Billy Bob Thornton interview on CBC radio - lovely stuff!

[todd]

The man was Bad Santa, people. Lifetime pass.

"Are you saying there's something wrong with my gear?"

Do people like this movie? I love it, but when I bring it up everyone kinda shrugs.

[Martin]

I love it.

[daveB from Oakland]

I like "Bad Santa". BBT has undoubtedly done some good work, AS AN ACTOR.

[Tom Scharpling]

BAD SANTA sucks. I remember sitting in the theater waiting - begging! - to LAUGH JUST ONCE. And a major part of why I think it sucks is because of Billy Bob Thornton. He is as charmless as an actor can be. The best thing he ever did was THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE and that one scene in INTOLERABLE CRUELTY.

Get ready for a topic relating to this on Tuesday.

Tom.

[buffcoat]

You shouldn't a-do that, Tom.  He's just a boy MMM HMM.

[A.M. Thomas]

BAD SANTA sucks. I remember sitting in the theater waiting - begging! - to LAUGH JUST ONCE. And a major part of why I think it sucks is because of Billy Bob Thornton. He is as charmless as an actor can be. The best thing he ever did was THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE and that one scene in INTOLERABLE CRUELTY.

Get ready for a topic relating to this on Tuesday.

Tom.

Loved The Man Who Wasn't There.  Also loved Bad Santa.

[Tom Scharpling]

Oh, and SLING BLADE was as fraudulent a movie as I've ever seen. TOOL ACADEMY was more emotionally genuine.

Tom.

[buffcoat]

I like them French fried pertaters.

[Matt]

The Man Who Wasn't There is terrific, an insanely underrated movie. But no love for A Simple Plan?

Incidentally, here's the picture for BBT's Wikipedia page:



He totally uploaded this one himself.

[Chris L]

BAD SANTA is good, but reading that Bill Murray dropped out of it do LOST IN TRANSLATION puts in sharp focus what might have been.  

[brendan!]

Tom beat me to it, and then everyone else beat me to it, but The Man Who Wasn't There is one of the best movies. And the entire movie, like, is just a showcase for Billy Bob Thornton's voice.

What is weirder is that you can listen to the commentary track on that DVD, and he has as many smart things to say as either one of the Coen brothers. Even the monster magazine story is funny. For someone that good to be that awful, it makes me suspicious. I wonder how his life works.

[spaceprophet]

The Man Who Wasn't There was totally a Coen brothers movie and nothing more I thought. I didn't really like it to tell you the truth. Especially Thorton's roll. How hard is it to just stare off into space, be emotionally distant and give a  "low-key performance"? Don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of pulp true crime, film noir, and I'll shell out hard earned dough for a Coen film anytime. The Man Who Wasn't There is a case of style over substance at best and it's way too long. This is coming from a fan of Ben-Hur mind you.

I thought he did a great job in A Simple Plan and Chrystal. Everything else he's ever been in stunk to high heaven.

I saw him and his band play in Salina, Kansas last year in a bar with about 65 give or take a few people. They weren't burnin the place down by no means.

[dave from knoxville]

Is there a Nogravy, Canada?

[todd]

He is pretty charmless. But I think Bad Santa is GREAT in spite of him, not because of him.

[KickTheBobo]

ok, i'm gonna have to retract my previous statement about this incident being hilarious, because it has become evident that this was NOT a fake-out. it has now gone from being amusing to simply amazing!

as an actor, BBT is okay I guess. I liked Slingblade, Pushing Tin & Bad Santa (I thought he was great in this one). I am more of a fan of the absolute insanity that this guy dishes out. Hollyweird needs a perpetually baked Hillbilly who is afraid of Victorian furniture and had a padded sex room built for him & his ex wife.

is he a dick? No doubt! Is he more interesting to watch than 90% of A-list actors? Hell yeah.

He probably just had a lot on his mind that day, anyway.