Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad Santa character may not be the best at spreading the Christmas spirit, but he may have a foil in Christina Hendricks. The former Mad Men star has signed on for Bad Santa 2, and her character will run a charitable organization, according to Deadline.
Hendricks joins a cast that is returning Thornton, Tony Cox, and Brett Kelly from the original, not to mention Kathy Bates, whose involvement was recently announced. The film will be the second installment in the series, coming more than a decade after the release of Bad Santa in 2003. The original follows alcoholic, sex-crazed thief Willie T. Stokes (played by Thornton) and his sidekick Marcus (Cox) as they work as a department store Santa Claus and elf, respectively, in order to rob malls.
Plot details are scarce at this point, but the upcoming holiday flick is sure to be full of vulgarity and profanity — perfect for those who prefer their Christmas movies with a little more edge. We don’t know anything about how Hendricks’ character will be involved yet, but if she happens to be Willie’s polar opposite, it would be entertaining to watch him try to romance her. His mother, played by Bates, will be another woman in his life (that we know of so far), in spite of that fact that she’s not much older than the actor in real life.
The screenplay for Bad Santa 2 comes from Johnny Rosenthal, Doug Ellin, and Shauna Cross, and Mark Waters will direct. Miramax’s Zanne Devine and David Thwaites and Broad Green’s Gabriel and Daniel Hammond will executive produce along with Waters, Ellin, Jessica Tuchinsky, and Adam Fields. Geyer Kosinski and Andrew Gunn will produce.
Bad Santa 2 is scheduled to begin filming this month in Montreal, and the comedy is set for release on November 23.
