Despite his Golden Globes win, Billy Bob Thornton suggests his movies are not wanted in Hollywood.
Curiously, just minutes after winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama, Billy Bob Thornton suggested he is no longer sought after in Hollywood as director. Thornton turned to television for his most recent role - a stunning performance in FX's adaptation of the Coen's classic comedy-drama Fargo.
Billy Bob Thornton starred as Lorne Malvo in FX's Fargo
As well as a fine actor, the Oscar-winner is also an accomplished director and his debut feature Sling Blade was heralded as a masterpiece of Southern storytelling. His last effort, the 2012 indie drama Jayne Mansfield's Car featured a wonderful cast (Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon) but failed to chime with critics.
More: Patrick Wilson and Ted Danson join cast for Fargo season 2
Thornton accepts that he may not be particularly in-vogue - a suggestion rendered erroneous by his Golden Globe win.
"[I'm] improbably obsolete as a movie director in the current state of affairs," he said. "I was under the influence of southern novelists and that kind of thing. I am not sure there's much of a market for it."
"I don't know, television is a writer producer medium really not so much director, generally the creator is the director," Thornton added to HitFix.com. "So I am not sure I am smart enough to create a show so I won't be directing much television."
More: Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons join cast of Fargo season 2
In Fargo, Thornton played Lorne Malvo, a drifter who passes through Bemidji, Minnesota and influences the insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) with malice and violence. The actor revealed that he signed on for the show almost immediately after reading the script.
"As soon as I read the pilot script, I completely understood why they were doing it," he said backstage at the Globes, "It was so well written and I heard the people that [they] were assembling after myself, they were getting together, and I thought 'what a great group of people.' There wasn't really any red flag whatsoever. My only concern is 'Are the Coen brothers on board?' And when I found out they were, that was the last piece of the puzzle for me. It is a joy to be a part of something artistic."
Fargo season 2, which stars Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson and Kirsten Dunst, will premiere in Fall 2015.
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