After years of promises from Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa 2 is finally heading into production, with the actor set to reprise his role as booze-soaked, foul-mouthed con-man Willie in the follow-up to the 2003 comedy classic. While we still don’t know much about the long-developing sequel, the latest addition to the cast gives us some indication of what we can expect. We’re going to meet Willie’s mom.

Miramax and Broad Green have announced the casting of Kathy Bates in the role of Willie’s presumably equally foul-mouthed mother. The studios have yet to reveal any further plot details, but you don’t cast an Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor for a tiny role. What makes this casting particularly interesting is the age difference between Bates and Thornton, with the 67-year-old actress playing mother to the 60-year-old actor.

Unfortunately, Terry Zwigoff will not return to direct and has been replaced by Mean Girls director Mark Waters. Coincidentally, Mean Girls also featured a weird, seven-year age gap in its mother / child casting, with a then-33-year-old Amy Poehler playing mother to Rachel McAdams, who was just 26 at the time.

Returning from Bad Santa’s original cast are Tony Cox as Willie’s criminal buddy Marcus and Brett Kelly as the weird kid with whom Willie previously formed a very unlikely friendship. Doug Ellin (Entourage), Shauna Cross (Whip It) and Johnny Rosenthal are scripting the sequel to the mean-spirited holiday classic.

Bates currently stars on American Horror Story: Hotel and recently signed on to star in French director Xavier Dolan’s English-language debut, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, co-starring Kit Harington and Jessica Chastain.

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