“You wouldn’t want to have my job any week.”
—Tommy Norris
Landman, a new Paramount series, begins on Sunday, November 17. Created by Taylor Sheridan, Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Demi Moore, Jon Hamm, and Andy Garcia among others. Based on Boomtown–a podcast about the big oil industry written by Christian Wallace–the story takes place in West Texas where “roughnecks and wildcat billionaires are fueling a boom so big it’s reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics.”
Billy Bob Thornton finished the Love and Hate in Desperate Places 2024 tour with his exemplary band The Boxmasters on Monday, November 4, in Los Angeles. Now, it’s time for him to kick into promoting Landman. Thornton told me before a Boxmasters show in Georgia last summer that he was about to begin filming Landman in Fort Worth: “When I do movies, it’s like a vacation. I’m staying in a really nice place, get to bring my family and watch baseball at night.”
Thornton never let Hollywood success go to his head. Hollywood always treated him like an outsider. I’ve seen him on multiple occasions take time for any fan who comes up to him. Thornton told the New York Times this week: “I can tell you people that I know personally, who walk by every fan and not even look at them. I stand by the bus and I sign every person’s picture. I take a picture with everyone.”
Months earlier, Thornton revealed to Vanity Fair about his workingman character Tommy Norris: “It’s hard, often dirty work—in all senses. There aren’t really a lot of scenes where my character comes home and says, ‘My God, was my day amazing!’ I slink into the house every day like somebody just beat the hell out of me.”
Thornton worked with Taylor Sheridan in the series 1883. Sheridan wrote Landman for Thornton, and the drama will prove to be top-shelf storytelling. Tune in.
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