Billy Bob Thornton Says That People Need To Stop Watching ‘Landman’ With A Political Agenda

Not a show with a hidden agenda, according to Landman star Billy Bob Thornton.

The Taylor Sheridan hit TV series Landman is in the thick of filming season two. When the stars of the show are not on camera, they attend panels, press conferences, and other events to continue the hype around the show, based in Midland, Texas.

However, since season one has aired, a few viewers feel like the plot of Landman has a hidden political agenda, trying to convince fans that oil energy is better than clean energy. While Billy Bob Thornton’s character, Tommy Norris, goes on a few rants about how a world without oil isn’t plausible and how much our country relies on oil to even make and run windmills (not wrong about that), the show’s overarching message is not political. It shows the family dynamics of those who work in the oil field and how the job is not for the weak. But also… it’s not exactly a surprise that a man who works in oil believes in… oil. Right? The character is IN the oil business, of course he loves big oil, it pays his bills.

Of course, that didn’t stop a lot of the liberal media from dubbing the show “right wing, big oil propaganda.”

During a recent panel meeting in Austin, Texas, Billy Bob Thornton was asked how he addressed questions about the show’s political agenda during the press tour.

“You know, Andy, I don’t talk politics publicly. I think we need a party called the ‘common sense party.'”

He tells the panel host, but then recalls a specific instance in New York when he recognized that he knew a question like this was coming from a fan.

“But I mean, look, here’s the thing, only one time doing press for this show in the year and a half now, or season and a half that we’ve been doing. We were in New York, and this was only a couple of weeks ago. When you look out into an audience, because I grew up playing music, so, I can always look out and see the guy who’s a musician who hates us. He’s always like (crosses his arms and scowls). So I saw this one lady in the front row, and as we were doing the panel, I could tell she’s the one who’s going to ask that question.”

Sure enough, Thornton was correct. When the Q&A portion of the panel began, she stood up and asked the show’s cast how they “justify the morality” of a show like Landman. Morality? Good Lord….

However, Billy Bob Thornton highly disagreed with the woman and shared what he thinks Landman represents with the Austin, Texas audience.

“First of all, Taylor’s written a show that doesn’t have an agenda. It shows you what happens. And so this is just a peek behind the curtain of an industry that a lot of people don’t know anything about. And he’s not ‘yay oil’ or ‘boo oil,’ he’s saying, ‘here’s how it works.’

I think that more and more people are looking at artistic ventures of any type, whether it’s a novel, a record album, or a movie, whatever. They look at it from the point of view of their own agenda. Which is not the way you’re supposed to judge art.”

Billy Bob Thornton builds on that point and says that the cast had to show them all sides of the industry: the blue-collar workers, the engineers, those who are scouting land for more rigs to be built, and the big-money corporate side of the oil industry. While some might not agree with the oil industry, had they not gone all in on showcasing it in this light, they would face even harsher feedback outside of politics.

“We put everything into this to show you what this world is. At the end of January, it was the number one streaming show, not just in the United States, in the world. It just shows you that sometimes people relate to something or are interested in it enough to sort of drop whatever their feelings are.”

That last statement is a testament to the Yellowstone effect. When that show aired, many viewers did not like that the production of cows and the ranching lifestyle were being shown because they disagreed with it, and some immediately associated ranching and Montana with “Republicans.” On the other hand, some were upset that Sheridan was “romanticizing” the hardworking way of life those in the West live, too. Everyone was mad about some angle of it, and now, the same thing is happening with Landman. You have some in the oil business calling it an inaccurate soap opera, while the media calls it big oil propaganda… you seemingly can’t win. Except Sheridan IS winning… the hearts of million of regular people who tune in each week just looking to be entertained with an interesting story. Those looking to be outraged about everything…. well, you’ll never please them anyways.

Take a listen for yourself:

@spilltheatx Billy Bob Thornton talks about Landman at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. ##landman##billybobthornton ♬ original sound – Spill the ATX

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