Bad Santa Release Date: November 21, 2003 Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Bernie Mac, John Ritter, Cloris Leachman, Lauren Graham Directed by: Terry Zwigoff
What’s big, bad, and red all over? Billy Bob Thornton in a Santa suit. In this darkly comic heist directed by Zwigoff (Ghost World) and executive-produced by Joel and Ethan Coen, Thornton and Cox play seasoned grifters who pose as St. Nick and his not-so-trusty elf in order to rob department stores across the country. Mac stars as head of mall security, and Graham plays Santa’s savior—his bartender-girlfriend. Although Zwigoff says he suspects this is one Christmas story that could “generate a lot of controversy and outrage,” the friendship that develops between Thornton’s character and a bullied eight-year-old (newbie Kelly) is as heartwarming as a mug of hot cider. Sure, “a chain-smoking alcoholic Santa” is a little less than kosher, Thornton admits. “But it’s not like there’s a Monster’s Ball sex scene in it.”
ESCAPE CLAUS: Originally, Bill Murray was in negotiations to play Big Red. “Then no one could find him,” Zwigoff says, joking that “I guess if I had his money, nobody’d be able to find me either.”
Copyright © 2008 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.