Conference Call Interview With Billy Bob Thornton On Fargo

Can you talk a little bit about Malvo’s physicality. In some shots he reminds me more than anything of the film character Nosferatu. I don’t know if that’s his code or how you’re holding yourself when you play him. Is that something you thought about? To me, a big part of his menace is how he appears when he’s not talking.

Billy Bob Thornton: That’s a very good question and no one else has compared Malvo to Nosferatu, but that’s pretty good, I like that. I think a lot of that is just because after years and years of injuries and weighing 140 pounds, I look like Homer Simpson’s boss to start with, so some of it is just natural. But I did choose to be very sort of slinky and sort of—I just sort of appear from places.

I did choose to be very quiet, but not like purposely menacing like the guy who twirls his mustache. Malvo even acts like he’s a pal to people sometimes, especially Lester. That was conscious to make him not the typical bad guy, who screams a lot and grits his teeth and grabs people by the collar. That was a conscious choice.

Did you ever have the urge to get in there with Noah in the creative process, or were you glad to turn that over to someone else for this project? Would you maybe consider trying to write a short run TV series in the future after this experience?

Billy Bob Thornton: First of all, it was so well written; it was just like when I’ve worked with the Coen brothers in the past. I tend to be kind of an improvisational actor, but in this case it was so well written that I pretty much stuck to what Noah wrote. I had ideas every now and then, but they were generally less about dialogue and things like that and more about how about I don’t go in a room right away or just little things like that here and there. Actors always have some kind of suggestion, so little stuff like that. But for the most part I just stuck to what Noah wrote.

I think something that’s been overlooked a little bit throughout our press for this show there’s been a lot of talk about how we’ve created a whole new animal, even though it’s based on the movie. The Coen brothers didn’t write any of it. It’s been just our thing and its own show and all we took from Fargo was the snow and the general idea. But something that I think has been overlooked a little bit and not talked about enough is that if it weren’t for Joel and Ethan Coen, we wouldn’t be here. They created a whole new genre practically for movies. It’s not that nobody else had that dark sense of humor and nobody else had thought about these kinds of things in their mind before. Otherwise the Coen brothers wouldn’t have any fans, but all those people who had that sensibility, they hadn’t done it yet. The Coen brothers are the first to do it.

It’s like there might not be a Will Ferrell without a Steve Martin if you know what I’m saying, so I think more credit needs to be given to Joel and Ethan for starting this ball rolling. They’re the ones who really created this world and I just have to say that because I think sometimes that’s overlooked, that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. They set this tone and deserve the credit for us even having this show.

I was wondering about your favorite scene or moment from the series.

Billy Bob Thornton: I really enjoyed the scenes that I did with Martin. There’s a scene in a little café where I tell him about how he needs to be a man and step up and realize that we were once apes. That was great. I also like the opening scene where he and I meet each other in the lobby of the waiting room of the hospital. Also, the scene with myself and Colin Hanks at the end of the pilot where we first meet each other in the car. I remember those as particularly good moments. I remember feeling completely lost in them that we were really there, but I have to say all the stuff we did just felt really good.

I’ve particularly enjoyed working with Keith Carradine in the one scene we had in his diner. I’ve always wanted to work with Keith and it was just a real—you could feel two actors disappearing into their characters in that scene. I remember coming out of it as if I’d actually been through something; it was really, really easy working with Keith and just looking at him as this guy.