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Posted January 19, 2016 by Mike Tyrkus in News
 
 

Principal Photography Begins on Bad Santa 2

Just in case you missed it, Miramax and Broad Green Pictures announced on January 11, 2015 that principal photography has started in Montréal, Québec, Canada, on Bad Santa 2, the follow-up to the raucous comedy hit Bad Santa.

Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa 2.As was previously reported, the film boasts an all-star cast led by Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Christina Hendricks, Tony Cox, and Brett Kelly. Joining the already announced cast are Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars, 2 Broke Girls), comedian Jenny Zigrino (50 Shades of Black), and Jeff Skowron (The Good Shepherd). Hansen will play Regent Hastings, who runs a charitable organization with his wife Diane (Hendricks). Zigrino and Skowron play security guards Gina and Dorfman, respectively. The trio joins Thornton (television series Fargo, Sling Blade, Simple Plan, Bandits) reprising his Golden Globe-nominated role as Willy Soke, and Bates (Misery, Titanic, Dolores Claiborne) who plays Willy’s tough-as-nails mom Sunny Soke, as well as original cast members Cox as Marcus and Kelly as Thurman Merman.

The film will be directed by Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls). Miramax and Broad Green Pictures have partnered to co-finance and co-produce Bad Santa 2 with Broad Green handling U.S. theatrical distribution, which is set for release November 23, 2016. Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales.

Geyer Kosinski (The Astronaut Farmer, The Bad News Bears, television series Fargo) and Andrew Gunn (Freaky Friday) are producing. The screenplay for Bad Santa 2 was written by Johnny Rosenthal, along with Doug Ellin (Entourage) and Shauna Cross (If I Stay, Whip It). Executive producers are Miramax’s Zanne Devine and David Thwaites, Broad Green’s Gabriel and Daniel Hammond, Mark Waters, Jessica Tuchinsky, Adam Fields, and Doug Ellin. Theo van de Sande (Love and Honor, Blade) is the Director of Photography, Isabelle Guay (Pawn Sacrifice, Red Rover) is the Production Designer and Costume Design is by Mario Davignon (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Romeo + Juliet).

Mike Tyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.