MISSOULA, Mont. - A 22-year-old University of Montana student was charged with assault Friday for shoving a pumpkin pie into Santa Claus' face at a shopping mall while a teen sat on his lap.

Clint Westwood, a drama major, said he videotaped Wednesday evening's pie-throwing prank and will include the clip in a documentary film he's making called "My Crazy Life," a montage of absurd, often vulgar, and occasionally illegal antics.

Westwood, who said he took up acting because his name so closely resembles Clint Eastwood's, has committed even more high jinks against the winter holiday icon in years past, and said his film will include footage of him sitting on Santa's lap and urinating.

"That was one of the skits we came up with," Westwood said in a telephone interview Friday. "Then we came back to apologize and got Santa to sign a release form."

After Wednesday's incident, Westwood and his camera crew waited in a nearby corridor of Southgate Mall, intent on approaching Santa with the form after things settled down. Instead, police officers arrived to investigate the matter, and the amateur filmmakers fled.

"It's a good thing he didn't wait around because I think Santa would have laid him out," said Sgt. Travis Welsh of the Missoula Police Department.

Westwood is scheduled to appear Monday morning in Missoula Municipal Court on a misdemeanor count of assault, but he hopes he can convince Santa Claus to drop the charge.

'What do you think of that, Santa?'

Westwood denies reports that the pumpkin pie was frozen but admitted it was cold because he'd been standing outside the mall waiting for a signal from a crew member.

Although the plan was to wait for any groups of young children to clear the area, Westwood said opportunity knocked when a teenage girl took a seat on Santa's lap.

"There was someone sitting on his lap, but she was like 15 years old," he said. "We were waiting for her to get off his lap, but then we just decided it would be funnier if she was still sitting there."

About five other witnesses were present.

Westwood said he approached Santa and "lightly smooshed" the pie into his face, then shouted "What do you think of that, Santa?"

Westwood said he was inspired to make "My Crazy Life" after meeting professional skateboarder Bam Margera several years ago. Margera came into prominence as a reality television personality known for pranks.

Police investigators identified Westwood after questioning a mall employee who admitted receiving a text message on her cell phone from someone boasting about the prank. The girl initially refused to identify the sender of the message, but later said it had been Westwood.