The best movie Santa - Fantastic Father Christmas on film
How do you like your Santa? Benevolent, grumpy, drunk or swinging a hammer?
Morgan Truder
There are many ways to judge a good Santa. The beard, obviously. The laugh. The general air of someone who could convincingly eat 12 mince pies in one sitting and still make it down a chimney without pulling a hamstring. But when it comes to film, Father Christmas has proven to be a surprisingly versatile character, equal parts magical figure, chaotic wildcard and, occasionally, deeply unsettling presence.
Across decades of festive cinema, Santa has been portrayed as everything from a wholesome embodiment of goodwill to a grumpy realist, a reluctant hero or something far stranger altogether. Some versions make you believe in Christmas again; others make you lock the chimney and sleep with one eye open.
These are the Santas who got it right, the most memorable, convincing and entertaining Father Christmas performances ever committed to film. Whether you like yours traditional, unconventional or slightly unhinged, these are the big-screen Santas that truly deliver.
10. David Harbour - Violent Night (2022)
Santa is tired and cynical in Violent Night, which is as much a home invasion movie as a Christmas film. David Harbour can’t half work this rumpled Santa angle, not to mention lapping it up when he reverts to an angry, hammer-swinging viking. He spills gore across a mansion to take down John Leguizamo’s goons. Violent Night is a flat-out good time, and this is the rare example of a Christmas movie where Santa gets more character development than the rest of the cast.
9. Jim Broadbent - Arthur Christmas (2011)
In some of our picks, Santas stand out as the shining part of a pretty unremarkable film. Arthur Christmas ain’t that. It’s a fantastic animated movie from the Wallace and Gromit studio, Aardman Animations. But this Santa is a little different to that of Get Santa. He’s Malcolm Christmas, a sort of benevolent patriarch and head of the Christmas clan. There’s a whole dynasty going on in Arthur Christmas, bringing family dynamics into the mix.
8. Billy Bob Thornton- Bad Santa (2003)
The most memorable Santa of the 2000s was never really Santa at all. Billy Bob Thornton is a foul-mouthed alcoholic who hates Christmas and pretty much everything else besides. However, his nihilism is tempered by the bullied kid he ends up taking under his wing. It’s a minor redemption arc, but an important one that gives Bad Santa a charm the sequel lacks.
7. David Huddlestone - Santa Claus the movie (1985)
We wore out the VHS of this one in the 90s. It’s less clear why, all these years later, Santa Claus the Movie is a very uneven film. However, David Huddlestone is near flawless as Santa himself. He might have the most beaming smile of any of the movie Santas. And you really feel it being fractured when he’s right proper (unwittingly) screwed over by Dudley-Moore’s elf Patch.
6. Ed Asner - Elf (2003)
Ed Asner doesn’t have all that much screen time in Elf, but those minutes do stand out. His Santa is grumpy but kind, streetwise (for a Santa) and sincere. Making an impact with this little time? What else would you expect from Ed Asner, who passed away in 2021. Asner played Santa a bunch of times in movie and TV projects. But with more than 400 credits to his name, according to IMDb, perhaps that’s not such a surprise.
5. Kurt Russell - The Christmas Chronicles
Few Santas have a stronger look than Kurt Russell’s. The giant beard, that booming voice. A couple of kids cause Santa to crash his sleigh, and they have to get Christmas back on track. The Christmas Chronicles’s Santa has a sort of family-friendly “cool” bent that may grate on some adult viewers. But, hey, it’s a family-friendly Christmas movie.
4. Edmund Gwenn - Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
This one has to be the definitive early cinematic rendition of Santa. Early by 2023/2024 standards, anyway. Edmund Gwenn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role. Just like the newer 90s version, he plays the actual Santa, but no one believes that fact despite his protestations. For obvious reasons. He finds work as a retail store Santa and ends up defending his identity in court as the real “Kris Kringle”. Of the two versions, this original is the better watch if you ask us.
3. JK Simmons - Klaus (2019)
That’s right, the scary guy from the drumming movie, JK Simmons, has also played Santa. Klaus is an animated version of an origin story for Santa Claus. He’s a toymaker in a remote village. The main character, an inept postman, persuades him to give out his creations to the local children. His Santa is a hulk of a man. The imposing giant with a soft heart.
2. Tim Allen - The Santa Clause (1994)
Forget the The Santa Clause sequels. But the original has a pretty distinctive take on Santa when you think about it. Tim Allen is Scott Calvin, a man who accidentally kills Santa and is forced to take his place. What follows is a body horror-adjacent transformation where he gains 45lb in a week and a beard that grows back within a day. Ho ho horrifying.
1. Richard Attenborough - Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Richard Attenborough could be considered one of the greatest Santa figures even if he never starred as old nick. That look alone. But instead he was the archetypal image of the figure for a generation or two thanks to this 90s classic. This is Santa at his most benevolent, even if old Attenborough does look a little crazed in a few scenes. He ends up filling in for a store Santa and, in a twist that sounds strange if you’ve never seen the film, ends up attempting to prove his identity in court.
- These are the best Christmas movies of all time
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