Call Me Claus (2001)
Santa is retiring after 200 years — and the glowing hat picked a shopping-network producer who hates Christmas.
When Lucy Cullins was a little girl, she sat on Santa's lap and his hat glowed — the sign of a true successor. Then her father was killed in Vietnam, and Lucy grew up to be a sharp, grouchy producer at the Shop-A-Lot home shopping channel who wants nothing to do with the season. Now Nick, the real Santa, is at the end of his 200-year reign and facing mandatory retirement. He takes a job as Lucy's on-air Santa to get close to her, and has until Christmas Eve to convince the least Christmassy woman in Los Angeles to take the job of a lifetime.
Whoopi Goldberg opposite Nigel Hawthorne — in his final performance — is an inspired pairing: her exasperation against his gentle certainty. The script counts Paul Mooney among its writers, Garth Brooks executive-produced, and Brian Stokes Mitchell and Victor Garber fill out the studio floor. It premiered on TNT in December 2001 and has rotated through Lifetime and Hallmark airings ever since, quietly becoming a staple.
From the Film
The Facts
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Whoopi Goldberg | Lucy Cullins |
| Nigel Hawthorne | Nick |
| Brian Stokes Mitchell | Cameron |
| Victor Garber | Taylor |
| Taylor Negron | Ralph |
| Frankie Faison | Dwayne |
Good to know: Nigel Hawthorne's final performance; the film premiered on TNT on December 2, 2001, with Garth Brooks as an executive producer.
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