When Taylor Sheridan‘s “Landman” debuted on Paramount+ final yr, it shortly turned some of the common streaming reveals of all time, racking up tens of billions of minutes seen. For Billy Bob Thornton, who has created some of the memorable characters of his profession in oil firm disaster supervisor Tommy Norris, the important thing going into Season 2 was to place the present’s large success and passionate fan base out of his thoughts.
“I feel the principle hazard when you may have a hit is if you happen to attempt to duplicate it, you can begin pretending to be what you have been the final time,” Thornton informed IndieWire. “So the best way we approached Season 2 was to simply act prefer it was an extension of Season 1 — to maintain doing what we have been doing and make it as pure as potential by not overthinking it and never letting the strain get to us.”
Whereas Thornton and his collaborators may need handled the brand new season as a continuation of the earlier one, the present can be moving into some fascinating new instructions in Season 2, and has launched a pivotal new character within the type of Tommy’s estranged father, T.L., performed by Sam Elliott. There have been transient glimpses of T.L. within the season’s preliminary episodes, however this Sunday, he involves the forefront in an episode targeted on the funeral of Tommy’s mom.
Thornton and Elliott had labored collectively briefly on “Tombstone” and one other Taylor Sheridan opus, “1883,” however “Landman” marks the primary time the 2 actors have really collaborated in a significant approach. “I knew that the daddy was going to be a personality pretty quickly after the primary season, however I didn’t comprehend it was going to be Sam,” Thornton mentioned. “When I discovered that out, I used to be very blissful, not solely as a result of Sam is the appropriate alternative and Sam and I really feel like individuals could be household, however we have now a pure rapport. After we’re in a scene collectively, it’s actually identical to me and Sam speaking to one another.”
That state of naturalness is one to which Thornton at all times aspires as an actor; he has mentioned that he’s at all times at his finest when taking part in himself, although given the vary of his roles — from the misanthropic thief of “Dangerous Santa” and the doomed brother in “A Easy Plan” to the political strategist of “Main Colours” and the developmentally disabled hero of “Sling Blade” — one has to marvel what that actually means.
“Nicely, to begin with, there are about 50 or 60 of me,” Thornton mentioned. “That’s a query for the psychologists. However primarily, what I imply by taking part in myself is that you just attempt to do it naturally. I at all times inform younger actors [to] by no means have a look at a component as separate from your self, as a result of when you do, the work goes to be weaker. When you have a look at a component as a mountain you must climb and say, ‘Nicely, Danny is the sort of man who…,’ then you definately’re speaking about any individual else. I feel individuals need to hear that there are methods to performing as a result of if there’s a system, then all people can do it if you happen to simply work out that system. However it’s not a science challenge.”
For Thornton, a part of erasing the barrier between himself and the character is counting on individuals who can provide him perception into the world he inhabits, corresponding to “Landman” co-creator Christian Wallace. “I knew some individuals in oil earlier than, however what I didn’t know I may discover out from Christian,” Thornton mentioned. “And Taylor, who does loads of analysis.” Thornton was cautious in Season 1 to guarantee that he utterly understood the entire exposition he was required to ship, and all of the oil trade jargon.
“One of many issues that actually will get to me after I’m watching a film or a TV present is when the actor appears to have memorized the dialogue [without understanding it], and it primarily appears like they’re studying you a grocery record,” Thornton mentioned. “You’ll be able to see it of their eyes, and instantly there’s not an individual there anymore. Audiences can sniff that out, and if you understand what you’re speaking about, it turns into plausible to them. I at all times need to know precisely what I imply.”
Studying the jargon on “Landman” took Thornton again to his early days on motion pictures like “Armageddon” and “Pushing Tin,” the place he needed to be taught extremely technical dialogue. “On ‘Pushing Tin,’ John Cusack and I went to air site visitors management college in Toronto to truly be taught these things,” he mentioned. “If we hadn’t performed that, I don’t know if we may have made the film, as a result of we’re a scope with lots of of planes on it and spouting off air site visitors management instructions. As soon as we understood what it meant, it made us extra snug as actors, and that made it actual to the viewers.”
As primary on the decision sheet for “Landman,” Thornton feels he bears some accountability not just for his personal efficiency, however for the performances of actors who may solely be on set for a day or two, but should be as genuine and convincing as the celebrities.
“It’s a tough job to return on to a shifting prepare and match into this world, Thornton mentioned. “If we have now a day participant who’s coming in to play an oil man in a lunch scene or one thing, I sit on the desk and speak with them earlier than we begin the scene. I ask them questions on their life and make them really feel snug and needed, and that’s essential, setting the tone.”
Thornton mentioned that making everybody snug on set is a precedence for Sheridan and director Stephen Kay as properly. “Stephen Kay doesn’t get sufficient credit score,” Thornton mentioned. “He’s really easy to work with as a result of he was an actor himself, and he will get it. After which clearly, Taylor was an actor. In order that they perceive us idiots. When you set a tone on the set that makes everybody snug, every thing simply runs extra easily. And I’ve at all times tried to try this.”
“Landman” is at the moment streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes dropping each Sunday.
