Taylor Sheridan pitched Billy Bob Thornton on ‘Landman’ with this holiday film
Taylor Sheridan’s initial pitch to Billy Bob Thornton about “Landman” involved a surprising film from the actor’s past.
“Landman” wrapped up its second season in January, and will be back in Fort Worth in late August for season 3 filming. The Paramount+ series stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, a landman navigating personal woes and professional crises in West Texas.
In a recent appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Sheridan said told Rogan that before he wrote a word of “Landman” he pitched the premise to Thornton.
“I said, ‘Basically, I want to take your character from ‘Bad Santa’ and put him in West Texas and run an oil company,’” Sheridan said. “[Thornton] goes, ‘You want the guy from ‘Bad Santa’ to run an oil company?’”
“I said, ‘That’s what I want,’” Sheridan added. “[Thornton] goes, ‘That sounds [expletive] awesome.’”
A ‘Landman’ and ‘Bad Santa’ walk into a bar
“Bad Santa” is Thornton’s 2003 effort that sees him play a raunchy version of Saint Nick.
“A miserable conman (Thornton) and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid,” the film’s logline reads.
While Thornton doesn’t con folks in “Landman,” there are a few similarities between his characters in the show and “Bad Santa.”
Both characters partake in many adult beverages and smoke cigarettes whenever they can. The Star-Telegram put together a guide of all the times Thornton’s “Landman” character smoke and drank in the show’s first two seasons.
Thornton’s characters also have no trouble speaking their mind in both projects.
More on ‘Landman’
“Landman” is described as a “modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of West Texas oil rigs.”
“As oil rises from the earth, so do secrets – and Tommy Norris’s (Billy Bob Thornton) breaking point may be closer than he realizes. Facing mounting pressure from M-Tex Oil, Cami Miller (Demi Moore), and the shadow of his kin, survival in West Texas isn’t noble – it’s brutal. And sooner or later something’s got to break,” the show’s second season synopsis reads.
In addition to Thornton, “Landman” stars Sam Elliott, Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Andy Garcia, Michelle Randolph, Jacob Lofland, Paulina Chávez, Kayla Wallace, James Jordan, Colm Feore and Mark Collie.
Both seasons of “Landman” are streaming on Paramount+.
