Call Me Claus

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Call Me Claus
Directed by	Peter Werner
Written by	Paul Mooney Sara Bernstein
Starring	Whoopi Goldberg Nigel Hawthorne
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar Television
Release date(s)	December 2, 2001
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Call Me Claus is a 2001 TV movie starring Whoopi Goldberg. The movie involves Santa Clause (Nigel Hawthorne), who in the movie needs a replacement Santa after serving his 200 year reign. He lands on Lucy Collins (Whoopi Goldberg), an eccentric shopping network executive, who hires him for the job of promoting Christmas decorations and presents for the network. The movie made it's premiere on TNT, and has also been aired on Lifetime.

Tagline: If she's going to save Christmas, she's got some big shoes to fill.

[edit] Plot

The movie starts out as a flashback, back when Lucy Collins is a little girl. Her mother takes the kids to see a mall Santa Clause, who is the real one. Santa is nearing the end of his 200 year reign as St. Nick, and needs to find a replacement, someone who enjoys the Christmas season and it is shown from the heart. His search consists of his elf assistant Ralph (Taylor Negron) and his hat. Nick puts the hat on every kid. If the hat glows, that person is shown to have the real Christmas spirit inside themselves. He sees a lot of kids, and none of them glowed. That's when Lucy sits on his lap and puts the hat on her. It glows very bright and proves that Lucy is a good replacement for Nick, although his reign wouldn't be over for another 30-40 years.

The movie then comes to present day. It is Nick's last Christmas as Santa, and has to find Lucy again. He finds her in Los Angeles working as a network executive for the fictional "Shop-A-Lot" Channel. She seems to forget about the Christmas spirit and focuses more on maintaining her job than her family. Her boss (Brian Stokes Mitchell) is looking for a big boost for the holiday season. He comes up with an idea of hiring a fake Santa Claus to advertise Christmas memorabilia for the season. That's when Nick comes into action. Lucy holds Santa auditions with some horrible participants. Lucy seems to give up hope before she sees Nick, who is jolly and loves the season (which he should). Lucy hires him as the spokeperson.

When Nick works for the first few days and calls are coming in big numbers, as the network begins to sell more Christmas stuff than any other shooping network in America. After a couple of congratulations and a salary raise, Nick couldn't be happier. He begins to walk around the once-unpleasant community and begins to see the Christmas spirit that he longed-hoped for.

After a few days on the job, Nick starts to bring up a close friendship with Lucy. He begins to tell her about his reign and choosing her as his successor. He says if he doesn't find a successor, a giant flood will engulch the entire world, saying that was the reason for the Noah's Ark story. Lucy finds it ridiculous and seems to stay away from him most of the time. One night, Nick goes to her house and tells her truthfully about his search. He tells her to close her eyes. When she opens them, she finds herself with Nick at the North Pole. Unbelievably still unconvinced, Lucy demands Nick to send her back home. Nick does so, and she wakes up as if it was a dream. She sees Nick on the couch and begins to tell him about the dream. Nick interrupts her and tells her again that it wasn't and begs her one more time to put on the Santa hat and become Santa Clause. She still says no.

Nick's final broadcast is on Christmas Eve. In his closing statement, he says to never give up on Christmas spirit, and wishes everyone good luck. Lucy ponders why he says "good luck." After receiving a big thanks from the staff, Nick begins to head back to the North Pole without a successor and preparing with the elves to prepare for the flood. Before he leaves LA, he leaves the hat on Lucy's dresser and a note that says it's never too late.

When Lucy gets a ride back home from her boss, she begins to take Nick's word about Christmas and her position. Realizing that her boss just wants money and could own Christmas, Lucy tells him to pull over, saying that no one owns Christmas. When she goes home, she notices that Nick is gone. She sees the hat and the note. Because of curiosity, she puts the hat on and it glows bright. She realizes that she really is Santa.

Back at the North Pole, they're preparing for the worse. Suddenly, one of the elves sees through a snow globe Lucy celebrating that she's Santa. Once Ralph hears about it, him and Nick go to pick up Lucy. Lucy runs out of her apartment and finds Ralph and Sants in the cab. She goes inside and begins the transformation into Santa. Once she has her Santa suit (which consists of dreadlocks on the hat, pure Whoopi style), Nick does't have his. For the first couple of houses, Nick helps Lucy go down the chimney and deliver the toys. Before they continue, Lucy tells Ralph to stop the sled and go to a church, where her niece is performing in the choir. When she arrives, she catches her solo and congratulates her along with her brother and her mom. Realizing she's in her Santa suit, they seem puzzled. Incredibly it starts to snow in LA. With surprised faces, people run outside, also noticing the sleigh. Lucy's family begins to notice that she is Santa. After Lucy saying goodbye to everyone and her family, she, Nick, and Ralph go up and away into the Christmas night.

[edit] Trivia

Nigel Hawthorne died on December 26, 2001, almost four weeks after the movie premiered (not to mention the day after Christmas).
Garth Brooks supplies most of the music numbers for the movie.

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.