Fans of the original cult-favorite holiday comedy are no doubt well aware by now that Bad Santa 2, starring Billy Bob Thornton (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) as the eponymously ill-behaved figure of Christmas cheer once again, had already begun filming earlier this year. Based in part on on the original comedy directed by Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World) and executive produced by the likes of the Coen brothers (Hail, Caesar!), the first film from 2003 received generally favorable reviews upon initial release and has since become something of an offbeat success among certain moviegoers.
Whether or not Thornton will be able to provide another performance as enticing as he did over ten years ago in Bad Santa 2 for director Mark Waters (Mean Girls) remains to be seen. Fans of the first film will likely expect something quiet specific from Thornton and company when the movie finally sees theatrical release, and the first teaser trailer might just serve to ease any misgivings held towards the upcoming comedy sequel preemptively.
In the footage featured above, Thornton is back in the beard as the temperamentally incorrigible small time crook Willie T. Stokes, who (for reasons that will soon become apparent to audiences everywhere) is once again saddled with the seasonal vocation of playing the role of Santa Claus in a shopping mall. The sequence compiled is effectively sneering and subversive, and comes replete with Thornton angrily dealing with an incoherent child’s demands with his usual lack of social grace.
Ahead of the movie’s release later this November, it has already been announced that Kathy Bates (Tammy) will portray Thornton’s mother in Bad Santa 2, and that the two familial criminals will set out on another ill-advised holiday heist of one sort or another. It will be nice to see Thornton return to the role that has become a cult-favorite among certain connoisseurs of holiday comedies, and with any luck Bates will prove to be up to the task of playing the mother to Thornton’s unruly son.
Waters has his work cut out for him if he hopes to makes something out of Bad Santa 2 that is fit to please fans of the first film and draw in a crowd of expectant audience members unfamiliar with the franchise. It’s been quite some time since Zwigoff’s original comedy first greeted viewers, though die-hard fans will soon have another film starring the likes of Willie T. Stokes to add to their rotation of holiday viewing soon enough.
Bad Santa 2 will see theatrical release in the U.S. on November 23, 2016.
