The role Billy Bob Thornton was convinced would ruin his career: “My manager talked me into that”
There aren’t many sure things in Hollywood, so in reality, almost any role could be a career-killer if it ends up in the wrong hands. Billy Bob Thornton got that feeling when a script landed on his desk, and only played the part because his representatives convinced him it would be in his best interests.
Of course, it’s almost impossible to succeed in such a cutthroat industry without a little risk, which convinced him to bite the bullet. Having spent years fighting an uphill battle to make his name in the first place, it would have been a cruel turn of events had Thornton’s team led him straight down the road to ruin.
The actor and filmmaker was forced to make his own luck when Billy Wilder told him he was too ugly to make it as an actor, advice he took to heart about as positively as anyone could hope. Instead of trying to stuff himself into a box he didn’t necessarily fit in, Thornton expanded his self-created short film to write, direct, and play the lead role in Sling Blade.
An Academy Award win for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and a nomination for ‘Best Actor’ were waiting on the other side, and suddenly, he was a known quantity. Although he wasn’t a movie star or the sort of actor asked to headline major productions, Thornton was never out of work for too long after Sling Blade, even if he thought he’d be on the breadline when Bad Santa first crossed his desk.
“My manager talked me into that,” he told the BBC. “He told me the story and I said, ‘That’s going to be a career-ender there.'” In his defence, he had a point. Every year, the market is saturated with schmaltzy and sentimental Christmas films, and there didn’t seem to be a place for a foul-mouthed, booze-soaked, and borderline nihilistic R-rated flick about a self-destructive mall Santa who hates everything about his life.
The premise originated from Thornton’s The Man Who Wasn’t There directors Joel and Ethan Coen, but by the time he’d read the script, the lead role had already been turned down by several higher-profile actors, including Jack Nicholson. It sounded like a career-killer on paper, but once he’d flipped through the pages, the actor was convinced he needed to make it.
“I read about a third of it,” he continued. “I called him immediately and I said, ‘I’ve got to do this!’ It was so hilarious. I mean, I was laughing so hard I cried, and I could hear all that coming out of me.” Bad Santa wasn’t just a minor box office hit, an instant cult favourite, and a staple of the alternative Christmas viewing calendar, but Willie Stoke also became the first character Thornton ever played more than once when he returned for the sequel.
