Kathy Bates was not prepared for freezing Bad Santa 2 shoot

Kathy Bates and Billy Bob Thornton couldn’t stop shivering as they filmed scenes for Christmas comedy caper Bad Santa 2 in sub-zero temperatures in Montreal, Canada.
The actors play mother and son in the upcoming Bad Santa sequel, and although Kathy jumped at the chance to get involved in the festive film, she was not prepared for the big freeze of a Canadian winter at the start of this year (16).
“We had to shoot three nights… on an ice rink,” she recalled. “Oh my God, it was almost 40 below! Bob and I were sitting in what they call a warming tent (shivering in between takes). It was not warm!”
Despite getting the chills, Kathy had a blast throughout the whole shoot, particularly because she was able to fully embrace her “deviant” side to play bad mum Sunny Soke in a sequel to one of her favourite black comedies.
“I really got to play a role which is, I guess, the most deviant character I’ve ever played,” she told U.S. breakfast show Today. “I jumped in the deep end!”
Kathy is no stranger to crass dialogue, but admits, “This (character) takes it to the Nth degree for me, I must say. I don’t think I can go much further than Sunny Soke, but it’s been a dream of mine. I’ve been a big fan of the first movie, Bad Santa, so when they said, ‘Do you want to play Billy Bob’s mother?’, I said, ‘Where do I sign?’.
“When I knew the original cast, Tony (Cox) and Brett (Kelly), were gonna be in it, I thought, ‘Great!’. And Mark Waters, our director, he kept us from going too crazy.”
“We had a great time together,” she added. “Tony Cox just cracks me up, just with a look. It was just so much fun. I could just watch those guys in a coffee shop, just going at each other. It’s great, just so much fun.”
Kathy also enjoyed the surprised looks she got in public after keeping her character’s fake tattoos on her arms during after work outings.
“I wanted the tats,” she said. “They stayed on for a couple of days so it was great to go out for dinner and have like, a snake tattoo on!”