Christina Hendricks, who played Joan Harris on AMC's award-winning series "Mad Men," joins the cast of "Bad Santa 2" and will play the love interest of Billy Bob Thornton, who reprises his role as the foul-mouthed Willie Soke in the follow-up to the 2003 raunchy comedy.
The sequel will be headed by Mark Waters, whose other credits include "Mean Girls" and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." Andrew Gunn and Geyer Kosinski will produce the project, which is co-financed and co-produced by Broad Green and Miramax. "Bad Santa 2" is expected to start filming in Montreal, Canada next week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Plot details are not yet clear but Hendricks' character is an "Ivy League-educated, upper-class woman who runs a charity that is targeted by Thornton's mall Santa and his foul-mouthed, tough-as-nails mother."
Johnny Rosenthal, Doug Ellin and Shauna Cross wrote the screenplay for the project. Broad Green's Gabriel and Daniel Hammond, Waters, Ellin and JessicaTuchinsky and Miramax's Zanne Devine and David Thwaites will serve as executive producers on the film.
"Bad Santa 2," which also stars Kathy Bates, Tony Cox and Brett Kelly, is slated to hit theaters in the U.S. on Nov. 23, according to Slash Film.
