One Landman Star Made Season 2 Especially Challenging For Billy Bob Thornton

"Landman" star Billy Bob Thornton doesn't seem like the kind of guy who gets shaken by too many things. However, one particular challenge managed to do so when he was filming scenes for the show's Season 2. This had to do with Thornton's new co-star, Sam Elliott, who joined the sophomore season's cast as Thomas "T.L." Norris, the father of Thornton's abrasive landman-slash-oil mogul Tommy Norris.

As it turns out, Thornton and Elliott have known each other for a long time, and the former has an extremely high opinion of the latter — to the point of viewing Elliott as something of a father figure. Because the two generations of Norrises don't share a similarly warm relationship, Thornton occasionally had to be nasty to Elliott during filming, which he found tough to do.

"Some of the hardest stuff I had to do was when I had to be abrupt to, or even mean with, Sam Elliott," Thornton revealed in an interview with Variety. "Sam and I are old, old friends. He's been like a pop to me since I've known him in the '80s. He's been a mentor, a friend, and everything. Sometimes, knowing the other human, it's not as easy to just go for it, but you have to. You have to go 100%."

There are a few things in "Landman" that make no sense, but Billy Bob Thornton's admission that he found it difficult to be mean to someone he so profoundly respects in real life definitely isn't one of them. Incidentally, Thornton isn't the only one of the pair who had some difficulties with "Landman" Season 2; Sam Elliott had his own surprising problem as well.  

The filming conditions for the "Yellowstone" prequel "1883" were so hard that Elliott thought he would die. Still, he clearly didn't find the experience too prohibitively horrifying to return for seconds — a testament to the kind of professionalism and talent that has made Taylor Sheridan's feelings about working with Elliott overwhelmingly positive. Still, in one particular way, "Landman" was a challenge for Elliott. In an interview with People, the veteran actor admitted that it wasn't very easy to join the show's cast because of how far the story had already progressed. 

Funnily enough, it was the presence of Thornton — the very man who occasionally had a hard time working with Elliott — that kept the experience from being too overwhelming. "Even after 56 years, or whatever it's been ... I mean, coming in and joining [Thornton] on an established show, we have a history, so that made it a lot easier," Elliott said. "Had I not known Billy before this, it would've really been daunting. But I consider him a close friend."