Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris
It’s mid-December and Billy Bob Thornton is back in his old stomping grounds in Austin, Texas. Since it’s not only the state capital, but the music capital of Texas, I mistakenly assume he’s there for a gig with The Boxmasters, the band he formed in 2007 with Grammy Award-winning recording engineer J.D. Andrew. Instead, he is in town for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) screening and Q&A.
“I’ve been coming to Austin since I was a kid,” Thornton says. “I run into people I know on the street all the time; I think I know about half the town.” At one point, he was working in Texas so much, he leased a house at Barton Creek Lakeside, a gated waterfront community set on a golf course. “I don’t play golf,” he says laughing, “but it was a cool house.”
Born and raised in Arkansas, Thornton was declared an honorary Texan long ago, possibly because he seems to gravitate toward Texas-centric roles, from Davy Crockett in the 2004 film, The Alamo, to Coach Gary Gaines in the movie, Friday Night Lights, which was released the same year.
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