Billy Bob Thornton’s Credo: Dream and Stay Young

Were there any other familiar faces on set?

An interesting little thing: My mom, who [has] passed, had this show that she loved to watch. It was a [Hallmark Channel] show called When Calls the Heart. When I first met Kayla Wallace, who plays attorney [Rebecca Savage in Landman], she said, “I'm Kayla Wallace” and I said, “I know exactly who you are. You're on When Calls the Heart. I watched every episode with my mom.” She was blown away. She said, “You watched that?” I said, “Yeah, with my mom. I would do anything for my mom.” And so I actually knew Kayla just from watching her all the time. When I met her, it almost felt like I kind of knew her.

After working with so much talent in all these movies and series, is there somebody you still want to work with?

I think everybody at some point wants to work with [Martin] Scorsese. That's one that would be on my wish list. And I never got to work with Jack Nicholson. I always wanted to. But he's not really working much these days. But other than that, I don't know. You know who I'd like to work with? Eric Cartman from South Park. He's my favorite actor, actually. It sounds like I'm joking, but I always wanted to be like Cartman's Texas cousin or something from South Park.

I believe you! What surprised me was when you guest-starred on The Big Bang Theory. What was that about?

This once again goes back to my mom. [Big Bang Theory co-creator] Chuck Lorre called me because I had mentioned in an interview that my mom's favorite show was The Big Bang Theory. He calls me up and he says, “Listen, this is your mom's favorite show. I've been thinking about writing this role for you for a long time. I love it. You're gonna love it. You got to come to us.” I said, “Chuck, I haven't done a sitcom since I was coming up. I don't know if I can really do that.” He goes “You're not gonna do this for your mother?” And I did it, and I had the best time. I can’t tell you how much fun I had that week. I had known Kaley [Cuoco] and Johnny [Galecki] since they were younger, and so it was fun seeing them. For me, it was almost like a little vacation.

Is there another series you would like to drop into for maybe a one-shot?

There were probably some from before, because I came to a lot of series later. I didn't see them when they were first run — I didn't see Seinfeld or any of those kinds of shows in the beginning. Oh, I'll tell you one …  Parks and Recreation. I love that show. That one I would have happily come in and done a little cameo because I just I love it. 

Billy Bob Thornton stars as Tommy Norris in "Landman," streaming on Paramount+.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Your [Landman] character is the go-between for the richy-rich executives and the workers on the rigs. Are you seen off-screen as a conciliator?

I think so, yeah. I do have the ability to be a bit chameleon-like to adapt to whatever people I'm having to deal with at the time, and sometimes even within my own family. I mean, I talk to one son different than I do the other son. I talk to my daughter differently than I talked to them, and so I am in the middle of negotiations.

That's what happens when you have four kids — and you have two younger grandkids, too. What do you like to do with your grandkids?

They're adorable, and I mostly just try to figure out what can I get them that they're gonna really love when it gets to be birthdays and Christmases and stuff like that. Of course, with girls you worry about them more than you do with boys. With boys, they can be your little buddies a little bit more, but with girls you're just a nervous wreck all the time. My 20-year-old daughter, she's in college now, and I worry every day, but that's my nature — worrying. 

You've had a long relationship with Connie Angland, the mother of your 20-year-old daughter Bella [after being married five times previously]. How do you make it last?

I think first of all — Connie and I have been together 22 years — once you hook up with someone who gets you, and they're able to put up with your crap, I think the secret to the longevity is that you can both tolerate each other's eccentricities, let's say. And most of the time, we don't really argue much, but when we do, we usually end up laughing about it because we both know it's like, Oh, that's your thing you’re pulling. And she's been a real trouper over the years because when she first met me, I was quite a mess, and so she drug me out of the gutter and made me into an honorable man.

Your next birthday is a big one, right?

50? [Thornton smiles mischievously, both of us knowing it’s 70] That means I’m going to be getting your magazine for the first time ever.

How are you approaching it — embracing it, worried about it?

Not too much. I mean, obviously mortality comes into it, but in terms of aging, I kind of look the same way I did 12 years ago. I don't change a lot. My mom had good genes. Her skin was still good. A lot of people don't know I'm this age. I’ll tell you when I recognize it: It's when I see people that I went to school with and who maybe didn't take care of themselves or just stayed in an area in the same job and stuff like that. I think that affects you. If you don't keep dreaming, I guess that's it. If you keep your dreams alive, you can stay young. And also, if you don't look at it as a number, because I feel 19. Sometimes early in the morning, my right shoulder doesn't feel 19, but the way I live my life, and I think up here [pointing to his head], I think that was my arrested development — 19.

Are you going to have a big birthday party?

I'll be forced to by my family, but I'm hoping that I've got work that day. I don't much like celebrating birthdays anymore. As a matter of fact, my wife — she doesn't want to celebrate them anymore, either. She wants to just have a party somewhere around your birthday and call it “a celebration of life.” And don't mention anything or put numbers on cakes. 

Maybe we're getting younger, then?Maybe so, yeah. I'm kind of like a little Benjamin Button thing every now and then, but I'm pretty happy.