<P> Conceived by Ilya Salkind in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U.S. box office success of 1983's Superman III and its immediate follow - up, 1984's Supergirl, Santa Claus: The Movie was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who had directed Supergirl, from a story by David and Leslie Newman . David Newman, however, took sole screenplay credit . Pierre Spengler, Ilya's longtime partner, and the third key element of Team Salkind, joined Alexander's son as the project's producer . John Carpenter was originally offered the chance to direct, but also wanted a say in the writing, musical score and final cut of the movie . Carpenter's original choice for the role of Santa was Brian Dennehy . </P> <P> Among the original choices to direct the film other than Carpenter were Lewis Gilbert, who, despite initial interest, could not agree with the Salkinds over certain aspects of the script . Robert Wise was also offered the chance to direct, but Wise had a different approach to the story . Guy Hamilton, who'd had to withdraw from directing Superman: The Movie in 1976 (because he was a tax exile, and, as such, could only spend 30 days in England, where the movie would be filming), was very interested in directing and lobbied hard for the chance to do so, but only on the condition that the film be shot either in Los Angeles, Vancouver or Rome . Ultimately, the Salkinds chose Szwarc because of their excellent working relationship on Supergirl which many executives at TriStar Pictures believed was a masterpiece and would also become a mega hit . </P> <P> Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England at Pinewood Studios, between August and November 1984 . The film was photographed by Arthur Ibbetson, whose credits, among others, included the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Santa Claus: The Movie was his final feature film . Serving as film editor was Peter Hollywood . </P> <P> The production was designed by Anthony Pratt, with costume design concepts by Bob Ringwood . The visual effects unit, as well as several of the production staff, were Salkind stalwarts from the Superman films: Derek Meddings, director of visual and miniature effects; Roy Field, optical visual effects supervisor; and David Lane, flying and second unit director . </P>

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