"One of the most wonderful pieces of anarchy to come out of Hollywood in years; it has the jittery feel of a movie that's ahead of it's time." Blake Davis KFOR CHANNEL 4 NEWS "I have been laughing myself silly almost every day since I saw it more than a week ago." Jeffrey M Anderson SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER "A profane, wildly politically incorrect and sometimes shockingly funny holiday comedy." Mary Brennan SEATTLE TIMES "It’s comic brilliance of the most twisted order... pure profanity at its best." David Cornelius AMAZING COLOSSAL WEBSITE "By the end of Bad Santa, you may no longer believe in Santa Claus, but you certainly will believe in Billy Bob." Eleanor Ringel Gillespie ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

"It's weirdly touching and horrifyingly hilarious." Jeff Farance, DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL "Crass, crude, vulgar, and often side-splittingly hilarious" James Kendrick Q NETWORK FILM DESK "A raunchy romp for adults who enjoy a hint of perversion, especially if they're ready for the cotton-candy sweetness of Christmas to be spiked with 100-proof bourbon." Jack Garner ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE "Bad Santa is the best adult comedy since There's Something About Mary." Tyler Hanley PALO ALTO WEEKLY "Takes all the Christmas season's bad vibes and converts them into an achingly funny and corrupt dark comedy." Elvis Mitchell NEW YORK TIMES

At A Glance

"Billy Bob is not just Bad Santa, he's really bad, despicably, horribly rotten Santa - and he's so good at it you can't help laughing." Cherryl and Leigh THEMOVIECHICKS.COM

Ah Christmas. What wonderful memories it brings back. The excitement, the expectation and the tradition. Over decades it's remained the same and even now, it's all as fresh in my mind as if it was only yesterday. One thing I remember most is that excruciating wait on Christmas Eve. You know, going to bed, unable to sleep, excitedly awaiting Santa's visit. Like many children, I wanted to be awake when Santa arrived. I knew his workload was huge and he was under great pressure to get presents to all the other children around the world, so it was any bodies guess what time he would arrive. One thing I did know, he would work up a thirst and he's probably need a feed. The tradition in our house was to leave dry biscuits, cheese, a clean glass and a bottle of icey cold beer out for Santa. A big bottle of icey cold beer. It must have been really thirsty work for Santa because year after year, there would be no biscuits, cheese, or beer left when we went to get our presents on Christmas morning. Of course there was more to Christmas than just getting presents. Before Santa's visit there would be a number of major highlights. The first was always the John Martin's Christmas Pageant, a long tradition in Adelaide, South Australia where I grew up. Today it's called the Credit Union's Christmas Pageant and still remains the largest most colorful Christmas Pageant in the world. The pageant always marked the arrival in town of Santa or as we knew him, Father Christmas. After a long line of bands, clowns and floats had passed by, there, right at the end was Father Christmas resplendent in his red and white attire, immaculate white beard, sitting in his sleigh pulled by all his reindeer. What a sight it was. We would shout, cheer and wave as the jolly old fellow passed by. Now we knew it was Christmas. The pageant always finished at John Martins Adelaide store and here Father Christmas would alight in front of a pressing throng. Here he would wave to everyone and then, surrounded by his helpers, Father Christmas would turn and make his way to that wonderful, special place, prepared for him each year by the staff of John Martin's. The "Magic Cave". The leadup to Christmas Day was always punctuated by three other events. The first was a visit to the "Magic Cave". The second was Carols By Candlelight with real candles and lots of carol singing. The third was getting the Christmas tree. In those days Christmas trees were real trees and we made many of our own decorations. There was a real sense of feeling Christmas had truly arrived when the tree went up. Our place has two neatly trimmed pines in the front yard and one invariably was decorated up. In those days when cars were a luxury for many, Christmas parties has a special meaning to them. Getting together with the relatives for a Christmas party meant Woodroofe's Lemonade, Kola Beer or Snowtop, lots of sandwiches, cream cakes, lollies and Christmas Cake. What grand memories they are. Memories that are important in those formative years. Very special memories that last a lifetime. Today Santa is still a much loved figure all over the world. A jolly, fat guy who is kind, loves kids, dresses immaculately and is faithful to Mrs Claus. Right? Wrong! Not when the store Santa is a drunken, rude, fornicating, safe cracker. Now that's a "Bad Santa. A bad, bad, Santa. One who breaks every tradition we hold sacred about what is still to many the most sacred time of the year. Not that Willie Stokes cares. He's only there for the safe cracking. It's the only Christmas tradition this foul mouthed piss head holds near and dear. Billy Bob Thornton is "Bad Santa" and what a glorious performance it is. "This is a story that brings the sensibility of "South Park" to the spirit of "It's A Wonderful Life." "It turns your typical idea of a Christmas comedy on its head," Thornton said when summing up "Bad Santa". Father Chistmas, Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, has of course, been appearing in Hollywood films for decades and has been played by many well known Hollywood stars. In recent years Tim Allen has taken on the role in two films, "The Santa Claus and "Santa Claus 2" but it's true to say, "there has never been a Santa Like this Santa." Not that the idea of a "Bad Santa" hasn't been done before. That's what inspired the Coen Bros to rewrite the story of the nicest, most loved childrens character. "The Coens had in mind for the story's hero a character like those the 1930s actor Wallace Beery used to play; a deliciously bad-tempered, comical rascal who turns out to be a rough-edged diamond." Another major influence was the film "Bad News Bears". " 'The Bad News Bears' is one of Joel and Ethan's favorite movies," Says producer Sarah Aubrey. "As we developed Willie's story, we were inspired by the tone of the hilarious relationship between Walter Matthau and those misfit kids, which is always biting, never sentimental, yet also has some qualities you could almost call moving." Once the concept of a "Bad Santa" was realized Aubrey and fellow producer John Cameron took it to screenwriters John Requa and Glenn Ficarra. What the screenwriters came up with was "a savagely smart script." So savagely smart both Aubrey and Cameron recall being "a bit shocked by its fearless, forthright comic style, but in a good way." Why was that? Cameron explained, "We started out with the idea of a drunken, slovenly, criminal Santa Claus who gets changed by the love of a kid and it just evolved from there. From the very first draft, the script took a lot of chances. It pushed the envelope of Christmas comedy in every way imaginable, but at the same time it was laugh-out-loud funny." Next to come on board was director Terry Zwigoff. "I read the script on a plane and I was laughing so hard I was almost embarrassed," Zwigoff recalls. "What also appealed to me was the challenge of making this unsympathetic character sympathetic. I usually find that Christmas films ladle on the cheap sentiment, but with this story I saw a chance to do something more truthful. That's what I liked so much about the screenplay, it's harder edged and more true and, therefore, ultimately more moving." Zwigoff was a real inspiration to the production team but they still had one hurdle to overcome. They had to find a studio willing to take on a film about a "Bad Santa". The turning point for the team came when Zwigoff got a call from producer Bob Weinstein. "He had just seen "Ghost World", loved it and said he wanted to make a Terry Zwigoff movie and asked if I had any ideas or scripts," Zwigoff recalls. "I sent him "Bad Santa" overnight and by 11 a.m. the next morning Bob said Dimension Films wanted to make it." And so, "Bad Santa" was born. A Santa who doesn't live at the North Pole with Mrs Claus and all his hard working elves but a Santa who is bad yet lovable according to Billy Bob Thornton. "Right off the bat, you get the feeling Willie is a pretty nasty guy," he says, "but the fact of the matter is that he's really just a lost soul who had a very crummy childhood and who now feels that Christmas represents nothing more than a few lousy weeks of unhappiness. He's a loser. But, in the course of events, you could say he becomes a more loveable loser." Crew Bytes "Bad Santa" was .......
directed by Terry Zwigoff ["Louie Bluie", "Crumb" and "Ghost World"]; screenplay by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra ["Cats & Dogs" and "Looney Tunes: Back In Action"]; costume design by AFI Nominee Wendy Chuck ["A Country Life", "Election", "Ghost World" and "About Schmidt"]; production design by Sharon Seymour ["The Cable Guy", "Duets", "Reality Bites" and "The Rules Of Attraction"]; set decoration by Robert Greenfield ["Wag the Dog", "Crazy In Alabama", "Almost Famous" and "50 First Dates"]; edited by Robert Hoffman ["The Last Big Attraction", "The Priests", "Easy" and "Fathers and Sons"]; director of photograhpy Jamie Anderson A.S.C ["Unlawful Entry", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", "The Gift" and "Grosse Point Blank"]; original music by David Kitay ["Look Who's Talking", "Clueless", "Scary Movie", "Ghost World" and "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle"]; produced by Sarah Aubrey ["Friday Night Lights"], Bob Weinstein ["The Shipping News", "Gangs Of New York", "Chicago", "Kill Bill: Vol 2" and "Fahrenheit 9/11"] and John Cameron ["Fargo", "The Big Lebowski", "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Lady Killers"]. Casting About "Bad Santa" stars .......
2002 National Board of Review Best Actor and Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton ["Slingblade", "The Man Who Wasn't There", "Bandits" and "Monster's Ball"]; Brett Kelly ["Kill Me Later", "Out Cold" and "Cheats"]; Tony Cox ["The Return of the Jedi", "Friday", "Beetlejuice" and "Me, Myself & Irene"]; NAACP Oustanding Actor Award winner Bernie Mac ["Mo' Money", "House Party 3", "Head Of State" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"]; Screen Actors Guild Award winner Lauren Graham ["Sweet November", "Nightwatch", "Chasing Destiny" and "One True Thing"]; Lauren Tom ["Wall Street", "The Joy Luck Club", "With Friends Like These..." and "Manhood"]; Ajay Naidu ["Touch and Go", "Vice Versa", "Hannibal", "The Guru" and "K-PAX"]; Tom McGowan ["Sleepless In Seattle", "As Good as It Gets", "Ghost World" and "After The Sunset"]; and multiple EMMY, Golden Globe and Peoples Choice Award winner, the late, great, much loved, Mr John Ritter ["Slingblade", "Panic", "Skin Deep" and TV's "Hooperman", "Three's Company", "8 Simple Rules"] as Bob Chipeska. The Story

"Extremely funny -- at times sidesplittingly so -- thanks to Zwigoff's way with raw irreverence and Thornton's perfectly pitched, ready-for- anything performance." ... Michael Rechtshaffen HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

It's the Christmas season and that means Santa Claus is back in town. For Willie and his pint sized friend Marcus, Christmas just can't come around quick enough. The festive season means they will be back at work in another department store or mall with Willie playing Santa and Marcus in the role of Santa's Elf. Every year it is a new store a new challenge. This year they've found work in Pheonix. Bob Chipeska thinks he has made the right decision by employing Willie as the new Santa, until Willie turns up drunk on the job and is later caught having sex with a customer in the large ladies dressing room. Try as he may, Bob can't find a way of sacking Willie. Desperate to get rid of Santa and his Elf Bob seeks the help of savvy store detective Gin. He discovers Willie and Marcus have a spotless record. But there is something that nags him. Every year, year after year, the store Willie and Marcus work in has been robbed. It seems this loud, cussing, fornicating, drunk Santa and his little helper have been helping themselves to each store's Christmas takings. Will this year be the same? The Verdict "He's every parents, every childs and every storeowners nightmare. He drinks! He swears! He pees in his Santa suit! He fornicates in the large ladies dressing room! Worste of all, he hates kids! He's the "Bad Santa". Drunk on the job, cussing the kids and the news only gets worse. He's a safecracker. Billy Bob Thornton is a treasure in the role of Willie T Stokes, the baddest, meanest Santa imaginable. Until he meets an 8 year old overweight, shy kid named Thurman Mermen who won't leave him alone. Parents Note this is definately not a kids flick. Contains strong language, alcohol abuse and sex scenes which include reference to anal sex. Great adult entertainment with a terrific cast. Very cleverly constructed, very funny but only recommended to adult audiences who can handle having their traditional views on Christmas and Santa Claus completely shattered." The Cast

Billy Bob Thornton Tony Cox Brett Kelly Lauren Graham Lauren Tom Bernie Mac John Ritter Ajay Naidu Lorna Scott Harrison Bieker Alex Borstein Dylan Charles Billy Gardell Lisa Ross Brian Callen Tom McGowan Grace Calderon Christine Pichardo Max Van Ville Bucky Dominick Georgia Eskew Hayden Bromberg Briana Norton Octavia L Spencer Ryan Pinkston Hallie Singleton Matt Walsh

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Willie Marcus The Kid Sue Lois Gin Bob Chipeska Hindustani Troublemaker Milwaukee Mother Milwaukee Boy Milwaukee Mom with Photo Milwaukee Bratty Boy Milwaukee Security Guard Milwaukee Bartender Miami Bartender Harrison Woman in Tight Pants Photo Elf Skateboard Bully Deer Hunter 3 Boy Barbie Girl Fraggle-Stick Boy Pinball Girl Opal Shoplifter Woman in Food Court Herb

The Crew Directed by Terry Zwigoff Written by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa Produced by Sarah Aubrey/John Cameron/Bob Weinstein Executive Producers Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Co-Executive Produced by Harvey Weinstein & Brad Weston Original Music by David Kitay Cinematography by Jamie Anderson Film Editing by Robert Hoffman Casting by Felicia Fasano & Mary Vernieu Production Design by Sharon Seymour Art Direction by Peter Borck Set Decoration by Robert Greenfield Costume Design by Wendy Chuck production manager David Crockett Run Time 91 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2004 - Dimension Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2004 - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages- All Rights Reserved