I live for fun facts and little tid bits of information that many others may be unaware of. What I didn’t truly realize was just how many behind-the-scenes and fun facts there were about holiday movies! So after doing some extensive research and finding numerous interesting facts, I decided to condense down all the facts I found, and only selected the top 10 that I felt were the most interesting to learn about! So let’s dive in and read about 10 interesting facts about some of the most well-known Christmas classics! ENJOY!
10. Stop-Motion Classics
Ever wonder how long it took to make all of those stop-motion claymation classics we love today? Did you know it took up to a week to film a single minute? Well to start off this Christmas fact post, here’s a small comparison of just how long it took to create and bring to life some of these well-known classics. A Year Without A Santa Claus is a timeless tale where Santa show his grumpy side. Premiered in 1974, this Claymation style was a bit choppy, especially compared to The Nightmare Before Christmas which premiered in 1993. A Year Without A Santa Claus took about 2 months to created and edit the 51 minutes special whereas it took creators of A Nightmare Before Christmas about three years to create a more flawless and flowing claymation film that comes in at 1 hour and 16 minutes long!
9. Alternate Ending?
Speaking of the Nightmare Before Christmas, did you know there was an idea to originally have an alternate ending where Oogie Boogie would actually turn out to be Dr. Finklestein instead of bugs in the end? It another version of the tale, Dr. Finklestein would be so angry that Sally ran off to love Jack, that he became Oogie Boogie to enact his revenge! Definitely would have been a plot twist I wouldn’t have seen coming.
8. No More Aluminum For Charlie Brown
Since Charlie Brown refused to buy a fake Christmas tree in his Christmas Special (even coming to the conclusion that a sad little one was better than a fake), it sparked inspiration for others to do the same. It is said that Charlie Brown’s longing for a real tree sparked the downfall of the Aluminum Christmas Tree industry considering Aluminum Trees were once considered the height of Christmas trends around the time the special aired.
7. The Spider Was Real
When it comes to Home Alone most people automatically think about how Kevin probably would have killed Marv & Harry if ANY of these events actually happened in real life. Well considered most of the stunts or occurrences that went down when they tried to break in clearly could have led to injury, most of the scenes were thanks to special effects or trick of the eye. One scene that wasn’t fake or special effects? How about that giant spider on Marv’s face? Yup that bad boy was 100% real and was 100% actually on his face for that scene! Can I get a nooooo thank you.
6. Jack Nicholson Is The Grinch?
Before the live-action classic was in the works, another Grinch adaptation idea that was put into play was another animated feature. This one starring none-other than Jack Nicholson as the angry green Who himself. Unfortunately after a couple years in the 90s of throwing the idea around, they decided to scrap it for the live-action version that we all know and love today!
5. It’s A Wonderful Life for Communists?!
Did you know this timeless classic was actually a bit of a box office flop when it first premiered? Did you also know that when it came out it was condemned by the FBI to be a secret ‘Trojan Horse” for Anti-American Communist propaganda? When the 1946 classic premiered, it premiered during the thick of FBI communist hunting. During this time many of Hollywood’s elites were considered communists trying to harbor ‘their communist ways’ into American society. Well since the movie portrayed banks and business men as “scrooge-type” and the antagonists of the film, it was condemned for being considered anti-upper class thus considered communist in it’s ways. Crazy stuff.
4. Natalie Wood Still Believed
Natalie Wood was 8 at the time of filming Miracle on 34th Street. This meant and was even stated by Wood herself in an interview, that she still believed in Santa Claus for the most part. This meant she believed Edmund Gwenn was the real deal. It was said that while filming she rarely saw him without his beard due mainly to the fact that he arrived on set early to have the cosmetics department attach it to his face. She even said when she saw him without his beard she either thought it was a different person or it simply confused her, but the occurrences never ruined her imagination about Santa Claus!
3. Staying In Character
During the filming of the Santa Claus movies, especially in The Santa Claus 2, Tim Allen (who reportedly said he wasn’t a fan of kids in the past) had to stay in his Santa character at almost all times while on set. This was due to the fact that many elves in the movie were young kids, many of which still believed in Santa and believed that Allen was the big man himself!
2. Will Ferrell Almost Wasn’t The Star
Before Ferrell agreed to do the now hit-classic Elf, Jim Carrey was actually considered for the role! Did you know Will Ferrell also refused to do a sequel because he knew nothing could top the original and he hated the thought of simply doing it for the money!
1. Jim Carrey Went Through Torture Training
Besides a majority of the Grinch’s hair being made of yak’s fur and it taking up to 6-7 hours daily to get fully in character to shoot, Jim Carrey considered becoming the Grinch especially torturous. The part he found most unappealing was the face makeup, he even openly said it felt like being buried alive. So in order to fully cope and get into character to make the live-action movie a reality, a CIA agent who taught others to endure torture came in to assist Carrey. Crazy for a film right?!
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