Le Père Noël est une ordure ("Santa Claus is a bastard") was a theatre play created in 1979 by the troupe Le Splendid

Le Splendid

Le Splendid is the name of the café-théâtre company founded by a collection of writers and actors in the 1970s - Christian Clavier, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte , Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bruno Moynot and Claire Magnin...

 and turned into a film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré

Jean-Marie Poiré

Jean-Marie Poiré is a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is the son of the producer Alain Poiré.-Filmography as director:* Ma femme... s'appelle Maurice Jean-Marie Poiré (born July 10, 1945) is a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is the son of the producer...

 in 1982.

Plot

Pierre and Thérèse, two stuffy well-to-do volunteers at a telephone helpline for lonely and depressed people, are stuck with the Christmas Eve shift in the Paris office, much to their displeasure. The building's lift is malfunctioning, and they receive visits from unwanted callers: Katia, a depressed transvestite who wants to hit on Pierre, and Josette, a heavily pregnant woman on the run from her fiancé Félix. Félix is working as a Santa Claus during the season and turns up on her trail in costume and brandishing a gun. Félix and Josette, a caricature trailer trash

Trailer trash

Trailer trash is a derogatory North American English term for poor people living in trailers or mobile homes, especially in trailer parks.-Television:...

 couple, end up struggling over the gun and accidentally shooting dead the lift repairman, whom they then butcher and feed to zoo animals.

English (US) remake of the film

In 1994 the basic plot was used by writer/director Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in...

 to develop the US film Mixed Nuts

Mixed Nuts

Mixed Nuts is a motion picture comedy directed by Nora Ephron, based on the French comedy film, Le Père Noël est une ordure . Its cast includes Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia, Garry Shandling, Juliette Lewis and Adam Sandler...

.

Cast

• Anémone as Thérèse
• Thierry Lhermitte
  Thierry Lhermitte
  Thierry Lhermitte is a French actor, known for his comedic roles. He was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, and Michel Blanc...
  
   as Pierre Montez
• Marie-Anne Chazel
  Marie-Anne Chazel
  Marie-Anne Chazel is a French actress and occasional screenwriter, who has been active in both film and television since 1974.-Biography:...
  
   as Josette
• Gérard Jugnot
  Gérard Jugnot
  Gérard Jugnot is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and producer.Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Thierry Lhermitte, and Michel Blanc...
  
   as Félix
• Christian Clavier
  Christian Clavier
  Christian Clavier is a French actor. He is the brother of French film director Stéphane Clavier.-Biography:After his high class studies at the Neuilly Lycée Pasteur—though asserted here and there, he never studied at Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris —he started his acting career with the...
  
   as Katia
• Josiane Balasko
  Josiane Balasko
  Josiane Balasko is a French actress, writer and director.She was born Josiane Balašković in Paris. One of Balasko's most recognized roles among English speakers is as a lesbian in 1995's Gazon maudit...
  
   as Madame Musquin
• Bruno Moynot
  Bruno Moynot
  Bruno Moynot is a French actor and theatre director.Part of the famous French comedy group Le Splendid, he is best known for his roles in Patrice Leconte's Les Bronzés and its sequels, and as Zedko Preskovitch in Le Père Noël est une ordure.-External links:...
  
   as Preskovic
• Jacques François as the pharmacist
• Martin Lamotte as M. Leblé
• Michel Blanc
  Michel Blanc
  Michel Blanc is a French actor and director who is noted for his roles of losers and hypochondriacs...
  
  (voice only) as an obscene crank caller