‘Landman’ Star Billy Bob Thornton Explains Why He Doesn’t Consider Himself Part Of Hollywood

Billy Bob Thornton’s work is prolific, but the Academy Award-winning actor does not necessarily consider himself a Hollywood celebrity.

When Thornton, 69, appeared at a for your consideration event for his Paramount+ series Landman on Sunday, June 8 in Los Angeles, the actor told PEOPLE that he tries to stay removed from the inner workings of Hollywood and politics.

“Well, I kind of don’t. I stay home,” he said when asked to compare himself to his character Tommy Norris, who navigates the politics of the oil and gas companies in Landman. “I mean, really, I don’t talk about politics and stuff with people. I just kind of stay out of it all. I’m not really much of a part of Hollywood, as you say. I’m at home with the family, or I’m in a recording studio or on the road or making this.”

“Those are the things I do, and I just kind of mind my own business,” Thornton added.

Thornton tells PEOPLE that he is “for sure” having more fun portraying Norris than he first imagined when he signed on to star in Landman, which also stars Jon Hamm, Ali Larter and Demi Moore. Series creator Taylor Sheridan wrote the part with Thornton in mind after Thornton made a cameo in another one of Sheridan’s Paramount+ series, 1883.

“It’s just unabashedly who he is,” he says of the role. “I mean, he doesn’t kind of hold back. It’s almost like a few characters I’ve played boiled into one. He’s like the guy from Goliath, Bad Santa, it’s like he doesn’t suffer fools, but he also has some fun every now and then. I’m just basically playing who I would be if I were a landman.”

Thornton also said at the event that he draws from his own experience as a parent while acting with his Landman costar Michelle Randolph, who portrays his character’s daughter Ainslie in the show.

Thornton is a dad to daughters Amanda, 45 (with his ex Melissa Lee Gatlin), and Bella, 20 (with his wife, Connie Angland), as well as sons William, 31, and Harry, 30 (with ex-wife Pietra Dawn Cherniak).

“My daughter’s 20, she’s going to college right now. And it’s like not a problem for me to be protective over the daughter there,” he says. “And I’ve got two sons who I’m always telling, ‘Don’t do that — it’s dangerous,’ or ‘Don’t do that because it’s a gamble,’ whatever, so it’s pretty easy.”