The sixteen month gap between the release of Bad Moms and its impending sequel A Bad Moms Christmas means that the writing and directing team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore had little to no time to try and come up with an idea for the sequel.
But rather than resting on their laurels and simply rehashing what made the original comedy so popular, while hardly altering the plot, those involved in the creation of the film were adamant that A Bad Moms Christmas would stand on its own. This was a point that A Bad Moms Christmas' leading trifecta of actresses -- Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Kathryn Hahn -- underlined when we visited the set of the comedy in Atlanta earlier this year. After being asked how they made sure that A Bad Moms Christmas avoided repeating the original, both Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis insisted that the addition of Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hines, and Christine Baranski changed the whole dynamic.
Kristen Bell: Involve the mothers. It creates an entirely different layer for each of our characters, and the relationships between each other...Mila Kunis: And the dynamics. I think people would have assumed with this sequel, it was, 'And then the mothers go to Hawaii. And then they go to Vegas.' But what makes this one different is that it stays true to the story.Kristen Bell: It's not that the same story with a different setting.
Scott Moore and Jon Lucas quickly echoed these sentiments, insisting that they have felt just as cheated and been just as peeved as other moviegoers when they've watched a sequel that just lazily rehashed the first film. But while Jon Lucas admitted that there were plenty of obstacles they had to look out for, he opined that having the terrific charisma and chemistry of their three leading actresses always gave them an advantage.
Jon Lucas: There's a lot of obstacles. I think what's great is that our three leads were just so amazing together. Those three actresses just have a really good time together, even just off camera hanging out. So we felt good that we'd get a fun lively movie, we just wanted to have a subject that we found interesting. That's when we started talking about the mum, and the whole mums of mums felt different.Scott Moore: We wanted to avoid the thing of just making the same movie again. We're only 10 days in, but it feels very different. And hopefully what comes out in November is different enough. The idea of Christmas, and bringing all these women's moms in, I think we've all been watching sequels where you've thought, 'Oh my God, they literally just made the first one again.' We're hoping not to fall into that trap.
We'll finally be able to see if A Bad Moms Christmas can actually build upon its surprisingly successful original, while also avoiding the trappings that Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Scott Moore, and Jon Lucas were all clearly aware of, when it is released on November 1.
