Billy Bob Thornton discovered he was the man Husbandman even before he knew the show existed.
The Oscar-winning actor attended the Las Vegas premiere in December 2021 1883a show in which he had a cameo role, when series creator Taylor Sheridan approached him with unexpected news.
“[Sheridan] said, ‘I’m writing a show for you, called Husbandmanand it’s set in the oil sector – and you’re the land guy,” Thornton told Yahoo Entertainment.
While the news may have come as a surprise to the actor, he was drawn to the writer-producer-director’s plan to “write it in your voice.”
“It’s always nice for an actor when a writer writes specifically for you,” Thornton said. “I don’t really like pretending to be someone, so I like parts where you can put a lot of yourself into it. And this just seemed to fit.”
Husbandmanwhich premieres on November 17 on Paramount+, is the latest series of Yellowstone creator Sheridan. Based on the podcast Boomtown by Christian Wallace, the show was co-created by Sheridan and Wallace and stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, the titular hustler in a West Texas oil town who acts as a go-between between the billionaires and the so-called roughnecks.
Jon Hamm stars as one of the billionaires whose wife is played by Demi Moore, while Ali Larter stars as Tommy’s ex-wife and mother of his two children.
Michelle Randolph, Ali Larter and Billy Bob Thornton star in the series about oil towns in West Texas. (Emerson Miller/Paramount+)
Thornton’s role is a mix of no-nonsense strongman and irritated father and ex-husband, a role that gives him the opportunity to show his funnier side.
“One of the things I like about it is that [Sheridan] actually injected a sense of humor into the character and also this protective nature over his children,” Thornton said. “I currently have a 20 year old daughter who is in college, and [it’s] very easy for me, no research needed, to protect her.
The actor also said he enjoyed playing such a nuanced character that wasn’t “one note.”
“I don’t like playing characters who are always just good, or characters who are just bad, even though I have done it. I mean, I don’t think the guy’s inside Fargo was so warm and fuzzy,” he said.
Like the different sides of Thornton’s character, Husbandman itself alternates between opulent boardrooms and country clubs of the wealthier set and the dirt and grime of ‘the patch’, or where the oil rig workers install and demolish oil wells. While deals can be terminated in those boardrooms, real people can lose their lives amid the fire and dust of the rigs, something Thornton said he got a taste of during filming.
“There were some scenes that were difficult to do,” Thornton said. “It’s not fun being so close to an oil explosion and fire, but I was pretty close.”
How close?
“Close enough to where I thought I was going to melt,” he said. “At one point I even drove a truck through a fire. And with the windows open and everything, it felt like it was 300 degrees in the truck. And so my respect for firefighters was always quite high. It is much higher now.”
Putting out both literal and metaphorical fires is what Tommy does best, combining the interests of different players. While he receives tense calls from billionaires, drug cartels and lawyers, he also manages oil rig workers, roommates (played by James Jordan and Colm Feore) and his own fractured family.
Of all these groups, Thornton said the family scenes were the most fun for him to shoot.
“I grew up in a kind of eccentric family,” he explained, “so to sit there doing these scenes with this eccentric family and kind of extended family with James and Colm, it’s just – I’ve sat at that table before. . Do you know what I mean?”
The first two episodes of Husbandman begins streaming November 17 on Paramount+.
