Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Mike Rohl, Netflix’s ‘My Secret Santa’ adds a unique spin to Christmas romance stories with the adventures of the protagonist, Taylor Jacobson. Freshly fired and in desperate need of money, she sets her eyes on the unlikeliest of jobs, that of a professional Santa at Sun Peaks Resort. The reason is simple: her daughter, Zoey, has been accepted into the prestigious Sun Peaks Snowboarding Academy, and the only way to pay its enormous tuition fee is to get an employee discount at its neighbouring luxury resort. However, with the role of Santa being traditionally adopted by men, Taylor decides to go for the hilariously workable solution and dons a full-body suit and face mask, complete with Santa’s signature velvet clothes, cap, and leather belt. While her guise is seemingly flawless, that is merely the first part in a long process of truly embodying Kris Kringle and all the values he represents.
Alexandra Breckenridge Turned Into Saint Nicholas With Impressive Prosthetics
For her role as Taylor in ‘My Secret Santa,’ Alexandra Breckenridge transformed into a real-life Santa with the help of advanced prosthetic work. The process was particularly demanding, both for her and the prosthetic designers and stylists, with Alexandra revealing that the first time around took about three hours. Still, the crew poured their all into making the look as believable as possible, and the time required for the process eventually got halved. In a conversation with People, the actor revealed that she did not have to go through the conventional route of using a physical mould to determine her facial structure. Instead, the creative team used a digital scan, which was then used as a reference point for the perfect face mask. The prosthetics were carved out in perfect detail, with a specific forehead piece, two cheek pieces, and a nose piece being added to the base layer. The team also hand-picked the perfect fake eyebrows, mustache, beard, and wig to sell the classic Santa look.
“It was a lot,” Alexandra told Entertainment Weekly, adding, “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s hard to get into prosthetics. I had never done something like that before, and I was excited because it’s not very often that a woman gets to play something like this.” Although she found the process uncomfortable, the actor chose to power through it, emphasizing how her appearance as Santa must be convincing for the core narrative premise to work. Given the lack of direct antecedents for her role, the actor primarily relied on her own interpretation of Taylor to map out her Santa persona, while also referencing titles such as ‘The Santa Clause,’ which has a similar premise from a man’s perspective. Using a face mask also unintentionally brought her a new perspective on male actors, as she stated, “I have a new respect for men who have to wear beards in film and television because, wow, it was very uncomfortable.”
A Carefully Constructed Body Suit Completed Alexandra’s Look as Santa
While Alexandra nailed the facial appearance of Kris Kingle, his most iconic feature is his belly and the velvet suit, both of which were incorporated into the actor’s final look. The crew reportedly designed a special Santa suit, weighing roughly 15 pounds, which the actor put on in real life to add to the immersion effect. Donning a padded body suit comes with its own challenges, ranging from balancing troubles to the heat that is trapped between its layers. Alexandra had a first-hand experience with these, and had a unique reaction to the first time she saw herself in the complete fit, as she told People, “I giggled (…), but I was so hot because I was also in the full body suit and then the actual velvet Santa Claus outfit (…) I was sweating so much. And then Michael (Rohl, the director) comes and puts the wig on me!” The ‘She’s the Man‘ actor’s committment to going the extra mile for this movie was the key to its success.
Reportedly, Alexandra invented her solutions for the challenges that the suit brought, and started using ice packs in the front and the back of the suit. In a conversation with Entertainment Tonight, she confirmed that there were about seventeen days of shooting for the Santa sequences, and at times she had to stay in the suit for more than thirteen hours a day. Thus, thinking out of the box became a necessary tool both to streamline the filming process and to amp up the creativity of what is on display. For Alexandra, showing her in-film look to her two children, Jack and Billie, also turned into a mini-adventure, as she often would FaceTime them in the Santa getup, looking and sounding completely unrecognizable. Thus, her impressive transformation into Old Saint Nick was a success, both on and off-screen.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s My Secret Santa Filmed?
