Editing Bad Santa (section)

==Production==
In January 2002, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' announced that Terry Zwigoff would be directing ''Bad Santa'' (his fourth picture and follow-up to ''[[Ghost World (film)|Ghost World]]'') under [[Dimension Films]], with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa writing the screenplay and the [[Coen brothers]] serving as executive producers.<ref name="dunkley">{{cite web |last1=Dunkley |first1=Cathy |title=Dimension Films more than naughty |url=https://variety.com/2002/film/news/dimension-films-more-than-naughty-1117859333/ |website=Variety |date=January 29, 2002 |access-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607012706/https://variety.com/2002/film/news/dimension-films-more-than-naughty-1117859333/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Coens had developed the concept for ''Bad Santa'', before eventually hiring the writing team of Ficarra and Requa to bring the story to life.<ref name="fretts">{{cite web |last1=Fretts |first1=Bruce |title=How the First 'Bad Santa' Boozed Down the Chimney |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/movies/how-the-first-bad-santa-boozed-down-the-chimney.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 2, 2016 |access-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-date=May 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518130408/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/movies/how-the-first-bad-santa-boozed-down-the-chimney.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Coens told Ficarra and Requa that the story would center on an alcoholic "bad [[Santa Claus|Santa]]" who seeks redemption very later on; additionally, they wanted it to be as funny as ''[[The Bad News Bears]]''. Afterward, Ficarra and Requa completed what they described as a "really crass script", with the Coens adding "a bunch of crass jokes".<ref name="fretts"/> When the script's final draft was sent to [[Universal Pictures]], the studio rejected it because "[I]t was the foulest, disgusting, misogynistic, anti-Christmas, anti-children thing we could imagine," all of which influenced [[Bob Weinstein]] of [[Miramax|Miramax Films]] (Dimension's parent company) to give it the [[green-light]].<ref name=" fretts"/>

===Casting===
The Coens initially tailored roles for specific actors, such as [[James Gandolfini]] as Willie (since they had worked with him on ''[[The Man Who Wasn't There (2001 film)|The Man Who Wasn't There]]''), [[Danny Woodburn]] as Marcus, and [[Angus T. Jones]] as Thurman.<ref name=" fretts"/>  [[Bill Murray]], [[Jack Nicholson]], and [[Robert De Niro]] were also considered for the role of Willie, but it eventually went to Billy Bob Thornton. [[Mickey Rooney]] auditioned for the role of Marcus.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://collider.com/rabbit-hole-creators-glenn-ficarra-john-requa-interview/ | title='Rabbit Hole:' Glenn Ficarra & John Requa on How Real-Life Espionage & David Fincher Influenced the Series | website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]] | date=28 March 2023 | access-date=26 May 2023 | archive-date=26 May 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526004216/https://collider.com/rabbit-hole-creators-glenn-ficarra-john-requa-interview/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Zwigoff cast Tony Cox for the role of Marcus and Brett Kelly for Thurman, which led to disagreements between himself and the producers.<ref name="fretts"/> Upon learning of Cox's casting, the Coens told Weinstein that they "hate" him, and according to Zwigoff, Dimension was pining for "a more Disney-like generic cute kid" to play Thurman. "Maybe there are other actors who could do a great job with these parts. But Tony and Brett are just funny. They are these characters," explained Zwigoff.<ref name="fretts"/>

===Filming===
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2025}}
The movie was filmed in various parts of California. Filming began on July 8, 2002, and ended in September 2002.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307987/locations/ |title=Bad Santa (2003) - Filming & production - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-03-10 |via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> The "Miami Beach" sequence at the beginning of the movie was filmed in [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], while all of the scenes at Thurman's house were filmed in [[West Hills, California|West Hills]]. All of the Saguaro Square Mall scenes were filmed entirely in the northeastern wing of [[Del Amo Fashion Center]] in [[Torrance, California|Torrance]], particularly in the former [[Montgomery Ward]] building, which was used for the mall's fictional anchor store, "Chamberlain's". The store and the entire wing were both vacant at the time of the movie's filming. The wing and building where the movie was filmed have since been demolished and replaced with the mall's new open-air [[lifestyle center]].