That they ask me to do them. If it was Easter movies, I’d do that too. It’s a little worrisome. There’s a little too much pressure on that where all of a sudden they go, “Christmas is your season.” That’s a lot to ask anybody to take that on. They said, “But you’ve got to get used to it.” I said, “Will Smith got that for a while on the 4th of July.” He’ll just roll his movies out because that’s a good time to do it because people are used to it. It’s a little much to have a season your season. I think uncomfortable would be the word for that. I’d like to be able to do a movie in the spring or the summer, and not have them all come out this time of year because it kind of limits how many you can do.
Is there a “Santa Clause 3” in your future?
Uh-huh. We’re working on it. But as difficult as it is, I’m very attached to Disney because I’ve done so much work and so the process is not like this one. This was so easy and it just doesn’t happen that often. The first “Santa Clause” was perfect. This script on “Kranks,” whether you like or dislike the movie is not what I’m talking about, what I’m talking about is that the script was great. It was easy to do. “Santa Clause 3” has not been easy to do. We fleshed out “Santa Clause 2” – it took us almost four years to get it where [I approved it]. I kept saying, “No.” It was ridiculous the stuff they came up with. Because it’s easy.
The third one I’d like it to cap it so you could have a three disc set and the first one is still the sweetest one. The middle one is like “Aliens,” which I love, the Cameron version, “Come and get me, you b**ch.” That’s the best one. That’s where I kind of geared “Santa 2” at. “Santa 3” has to be as sweet as the first one. It has to wrap it back in so kids have something to believe in and we don’t want to schmaltz it up, and it’s been really tough. This one is really a hard nut to crack. We’ve got some wonderful stuff in it right now, a wonderful big concept, but it quickly gets too big so the kids would be running around the theater because they won’t understand it. You don’t want it to be that, but you don’t want to be too simple so parents don’t enjoy it. It’s a hard line to cross.
Speaking of schmaltzing it up, in this film you don’t really schmaltz it up, in particular the one scene where you see your neighbors in the window.
It’s supposed to be a contrast. It was a wonderfully designed moment because I asked Joe if he could shoot me alone in that street. It was a big deal. They had to re-dust that whole neighborhood because we had people walking. And it was a big deal to add another six inches of snow and stand in that street. It was for almost a half hour to get it just right. And then walk and then walk and then walk. I really felt that was pivotal to that guy. I really became an actor for a moment. No jokes – I couldn’t do fart jokes, I couldn’t talk about my groin. I had to stand there and act.
That couple [played by M. Emmet Walsh and Elizabeth Franz] was really hard to deal with because I really felt like she had cancer. And it really felt like this is something I do not want to do. I do not like this guy. And it wasn’t because my wife pushed me. Something happened in me. I said, “This is something…” That whole thing about, “Just don’t make it hard,” or something like that. It really was a tough scene to do because they were great. Great actors listen well and that’s what I learned in that. I looked in their eyes and they were choked up. They’d been sitting in that f**king house all night. I mean, the way they do movies is ridiculous. They had to sit in the window so that when they shot over me, you see them in the window. And this took seven hours and they sat at that table. But when they were ready to do it and I walked up to that door, you know, when you shoot you go in and you shoot, but we actually shot a master of it and it was really hard on us. It was hard on me. Because Emmet didn’t like me and I didn’t like him…
You mean your characters?
No, I don’t like him anyway. I don’t like old people. That’s the f**king problem with this world is old f**kers. I think it’s a nice turn. It came out of nowhere.
How do you keep "Christmas with the Kranks" from being sappy?
That’s Joe and that’s what happens when Grisham does – and Chris Columbus. They did not screw around with it. Not a lot of words, get to it, and there wasn’t any room. I asked him to give me a lonely scene then. Let me stand there a long time by myself. You see the family, everybody having fun, connected. Then you see across the street two people that are sad and lonely. It’s all through the season you’ll find that. My parents work in a soup kitchen in Detroit and the contrast is remarkable. And very little effort increases people’s happiness quotient by a lot. By giving a little bit of yourself, and that’s what that guy did. It’s a nice turn in that movie.
Tim Allen on Schmaltzing It Up and Another "Toy Story"
