J.K. Simmons recently revealed how portraying Santa Claus at a mall led to his “redemption” role as Saint Nick in the Christmas comedy movie “Red One.”
The actor, who plays a jacked version of Kriss Kringle in a film that also stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t sure how he landed the gig — which he worked for a lone holiday season at age 24 — or why the mall was “dumb enough” to hire him.
“But, oh, my God, it was the worst job ever,” Simmons said.
He continued, “First of all, I was smoking like two packs a day, and I’m sure the kids really enjoyed Santa’s smoker breath. So every 10 minutes I was like, ‘Can I have a break and go get a cigarette?’”
Simmons, who once played Santa in the Oscar-nominated animated film “Klaus,” told EW in 2019 that he got the mall gig when he was a “wannabe actor” fresh out of college — “way before” he had kids of his own.
“So any naïve young man’s perspective on that is going to have a certain awakening as he deals with the vast diversity of kids’ and parents’ attitudes and temperaments as they line up to sit on your lap and make their requests — or demands in some cases,” the actor said.
He recently told EW that at least a third of children who visited him when he was a mall Santa “were terrified of this smelly dude in this weird outfit with this giant beard.”
“It was one of those where you charge 10 bucks for the Polaroid or whatever. It is for the parents. The parents want to have that experience and they want that picture,” the actor said.
“So many of them had pictures of traumatised children sitting on my knee,” he continued. “It was not fun. I’ve tried to repress that memory for the last 44 years.”
Simmons said he feels that he’s come “full circle” as he’s been entrusted to play a “really wonderful version” of Saint Nick in the newly released holiday movie.
“Red One” is now playing in theatres.