Abhiroop Das
Directed by Mike Rohl, Netflix’s ‘My Secret Santa’ captures the festive spirit of the Christmas season through the eyes of Taylor Jacobson, who is not exactly living her best life. Fired from her job just a few weeks before Christmas, she has to quickly earn enough money to send her daughter to her dream snowboarding academy. Still, with a sizeable tuition fee, success seems far from sight, unless Taylor somehow becomes an employee for the academy’s parent resort. Her problems don’t just end there, as the only vacancy at Sun Peaks resort is that of a professional seasonal Santa, which forces her to get creative.
With a padded body suit, snowy hair, beard, and eyebrows, and the signature velvet clothes and cap, Taylor transforms into Kris Kringle herself, hoping to fake her way into the resort and land all of her plans in one go. However, a chance meeting with the resort’s dashing manager and future owner, Matthew Layne, adds more chaos to her life, and a comedy of errors ensues. Despite its extraordinary premise, this Christmas romance movie shows the very real depths a mother can go to make her daughter’s dream a reality.
My Secret Santa Vaguely Parallels a True Story of a Female Professional Santa Claus
‘My Secret Santa’ is a fictional story penned by writers Ron Oliver and Carley Smale. Through its premise, the movie adds a unique twist to the real-life tradition of professional Santas, who often light up the scene in malls, hotels, and other public gatherings during the Christmas season. As the role is typically adopted by elderly men who already resemble the archetypal appearance of Saint Nick, the film’s protagonist, Taylor Jacobson, is forced to carve out her own path to success. To that end, she dons a full body suit and face mask to match Santa’s look, and then tops it off with his iconic velvet attire and flowy white beard. Notably, Taylor’s adventures do not seem to be inspired by an exact real-life antecedent and are more likely a “what-if?” invention of the movie’s writing team. While one Colorado woman, named Susen Mesco, is a professional Santa coach, she has never transformed into Santa herself, nor has she reportedly trained a woman for the role.
In real life, there has been at least one major occurrence where a woman successfully took on the job of a shopping-mall Kris Kringle, if only briefly. In November 1979, Nancy Fulford got the job of personifying Santa at the Morningside Mall in Scarborough, Ontario, and put on a padded body suit, heavy makeup, and prosthetics to achieve the perfect look. In a conversation with the Toronto Star, she revealed, “I think for the most part the kids and parents couldn’t tell. I even had some middle-aged women flirting with me. If children are fooled by a false beard, red suit, a story about an arrival from the North Pole via reindeer, then they’ll be fooled by Santa’s sex.”
Nancy Fulford’s Revolutionary Move Opened up New Discourse on Gender Representation
While Fulford’s show was initially a hit, she soon started receiving backlash from some prejudiced parents and mall operatives, who claimed that her actions went against Santa’s mythical image. She was fired from her position two days in, and in response, she filed a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, alleging gender-based discrimination. The incident quickly made headlines, in turn shining a light on similar cases, such as that of Pauline Hennigan, another professional Santa from the city of Edmundston. While Hennigan was initially dismissed from her job due to discriminatory practices, the decision was overturned a day later when she stood up for her rights.
In Fulford’s case, she was never rehired, and the complaint was resolved with a $500 settlement instead. Later that year, just before Christmas, she was hired to play Santa at Mr. Gameways’ Ark, a toy store situated on Ontario’s Yonge Street. Fulford reportedly ditched the wig, makeup, and padding this time around and was met with relatively positive interactions. ‘My Secret Santa’ traces similar beats over the course of its story, and also shares its thematic backbone with this true event. While Fulford’s inspirational story might have served as a reference point for the movie, given the apparent overlaps between the two, the movie’s creators have not confirmed this link as of writing.
Alexandra Breckenridge Brought Real-life Life Intensity to Her Performance as Taylor
While ‘My Secret Santa’ might not have directly drawn inspiration from reality, its connection to films with similar narratives is undeniable. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, actor Alexandra Breckenridge confirmed that the movie, ‘The Santa Clause,’ served as a reference point for how she approached her transformation into Santa. However, she also added that the connection was largely superficial, and she relied on her own instincts as an artist. To make her performance as believable as possible, Alexandra went the extra mile and donned the body suit and prosthetics, fully immersing herself in the role of Saint Nicholas. Thus, the movie’s premise was partially recreated in real life, with the actor and crew gaining a much deeper understanding of what it would be like to be in Taylor’s shoes, both literally and figuratively.
In her interview with People, Alexandra also introduced a personal angle, stating how her character, Taylor Jacobson, reminded her of her mother, who is also a single parent. She explained, “My mom probably would’ve done the same thing (become Santa.) She was always scrimping and saving and making sure that I could go to dance classes, art classes, and gymnastics. She was always making it happen, and she raised me on her own … it felt very close to my reality as a teenager, but from my mother’s perspective.” Thus, the actor’s lived experiences and an intense filming process added depth to the narrative of ‘My Secret Santa.’
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s My Secret Santa Filmed?
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