Surprisingly, Red One isn’t JK Simmons’ first time as a live-action Santa Claus

2024 Christmas Action Movie Red stars JK Simmons as Santa Claus, but this isn’t the first time he’s donned the iconic Santa suit – and this first experience makes his role a Red even better. Holiday content has hit the big screen early in 2024, and among the first films to be released is Jake Kasdan Red. Mixing action, comedy and fantasy, Red follows Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), the head of security at the North Pole who faces the biggest emergency of all: the kidnapping of Santa Claus.

The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority’s investigation leads them to hacker Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), who Callum is forced to team up with to rescue Santa Claus. Together, they discover that the person behind the entire plan is Gryla (Kiernan Shipka), a shape-shifting troll and winter witch who has chaotic plans to end Christmas and who needs Santa Claus and the North Pole. Simmons’ version of Santa Claus is different from the typical portrayal of that characterBut surprisingly, this isn’t the first time he’s dressed up as the kindest Christmas figure ever.

JK Simmons was an unconventional mall Santa Claus decades before the Red One

JK Simmons once worked as a mall Santa

JK Simmons has a past as Santa Claus, albeit in animated form (more on that later), but still Red It’s the first time he’s played the mythical Christmas figure in live-action, and it’s not the first time he’s donned the iconic red suit. Talking to electronic warfare in November 2024, Simmons said that when he was 24 years old, he worked during a holiday season at a Santa Claus mall.. Simmons explained that he’s not sure how he ended up being Santa Claus or why they thought it would be a good idea to hire him, but he called it a “worst job ever.”

Simmons said that at the time, he smoked a lot – about two packs a day – so he wasn’t exactly the most pleasant Santa to be around. Simmons said he would ask for a smoke break every 10 minutes, but the worst part of the job was all the kids who didn’t want to be there and were forced by their parents to take a photo with him. A mall Santa who smells like cigarettes and is having a hard time isn’t exactly the most Christmassy image anyone could have, and Simmons is right to call his role a Red his “redemption”.

Simmons was an unconventional mall Santa many years ago and plays another in Redbut not in an unpleasant (or smelly) way. Simmons’ Santa Claus in Red he is not the typical gentle, smiling, long-bearded man; Instead, he’s a Santa Claus who spends a lot of time at his gym at the North Pole and is very strong and fit – and has a sense of humor, of course. Simmons hated his time as a mall Santa, but that experience certainly influenced his return to the red suit in Redmaking everything much easier for him.

JK Simmons voiced Santa Claus five years before Red One

JK Simmons has played a more conventional Santa Claus

Red This is JK Simmons’ second time as Santa Claus in live-action, but as mentioned above, he has previously voiced the character in an animated film. In 2019, the animated adventure comedy Klaus was released. Directed by Sérgio Pablos, Klaus tells an alternative origin story of Santa Clauswith a postman who befriends a reclusive toymaker who will become the Santa Claus everyone knows.

Klaus It was a critical success and was even nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2020 Oscars, becoming Netflix’s first animated film to be nominated for an Oscar. Now thanks to Red and his buff Santa Claus with magical powers, JK Simmons has a fun story with the most famous Christmas character of all time.

Source: electronic warfare.