Last night, director Terry Zwigoff appeared at Central Cinema's sold-out showing of Bad Santa, produced/toured/small printed by The A.V. Club's Cult Canon Tour. The 2003 hit resonated with the parents, malcontents and former elves in the audience (thank you, Dallas Northpark Mall, for that hellish winter month). A charmingly nasal and articulate Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club moderated the Q&A while Zwigoff opened with a slide show of amazing parodies, criminal copy cats and a slew of Santa photos through the ages, too amazing to not share at least one.
Zwigoff went into detail about looking for the perfect people for this movie (especially since he choose the script over Elf with Will Ferrell already attached). De Niro, Penn graced the top of a list but Billy Bob Thorton was the name he knew could pull it off. In the search for the perfect kid to win the Bad Santa's heart, Zwigoff rejected the "Disney-face-proportioned" in an effort to capture a new Joe Cobb: a fat, scary kid. Which he eventually did find in new actor, Brett Kelly (right).
In addition to Bad Santa, Zwigoff directed such hits as the documentary Crumb, Ghost World and Art School Confidential (guess who sells books the movies were based on by Crumb and Dan Clowes?). We earnestly look forward to his next film adventure.
Terry Zwigoff will also be attending the showing in Portland, OR on December 13th and The A.V. Club's Cult Canon has showings of Bad Santa and Black Christmas all over the country. A good time to be sure, especially with free drink tickets! Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds, Zwigoff, me and intern Nomi Kane hang loose at Central Cinema.
