Billy Bob Thornton

Started by Tiff, June 09, 2003, 11:21:34 PM

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MacGuffin

Quote from: FernandoSo you made it to the interview?! Are you going to post it here?

http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=4442&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Fernando

Quote from: MacGuffin
Quote from: FernandoSo you made it to the interview?! Are you going to post it here?

http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=4442&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaakh

myadopteddaughter

I think he is a very talented actor, but some of his most recent roles are kinda freaking me out. They're pretty trashy roles, in pretty bad movies. Like bad santa, I haven't seen it and I refuse to. And that other movie waking up in reno. gahhhh! ghastly.
hopefully these kinda mistakes won't happen again.
mmm, mmmm good

MacGuffin

Thornton and Beckinsale to Star in Fade Out
Source: Variety

Billy Bob Thornton and Kate Beckinsale (Van Helsing) are near deals to star in Fade Out, a thriller written by Michael Cristofer, says Variety. Cristofer will direct, and shooting begins June 28 in Nova Scotia.

Thornton will play a screenwriter with schizophrenia. He lives with his wife (Beckinsale) in a desolate New England coastal town and when he begins to write a script that mirrors his everyday life, the lines blur between fiction and reality.

Thornton will start the film right after finishing the Harold Ramis-directed Ice Harvest. Beckinsale will next be seen in The Aviator. Cristofer most recently wrote Casanova, the Lasse Hallstrom-directed film that stars Heath Ledger.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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SiliasRuby

Quote from: MacGuffinWhen he begins to write a script that mirrors his everyday life, the lines blur between fiction and reality.
Sounds slightly like it got inspiration from the film Adaptation.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

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MacGuffin

Roll call for Thornton in 'Woodcock'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

After the boxoffice success of "Bad Santa," Billy Bob Thornton is prepping to add a new name to his resume: "Mr. Woodcock."

The actor has signed to star in the New Line Cinema comedy for helmer Craig Gillespie and Bob Cooper's Landscape Pictures. The script centers on a young man who returns to his hometown to stop his mother from marrying his old high school gym teacher (Thornton), who made life a living hell for him and many of his classmates.

Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert penned the screenplay. Cooper will produce, with Brian Inerfeld and Karen Lunder serving as co-producers. At the studio, executives Kent Alterman, Michele Weiss and Keith Goldberg are overseeing for production topper Toby Emmerich.

The role is the second high school-based project for Thornton this year. He recently finished a starring role in the football tale "Friday Night Lights" for Universal Pictures. He also will be seen in "Ice Harvest" for Focus Features. The multihyphenate also has the redo of "The Bad News Bears" for Paramount Pictures on his shooting schedule for this year.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

'Fade' in on Jovovich for Cristofer film
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Milla Jovovich is teaming with Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Cristofer for the feature "Fade Out." The actress has signed on for the film, which Cristofer is directing from his script. Shooting starts May 15 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thornton has been attached to the project since early this year along with Kate Beckinsale, who has since dropped out. Described as a Hitchcockian thriller, "Fade Out" follows the story of a screenwriter (Thornton) with a history of mental illness who suspects his wife (Jovovich) of infidelity only to find her missing. When he begins to write a script about his suspicions of her whereabouts, he loses the ability to tell the difference between reality and the plot of the project he's working on.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Thornton Gets Star on Hollywood Walk



Billy Bob Thornton got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame Thursday as well on a special greeting on the pages of Variety from ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

"Billy, I love your brilliant mind. ... Congratulations! With love and respect always, Angie," the full-page trade ad read.

Thornton joked to Associated Press Television News: "You know, it's funny. ... I've only met Angie Dickinson once."

The 49-year-old "Sling Blade" actor received his star on Hollywood Boulevard as part of the promotion for his new movie, "Friday Night Lights," which is about high school football in Texas.

"You can try to be humble about this kind of thing and say, 'Oh well, it's fine or whatever,'" Thornton told the crowd. "But the fact of the matter is it's a huge honor and I appreciate it so much."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

'Peace' sign: Thornton inks for Warners pic
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Billy Bob Thornton has signed on to star in the feature film adaptation of "Peace Like a River" for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Brad Pitt will produce for Plan B, with David Brown and Kit Golden producing through their Manhattan Project shingle. Plan B's Kristin Hahn will serve as the executive producer. Alicia Sams is the co-producer, and Courtenay Valenti is overseeing for Warners.

Based on the book by Leif Enger, "Peace" is a tale of loyalty and revenge that revolves around an American family that gets into a deadly spat with some neighborhood thugs. Kathy McWorter wrote the screenplay. No director is in place.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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tpfkabi

FYI - A Sling Blade SE DVD came out a couple of weeks ago.
I haven't watched much of it yet, but there are quite a bit of extras.

I wish he would give a hand at writing, directing and starring in another film.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

MacGuffin

Sling Blade - Director's Cut
Writer-director Billy Bob Thornton discusses the anniversary edition of his 1996 masterpiece.

Prior to his tabloid-worthy exploits as a five-time divorcee and all-around eccentric, Billy Bob Thornton earned the right be weird by becoming one of modern movies' most esteemed entertainers. After suffering through genre dreck like Chopper Chicks in Zombietown and Going Overboard, Thornton broke through as an indie filmmaker and actor with the acclaimed, suspense-filled drama One False Move; four years and countless forgettable films later, he officially 'arrived' in Hollywood with a powerhouse directorial debut, Sling Blade, and proved that country boys from Arkansas can tell stories just as effectively as Tinseltown's city slicker screenwriters.

On June 7, Thornton released a director's cut of the film, which features more than 22 minutes of extra footage, along with a wealth of archival material recounting the filmmaker's days as a struggling Hollywood thespian, and his meteoric rise to success. At the DVD's recent release party, the actor-director polyhyphenate discussed this new version of his modern classic; Thornton's characteristic candor shone through as he revealed the origins of this previously unreleased footage.

"There are only three or four scenes," Thornton says of the added footage as tape recorders attempt desperately to capture the actor's fragmented comments over the din of a roiling fete. "They are scenes that we were able to lift from the movie, sort of surgically remove, that didn't hurt the story at all. You don't miss them, but they're nice to see just because it's more character development." Thornton's last effort as a director was 2001's Daddy and Them, which never saw wide release; one expects that he was happy to have the opportunity to see any of his efforts, much less the thus-far zenith of his career, enjoy not only a theatrical run but an expansive life on DVD.

"You get to see little bridges between scenes," he reveals. "Like for instance there's a scene where Dwight Yoakam's terrible band plays in the back yard and he makes John Ritter and me go to the liquor store with him for the guys. And then from the yard, we cut to the living room and that's where we have a big fight. Now there's a scene in between that where we show him driving to the liquor store- you know, stuff like that."

Despite Thornton's confession that the extended edition of his masterpiece may be little more than a clever marketing ploy, he insists that the addenda does serve a purpose for diehard fans of the film. "I think those kinds of things are really more interesting for hardcore fans of the movie," he says. "For instance, I'm sort of a record [collector], and I always read the liner notes and everything. I think a DVD like this, and a director's cut, it's really more interesting for the really hardcore fans of a movie or a record or whatever it is, because I don't miss these scenes from the movie."

"They're good scenes, I think."

At the same time, he acknowledges that the new material is not necessary to effectively tell Carl Childers' story, even if it is interesting. "You just put stuff back in there that you threw on the floor before and it makes the movie shorter without interrupting the story," he admits. "Now, if I thought those scenes were essential to get my point across, I would have left them in." He also says he probably could have included them in the theatrical release if he'd wanted. "At that time, I was a little more under-the-radar and they didn't mess with me so much, so I probably could have gotten by with it, because I had final cut."

Revisiting Sling Blade forced Thonton to revisit footage featuring a pair of longtime friends and collaborators, the late J.T. Walsh and John Ritter. He says it was tough to go back and see their work, but enjoys knowing that their work is preserved for antiquity on film. "J.T. and John were two of my best friends and it was so shocking that they died," he says. "They were about the same age and it happened kind of the same way, unexpectedly, so yeah, it's kind of sad to look at that. But thank God we've got stuff like this to look at, so that they can stay alive in a way."

This kind of reflection also offers a unique chance in general for filmmakers to correct past mistakes, or at the least reconsider creative choices made at different points in their career. But Thornton says that he is completely happy with the original version. "I don't make mistakes in movies," he says. "I know that sounds really arrogant, but what I mean by that is that I do exactly what I felt at the time. I've never regretted anything I've done. I've regretted doing a couple of movies, but I didn't regret what I did in them, because that's what I felt at the time. But as a director, you really can't regret."

He nevertheless offers an example of footage -which was originally excised from the film- where he felt there were deficiencies. "There's a scene in there that we put back in that we had to rush up because we had no money and no time," he remembers. "It's a scene where the little boy goes over to see this girl he likes; it's a subplot we cut out of the movie, and I put it back in for the hell of it because we had it. We rushed up that day because it was about to rain, and I didn't really have time to work with her. So yeah, that's a mistake I made; I should have really shortened the scene so I could work with her more. [But] you wouldn't know if I hadn't pointed it out," he observes.

That said, Thornton asserts that he is no perfectionist when it comes to directing. "I'm not a technical director anyway," he says. "I put the camera in the room, I get a good frame where I can see everybody, I don't want it to look pink like one of those Showtime movies in the middle of the night, I make sure the color's good with the guys in post-production, [and] I try to edit the movie in a way that lets it breathe, where you get the character development. And that's about what I do. I really work with the actors to make sure that the story is good and solid, and that's [it]."

His relatively simple approach to directing is also why the filmmaker prefers character studies to studio blockbusters. "That's also why I've never done a movie like Star Wars. If they asked me to direct one of those films, I wouldn't have the slightest clue of even where to begin."

"So when I say that, that's what I mean," he clarifies casually. "I just do it the way I feel it."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Thornton lifts off with 'Astronaut'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Billy Bob Thornton is putting on his spacesuit to star in "The Astronaut Farmer," a drama by Mark and Michael Polish for Warner Independent Pictures. The story follows an eccentric farmer who dreams of space travel and sets out to build a rocket inside his barn. His neighbors consider him an oddity, the government thinks he is a threat, and the media sees him as a story. "Farmer" is being directed by Michael Polish from a script written by the two brothers. Mark Polish is producing along with Paula Weinstein and Len Amato.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Thornton, Par exploring pic on 'Floyd Collins'

Billy Bob Thornton is digging into a new period project.

The multihyphenate is on board to develop "Floyd Collins" as a feature film for Paramount Pictures and will helm and star in the drama. Thornton's manager, Geyer Kosinski, is producing through his Media Talent Group.

Set in 1925, the drama centers on the true-life story of cave explorer Floyd Collins' entrapment in a Kentucky cavern and the ensuing 13-day news frenzy.

The story marked one of the first large-scale media spectacles, provoking hourly radio bulletins and garnering nationwide newspaper headlines. The project is described as being particularly relevant today because it echoes modern-day mining accidents and 24-hour news cycles.

Thornton's longtime writing partner Tom Epperson adapted the screenplay from the book "Trapped!: The Story of Floyd Collins" by Robert Murray and Roger Brucker.

Kosinski and Thornton optioned the book and brought the material to Paramount. Bruce Heller and David Bushell also are producing.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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polkablues

That's five upcoming projects on this page alone!  Billy Bob's trying to be the white Samuel L. Jackson.
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MacGuffin

Three are tipped for 'Informers'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger and Brandon Routh are in various stages of negotiations to star in the ensemble "The Informers," an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel. Gregor Jordan is directing the drama, which is being financed by Senator International. Senator's Marco Weber is producing.

Also joining the movie are Ashley Olsen, Jon Foster, Austin Nichols and Lou Taylor Pucci.

Set in 1980s Los Angeles, the script follows seven stories taking course during a week in the life of a movie executive, his wife, his mistress, a rock star, a vampire and a kidnapper.

Thornton will play the movie exec, and Basinger will portray his wife. Routh has been cast as the vampire, while Olsen is a sexually promiscuous girl.

Principal photography will commence in October in Los Angeles, Uruguay and Buenos Aires.

Senator's head of production Vanessa Coifman is executive producing. Ellis and Nick Jarecki co-wrote the script.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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