Have you ever seen someone get a film or TV role and wonder how they got it? It becomes immediately evident when an actor is out of their depth. My favorite is when someone attempts to take on a clearly country coded role. Sometimes, they'll nail it. However, there are other times when they strain to do it justice. This is an even bigger issue with biopics. It's all about honoring the life of a legend in their industry. This is part of why Billy Bob Thornton isn't afraid to turn down roles.
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He has the self awareness, common sense, and discernment to realize when he doesn't bring value to a role. Certainly, he's missed out on some massive potential paydays in his career due to this. One in particular sees Thornton turn down the role of an NFL icon. However, he felt like it wouldn't be very smart to cast someone who lived such a different lifestyle than the legend.
Billy Bob Thornton Turns Down Role Playing NFL Icon
Recently, Billy Bob spoke at the ATX TV Festival in promotion of Taylor Sheridan's Landman. There, he explains his mindset behind turning down such a potential big time role. "I don't take things that I'm not right for. I've turned down many things. I was offered to play Vince Lombardi once, and I was like, 'What?' I was like, 'You need a wider, shorter, Italian guy from the East Coast for that. Not a Texarkansan,'" Thornton explains.
Evidently, this isn't the only time Billy Bob has pulled this move. For instance, he details a moment where a director met with him for a role. However, the actor referenced J.T. Walsh instead and he played the role effortlessly. Ultimately, Thornton looks at this as an opportunity to cast the right people for certain roles the first time. There's so much talent out there that you don't have to squeeze to make something flip.
"These days, they cast a lot of people because they seem fancy. If you're doing a movie in Texas, we've got plenty of Texans. You know what I mean? There's all kinds of Texans," Thornton explains. "And there are all kinds of people raised in a similar way near Texas. We don't have to go to other countries to get people to play cowboys - or oil guys, whatever it is. That happens."
