You had mentioned earlier about some of the press coverage that the show has gotten. It’s certainly had a lot of recaps and reviews and things like that after every episode. Do you read any of that? Do you have to be selective, and how do you deal with all that feedback?
Billy Bob Thornton: I don’t really read the stuff. I hear it from other people. I think I’d rather do it that way. Like friends call up and say people love the show and I’ve heard that it’s even a big hit in England, which is great, so I hear those things. If you put any given thousand people together and have them start a conversation back and forth with each other, some of them are going to love you and some of them are going to hate you, and I don’t know why you’d want to subject yourself to the ones who say he’s ugly, we don’t like him. It’s like I don’t need to read that stuff.
In terms of legitimate publications, my publicist will send me the reviews and stuff like that and I’ll read those sometimes. It depends on the source. In other words, I don’t get on the Internet and read chat rooms or stuff like that about what people think about it, because if people tell me that there’s a good reaction to the show, that’s enough for me without reading the particulars. But as I said newspapers, magazines different things like that that do legitimate reviews of it, I’ll read those sometimes. I’ve been so happy and grateful that people have embraced the show the way they have. It’s been a real thrill for all of us.
You have an amazing body of work. What drives you and gets you excited each time you take on a new role. Did you approach anything differently going from film to TV?
Billy Bob Thornton: These days, TV and film are so closely connected in terms of where they’re done that I didn’t really approach it any differently. I think it probably depends on what type of TV show you’re doing. Like for instance if you were doing a sitcom, I think you would have to rethink the way you prepare yourself or something. But I think in this case it was like doing a ten hour independent film, so I didn’t really approach it any different.
TV is a great place to do these things. Now TV is not looked at as TV any more. It’s just another way to watch movies in a lot of ways, especially on premium cable and all that kind of thing. It’s just there’s not much difference. I guess if you’re doing a big action movie, you need the big screen. But so many people watch even movies today on computers or whatever or at home on Netflix or whatever. The two are coming together I think in a lot more ways than before. I think you just try to not think about the differences. There’s not much of one.
As a viewer what’s been your favorite scene so far that you haven’t been in?
Billy Bob Thornton: It’s hard to say, there are so many. I know you guys get answers like that all the time and I’m sure you hate it, but it really is so difficult to pinpoint one thing. I can tell you a scene though. It’s when Molly and Bill, the character that’s played by Bob Odenkirk, when they go over to question Lester and Bob just talks about when they’re growing up and stuff like that. Molly knows she smells a rat with this guy and Bill just won’t have it. He’s just like, okay, Lester, sorry to bug you. I think I enjoyed every time there were scenes like that with Bob. I’ve particularly enjoyed his character and just what he did with that. It’s sort of like he just couldn’t believe and wasn’t going to have any part of some guy he knew in town, even potentially having anything to do with all this stuff, so I’d say that.
That concludes this interview, but for more from Billy, and the rest of the cast, check out our video coverage of the Fargo premiere in NYC below!