JK Simmons Reveals How the ‘Worst Job Ever’ Prepared Him for the Role of ‘Red One’

JK Simmons recently revealed how portraying Santa Claus in a mall led to his “redemption role” as Saint Nick in the Christmas comedy “Red One.”

The actor, who is a jacked up version of Kris Kringle in a film also starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t sure how he landed the job — where he worked a lonely holiday season at age 24 — or why the mall was “stupid enough” to hire him.

“But oh my God, it was the worst job ever,” Simmons said.

He continued, “First of all, I smoked two packs a day, and I’m sure the kids really enjoyed Santa’s smoke breath. So every 10 minutes I was like, “Can I take a break and go get a cigarette?”

Simmons, who once played Santa Claus in the Oscar-nominated animated film “Klaus,” told EW in 2019 that he got the job when he was a “wannabe actor,” fresh out of college and “long before” he had children of his own.

“So the perspective of every naive young man will awaken in some way when he encounters the enormous diversity of attitudes and temperaments of children and parents as they line up to sit on your lap and make their requests – or demands in some cases. fallen,” said the actor.

He recently told EW that at least a third of the kids who visited him when he was Santa at the mall were “terrified of this smelly guy in this weird outfit with this giant beard.”

“It was one of those where you charge ten bucks for the Polaroid or something. It’s for the parents. The parents want to have that experience and they want that photo,” he said.

He continued, “Many of them had pictures of traumatized children sitting on my knee. It wasn’t fun. I have tried to suppress that memory for the past 44 years.”

Simmons said he feels like he’s come full circle now that he’s been cast to play a “really beautiful version” of Saint Nick in the recently released holiday film.

‘Red One’ is now playing in cinemas.