Ep. 117 – Billy Bob Thornton (feat. Nicholas Gray)

The B-Side: A Film Stage Podcast

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we go down south to talk about Billy Bob Thornton! To do this, we bring in devoted Billy Bob fan, friend, writer, director, and producer Nicholas Gray of Uncompromised Creative. We have a super-sized B-Side collection today: (deep breath) Homegrown, Daddy and Them, Waking Up In Reno, The Badge, Levity, Chrystal, and Jayne Manfield’s Car. Conor makes the observation that Thornton may be a leading man trapped in a character actor’s body, Nicholas marvels at the nuance of Jayne Manfield’s Car, and I mention liking movies that start with an original sin of sorts (i.e. Levity, Chrystal). We talk about how Burt Reynolds helped Billy Bob break into the business, the long cultural legs of his film Sling Blade, the tragedy that became of his All The Pretty Horses adaptation, and that incomparable A Simple Plan performance. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. We are also now on Spotify and Stitcher. Enjoy!