Other Titles • The Santa Clause 2 • The Escape Clause: The Santa Clause 2 (2002) • The Mrs. Clause: Santa Clause 2 (2001) • SC2 (2002) • The Santa Clause 2: The Escape Clause (2001) • The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause (2002) • Santa Clause 2 - Eine noch schönere Bescherung (2002)
"But the thing about him as an actor is that he has this incredible emotional reserve that just sucks you in," Lembeck continues. "His comedy is a given –but there’s this part of him that touches me emotionally.
"Tim brings so much to the character, it’s absolutely exciting," adds Lembeck. "He has an extraordinary ability to find the comedy jugular. He is cat quick when it comes to finding something organically… on the spot. He has a great sense of timing and is remarkable with turning dialogue into funny. The other thing that he brings is his vulnerability - how ready he is to touch his heart, to find his soul, to let something in the moment touch him and thus allow the audience to be touched by it," Lembeck adds. "He’s not afraid to invest in that which moves him. He’s very free that way - and that to me is extraordinary."
In bringing the sequel to the beloved family hit to the screen, Emmy award-winning director Lembeck makes his feature film debut. "We were so fortunate to be introduced to Michael Lembeck," says Reilly. "His energy, enthusiasm, passion and dedication for the project are remarkable. He’s the most tireless human being and he’s been a great person to collaborate with. He’s been the spark plug of this thing going forward."
"He’s like an organized train wreck," says Tim Allen of his director. "He never stops, never loses his sense of humor, and always gets the magic of this movie. It was the kind of project where everybody –including myself – had an opinion of how it should be, and he was able to respond in kind, with ideas of his own."
Lembeck, whose long career has embraced both performing ("One Day at a Time," "The In-Laws") and directing such television comedies as "Friends," "Mad About You," and "Everybody Loves Raymond," is the second generation of comedy tradition; his father is renowned character actor Harvey Lembeck, who starred on Broadway and in the film adaptation of "Stalag 17," and whose long and illustrious career as one of stage and screen’s best-known character actors includes his work as Corporal Rocco Barbella on the "Phil Silvers Show" and as Eric Von Zipper in the "Beach Party" movies. "Comedy is an exact science, the execution of that which makes somebody laugh is specific. It is math. It is never arbitrary and that’s even in improv," maintains the younger Lembeck. "We laugh because we associate, or because we’re surprised, or because there’s irony," he continues. "Humor always comes from something being at stake, something real, something cared about."
In addition, the fantasy element of "The Santa Clause 2" was as much a draw as the comedy for Lembeck. "If I’ve got to go to a desert island and I can only take ten movies with me, they’re all fantasies," the director continues. "I’m just a big kid who wants to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘E.T.’ and Cocteau’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – anything with a sense of whimsy, goodness, and heart. I definitely saw that element in the script for this film, and I really responded to it."
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