The upcoming sequel to the cult Christmas classic Bad Santa has offered up a belated holiday gift in the form of some casting news.
According to Variety, Christina Hendricks will be joining the cast of this “hey, it’s really happening!” comedy offering. Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, and Brett Kelly (aka poor Thurman Merman) are all returning for Part II, with Kathy Bates tapped to play mom to Thornton’s boozy a**hole St. Nick. What’s Hendricks doing in the film? Here are the loose details on what to expect from her role.
Plot details are vague, but Hendricks will play an Ivy League-educated, upper-class woman who runs a charity that is targeted by Thornton’s mall Santa and his foul-mouthed, tough-as-nails mother. Hendricks will also play Thornton’s love interest.
Hmm… The “love interest” side of things seems to suggest that Lauren Graham’s delightful Santa fetishist character Sue must be out of the picture. If so, she’s definitely not the only key player from the last picture that won’t be in the mix for this go-around. Bad Santa helmer Terry Zwigoff won’t be directing the sequel and there will be no John Ritter or Bernie Mac showing up for obvious reasons. (The obvious reasons being that they’re both dead and now we’re thinking about it and sobbing a bunch.)
Bad Santa 2 will begin shooting in Montreal next week. Optimists will note that Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters has been tasked to direct, while pessimists will note that Ghosts of Girlfriends Past helmer Mark Waters has been tasked to direct. (Dude has a complicated résumé.) Johnny Rosenthal, Doug Ellin, and Shauna Cross penned the script.
(Via Variety)
