Billy Bob Thornton talks about his "Christmas classic" "Bad Santa," possible sequel

Since the holiday season is now upon us, so movie fans can begin pulling out the DVDs of their favorite Christmas films, like “White Christmas,” “The Christmas Story,” maybe “Elf.”

How about “Bad Santa”?

Yes, it seems that the 2003 black comedy, which brought about pre-release controversy for Billy Bob Thornton’s turn as a foul-mouthed, alcoholic con man who dresses up like Santa Claus so he rob shopping malls, has made a lasting impression beyond its solid critical reviews and box office take.

It has become a holiday mainstay. And Thornton hopes it will eventually have a sequel, which would be a first in his more than two-decade acting career.

“They always play it every year. It’s funny, certain people … have talked about how it’s become one of the Christmas classics. So it’s like people will watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ one day, then ‘Miracle on 34th Street the next day and then they watch ‘Bad Santa.’ It’s just become part of the box set for Christmas, which is kind of funny to me,” Thornton told me in a phone interview from New York to talk about his new action film “Faster,” which opened Wednesday.

“It’s one of the movies that I’ve done that I can actually watch myself, you know, ‘cause I get a kick out of it. We actually have talked to the people that own that movie about possibly doing a sequel to that. I’ve never really done a sequel before of any of my movies. But this one seems to make sense.”

-BAM