Billy Bob Thornton Talks ‘Bad Santa 2’ Progress

Actor Billy Bob Thornton has taken on many unique rolls in his career. If this were the mid-2000s one might argue he would never outlive the glory of Sling Blade, but time has proven another wholly original title is the work that may outlive even the man himself.

Bad Santa arrived in 2003 with a tale of a depressed, alcoholic mall Santa who befriended a lonely obese boy and won over the world with profane humor and an aggressive little helper. The film was a runaway smash at the time, and talk about a potential sequel has rarely been far from a Billy Bob presser since. In May it was reported that Entourage creator Doug Ellin had signed up to rewrite an existing Bad Santa 2 script and possibly direct as well. At the time, Thornton was said to be targeting a shoot this autumn (2013). People got excited, nostalgia kicked in, and then…nothing.

Cut to last week. Sitting down for a new interview with Collider about his work with the television adaptation of Fargo, Billy Bob Thornton offered as much of an update on the long-awaited sequel’s progress as he possibly could having not shot a single frame. He said:

“We all want it to happen. It’s all logistics. That’s this business crap, with the rights here, and a person who thinks this, and this person wanting that kind of script. It’s just that stuff. They’re still working on it. When they first said, “Hey, we’re gonna make a sequel to Bad Santa,” I said, “That’s nice. I loved playing that character.” It’s become an iconic movie, and the public wants to see a sequel. I said, “I’ve never done a sequel, but it makes sense to me to do this sequel.” It’s the kind of movie you do a sequel for, so I was all for it.

I think our mistake, and certainly my mistake, was that when people heard about it on the internet or in interviews, they would ask me, “Are you guys doing Bad Santa?,” and I would say, “Oh, yeah, we’re gonna do it this Fall.” I guess I’m still a little bit of a hayseed. I don’t know. When people tell me stuff, I still believe it. So, I think the mistake was that when they said they were gonna do it, we just said, “Yeah, we’re doing it.” The fact of the matter is, we may be doing it. They are working on it. It could be the end of this coming year, or it could be next year, or never. That’s the real honest answer.”

Whether or not another tale of Thornton’s hijinks would be as enjoyable as the first, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least curious as to what the character has been up to since we last met. Would you pay to see another Bad Santa? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.

James Shotwell
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