Released in 2018 by Netflix, “The Christmas Chronicles” sees two children, Teddy and Kate Pierce (played by Judah Lewis and Darby Camp, respectively), join Santa on Christmas Eve for what should have been a magical night of gift-giving. Unfortunately, the kids cause Father Christmas’ sleigh to crash, and the movie follows the trio’s attempts to save Christmas before morning arrives. It’s a charming little movie that, according to Netflix, was watched by 20 million viewers in one week, ensuring a sequel was quickly greenlit. That sequel, imaginatively titled “The Christmas Chronicles 2,” arrived in 2020, and wasn’t quite as successful as the first. Still, Russell was hardly the problem, especially in terms of commitment to his role.

Now, you didn’t think Kurt Russell, the man who gave us that majestic “Tombstone” stache, was going to play St. Nick without growing the best Santa beard possible, did you? The “Escape From New York” star did try to grow his own impressive facial mane for the part, but it seems that wasn’t quite enough for the production team, who, according to Entertainment Weekly, ended up adding several sections to the beard.

“The Christmas Chronicles 2” director Chris Columbus spoke to the outlet about the whole affair, stating that Russell “grew 80% of that beard” himself before adding, “The only thing that were added were pieces by his makeup team. With intense physical activity on camera, those pieces start to break off. So we had to be careful about that.” What kind of intense physical activity could Santa possibly engage in? Well, how about a full song and dance number?