Christmas has come nearly 11 months early for those looking forward to Mel Gibson's dark action comedy FATMAN, as it's just been confirmed that Walton Goggins has been cast as a lead in the peculiar holiday-themed project.
Directed and written by both Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms, FATMAN centers on a neglected and precocious 12-year-old who hires an unorthodox hitman to kill Santa Claus after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking.
So far, Gibson has been cast in the role of Santa Claus, while Goggins will star as Skinnyman, the eccentric, sharp-shooting hitman who works at a toy store. Production is currently underway in Canada with Todd Courtney of Mammoth Entertainment having recently joined Brandon James of Rough House Pictures, Fortitude’s Nadine de Barros, Skywolf’s Lisa Wolofsky, and Robert Menzies as producers of the off-color comedy.
Additionally, the FATMAN project will see Goggins once again working with Rough House, which produced HBO's VICE PRINCIPALS, and is currently producing THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES. FATMAN broke ground at the Cannes market last spring and is currently shopping for international buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin.
Ho ho ho boy, this movie had me at "12-year-old hires hitman to kill Santa." For real, how can you say bah humbug when presented with a premise like that? I suppose the question now is: Will this film have pangs of Billy Bob Thornton's BAD SANTA, or will it take the concept of a dark holiday comedy to an entirely different place? We'll have to wait for more details about the film to find out, though for now, you can count me as being quite interested in this upcoming dose of holiday hilarity.
