It’s no secret that Hollywood can embellish certain things for the sake of a good story or captivating scene. Call it creative license. Even in the high-stakes world of West Texas oil, there is a bit of hyperbole to move the story along and keep fans entertained. Of course, Taylor Sheridan’s Landman is always trying to weigh the balance… the balance between where can we take some liberties, and where do we need to stick to the absolute authentic truth of the oil business.
Apparently the prop department thought Tommy Norris’ hotel scene was a place to exaggerate the truth a little bit…
If you’re not caught up yet, feel free to skip the rest of this article, but regardless, it’s not exactly a major plot point. Season 2, Episode 7, titled “Forever Is An Instant,” featured a number of steamy scenes with multiple memebers of the cast, but the episode kicks off with Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris passed out in a hotel room when the room service rolls in with breakfast. Tommy rolls over… fully torqued, if you will… and fans get a brief shot of Tommy’s rig, full frontal. His wife Angela, played by Ali Larter, tells him to put it away, and tries to comfort the traumatized hotel worker.
Fans were stunned, and rather alarmed by the controversial scene, but it’s honestly so brief that I had to watch the scene a few times to even see it. I saw all the outrage online and had to go back and watch it again, and I still wasn’t sure what the problem was… then I finally saw it.
Nevertheless, Christian Wallace, the co-creator of Paramount+’s Landman, recently shared a hilarious behind-the-scenes secret regarding the now-famous hotel scene. According to the Boomtown host, the hotel scene initially featured a much bigger prosthetic “wrench” on Billy Bob, one that was apparently so comically large, it left the cast and crew cracking up.
Wallace described the situation, confessing that it wasn’t actually a full frontal scene, and that they decided to go a different direction with the size of the prosthetic:
“To clarify, it wasn’t an actual full frontal. We had an on-set intimacy coordinator, and the original prosthetic she brought in made everyone laugh. We were like, “No.” So we went with a more humble alternative. That was a hilarious day on set.
But it is surprising to me that people think that was actually Billy doing full-frontal nudity. So I should say props to our intimacy coordinator for making it extremely realistic, and to the props team. They had a whole rig, as Billy called it: “Got my rig on.”
I can’t even imagine… although, this seems to be fairly common in Hollywood. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s not the first time this happened. The White Lotus star Theo James famously recalled his full frontal scene in The White Lotus Season 2, telling Jimmy Fallon that they were going for a very average look, as to not steal any attention away from the scene, and the woman in the makeup department came back with a 9-inch “hammer,” as he put it. Y’all makeup folks need to calm down… stop making men feel bad with these mondo hoses. What kind of weird fantasies are you trying to live out here?
It made for a pretty funny day on set, one I’m sure the cast and crew won’t forget. Ultimately, they settled a more “humble” piece, as they describe it, and good thing they did. It was so brief that you could easily miss it if you weren’t 100% locked in. Eyes glued to the screen. I can’t imagine having a big ol’ hog taking up half the screen 3 minutes into the episode.
All that being said, Landman has officially concluded with Season 2, and should be gearing up to film Season 3 in the coming months. The next season has already been confirmed, so it’s just mater of time before the cast and crew are back on set.
