Billy Bob Thornton
Sling Blade — Writer/Director/Actor Oscar Winner, Musician
The Arkansas Lion
Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade — a film so singular in voice and vision that it won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and made him one of Hollywood’s most sought-after character actors overnight. He then followed it with a string of performances (A Simple Plan, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Fargo TV series) that confirmed the depth of a Leo who refuses to be categorized.
Leo Legacy
- Sling Blade: Wrote, directed, and starred — Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay 1997
- A Simple Plan: Sam Raimi thriller — one of the decade’s most underrated performances
- Fargo Season 1: Lorne Malvo — one of television’s most terrifying villain performances
- Musician: Releases serious country-blues albums — the complete creative Leo
Thornton’s Leo originality is so specific it can only be his — there is no other voice like it in American cinema.
“I had to make my own way. Nobody was going to do it for me.”