While I did like director Steve Pink's Hot Tub Time Machine, the element that prevented it from being a great comedy was that it just wasn't dark enough. Sure, it had plenty of drugs, sex and violence, but it all felt more like window dressing than part of the bigger story - which I felt was its real intention. Hopefully Pink has since learned a better way to craft a dark comedy, because he's most definitely going to need those skills on if negotiations play out on his potential next project.
According to Deadline, Steve Pink is now in talks to both direct and do a re-write of Bad Santa 2. The first movie, directed by Terry Zwigoff, starred Billy Bob Thornton as Willie, a drunken mall santa who works with a little person named Marcus (Tony Cox) to rob shopping centers around Christmas time. Thornton is expected to reprise his role from the original, though the status of all the other surviving characters and the actors who played them are unknown. Word of a sequel first leaked out in 2010 and in February the lead actor said they would be starting production this year. This is certainly a step in the right direction.
In addition to Hot Tub Time Machine, Pink also helmed the college comedy Accepted as well as episodes of television shows such as Children's Hospital. He is perhaps best known, however, for working on the screenplays behind two of John Cusack's best films: High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank. Do you think he has what it takes for Bad Santa 2?
