Why Tim Allen stayed in character while filming Santa Claus 2

There is a general rule when it comes Christmas films: they're either incredibly good or unbelievably bad.

The original movie hit cinemas in 1994 and starred Tim Allen as the central character.

But when Santa falls off his roof on Christmas Eve, Scott finds himself recruited as his successor and is forced to learn the ropes of his new job while keeping it a secret from the rest of the world.

Simply put, it was a hit, and spawned two more sequels.

And while working on the second instalment in 2002, Allen revealed that he actually stayed in character as Santa when not filming.

Now, while that might seem a bit strange idea, there's a good reason for this particular piece of method acting.

"It was a tremendous amount of responsibility on my shoulders and I didn’t want to disappoint them. I had to stay in character all the time, so I couldn’t swear or get mad."

He added: "The elves would gaze at me all day long and ask me ridiculous questions about Christmas.

"The older ones, who were 13 or 14, would say, ‘That’s not Santa, that’s an actor'. I’d say, 'Are you sure I’m an actor? Are you sure you want to irritate Santa?'"

First, though, Scott is going to have to pick the right successor. And if he chooses poorly, it could mean the end of Christmas as we know it.

This series marks Allen's first major acting role in 15 years, and he'll be joined by Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol Calvin (aka Mrs Claus), Eric Lloyd as Scott's son Charlie, and David Krumholtz as the head elf Bernard.

The Santa Clauses is available to watch on Disney+.