Christina Hendricks stars as Diane, Willie’s boss and love interest in the upcoming holiday film Bad Santa 2. Hendricks may not have seen Bad Santa when it came out in 2003, but she quickly learned what this film was going to entail. Hendricks explains, “Trust me when you read the script for Bad Santa 2 I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I read the script first, and I was laughing out loud and blushing and couldn’t believe what I was reading."

Screen Rant sat down with the Mad Men star to talk about preparing for her role as Diane, joining the Bad Santa family, and her first day on set.

You saw Bad Santa after you had already gotten the role for Diane, correct? While you were watching it were you a little nervous as to what you were getting yourself into with the sequel?

Hendricks: Trust me when you read the script for Bad Santa 2 I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I read the script first, and I was laughing out loud and blushing and couldn’t believe what I was reading. I had always heard of Bad Santa one but I hadn’t seen it, but it was sort of legendary. So by the time I finally watched the film I knew what I was getting into but it was even better than I imagined.

Good! And what was it like working with such a hilarious- you all are so funny in your own right- so what was it like working with such a hilarious cast?

Wonderful! What was one of the biggest challenges with Diane developing that character?

Hendricks: It was amazing. It was amazing and you know they created these characters and established these relationships with the last film, so I got to come in and be apart of this family that was already excited to be back and they were very, very gracious and welcoming to me.

I was going to say, because I am not an actor, so watching it, even the outdoor sex scenes, that’s your job your acting, but for me I would be so uncomfortable! Or are those scenes just funny for you because it is what it is, you’re an actor, this is your job?

Hendricks: I mean you just sort of have to go for it! I mean its quite extreme and the things are sort of over the top and you have to say these over the top things so you really just have to let yourself go and not get too in your head about it and just have fun.

Hendricks: My first day on set was with Billy and it was a sex scene in a Christmas tree lot and you know in order to make it great for the audience you just have to go for it! It was our sort of our icebreaker. There is something very freeing and fun about just playing make believe and it’s just over the top and hilarious so you just go for it.

It really was! And my last question for you is, do you have any hilarious on-set stories that you can tell us?

So the energy was always up and you guys were always cracking jokes?

Hendricks: I mean the on-screen and the on-set are both so funny! It’s hard to top what you see in the film, they were just such a great group of people to work with and we all hung out in between scenes and I got to know everybody a little bit. It was a very fun vibe on set with our crew and our director and everybody because it’s such hilarious material so it’s just kind of funny every day.

Like you said (referring to a quote), everything sounds dirty in this movie.

Hendricks: Yeah, absolutely.

Hendricks: Yeah when you’re in the middle of filming this movie it doesn’t matter what you say you can think of some sort of way to twist it into something dirty so we were laughing a lot.

  • Bad Santa 2 Release Date: 2016-11-23