Mel Gibson is attached to play Santa Claus in a brand new independent comedy ‘Fatman’ for Fortitude.
The film will be directed by Ian and Eshom Nelms from their own script, it tells the story of a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus who is fighting his business decline — while a neglected and precocious 12-year-old hires a hitman to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking.
Brandon James of Rough House, Nadine de Barros of Fortitude and Lisa Wolofsky of Skywolf will produce while James’ Rough House partners David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jody Hill will serve as executive producers.
“This rowdy Santa tale is a film we’ve been excited to make for some time and we’re thrilled to have equally passionate partners in Rough House and Fortitude who carry the same fire!” said Eshom and Ian Nelms.
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Whilst the film sounds like it would go down well with a streaming giant like Netflix, Fortitude will be presenting it at the Cannes Film Festival to international buyers.
The filmmaking duo of Ian and Eshom Nelms have previously worked on films such as ‘Small Town Crime,’ ‘Waffle Street’ and ‘Lost on Purpose’.
Gibson’s career is somewhat experiencing a revival after his previous controversial comments. He recently starred opposite Vince Vaughn in Craig S. Zahler’s ‘Dragged Across Concrete’, His previous outing was in ‘Daddy’s Home 2’. Gibson’s upcoming projects include ‘The Professor and the Madman opposite Sean Penn, The Sci-Fi thriller ‘Boss Level’ with Annabelle Wallis and Noami Watts and the thriller ‘Waldo’ with Charlie Hunnam.
