Tim Allen on honoring Christmas: ‘We honor the Christian tradition without heralding it’
Heather Hamilton
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As the last of the Disney+ series The Santa Clauses released Wednesday, Tim Allen said the format of a streaming series took some time to get used to but that he is pleased with the way it turned out, specifically noting the way Christmas was honored.
“We honor the Christian tradition without heralding it. It’s not — it is what it is. It’s a Christian holiday. So, we don’t belabor it, but we don’t ignore it,” Allen told Fox News. “I love the way we deal with it.”
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Allen, 69, is reprising the role of Scott Calvin after being cast in the first film in 1994. The actor, who also served as executive producer, said shooting the show as a streaming series was initially a challenge.
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“This is a new format for me,” Allen said. “I can get my head around it creatively. It’s not a television show. It’s not a movie. It’s what we’ve been forced, challenged to do now is a hybrid. It’s a long movie or a very produced, very creatively elevated television program.”
“To get that first episode, get the fourth episode and the sixth episode in my head,” Allen also said. “I see the beginning, middle, and end as though it’s a six-hour movie. I said, ‘This thing is very, very good,’ and this is early on, and we continue down this path.”
The Santa Clauses actor came under fire last month when it was revealed that his character, Kris Kringle, lamented that “saying ‘Merry Christmas to all’ has suddenly become problematic.”
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“It just struck me as a truly weird thing to put in a kid’s series. ‘<someone> wants to stop us from saying Merry Christmas!’ is not some random campaign,” filmmaker Scott Weinberg, who initially brought attention to the line on Twitter, wrote. “It’s a low-key effort to vilify anyone who doesn’t celebrate this holiday. In a grown-up movie, I’d just groan and ignore it.”
The first two episodes were released on Nov. 16, with weekly releases to follow.