Billy Bob Thornton is officially in talks to reprise his role in Bad Santa 2 for The Weinstein Company.
In December, The Weinstein Company hit a deal with Disney-owned Miramax for sequels to a number of major catalog titles including Bridget Jones's Diary, Copland, From Dusk Till Dawn, Swingers, Clerks, Shall We Dance, The Amityville Horror, Rounders, Shakespeare In Love and of course, Bad Santa.
Thornton made mention of deal at a panel for his SXSW closer, the Willie Nelson documentary The King of Luck but there are still plenty of details to be worked out.
(By the way, The King of Luck, a new documentary about Willie Nelson, received its world premiere last night (March 19) at the South by Southwest festival in Austin Texas — Billy Bob Thornton was a close friend of country music legend Nelson and he made it himself.)
A Weinstein Company spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap:
We feel that it's a Christmas perennial for the R-rated crowd. Everyone loves the character and Billy Bob's excited to be in talks with us.”
The actor has made clear his desire to play the alcoholic, department store Claus again, but it sounds that a deal will materialize SRTL.
It's unknown if Terry Zwigoff will be back to helm again and it's unclear if the flick's original writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa will scribe the spinoff. The Terry Zwigoff-directed original was released in 2003 and co-starred the late Bernie Mac and John Ritter, alongside Lauren Tom and Lauren Graham.
At the time Bad Santa has landed, R-rated and rude comedy itself is something of a glitch in the system. Now, studios are putting themselves in an uncomfortable position in order to deliver the filthy, dark laughter. If they can get one, then we'll be more than happy to celebrate an event by allowing Thornton to booze up the big-screen again.
Thornton back on board is a great opportunity to get ready for some intoxicated Christmas cheer. [Source: TheWrap]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVRmXc8PPqk[/youtube]
