Two ‘Bads’ making good

Now known as “the ‘Bad Santa’ guys,” writers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra have been working together since the late ‘80s, including a stint writing cartoons for the Nickelodeon network. Their work on the remake of “The Bad News Bears” unites the two strands of their career: one writing family-friendly fare such as “Cats & Dogs” and the other writing much bawdier, more subversive scripts such as the notoriously foul-mouthed “Bad Santa.”

They joke that their new version, due in July, is a “remix” of the original, and though they changed it from top to bottom, they insist the film still has the same feel and flavor as the beloved 1976 original. They were brought to the project, directed by Richard Linklater, to transform the role made famous by Walter Matthau for the decidedly different persona of Billy Bob Thornton.

“Billy is not Walter Matthau,” says Requa. “Billy is a much more sexual animal, he’s going to have a girlfriend and he’s not this washed-out loser that Matthau was, the lovable loser. He’s more the arrogant, cocky ex-pro baseball player who’s ridden his momentary fame in the pros to a life of partying.”

In the original film, the rag-tag collective of misfit kids makes its way to the big game, only to lose. It is hard to imagine a big-time contemporary summer movie with an ambiguous and downbeat ending, and how those involved handle the finale will go a long way toward determining audiences’ reactions.

Requa and Ficarra are tight-lipped about whether the kids win or lose, but do allow that the ending was a big issue. “I think everybody involved loves the first movie definitely, and did not want to ruin it,” says Ficarra. “So we didn’t. I can guarantee you, we didn’t.”