Landman's Billy Bob Thornton Almost Starred In One Of The Best Stephen King Movies

There are many Stephen King adaptations out there, but "Misery" holds the distinction of being based on a story that echoes the author's real-life traumatic experiences with toxic fans. The film follows Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a novelist who is nursed back to life by his biggest admirer, Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), following a car accident, only to realize that she might not be as caring as she claims. The psychological horror movie captures the terror of its original source material with aplomb, and King regards it as one of the best adaptations of his work. But would he have liked it more with Billy Bob Thornton involved, given that King is a big fan of Taylor Sheridan's "Landman?"

That remains unknown, but it is true that Thornton was almost cast in "Misery." While speaking to Bates in a conversation for Variety's "Actors on Actors," the "Landman" star revealed that director Rob Reiner offered him a supporting role in the movie, but it wasn't the most memorable one. As he put it:

"Originally, Richard Farnsworth, who played the sheriff, had a deputy. I saw Rob Reiner for it. And Rob said right in the room, 'You're the guy. We can send everybody else home.'"

Despite nailing his audition and being offered the part, "Misery" wasn't worth Thornton's time in the end. It seems that he and Reiner were on different pages regarding his character's screen time, but the experience still led to the "Landman" actor developing a good rapport with Reiner.

It's normal for movies to cut out scenes that aren't necessary, and "Misery" was no different. The scenes that would have involved Billy Bob Thornton's character were surplus to requirements, but Rob Reiner still offered him a chance to make some money. To quote Thornton directly:

"I was very excited. And I got a call from Rob Reiner — not many directors would do this — he called me and he said, 'Listen, I've been looking at the script and been planning out what I'm going to do with this movie.' He said, 'You can come up here and shoot this for the money or the insurance or whatever you need, but I'm just telling you, it's not going to be in the movie.'"

Thornton ultimately rejected Reiner's offer, as he didn't want to be upset when he saw that he wasn't in the movie. However, missing out on the Stephen King adaptation didn't hurt the actor's career by any means, as he's never struggled to find work. Not only that, but he's also currently the leading star of a hit Taylor Sheridan series, which allows him to command plenty of screen time.