crazychris88

Supposedly they are making a sequel to what is without a doubt (at least in my mind) the funniest film OF ALL TIME.
From /film.com
http://www.slashfilm.com/billy-bob-t...e/#more-121179

"First up: Bad Santa 2 The last thing we heard was that Thornton was in talks and ready to do the film, while Johnny Rosenthal and John Phillips had been hired to craft parallel scripts. We don’t know which of those two writers got the nod to be the real Bad Santa sequel writer, but Thornton told The Playlist,

"…the writer is still working on the script, he’s doing his rewrite right now. We saw the first draft and we just had a few little things we wanted to take away or add and he’s doing that. The plan is to shoot that in the fall."


The idea at the moment is to release the film at Christmas 2013, but we’ll see how that works out.


I couldn't be more excited. I consider Bad santa the funniest film of all time. Endless laughs for me.

Crocker Jarmen

Agree, but I also think it was lightning in a bottle. I can't imagine a sequel will have once scrap of the magic in the original.

rexinnih

This could work. I'm in.

Pizza the Hutt

It could work if they somehow manage to come up with secondary characters as hilarious as the ones in the first. Just having Thornton back as Willie isn't enough. The biggest laughs imo came from how others reacted to him, even indirectly such as Ritter. Hope they somehow work Tony Cox into it. It's ten years later, Marcus could be out of jail.

OldBoy

the two people that made this film what it was are both dead, unfortunately. can't see this being near as good.

islandclaws

Billy Bob is dead?

I'm sure they'll make out ok without Ritter and Mac, though both are definitely missed.

Buttmunker

Except when Bernie Mac was MURDERED.
(I hate it when comedies have such horrid, uncomedic moments. The ear-biting scene in The Big Lobowski is another example of what I mean.)

Otherwise, yeah. Billy Bob Thornton was a regular hoot. I especially loved the "special feature" where they repeated the same scene with Thornton exiting the department store, and each time he passes the security guard, he quips a different put-down.

crazychris88

I just hope that the writers of this movie understand what made the first film so funny. Besides Billy Bob's performance (and it is mostly his performance and the dialogue that makes the first film what it is) It was mostly the little things that provide the biggest laughs for me. things like Thurman and granny constantly asking about sandwiches, Billy bob giving the stripper a scratch-off ticket (in the Badder santa version), the "They can't all be winners now can they?" line when thurman finds an asprin in the advent calender, etc.
I hope they can have more of that stuff and less nut punching in the boxing ring (not that I hate that scene or anything)...It's gonna be hard to do the first film justice but I really have a bit of hope they can pull this off with Billy Bob./

mmconhea

Loved the first! I'm in.
If it sucks, I'll just ignore it.

Buttmunker

But why would they write in a vicious murder of a mostly-comical character - in a comedy? Can someone explain that to me, like I was a 3-year old?

nando820

I love the movie but a sequel doesn't feel right. This its not Indiana Jones or Spider-Man where you can have a different villain in each movie. It was a cool one time idea of man down on his luck who didn't give a fuck bout anything no more. Making him be a drunk Santa again would be out of place from where the first film ended, it would end up being a "Home Alone 2" which funny and all its just re-hack of the same play. Its like doing "Its a Wonderful Life 2" just ridiculous.

Goat3001

It's called dark comedy.

Pizza the Hutt

Because it was funny. Especially in the version where they place his head behind the tire and Marcus' prune-faced wife backs over it like a speed bump. Like Goat says, it's called dark comedy. The Coen Brothers are masters of it.

dex14

Traxan

I don't know how you top Lauren Graham bouncing up and down on BBT in a hot tub panting 'fuck me Santa, fuck me Santa, fuck me Santa!' That was priceless.

Bluelitespecial

If they film in September, that means we probably wont see it until Christmas 2014. Great news though, I just hope they can make it of the same quality as the first film.

Charlie Goose

One of my favorite comedies, so I'm definitely interested.

Unfortunately, it's a rare comedy sequel that surpasses or even matches the original.

Crocker Jarmen

I said the same thing a year ago, but Bad Santa coming together as one of the funniest movies I've seen in my life was a Christmas miracle. Another one will never match the genius of the original.

I found it fascinating to compare Terry Zwigoff's Director's Cut to the theatrically released version of the film. It seems clear to me that the studio's "meddling" produced a better, funnier picture.

Buttmunker

By this, you mean to say that the Director's Cut is substandard to the theatrically-released version?

I read (or heard) that the Director's Cut included some of the more poignant scenes, like the opening when we first see Thornton in a bar, then see him puking in the alley, and you hear Thornton's voice-over explaining about how his father was a mean prick - but that he did teach him how to crack a safe.

There were other scenes, too, that helped flesh out this picture.

HN

Let Alexis Bledel have a go at it.

(But yeah, more Lauren Graham on screen is always welcome.)

dex14

It's the only way to top it.

RichC2

From my understanding there is no official Zwigoff version. The Directors Cut is just the filming script and not a true "Directors Cut". The original Theatrical cut was messed with but most of the stuff they tried to add in was taken out. Could be wrong, here's an interview he gave a few months ago:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...ostHeaderPanel

The best part being:

What was the most ridiculous thing that you were the closest to sign on to?
You know, I got the script for "Juno." And my producer who I had worked with on "Ghost World" called me and said, "I've got this really hot script I want to send it to you." And the same week I got a call that same week from somebody else that said they were sending me this really hot script in Hollywood that was written by a 12-year-old girl. And I said, "Well, what's it about?" And they said, "It's a coming-of-age story." So I said, "Yeah, okay, whatever." So a couple days later I got this script called "Juno" and since I saw the name Diablo Cody I thought, "Well, this must be the 12-year-old girl." Who else would have a name like that, right? And I read it and thought, "Well this is pretty good for a 12-year-old girl trying to imitate 'Ghost World.' " So I told my producer, who went on to do it, "This is a retarded version of 'Ghost World.' I can't do it. I can't stomach it. Sorry."

clappj

I thought so too.
Same for "40 Year Old Virgin." In both cases, editing produced a tighter, funnier film.

Troy Stiffler

The first one worked because Terry Zwigoff brought his unique voice to it.

Whenever someone tries to copy something, instead of reinventing and making it their own, it doesn't satisfy. Nobody seems to understand this.

Or maybe a lot of people do, and that's why they (producers, talent) stop efforts to do something like this. And it's just certain productions that get through.

If they can get Terry back - do it. If they can't, scrap it and make way for another adult-themed Christmas movie. I'm sure the productions are out there.

Crocker Jarmen

There's three versions of Bad Santa available; theatrical, unrated "Badder" Santa, and Twigoff's version which priemiered at Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival before being released on DVD.

Yes.

The scene you describe is in the theatrical version. In Zwigoff's version we have the scene but without the voice over. He thought the scene didn't need the voice over, it was too on the nose. In my opinon, this scene now just drags on forever, and when Willie pukes at the end it doesn't feel like a payoff. Also the voice over is hilarious.

It has been years since I saw the Zwigoff version, which is shorter than the theatrical. It is a lot of different takes, and some scenes cut out (like the hysterical ballpunching scene). Zwigoff dulls a lot of the comic timing, wanting the film to be "darker" I suppose.

I'm not sure what version you saw Buttmunker, but Bernie Mac's death scene in the Zwigoff version is much grislier. He isn't killed right away, and we see him pinned between the vehicles, in agony, before the job is finished. It goes on way too long.

I could see some people liking the Zwigoff over the theatrical, but I'm not interested in Bad Santa as a "character study". I think it works best at being a comedy, and the theatrical version overflows with comedic delights.

Note: It always bums me out when I look at someone's DVD collection and see they have the "Badder" Santa version, which is really just a bunch of deleted scenes edited back into the movie, making it take fucking forever to get started, because there is now a big, useless 10 minute sequence showing Willie in Florida.