Review
Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter explain why their characters’ tumultuous love story works in Landman. Thornton leads Landman as Tommy Norris, the eponymous fixer for the M-TEX oil conglomerate based in West Texas. In Landman season 1, Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), re-enters his life to reignite their marriage, along with reforging their family consisting of teenage daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randoph) and prodigal son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland).
Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter appeared at Newport Beach TV Fest’s Landman — Outstanding Drama Series panel with their co-stars Jacob Lofland and Andy Garcia. When asked about how they play a couple with the ups and downs of Tommy and Angela, Larter and Thornton discussed their preparation to portray Landman‘s central couple, and that, no matter what, Angela and Tommy love each other. Read their quotes below:
Ali Larter: We had all ten episodes before we started filming, so we knew the journey of these characters, and we also knew that they had such a shared past history together. For Angela, she’s left this world, and she’s coming back to try to repair her marriage to this man that she loves, and trying to bring her family back together. It was starting with that.
And then, for us [Ali and Billy Bob], figuring out a lot of the scenes, especially television can have a lot of repetitive themes to it. We’re like, ‘Oh, we don’t want to play this beat again, ever.’ We never want the same exact moment to be repeated. So we just worked a lot on talking to each other about our lives, understanding each other, and then, kind of dropping that into these characters. I think the biggest thing that we always say…
Billy Bob Thornton: I love you.
Al Larter: Like you can be in the biggest fight, horrible things can happen, you can be really tough on each other, but it’s still ‘I love you’ at the end of the night.
Why Tommy & Angela Love Each Other Despite Their Problems In Landman
Tommy & Angela Ultimately Understand Each Other
Angela and Tommy Norris have their ups and downs as a couple — especially one that broke up but is now getting back together — but they still work because Tommy and Angela love and understand each other. Angela remarried and realized her heart belongs to Tommy. Meanwhile, the show’s titular Landman is more pragmatic about his needs versus his ex-wife’s desires, but deep down Tommy also wanted Angela back. The mutual understanding and undying attraction between Tommy and Angela allow them to weather the harsh words and circumstances they often face in Landman.
Ali Larter and Billy Bob Thornton had the benefit of having all of Landman season 1’s scripts to work from so they could map out Angela and Tommy’s relationship trajectory. At Newport Beach TV Fest, Thornton admitted he had «a say» in who Landman creator Taylor Sheridan cast as Angela, and the two actors developed a comfortable chemistry off-screen as well as on camera. Larter and Thornton are also dedicated to not repeating Tommy and Angela’s beats, which keeps their relationship evolving and fresh.
Our Take On Tommy & Angela In Landman
They're The Most Entertaining Couple In Taylor Sheridan's TV Universe
Tommy and Angela’s conscious re-coupling in Landman is one of the most entertaining aspects of Taylor Sheridan’s hit series. Tommy and Angela may be like oil and water, but her earnest attempts to be a better wife to Tommy, and his suspicion before he relents, makes for crackling television. Throw in Angela’s outrageous antics with Ainsley and Cooper’s begrudging acknowledgment of his family, and the Norris clan is a big part of why Landman became a global phenomenon on Paramount+.
Ali Larter and Billy Bob Thornton put in the work to convery that Angela and Tommy still love each other, no matter what.
Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe only has a handful of marriage stories that aren’t tragic. Landman exists outside of Yellowstone‘s ecosystem, and perhaps that gives Tommy and Angela Norris the freedom to buck the trends in the love stories found in Sheridan’s Yellowstone dramas. Tommy and Angela can raise eyebrows by the way they speak to and treat each other, but Ali Larter and Billy Bob Thornton put in the work to convey that Angela and Tommy still love each other, no matter what.
Source: Newport Beach TV Fest
