Billy Bob Thornton shared how life-changing recommendation from Robert Redford paved the best way for his success in Hollywood.
The 69-year-old actor, who’s starring within the new Taylor Sheridan-directed drama collection “Landman,” had a small function in Redford’s hit 1993 film “Indecent Proposal,” which additionally starred Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.
Throughout an interview with Fox Information Digital, Thornton recalled an on-set dialog that he had with Redford when he discovered himself at a crossroads within the early years of his profession.
“Redford was very good to me, and I only had a couple of scenes in that movie, but I was there for six weeks because it took a long time to get this thing shot,” Thornton remembered with fun.
“That’s when Demi and I first met each other,” he continued. “And [Redford] introduced me, I believe — I can’t keep in mind — it was like a Newsweek or Time journal, a type of. And there was an article in there a couple of film I’d co-written with Tom Epperson and costarred in known as ‘One False Move.’ And this was a glowing assessment of ‘One False Move.’’
“He stated, ‘Look, have you seen this?’ I stated, ‘No. He said, ’Learn that.’ And I sat there subsequent to him, and he stated, ‘Keep doing that.’ He stated, ‘They’re going to come back at you with gives now.’ And he stated, ‘Don’t go off and play a superhero or one thing and generate income.’
“Right away he said, ‘Stick in this world of independent film for a while, make a name for yourself in that, and then you will transition into bigger stuff later.’ But he said, ‘This is where you need to be in the beginning because you could go out and do one stinker, a big event movie and you’re done,’” Thornton recalled.
“So that’s what he told me. And he was right.”
The “Armageddon” star beforehand revealed that he acquired related recommendation from one other Hollywood icon when he was struggling as a younger actor. Throughout a 1997 look on “Charlie Rose,” Thorton recalled working a aspect gig as a waiter at a Hollywood celebration the place he met legendary director Billy Wilder. The 2 struck up a dialog throughout which Wilder guessed that Thornton wished to be an actor.
“I didn’t know waiters were actor in those days,” Thornton stated. “I didn’t know that whole joke, but I said, ‘Yeah, how did you know?’ I thought the guy was psychic or something. And he said, ‘Oh, you all want to be actors.’ He said, ‘Well, let me tell you something. You’re never going to make it as an actor.’”
Thornton continued, “And I was all great, thanks a lot.’ And he said, ‘You’re too damned ugly to be a movie star, and you don’t look like you’ve been hit in the face with a frying pan so you can’t be a really great character man.’”
Thornton stated that the “Some Like It Hot” director then suggested him to turn into a screenwriter.
“‘That’s your ticket,’” Thornton recalled Wilder telling him. “‘That’s the only way to make it. So write your own stuff, play your own things, make your own way. You know, nobody’s going to wait for you.’”
Thornton went on to co-write “One False Move” together with his frequent collaborator Tom Epperson and in addition starred within the film because the murderous thug Ray Malcolm. The low-budget crime thriller was met with essential acclaim and jumpstarted Thornton’s profession within the leisure business.
Three years after working with Redford, Thornton directed, wrote and starred within the 1996 unbiased film “Sling Blade.”
The crime thriller adopted Karl Childers (Thornton), a mentally disabled man who’s launched from the psychiatric hospital the place he spent most of his life after murdering his mom and her lover.
Childers units out to start out a brand new life in a small city and befriends a younger boy and his mom.
Thornton skyrocketed to fame after “Sling Blade” turned a shock hit on the field workplace and acquired rave critiques from critics.
The Arkansas native gained the Academy Award for greatest screenplay and earned an Oscar nomination for his efficiency.
He went on to earn a greatest supporting actor Academy Award nomination for his efficiency within the 1998 neo-noir crime thriller “A Simple Plan.”
The actor has additionally earned quite a few accolades for his work in tv.
He gained a Golden Globe Award for his starring function within the first season of the FX anthology collection “Fargo” and was additionally nominated for an Emmy Award for excellent lead actor in a miniseries or film.
Thornton gained his second Golden Globe for his efficiency within the Amazon authorized drama collection “Goliath,” during which he starred for 4 seasons from 2016 to 2021.
Thornton is now returning to the small display screen with Sheridan’s new present “Landman.” The present marks the on-screen reunion of Thornton and Moore and in addition stars Ali Larter and Jon Hamm with visitor appearances from Michael Pena and Andy Garcia.
A plot synopsis learn, “Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, ‘Landman’ is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs.”
Based mostly on the notable 11-part podcast “Boomtown,” the collection is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a growth so large, it’s reshaping our local weather, our financial system and our geopolitics.”
“Boomtown” host Christian Wallace teamed up with Sheridan to create the 10-episode Paramount+ present, which is able to premiere its first season on Nov. 17.
Thornton, who leads the solid of “Landman,” performs Tommy Norris, a disaster government at an oil firm. Throughout his interview with Fox Information Digital, Thornton recalled that Sheridan approached him concerning the present after the actor made an look within the “Yellowstone” prequel collection “1883.”
“I did a cameo in ‘1883’ for Taylor and at the after-gathering for that, I sat next to him, and he said, ‘Listen, I’m glad I got to be around you and stuff because I have this project and I wanted to do this with you. He said, ‘I’m writing something for you that’s called ‘Landman.’ He told me [about] the world that it takes place in which I knew some about, but I thought, ‘Well, that’s interesting. I haven’t really seen anything about this since the movie “Giant.”
Thornton famous that he liked “Giant,” the 1956 epic Western drama starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
“And I thought this could be the streaming version of ‘Giant,’ only even more dangerous and crazy,” Thornton stated. “So it was kind of a no-brainer. Plus, Taylor basically said, ‘Look, I know your voice. I’m going to write this for you. He goes, ‘This part is going to be you if you were a landman.’”
Sheridan discovered monumental success with the epic Western drama “Yellowstone” and its hit spin-offs “1883” and “1923.” He’s additionally the creator of the hit crime collection “Tulsa King,” starring Sylvester Stallone and “Mayor of Kingstown,” headlined by Jeremy Renner.
Whereas talking with Fox Information Digital, Thornton shared his ideas on whether or not he was feeling strain to make “Landman” successful after Sheridan’s earlier successes.
“For sure,” Thornton stated. “Any time that someone has had a success — let’s say a director has directed 12 giant movies that everybody loves — you don’t want to be the guy that bombs it,” Thornton stated with fun.
He continued, “So, yeah, there is a lot of pressure because of the successes he’s had with the other shows. But, you know, there’s always an audience for every kind of thing.”
“And I know Taylor loves this one for sure, and we all love it,” Thornton added. “All the people who participated in this love it.”
