Trivia / The Santa Clause

• California Doubling: Scott lives and works in Illinois, while the film was shot in and around Toronto, Canada.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: The Italian dub features Giancarlo Giannini as Scott Calvin.
• Deleted Scene: Jeffrey Katzenberg attended a test screening for the film and declared it too long, so some scenes involving Charlie dealing with Scott having become Santa Claus were cut from the film. One such scene involved another meeting with the rude boy from the classroom scene.
• Fake American: Of the cast, three are Canadian (Wendy Crewson, Jayne Eastwood and Kenny Vadas).
• Edited for Syndication:
  • On Freeform, the scene where Scott burns the turkey cuts via Gilligan Cut to he and Charlie already being seated at Denny's after he extinguishes the turkey and triumphantly saying "It's done!", skipping the drive there and the scene where Scott and Charlie enter to find the front of the restaurant crowded by Japanese businessmen.
  • A 2023 cut reinstates the scene where Scott drives Charlie to Denny's. It removes Scott burning the turkey, making it look like he didn't want to cook at all. However, Charlie telling the waitress about Scott burning the turkey treats it as a Noodle Incident.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The trailer for the first movie had Scott fooling around with a doll and chatting with his boss in front of a children's play area.
• Network to the Rescue: After Disney executives saw the final cut of the movie, they moved the project from their Hollywood Pictures imprint to Disney proper, giving it a huge promotional boost. The move paid off as the movie was a big-time smash hit.
• Technology Marches On: At the time of the first film's release, car CD players were a rarity, which is why Scott's impressed when he thinks Charlie installed one in the sled (it's actually a cocoa and cookie dispenser). Not long afterwards, CD players became standard in most passenger cars. This trope came full-circle in The New '20s when CD players stopped being standard features.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Bill Murray was the first choice for Scott Calvin, but turned down the offer due to Creative Differences over the script and the film's sense of humor, as well as just having filmed the holiday comedy Scrooged.
    • Chevy Chase was also approached for Scott, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Vegas Vacation.
    • Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Rowan Atkinson, Alec Baldwin, Kurt Russell, Tom Selleck, John Travolta, Michael Keaton, and Harrison Ford were also considered for Scott. Hanks would get to play Santa Claus for The Polar Express under Warner Bros. (meaning both lead actors from Toy Story would get to play Jolly Old St. Nick), Baldwin would play a Russian version of Santa for Rise of the Guardians for Dreamworks Animation, while Russell would play the part for The Christmas Chronicles at Netflix.
  • Patricia Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Bonnie Hunt, Mary McDonnell, Anjelica Huston, Jennifer Grey, Nicole Kidman, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy were considered for Laura Miller.
  • Ryan Stiles, Jeff Daniels, Peter MacNicol, Stanley Tucci, Bradley Whitford, and Bryan Cranston were considered for Neal Miller.
  • Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, Joel Schumacher, Richard Donner, Ivan Reitman, John Hughes, and Rob Minkoff were approached to direct the film.
  • The script originally called for Scott, while mistaking Santa for a burglar, to shoot him with a shotgun which would result in his death and Scott having to take over. Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg vetoed this because he knew it would traumatize the children in the audience.