The 'Escape from New York' actor doubled as mall Santa for his children when no Father Christmas was in sight as the star and Goldie Hawn took their children to see him.
- December 27, 2020
AceShowbiz - Kurt Russell has a habit of donning the Santa suit for the holidays - and now he's getting paid to "Ho, ho, ho."
The actor and his longtime partner Goldie Hawn have teamed up as St. Nick and Mrs. Clause for "The Christmas Chronicles" sequel on Netflix, and Kurt admits he's been donning the jolly old elf's gear for years.
It all started when Russell and Hawn took their kids to a shopping mall to see Santa - but he'd left for the day. So quick-thinking Kurt, not wanting to disappoint any of the children, found Father Christmas' suit, put it on, and sat in his chair.
"All he said to (son) Wyatt was, 'What do you want (for Christmas), little boy?' " Goldie told Parade.
And "The Christmas Chronicles" writer/director Chris Columbus quickly realised Kurt's deadly serious about Santa when he first landed the role.
"What's incredible about it is he truly treats it like method acting," the filmmaker shared. "He wrote 200 pages of the back story of Santa Claus - about the mythology, about how he met Mrs. Claus... That is his level of commitment."
"If you talk with him, he's very serious about this. He approaches it as if he were a method actor playing Santa Claus. And that's what got me so excited about the first movie, is that you're given that as a director and you've got to run with it."
Goldie Hawn, meanwhile, loved making the family movie because she knew her six grandchildren would get to see it. She previously said, "I love the thought that they might one day grow up to like other things Kurt and I have done, but right now it's fun to have them watch this and go to school knowing their friends have seen it too."
