shifts from the big guy to a couple of orphans and a scheming toy manufacturer, played by a scenery-chewing John Lithgow.
The reviews were not good, and the film's Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 20%, albeit from just 20 reviews.
Santa then failed at the box office in the run-up to Christmas 1985. Rocky IV delivered a knock-out blow on its opening weekend, the fight film making four times as much as Santa Claus: The Movie. While throughout December, the likes of Spies Like Us and Jewel of the Nile dominated in US cinemas, resulting in Claus making just $24m domestically and faring little better elsewhere.
Ilya believes distributor Tri-Star should shoulder some of the blame, claiming that if the film had been released when it was ready in October, rather than at the end of November, it would have grossed $100m.
Putting some Salkind spin on the situation in that same interview, Ilya also claimed, "There are some people who consider it a favourite and a classic for Christmas. It was number one in England and even today has an enormous cult following. The children of each generation love it. My children love it. It's my Christmas gift to all of them and I'm happy to know it's been accepted."
Whether you love Salkind's "Christmas gift" or not however, one can't help but wonder how John Carpenter's Santa movie might have played out on screen. Would he have gone for a more creepy Claus, in-keeping with his previous features? Might it have been a more well-rounded take, that appealed to adults and children alike? Would the soundtrack have featured kick-ass Christmas tunes, courtesy of Carpenter's keyboard?
It's one of Hollywood's weirdest 'What ifs', potentially re-shaping the director's career and thrusting him towards more mainstream movies. While the film itself might have kicked off a franchise, spawning sequels and spin-offs, and maybe even the Son of Santa flick that Ilya Salkind was so convinced would happen.
Sadly, however, we can only speculate as to how different a world featuring Carpenter's Claus might have been…
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