Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton is one of the most interesting talents I’ve ever been fortunate enough to meet. We met at the Austin Film Festival where he was in town to promote his latest film, Jane Mansfield’s Car. Thornton gained mainstream and critical acclaim in 1996 for his original Oscar-winning script Sling Blade, which won him the writing Oscar. He doesn’t just do independent films; Armageddon, Eagle Eye and Bandits are more mainstream films for which he’s known. “If they are doing a new Star Trek film, I’m not the guy they call,” he said.
Thornton also writes, directs and stars in Jane Mansfield’s Car, a film that reflects some personal life experiences, but also deals with the effect war has on families.
“I think I am the best at doing my own movies,” Thornton said when I asked him why he got so involved with this project. “I only direct movies that I write. I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time, the effect of war on families.”
Jane Mansfield’s Car was the closing night film at the festival, with all of Thornton’s Texas friends and colleagues ready to see the latest quirky project from the honest performer. “This is a drama done in a darkly humorous way,” he described. Thornton’s character in the film is unforgettable, with dialogue only he could write.
The film co-stars Thornton’s mentor and friend Robert Duvall, as well as other people he’s worked with in the past – and people he’d wanted to work with, like Kevin Bacon.
“I knew pretty much who we were going to have, and a lot of them are friends of mine. When you know who you’re writing for, it makes it easier,” he explained about the casting process. Jane Mansfield’s Car won’t open in theaters until 2013, but Thornton said he hoped to be a part of next year’s awards race.
Billy Bob Thornton and I have something in common: Cate Blanchett. We both are fascinated by her work, and Thornton has worked with her three times. He first met Blanchett on the set of Pushing Tin (1999), one of his toughest roles since he attended air traffic control school in Canada to make his character more believable.
Thornton then wrote a script for Paramount called The Gift, in which Sam Rami directed, and casted Australian Cate Blanchett in her first southern role. “Bruce Willis and I were very high on Cate; I’m sure we put our two cents worth in, ” Thornton chuckled about working with Cate a third time in Bandits (2001). “It just worked out I got to work with her so many times. She is one of my very favorite actresses and one of my favorite people”.
Off camera, I admitted to Thornton that my high school year book quote was “Beavers and ducks,” a line he improvised on the set of Bandits. He laughed, and said that more people come up to him and say “beavers and ducks” than anything else he has ever said in a film. He explained the reference, saying it wasn’t a simply random phrase as it appears in the film, but, given the Oregon location, there were literally beaver and duck mascots for the rivals teams there on every corner – so it was a salute to the location. I told him no one in my senior class understood the reference.
In the video interview, you’ll see Thornton shutting up cackling birds with his eyes, and then making sure I caught it, and ending with his girlfriend texting him. Thornton, who has proved to be one of the most dynamic talents in films, is certainly staging a comeback. And it’s very clear that this funny, articulate, and eclectic actor will once again be on the top of his game, and perhaps even work with Blanchett once again.
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