J.K. Simmons Reveals How The 'Worst Job Ever' Prepared Him For 'Red One' Role

The actor, who plays Santa Claus in the Christmas comedy movie, said he's tried to "repress" his memory of the gig for over four decades.

J.K. Simmons recently revealed how portraying Santa Claus at a mall led to his “redemption” role as Saint Nick in the Christmas comedy movie “Red One.”

The actor, who plays a jacked version of Kris Kringle in a film that also stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t sure how he landed the gig — which he worked for a lone holiday season at age 24 — or why the mall was “dumb enough” to hire him.

“But oh my God, it was the worst job ever,” Simmons said.

He continued, “First of all, I was smoking like two packs a day, and I’m sure the kids really enjoyed Santa’s smoker breath. So every 10 minutes I was like, ‘Can I have a break and go get a cigarette?’”

Simmons, who once played Santa in the Oscar-nominated animated film “Klaus,” told EW in 2019 that he got the gig when he was a “wannabe actor” fresh out of college and it was “way before” he had kids of his own.