We’ve said it before a few times here at Cinema Blend, but Terry Zwigoff’s 2003 rudeboy comedy Bad Santa is a film that needs no sequel. But I guess if all Santa has in his sack of goodies is a booze-soaked sequel and a bunch of coal, we’ll take the sequel.
Star Billy Bob Thorton has been promoting the idea of this thing for years, but It might actually become a reality according to Deadline, who reports that Entourage writer/director Doug Ellin has been signed to write and possibly direct Bad Santa 2 for Miramax and Media Talent Group. He’ll be rewriting a script previously penned by Johnny Rosenthal. I’m guessing that Ellin’s potential in directing relies on how quickly the eventual Entourage movie takes to get all of its celebri-ducks in a line. He turned in a script for the film last year, which he intends to direct, and the movie was greenlit at the beginning of this year, but it seems nothing has happened since.
Ellin has already started on Bad Santa 2’s script though, and should the film get made, Thorton wants production to begin after he’s finished filming Mathew Cullen’s London Fields with Amber Heard. That film has yet to finish casting, but should begin filming in September.
With Entourage keeping him so busy, Ellin hasn’t directed a film since 1998’s lacking rom-com Kissing a Fool. That said, he was a co-writer for the upcoming boxing comedy Grudge Match with Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone, so we’ll have a better idea of what kind of comedy he’s capable of nowadays.
