Ali Larter on playing an 'emotional rollercoaster' opposite Billy Bob Thornton on ‘Landman'
The latest series cocreated by Taylor Sheridan, Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, the right-hand man for a powerful West Texas oil executive (Jon Hamm). Larter plays Tommy's ex-wife, Angela, who is first introduced during a FaceTime call while vacationing with her new husband. It doesn't take long for her to make her way back to Texas, where she attempts to reconcile with her ex and rebuild a household with their children, Cooper (Jacob Lofland) and Ainsley (Michelle Randolph).
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Larter was immediately drawn to working with Sheridan, who "loves his women to be emotional roller coasters. That to me, as an actress, is so exciting because I'm trying to hold it together for my family and figure out how I'm going to piece this together." She adds, "I love getting to play this woman who lays it all on the line. She wears everything on her sleeve. It's really exciting to get to play somebody that powerful."
Sheridan's talents as a writer, Larter believes, extends to his ability to "write different tones within the same show. You just don't see that. That's what makes our show stand out from the rest, and makes it so incredibly original, being able to shift in all these different ways." Sheridan "knows when the audience needs a change" from drama to romance to farce. "He knows when they need to breathe, when they need to laugh, and then he knows when to draw them back in. He's a master storyteller, and it's incredible to get to read each script."
So many of the show's tonal shifts revolve around Angela's relationship with Tommy, which is filled with love, spite, regret, tenderness, and laughter. "It's one of those old-school, classic romances," Larter says. As the season goes along, audiences get a glimpse of what initially tore them apart, from Tommy turning to alcohol after his successful oil business goes bankrupt to Angela retreating to a new wealthy husband when she's forced to sell off everything she owns. "I think when you realize what they've been through together, it just shows the depth of their relationship," Larter continues. "That was very important for me to be able to portray in this character."
When Tommy and Angela decide to give their marriage a second chance, she does her best to rebuild what was lost, starting with an elaborate family dinner she prepares from scratch. But when Tommy fails to show appropriate appreciation, the usual arguments ensue, and they're back to square one. Angela is "trying everything to show her love," and her husband "just will not give that to her. Tommy keeps cutting her down and doesn't realize that," in the same way he works to provide, "she's giving everything she can for the family, and they're the same amount of energy." When Tommy "demeans her and doesn't really respect how much time and effort she's giving to try and repair their family, it's super sad."
The kitchen confrontation between them "was not written to be emotional at that point, but the way that Billy works is we're really living," Larter continues. "That's the beauty of the show. It's not planned out that we're going to laugh here and cry here. We just know that my character wears her emotions on her sleeve, and I have to go onto set and just live and find it, and see where it's going to go." To capture authenticity during shooting, the entire scene — from Angela preparing dinner through her fight with Tommy — was played in continuity from start to finish as opposed to broken up. That way, Larter and Thornton were able to find the right emotional tone for the moment when Tommy "tells her that he sees the effort, but she can't ask that of him. You watch this in scenes over and over, these two people in a messy, complicated relationship trying to find who they are, and who they are together."
Ryan Green/Paramount+
That dinner scene gives a glimpse not only into Angela's relationship with Tommy, but with Ainsley and Cooper as well. When Cooper arrives for supper, filthy from oil drilling and yard work, you see "the difference in how she treats her children," Larter explains. "She has her mini me" in the form of Ainsley, "and then she has the son who wants to push you away," which "for me is very real and organic." Yet even though their relationship is strained, Angela shows how quickly she'll be there for her son when he's put in the hospital after getting badly beaten. "That was a really hard day on set for me," Larter recalls. "I had to come in and really fall apart. There was no time to process."
Midway through filming the moment when Angela sees her son has been beaten to a pulp, "we broke for lunch, which is the worst in the middle of those scenes." She remembers going to her trailer and crying to Sheridan, saying, "'This scene is horrible, it's not working.' He just had to walk me back off the ledge because I have to be so there in this role, and I have to put myself out there every single day, every single scene, every moment when I'm Angela." Sheridan helped her "really hold my space as this woman" before the cameras started rolling again.
For Larter, Landman represents a high point in a career that has included films like Final Destination and TV shows like Heroes. "I'm very lucky to be working at my age," she says. "There are so many peaks and valleys in a career," from years where "the sail is up and you have incredible opportunities," to years where "people aren't interested" because "you're at the wrong age. For me, it was very hard every time I had a child because people didn't want to see me in that way. The pressures of this industry, and what it demands of you as a woman, are really difficult, but I love what I do," and so she would "fight my way back" after prioritizing her family.
Landman came along after Larter had spent a few years raising her kids in Idaho, and in many ways, that time away really informed her performance as Angela. "That time with my family unit, and really getting them settled and getting to be very present as a mother, has allowed me to be so bold in this role," she says. "It's never easy to work away from your children and your life, but what's built me for this is I feel like I've made choices in my life that align with my integrity, and the values of how I want to raise my family. Once I have that, I can go and I can play this."
Season 1 of Landman is streaming now on Paramount+.
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