Billy Bob Thornton Says The Cast Of ‘Landman’ Is Astounded By How Fast Taylor Sheridan Can Write: “We Don’t Understand”

Taylor Sheridan writes well, and he writes fast… and the cast members of Landman recognize that.

Believe it or not, the creator of Yellowstone and a multitude of other hit TV shows and movies almost always writes on his own. If you are watching something with Taylor Sheridan’s name on it, chances are every single scene and line came right out of his own mind, and no one else’s.

Why does Sheridan insist on working and writing alone? Basically, it came down to Taylor Sheridan having a certain style, and realizing that others can’t easily mimic it. When the Yellowstone creator talked to The Hollywood Reporter about it, he said that other writers want ownership of their work – much like he does – and he quickly discovered that if he wanted to do something one way, he’d have to do it himself:

“My stories have a very simple plot that is driven by the characters as opposed to characters driven by a plot — the antithesis of the way television is normally modeled. I’m really interested in the dirty of the relationships in literally every scene.

But when you hire a room that may not be motivated by those same qualities — and a writer always wants to take ownership of something they’re writing — and I give this directive and they’re not feeling it, then they’re going to come up with their own qualities. So for me, writers rooms, they haven’t worked.”

Writers rooms haven’t worked for Taylor Sheridan, but Taylor Sheridan’s writing has certainly worked for the rest of the world.

People are drawn to his stories and his characters, and the cast and storyline of Paramount+’s Landman is the latest example of that. Lead man Billy Bob Thornton, who plays Tommy Norris in the hit series, recently told Awards Buzz that Sheridan simply has a gift. He and the others involved with Landman don’t know how he can write so proficiently, but they all recognize that the writing is stellar – no matter how fast or slow it comes along:

“He knows how to strike a nerve with people. I’m not exactly sure what it is. We’ve talked about it before, me and the other cast mates. We don’t understand how he writes so much and so quickly and does such great work. He has his finger on the pulse of humans somehow.”

That’s the truth.

Thornton believes part of his effective writing is being able to speak with different voices. It’s common knowledge now that Sheridan likes to hand select actors and actresses for parts (most of the time they don’t ever audition), and that aids him in his writing process… at least from the perspective of Billy Bob Thornton:

“He’s very good at putting the right people in the right parts. I think he knows what we are going to do, so he can write towards that, and that’s a real strength for a writer. If you are writing with one voice, you can tell that on screen. Taylor has a specific voice for each character.”

The post Billy Bob Thornton Says The Cast Of ‘Landman’ Is Astounded By How Fast Taylor Sheridan Can Write: “We Don’t Understand” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.