More than a decade on from Bad Santa, and a good two years since we last heard anything about it, Bad Santa 2 may finally be ready to slouch into some more curmudgeonly seasonal shenanigans. Writer/director Doug Ellin (Entourage) has revealed that, all being well, it could be in the can before the year is out.
Original star Billy Bob Thornton remains attached as the washed-up Willie. "He's back and good to go," says Ellin. "The exact status is we're working on the script right now, and if we get it right, we'll shoot in September or October." He also confirms that the project remains, of course, in the R-rated zone, with "hopefully a similar tone to the first one".
That tone came courtesy of a fractious post-production period between director Terry Zwigoff, uncredited co-writers the Coen Brothers, and the Weinstein Company. Cracking the misanthropic code ultimately involved reshoots that Zwigoff didn't participate in, so that while the finished film remains queasily dark, it isn't quite as black as Zwigoff envisioned. His director's cut surfaced on DVD a few years ago. If the theatrical cut is a feel-bad comedy, Zwigoff's is a feel-worse.
Quite where Bad Santa 2 will find the 12-years-later Willie, or what shape it'll find him in, remains to be seen. Ellin's "if" indicates that it's not quite yet set in stone, but if all goes according to plan, we can probably expect a Christmas, 2016 release.