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There's a Green Bay Packers Vince Lombardi movie missing its actor Billy Bob Thornton, as the Landman star reveals he turned down the role
Landman’s Billy Bob Thornton was once offered the chance to play football legend Vince Lombardi, which he believes would have been a miscast
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Being a good actor sometimes means knowing when a role isn’t right for you. Billy Bob Thornton is at the point in his career where he can be picky about that type of stuff. The actor is currently starring in the Paramount+ series Landman, where he plays an abrasive Texas oil worker. Thornton feels the role suits him. However, there have been times when he’s been offered parts that make him wonder what the casting directors were thinking.
“I don’ t take things that I’m not right for,” Thornton says during a Landman panel at ATX TV Festival. “I’ve turned down many things. I was offered to play Vince Lombardi once, and I was like, ‘What?’ You need a wider, shorter, Italian guy from the East Coast for that. Not a Texarkanian.”
Thornton didn’t specify what the project was, but it’s possible he’s talking about ESPN Films’ Lombardi biopic, which has been in development hell for over a decade.
Thornton went on to say that this isn’t the only role he’s turned down. In fact, there have been times where he’s gone to auditions and told casting directors to look at his friends instead.
“There have been many things like that. It’s a thing that you learn after a while. It’s just an instinct. You look at it and go, yeah, if I think I’m the best guy for it, I’ll take it if I like it. One time I got J.T. Walsh, God rest his soul, I got J.T. a part in a movie one time because the director met with me, and I said, ‘Eh, there’s a guy sitting out in the lobby there who’s better than I am.’ And J.T. played the part, and he was awesome.”
Landman is currently streaming on Paramount+.
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