Put that cookie down! Jingle All the Way wasn’t a hit with critics when it was released in 1996, but it’s since become a cult classic.
The holiday film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Howard Langston, a workaholic dad who forgot to buy his son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), the hottest toy on every kid’s Christmas list: Turbo Man. Along the way, Howard clashes with his overbearing neighbor (Phil Hartman), a meddlesome police officer (Robert Conrad) and a postal worker named Myron Larabee (Sinbad) who is searching for the same toy.
The movie also featured cameos from comedians including Jim Belushi, Laraine Newman and Chris Parnell, the latter of whom made his big-screen debut as a toy store clerk two years before he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live.
While Jingle All the Way has become a perennial holiday favorite, one of its stars still has some questions about the film’s plot. Rita Wilson, who played Howard’s wife, Liz, doesn’t understand how her character failed to realize her husband was the person inside the life-size Turbo Man costume in the movie’s climactic parade scene.
“This is the movie that haunts me,” the Runaway Bride actress told Insider in December 2020. “Why did my character not know that her husband, Howard, who talks like [Arnold Schwarzenegger] and is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was Turbo Man. How did she not know that? Let’s see: He has an accent. He looks exactly like him. He’s wearing a half mask, but my character does not know. And it made me just feel like, ‘That’s just a little too stupid.’”
Schwarzenegger, for his part, seemingly looks back on the film with somewhat more fondness. “It’s still today the favorite Christmas movie that people are playing every single December,” the former California governor told GQ in 2019. “This movie’s being played on television, and overseas, it also did extremely well.”
Though it’s now hard to imagine the movie with a different cast, Sinbad reportedly wasn’t the first person approached to play Myron. According to director Brian Levant, the studio wanted him to get Danny DeVito for the role following his and Schwarzenegger’s hits Twins and Junior.
“They couldn’t convince DeVito to come onboard in the Sinbad role — apparently, DeVito read the script more carefully than Arnold and I,” Levant quipped to MEL Magazine in January 2022. “I’ve also heard Joe Pesci was considered, but I don’t believe that was the case. I think [producer] Chris Columbus’ connection with Pesci from Home Alone is where that comes from.”
Sinbad said he “felt a vibe” that producers didn’t want him for the part, but during his audition, he accidentally dropped his script pages in a way that fit Myron perfectly. “I lost it, and then jumped on the table and started going off on Arnold. He freaked,” the comedian recalled during a 2019 interview on the “Blerd Empire” podcast. “[Then] I was walking through the lot and got a phone call: ‘Hey man, they loved you, come back.’ It was one of the strangest auditions I ever had.”
Keep scrolling to see where the cast of Jingle All the Way is now:
Put that cookie down! Jingle All the Way wasn’t a hit with critics when it was released in 1996, but it’s since become a cult classic.
The holiday film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Howard Langston, a workaholic dad who forgot to buy his son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), the hottest toy on every kid’s Christmas list: Turbo Man. Along the way, Howard clashes with his overbearing neighbor (Phil Hartman), a meddlesome police officer (Robert Conrad) and a postal worker named Myron Larabee (Sinbad) who is searching for the same toy.
The movie also featured cameos from comedians including Jim Belushi, Laraine Newman and Chris Parnell, the latter of whom made his big-screen debut as a toy store clerk two years before he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live.
While Jingle All the Way has become a perennial holiday favorite, one of its stars still has some questions about the film’s plot. Rita Wilson, who played Howard’s wife, Liz, doesn’t understand how her character failed to realize her husband was the person inside the life-size Turbo Man costume in the movie’s climactic parade scene.
[jwplayer MExwoCoH-zhNYySv2]
“This is the movie that haunts me,” the Runaway Bride actress told Insider in December 2020. “Why did my character not know that her husband, Howard, who talks like [Arnold Schwarzenegger] and is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was Turbo Man. How did she not know that? Let’s see: He has an accent. He looks exactly like him. He’s wearing a half mask, but my character does not know. And it made me just feel like, ‘That’s just a little too stupid.'”
Schwarzenegger, for his part, seemingly looks back on the film with somewhat more fondness. “It’s still today the favorite Christmas movie that people are playing every single December,” the former California governor told GQ in 2019. “This movie’s being played on television, and overseas, it also did extremely well.”
Though it’s now hard to imagine the movie with a different cast, Sinbad reportedly wasn’t the first person approached to play Myron. According to director Brian Levant, the studio wanted him to get Danny DeVito for the role following his and Schwarzenegger’s hits Twins and Junior.
“They couldn’t convince DeVito to come onboard in the Sinbad role — apparently, DeVito read the script more carefully than Arnold and I,” Levant quipped to MEL Magazine in January 2022. “I’ve also heard Joe Pesci was considered, but I don’t believe that was the case. I think [producer] Chris Columbus’ connection with Pesci from Home Alone is where that comes from.”
Sinbad said he “felt a vibe” that producers didn’t want him for the part, but during his audition, he accidentally dropped his script pages in a way that fit Myron perfectly. “I lost it, and then jumped on the table and started going off on Arnold. He freaked,” the comedian recalled during a 2019 interview on the “Blerd Empire” podcast. “[Then] I was walking through the lot and got a phone call: ‘Hey man, they loved you, come back.’ It was one of the strangest auditions I ever had.”
Keep scrolling to see where the cast of Jingle All the Way is now:
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jingle All the Way marked the action star’s final appearance in a family comedy. He went on to star in Batman & Robin, End of Days and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines before taking a break from acting to run for governor of California. He served two terms from 2003 to 2011. The former bodybuilder then returned to the big screen, appearing in films including the Expendables franchise and two more Terminator sequels.
Schwarzenegger split from wife Maria Shriver in May 2011 after 25 years of marriage following the revelation that the actor had fathered a child (son Joseph Baena) with former employee Patty Baena in 1997. The former couple — who share children Katherine, Patrick, Christina and Christopher — finalized their divorce in 2021.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Sinbad
The First Kid actor went on to appear in Good Burger, Moesha, Girlfriends, Rel, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Atlanta. In 2020, the Different World alum suffered a stroke after a blood clot moved from his heart to his brain. Two years later, his family revealed that he was still learning to walk again. “I am not done,” Sinbad said in November 2022. “I will not stop fighting until I can walk across the stage again.”
The Michigan native married Meredith Fuller, with whom he shares daughter Paige and son Royce, in 1985. The duo divorced in 1992 but later reconciled, remarrying in 2002.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Rita Wilson
Wilson went on to star in films including Runaway Bride, Raise Your Voice, It’s Complicated, Gloria Bell and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. From 2013 to 2017, she played Marnie’s mother, Evie, on Girls. Behind the camera, she’s served as an executive producer on Mamma Mia!, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and My Life in Ruins. She’s also released five solo albums, including 2022’s Now & Forever: Duets.
The Good Wife alum has been married to Tom Hanks since 1988. The duo share sons Chet and Truman, and she is the stepmother of Colin and Elizabeth, Hanks’ children from a previous relationship.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Jake Lloyd
After Jingle All the Way, Lloyd appeared in Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace as a young Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a Darth Vader. He later starred in the movies Die With Me and Madison before retiring from acting in 2000. In 2020, his family revealed that he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Phil Hartman
The SNL alum went on to appear in Small Soldiers, 3rd Rock From the Sun and The Second Civil War. In 1998, Hartman’s wife, Brynn Omdahl, fatally shot him after an argument. He was 49. The couple shared son Sean and daughter Birgen.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Robert Conrad
The veteran actor later starred in Nash Bridges, Just Shoot Me!, Garbage Day and 2002’s Dead Above Ground, which marked his final film role. Conrad died of heart failure in February 2020 at age 84.
The Hawaiian Eye alum shared five children with first wife Joan Kenlay, whom he divorced in 1977. He later welcomed three children with wife LaVelda Ione Fann, whom he divorced in 2010.
Credit: Youtube ; Shutterstock
Martin Mull
The Roseanne alum played a radio DJ nicknamed “Mr. Ponytail Man” by Myron and Howard. He later appeared on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Ellen Show, Arrested Development, Veep, The Ranch and Grace and Frankie.
Mull has been married to Wendy Haas, with whom he shares daughter Maggie, since 1982.
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Jim Belushi
The former SNL star played an intimidating Santa Claus who was secretly running a counterfeit toy operation. He went on to star in films including Wag the Dog, The Ghost Writer and Wonder Wheel. From 2001 to 2009, he played the titular role on the sitcom According to Jim. His other TV credits include The Defenders, Twin Peaks, Good Girls Revolt and Growing Belushi.
Belushi shares son Robert with ex-wife Sandra Davenport. In 1998, he married Jennifer Sloan, with whom he shares daughter Jamison and son Jared.
Credit: Youtube ; Shutterstock
Danny Woodburn
Woodburn appeared as Tony the Elf, an assistant to Belushi’s nefarious Santa. The Seinfeld alum later racked up credits in Charmed, One Tree Hill, Bones, Legacies, Station 19 and Mirror Mirror.
The Party Down alum has been married to Amy Buchwald since 1998.
