Scandals That Tarnished The Reputations Of The Landman Cast

There's no escape quite like a Taylor Sheridan TV series. His neo-Westerns, family sagas, and dramas pull viewers in with their action, romance, and deep dive into worlds that feel new and exciting. The same is true of his latest series, "Landman," which recently concluded its second season and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, averaged over 1 billion viewing minutes per week for 10 consecutive weeks.

Based on the "Boomtown" podcast, "Landman" transports you into a gritty and drama-filled world of oilfields in West Texas, where roughnecks and business executives rub shoulders trying to get a piece of the lucrative oil industry. It has all the grit of "Yellowstone," but is further bolstered by the world-weary performance of Billy Bob Thornton as landman Tommy Norris.

While viewers can't get enough of Norris' drama-filled world, dealing with oil workers, business people, and his volatile ex-wife, the drama has also seeped in behind the scenes. Like several of Sheridan's shows, "Landman" has drawn scrutiny for its sexualization and highly unrealistic portrayal of women. It has also misconstrued some of the topics it tackles, including renewable energy. Meanwhile, the cast has an unusually high number of scandals and controversies among them. From lawsuits to allegations of abuse, the TV show's success can't save some of the "Landman" cast members from the scandals that have tarnished their reputations.

Despite Demi Moore's comeback with "The Substance" and "Landman," she can't seem to shake a controversial video from 1982. While the footage is from the '80s, the video tends to resurface on social media every few years, anytime interest in the actress spikes due to awards or performances. Most recently, the video went viral in February 2025, when X user Concerned Citizen reposted it.

In the video, a 19-year-old Moore is seen kissing her "General Hospital" co-star, Philip Tanzini, who was celebrating his 15th birthday. She passionately kissed Tanzini on the lips multiple times throughout the clip, even though Demi Moore was married to Freddy Moore at the time. 

Given that the pair were only four years apart, it's not the age gap that was the issue, but that Moore was a legal adult and married, while Tanzini was a minor. At the very least, the video is uncomfortable to watch and will likely continue to haunt Moore.

Jon Hamm stars in "Landman" as Monty Miller and pulls off the shadowy, overworked business executive persona well. However, in 2015, Hamm's reputation took a hit when details of his criminal history resurfaced. In 1990, Hamm was a sophomore student at the University of Texas, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. College hazing is quite widespread, but Hamm and fellow fraternity members took it to a whole other level.

In 1991, Sigma Nu pledge Mark Allen Sanders filed a lawsuit against Sigma Nu, detailing the horrific hazing incident he experienced. Sanders alleged that Hamm and other frat members violently attacked him, hitting him, dragging him by the claw of a hammer, and setting his pants on fire. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1993, but Hamm was charged with violent hazing and put on probation.

Since this was before John Hamm was famous, the details of the public records didn't resurface until 2015. He didn't address the incident until 2018 in an interview with Esquire, where he downplayed the severity of the crime, claiming it was "sensationalized." He concluded, "I was essentially acquitted. I wasn't convicted of anything. I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it's a f***ing bummer. I moved on from it."

Billy Bob Thornton has an extensive relationship history, and some of his relationships were quite turbulent. However, the most serious allegations against him arose from his fourth wife, Pietra Dawn Cherniak, with whom he shares two children. The pair were married for four years before Cherniak filed for divorce in 1997. In her divorce petition, obtained by People, Cherniak accused Thornton of spousal abuse. She alleged he was physically and verbally abusive to her, sometimes in front of their children. Thornton responded by vehemently denying the allegations in a statement acquired by the publication, saying, "Our marriage was not perfect, but I never exhibited the behavior she's accusing me of."

His ex-wife wasn't the only member of the Cherniak family to levy accusations against him. In 2008, Pietra Dawn's sister, Elysabeth Cherniak, filed a police report accusing Thornton of years of stalking and harassment. The LAPD report claimed Thornton sent her "insulting" emails and that she suspected he bugged her home. Thornton's representatives denied the allegations, and he was never formally charged.

The allegations from Pietra Dawn Cherniak and her sister are troubling, though Thornton later suggested he and his ex-wife were on good terms. In an interview with David Sheff six years after Pietra Dawn's divorce petition, he called her one of his "closest" friends and touched a bit on the amicable co-parenting of their sons.

Country singer Mark Collie stars in "Landman" as Sheriff Walt Joeberg. However, off-screen, he has found himself on the other side of the law. In 2007, Vanderbilt University campus police found Collie slumped over in the driver's seat of his parked car with the engine running. He failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a blood alcohol content (BAC) test, though police noted he had watery eyes and smelled of alcohol. Collie admitted to drinking a beer.

Police arrested the country singer on suspicion of driving under the influence and took him to the Davidson County Sheriff's Department, where he was released on a $1,500 bond. His refusal to take the BAC test also landed him an implied consent charge — all 50 states have implied consent laws, meaning if you have a driver's license and choose to operate a vehicle, you automatically consent to BAC tests if an officer has reason to believe you are intoxicated.

Collie refused to have his blood drawn without his personal doctor present, though he may have had reason to do so. The country singer has been open about having diabetes, which he was diagnosed with at age 17, using his career to become a vocal advocate for raising awareness and funding for the disease. Diabetes can impact BAC tests, and has raised legal issues with implied consent laws and whether individuals with diabetes can consent to such tests.

Andy Garcia appears in "Landman" as Danny "Gallino" Morrell, a drug cartel leader. He may be convincing as the menacing, shadowy drug lord, but his passions lie elsewhere than with "Landman." In 2005, Garcia produced, directed, and starred in his passion project "The Lost City." The film follows a wealthy family divided by the Cuban Revolution. Unfortunately, his project didn't go over well with audiences or critics, who largely panned it and scrutinized it for choosing to see the Cuban Revolution through the lens of the wealthy. On top of that, it landed Garcia with a lawsuit for alleged identity theft.

Garcia's own life presumably influenced "The Lost City," as he and his family fled Cuba after the Bay of Pigs Invasion and settled in Miami, Florida. However, according to Carol Lee Shulman, her late husband, Eddie "Shu" Shulman, was another source of inspiration. In 2007, Shulman filed a lawsuit with the LA Superior Court, suing Garcia for "research without permission and marketing of life's events for profit without consent" (via TMZ). She alleges that Garcia used her husband's life as the basis for his film without permission or credit.

Shu was a ventriloquist and jazz musician who joined the Club Cubano de Jazz (CCJ), which organized visits to Cuba to bring jazz music to the island. According to Shulman, Shu was exiled from Cuba for his artistic expression during the Cuban Revolution. Shulman demanded $1.5 million in royalties and another $1 million for punitive damages. Garcia has never publicly addressed the allegations.

While Billy Bob Thornton takes the spotlight in "Landman," he's known for being quite private in real life. Perhaps it's for the better, given his infamous 2009 radio interview. Thornton is most well-known for acting, but he's also a singer, forming the rock band The Boxmasters in 2007, which earned him an invitation for an interview with Jian Ghomeshi on "CBC Radio One's Q." However, during the interview, it's clear that something is terribly amiss.

He responds to basic questions, such as when he formed his band, with, "I don't know what you are talking about." When asked about what he's learned from fellow musician Willie Nelson, Thornton responds, "I've never met him," despite touring with Nelson. He also confronts the interviewer, demanding to know if he'd ask the same questions to musician Tom Petty. At one point, he launches into a nonsensical, long-winded discussion of the magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland," in response to a question about music that influenced him as a child. Eventually, he veers into insulting Canadians, referring to Canadian concertgoers as "mashed potatoes with no gravy."

It appears Thornton's rude and obstinate behavior was the result of Ghomeshi mentioning his acting career during the interview. Listeners did not respond well to the tantrum. At his next concert following the interview, concertgoers booed him and mocked him with statements like, "Here comes the gravy." While Thornton tried to defend his actions, the audience only booed louder.

Of all the "Landman" cast, Demi Moore has quite a few strange things about her, including the strangest lawsuit. The actress found herself at the center of a tragedy when a man was found dead in the swimming pool at her home. In 2015, 21-year-old Edenilson Steven Valle was found at the bottom of a pool at Moore's Los Angeles home after a party hosted by her assistant. Following an investigation, authorities deemed Valle's death an accidental drowning and found no evidence of foul play.

Moore wasn't home at the time of the death, but she released a statement expressing her condolences to the family. "I was out of the country traveling to meet my daughters for a birthday celebration when I got the devastating news," she stated. "The loss of a child is an unthinkable tragedy and my heart goes out to this young man's family and friends" (via ABC7). Things soon soured, though, when Valle's parents added Moore to the list of plaintiffs in their wrongful death lawsuit in 2017.

Valle's parents initially filed the lawsuit against the party's hosts and Tree House Trust, which owns the property. However, they later added Moore as a plaintiff, arguing that she was at fault for failing to add depth markers to the deep pool and creating a tripping hazard with the rocks lining the pool. Moore and Valle's parents settled the suit privately, bringing an end to the legally uncertain but overall tragic suit.

Michael Peña is a guest star on "Landman" as crewman Armando. Before he portrayed a roughneck in the Taylor Sheridan series, he played a corrupt cop in "War on Everyone," an interesting role considering his stance on police brutality. 

According to the actor, police brutality is a minor issue that the media overplays. At a press conference for the film in 2016, Peña stated, "The news sells because it sells fear. What was it last time? Ebola or something like that? And there were five people in the entire United States who had Ebola. But it sells newspapers. I think the percentage is something like 0.01% of police brutality that actually happens" (via The Guardian).

Despite his belief that the media overplays police brutality and that there are far more good cops than bad, Peña noted that the rare "bad cops" should face the consequences of their actions just as anyone else would. It's unclear where the actor gets his statistics from. While the chances of a person being killed by a police officer are around 0.1% for the most vulnerable groups, not all instances of police brutality result in fatalities. His 0.01% statistic also seems misleading in that it doesn't capture all the nuances of police brutality, such as factors of racism, nor does it touch on the nearly 1,000 individuals killed by police in 2016. Peña's beliefs about police brutality may have been influenced by his personal connection to law enforcement. His brother, Joel Peña, is a Cook County correctional officer in Chicago.

Ali Larter has staunchly defended her "Landman" character despite criticism over the character's perceived sexualization. However, Ali Larter can't as easily defend the scandal that tainted her reputation. In 2020, Leonard Roberts wrote an essay for Variety about his experience on the show "Heroes," in which he accused Larter of mistreatment. Roberts and Larter starred in the show as onscreen husband and wife D. L. Hawkins and Niki Sanders. However, it wasn't long before tensions began running high between the pair.

Roberts tried to ease the tension by gifting Larter a bottle of wine and a note, though she never acknowledged the gift. Things deteriorated further after the pair tried to shoot an intimacy scene, during which Larter became distressed at being asked to lower the straps of her shirt to create the illusion of undress and accused the production of disrespect. Roberts spoke to another actor, Adrian Pasdar, with whom Larter had intimate scenes, and found that she'd been much more open and had none of the qualms she'd had in the scene with him.

Larter also insinuated that he was negatively impacting her brand after she told him their Entertainment Weekly cover was selling poorly. Eventually, "Heroes" creator Tim Kring notified Leonard that his character would be killed off after Season 1 due to the "Ali Larter situation." Throughout the essay, Roberts suggests that his race may have played a role in Larter's mistreatment of him. In response to the essay, Larter issued a statement to TVLine apologizing to Roberts. However, she also cast doubt on his claims by insisting it "doesn't match" her "memory nor experience."

"Landman" marks Sam Elliott's second Taylor Sheridan series, as he previously starred in "1883." Elliott has that cowboy spirit that makes him a perfect fit for the Sheridanverse. While he's not actually a cowboy, he may think he's the authority on all things Western. In 2022, Elliott caught some harsh words from Academy Award-winning director Jane Campion after criticizing her film, "The Power of the Dog."

The Western movie follows a crude, harsh cowboy (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is repressing his sexuality. Though the film gained high critical acclaim, Elliott dragged the film during an appearance on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast. When Maron mentioned "Power of the Dog," Elliott went on a rant about his dislike of the film, and his reasons for it were troubling. In particular, he criticized the "allusions to homosexuality" and challenged Campion's knowledge of the West.

He referred to her as "this woman from down there, New Zealand," scoffing at her depiction of the West and at her decision to shoot in New Zealand. Elliott drew scrutiny from fans and the media for his perceived homophobic and misogynistic rant against the film. However, he did get a bit of a comeuppance when Campion responded with a biting retort to remind Elliott that he's not actually a cowboy. In a short, scathing statement to Variety, Campion said, "​​I'm sorry, he was being a little bit of a B-*-*-*-H. He's not a cowboy; he's an actor. The West is a mythic space and there's a lot of room on the range. I think it's a little bit sexist."