For Ali Larter, who takes on the role of Billy Bob Thornton’s larger-than-life ex in the Paramount+ series Husbandman was ‘a high-pressure situation’.
“This is not a layup, you know,” the actress told Yahoo Entertainment. “I’m working with an Oscar winner, the cast is a bunch of GOATS. I mean, our crew is the best working in the industry. That’s why I put enormous pressure on myself.”
Husbandman premieres on November 17 and was co-created by Yellowstone executive produced by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, based on Wallace’s podcast Boomtown. The series examines oil towns in West Texas and the billionaires and so-called roughnecks who help fuel the economy.
Thornton stars as the titular husbandman who juggles the needs of a billionaire oil company leader, played by Jon Hamm, and the oil rig workers who sometimes risk their lives as part of their daily work.
Larter stars as Angela, Thornton’s “passionate and feisty” ex-wife and mother of his two children. She has since remarried but is trying to win him back.
The New Jersey-born actress said that in addition to working with a dialect coach for six months to perfect her West Texas accent and working with an acting coach, she also had to work on “getting myself physically to the point where I could be confident had to wear a bikini.”
While Larter shot her iconic whipped cream bikini scene in the 1999 film Varsity Blues – coincidentally about a small town in Texas, also produced by Paramount – she said intimacy on set is “terribly uncomfortable.”
“It’s horrible,” Larter said. “I wouldn’t even say it’s easier when you’re 19.”
For Husbandmanthe mother of two embraced the awkwardness while acknowledging where she is in her life.
“You know, right now I’ve been carrying two babies,” she said, “so I’m thinking, if you still want to see it, let’s go.”
Ali Larter and Billy Bob Thornton star as exes in ‘Landman’. (Lo Smith/Paramount+)
What also helped, according to the actress, was having an “amazing” intimacy coordinator on set during revealing scenes with her and Thornton.
“She’s with us all the time,” Larter said. “They close the sets.”
Even with the guidance and support of the intimacy coordinator, Larter said she doesn’t think intimacy on set “ever gets easier.”
“I just feel like this was very justified within the character, and this is who [Sheridan] wrote, so I wanted to be able to go there. And I wanted to make sure I started it,” she explained.
Larter also praised Sheridan, director Stephen Kay and Thornton for creating a safe environment on set.
“I love being able to play someone who is a little bit provocative and can also show themselves so vulnerable and raw,” she said. “You have to hold on for dear life when you look at Angela.”
That mix was something Larter embraced in her character, but she told Yahoo Entertainment that Sheridan also began creating elements of Angela for her.
“The amazing thing about Taylor is that he starts writing for his actors,” she said. “I think that’s really special: when someone writes for you, there are moments that are close to the vest, which is quite amazing. So I like that.”
She’s not alone. Thornton told Yahoo Entertainment that Sheridan wrote Husbandman with the actor in mind. He also said that some of his most fun scenes to film involved Larter and his on-screen family.
“What’s fun? Define fun,” Larter joked. “My character is having fun and I’m in a state of anxiety all the time.”
The first 2 episodes of Husbandman begins streaming November 17 on Paramount+.