‘Like ‘Giant’ with cursing’: Billy Bob Thornton talks fixer role in oil drama ‘Landman’

From classic Texas roles like Coach Gary Gaines in the film “Friday Night Lights” to Davy Crockett in the “The Alamo,” Billy Bob Thornton has been an honorary Texan for decades.

Now, he’s secured his seventh Golden Globe nomination with another soon-to-be-iconic Texas character, that of Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan’s new Paramount+ series “Landman.”

The actor, filmmaker and singer/songwriter stopped by the Texas Standard studio to talk about filming a show that takes a peek into the West Texas oil and gas industry, working with young actors and being back at the stadium he filmed “Friday Night Lights” in some 20 years later. 

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: How would you describe Tommy Norris?

Billy Bob Thornton: He’s a guy who is just worn out every minute of the day.

I mean, you know, driving 3- or 400 miles a day in two different oil fields, and then he’s got this eccentric family who’s kind of come in to add some extra flavor to his life. So, you know, a landman’s busy enough already, and then you throw them on top of it.

And it’s quite a life. These are guys that… You know, he’s got a dark sense of humor about it, but he lives in a pretty dangerous and gambling world. And I think he’s a guy who’s just driven to keep things together and make it a success.

He describes himself as like a babysitter. It’s almost worse than that, though, right? He’s kind of the cleanup man in a lot of cases. 

He’s a fixer, you know? I mean, everything that goes wrong, he’s the guy who’s got to fix it. So there’s hardly a minute’s peace.

Well, “Landman” is set in the oil patch – really Midland/Odessa. I know you’ve spent some time in Texas. Lived in Houston as a young man. Lived in Austin for a while. What was your experience shooting the series out West?

Well, it was actually really great. We mainly shot “Landman” in and around Fort Worth. Like Fort Worth, Weatherford, Denton – you know, all those areas.

But we did go out for a couple of days to Odessa, which was pretty chilling for me because I had done “Friday Night Lights” out there. We actually shot at the Permian field again. We happened to be there on the 20-year anniversary – not to the day, but it was 20 years. And it was really interesting. I walked out in that field and I just literally got a chill because I spent so much time there.

The funny thing about it, like a 25-year-old background actor would come up to me and say, “My mother and my dad were both background on Friday Night Lights” and stuff. So it’s like the next generation of people out there were a lot of the extras, you know?

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That’s amazing. And have you heard from real landmen or other folks out in West Texas about being represented in this way?

Absolutely. And the ones I’ve heard from or run into just in public or whatever, that come up to me – so far, so good. They all love it.

So I think it’s a great thing that they’re being represented. You don’t see a lot of movies or shows about the inside of the oil and gas business, you know? I think it’s an interesting world to take a peek behind the curtain on. And one of my favorite movies was “Giant“…

Oh, I love it.

It’s a great movie and has some similarities, you know? I say it’s like “Giant” with cursing.

A lot of that from your character, people might not be surprised.

But, I mean, it’s so interesting. I mean, obviously on Texas Standard we talk about oil and gas, but I learned a ton just in the first 15 minutes of the first episode. It’s so big and it’s so everywhere. It’s sort of like we take it for granted. It’s almost like tap water – when you turn it on, you just don’t think about where it comes from.

Absolutely. I don’t think people understand the danger of it and, like I said, the gamble. I mean, you can be a billionaire one day and not the next. It’s an interesting world.

And, you know, the good thing is, is that Taylor [Sheridan, show creator] didn’t approach it from a partisan point of view, even though there are speeches about, “look, here’s where this stuff comes from” and “everything that you use every day is made out of this.” He basically just says, “here’s how it works.”

You’re, like I said, looking behind the curtain at this business. And I don’t think we realize every day of our lives what we’re using that is made from oil or needs oil to keep it going or whatever it is.

So you really have an all-star cast, too. And I think one person who certainly stuck out to me is the actor playing your son, Jacob Lofland, who many might recognize starred, alongside Matthew McConaughey, in the movie “Mud.”

But you guys really shine in your scenes together. And in the early episodes, we’re just getting a peek at that. I wonder if you can talk about working with younger actors.

Well, I kind of have a history of it. You know, I’ve worked with a lot of younger actors over the years – I mean, starting as far back as “Sling Blade” with Lucas Black, who I worked with three times. He was ten years old when we did “Sling Blade” and then he was 16 on “All the Pretty Horses” and 21 in “Friday Night Lights.” So I was kind of his movie dad.

And, you know, Heath Ledger and all the kids in “Bad News Bears” and “Bad Santa”… So, you know, I worked with a lot of younger actors and, I guess since I have kids, maybe I have more of a connection than I would have if I didn’t have kids.

And the thing is, Jacob is from Arkansas, too. And so when we talk to each other, it’s pretty natural because, I mean, he grew up about an hour and a half from where I did. So it was pretty easy to do that. And yeah, Jacob did a great job as well as Paulina [Chávez], who becomes his love interest.

We did it with ease. You know, the relationship is very difficult because a lot of times, I mean, you know, when you have kids, sometimes your first instinct when they hurt themselves is you get angry. “Why did you do that?” Because you care about them so much that it just lights you up. You know, it’s like, “don’t stand on the coffee table. I told you not stand on the coffee table.”

But it comes from love. That’s what it comes from. And that’s sort of the basis of that relationship – is that deep love for your kid and the fear of what they’re going to get into in their life.

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