Bad Santa is a 2003 American christmas crime comedy film written and directed by Terry Zwigoff, and also written and produced by the Coen brothers, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Bernie Mac, John Ritter, Lauren Graham, Lauren Tom, Ethan Phillips, Brett Kelly and Cloris Leachman. This was John Ritter's final film appearance, before his death on September 11, 2003. The unrated version of the film was released on DVD on March 5, 2004 and on high-definition Blu-ray Disc (November 20, 2007) as Bad(der) Santa. A director's cut DVD was released in November 2006. It features Zwigoff's cut of the film (including an audio commentary with him and the film's editor), but is three minutes shorter than the theatrical cut and ten minutes shorter than the unrated version. The film was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Willie T. Stokes works the holiday seasons as a mall Santa with his dwarf friend, Marcus, who works as Santa's elf.