Billy Bob Thornton is opening up about how he feels Texas embraced prolific TV creator Taylor Sheridan unlike Los Angeles.
During a recent interview with Town & Country for a cover story about Sheridan, the Landman star said, “Hollywood wasn’t nice to Taylor. There’s something about being an outsider that drives you.”
Prior to building his television empire, which includes hit shows from Yellowstone and Mayor of Kingstown to Landman and Special Ops: Lioness, Sheridan was a struggling actor living in L.A.
“I was homeless twice,” he said. “I lived in my car. Sometimes I’d go to Ojai, just somewhere where I could safely sleep. I did that for six months.” Despite the challenges, Sheridan said he “chose to sleep in my car” rather than giving up on his dream.
However, after spending roughly two decades as a working actor, appearing on shows like Sons of Anarchy and Veronica Mars, his dream slightly changed when he pivoted to screenwriting — ultimately changing his life.
Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter during a 2023 cover story, “Hollywood will tell you what you’re supposed to do if you listen. If you’re banging your head against the wall for 20 years trying to be an actor, maybe you shouldn’t be an actor. But the first thing I ever wrote [the pilot for Mayor of Kingstown in 2011] got me meetings at every major network, at every agency. I had multiple people trying to buy it.”
Once he gathered enough money from his early hits, such as Yellowstone, Sheridan decided to return to Texas, where he spent most of his childhood. He started buying up land and now owns more than 250,000 acres of ranchland across Texas, which includes his Four Sixes (6666) Ranch and Bosque Ranch.
Thornton told Town & Country, “I think the ranch community in Texas accepted Taylor 100 percent because he’s not phoning it in. He doesn’t go to the tourist cowboy shop and get an outfit. This is the real thing.”
Sheridan now spends most of his time in Texas, as he often invites castmembers to come to his ranch for meetings rather than going back to L.A. The ranching empire he’s built has also given him a creative edge, influencing the stories he writes that audiences love.
“When I lived in Los Angeles, everything I saw was the same and I didn’t learn anything in my day-to-day life,” Sheridan previously told THR. “Here, I get to experience so much. I heard 25 iconic pieces of dialogue today. Most of my great lines I heard someone else say, or some version of it. I’m banking story all the time.”