The Unexpected Movie That Inspired Taylor Sheridan's Landman Series

In the space of just a few short years, screenwriter, director, producer, and actor Taylor Sheridan effectively became Paramount's golden boy. "Yellowstone," the neo-Western drama Sheridan co-created with John Linson, became one of the studio's biggest small-screen hits of all time following its debut in 2018 — naturally, "Yellowstone's" success totally changed Taylor Sheridan and his wife Nicole's lives too. The franchise shows no signs of slowing down either. Meanwhile, since the premiere of "Yellowstone," Sheridan has created or co-created several other prestige TV shows for Paramount, including "The Mayor of Kingstown," "Tulsa King," "Lioness," and, of course, "Landman" — which also marked a massive resurgence in popularity for lead actor Billy Bob Thornton. 

But while "Landman" is officially based on the documentary podcast series "Boomtown," an unexpected film that also happens to star Thornton greatly informed Sheridan's work on it. Back in 2003, the actor appeared in the hit black comedy "Bad Santa" as Willie T. Soke, a depressed, alcoholic conman who dresses up as Santa Claus to rob shopping malls. During an appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," in June 2026, Sheridan explained how Soke directly influenced Tommy Norris, Thornton's character in "Landman." 

"I said, 'I want to make a drama with Bad Santa running an oil company,'" the screenwriter recalled telling Thornton when he first pitched the show to him. Sheridan continued, "He's like, 'That's the greatest f***ing thing I've ever heard in my life. Yeah, let's do it!'" Evidently, Thornton had a strong grasp on what television audiences wanted when he agreed to do the show. Featuring a star-studded cast, the first season of "Landman" was a runaway success upon its November 2024 debut, streaming to nearly 15 million homes during its first four weeks of release alone, becoming Paramount+'s most-watched original series.

While "Landman" became a critical and commercial success virtually overnight, injecting renewed life into Billy Bob Thornton's career, the success of the movie that quietly inspired it is nothing to sneeze at, either. Made on a relatively modest budget of $23 million, the hit black comedy went on to gross $60 million domestically and over $76 million worldwide following its late-November 2003 release. That's not too shabby for such a cynical, R-rated story that openly thumbs its nose at the holiday season — especially considering the fact that it opened up against other, more family-friendly options like "The Cat in the Hat," "The Haunted Mansion," and, of course, modern Christmas classic "Elf," starring Will Ferrell. 

"Bad Santa" was also a surprisingly big hit with critics. At the time of writing, the movie currently holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's "Critics Consensus" winningly describes it as: "A gloriously rude and gleefully offensive black comedy, 'Bad Santa' isn't for everyone, but grinches will find it uproariously funny." Thornton eventually reprised his role as Willie T. Soke for a sequel in 2016, though "Bad Santa 2" did not perform nearly as well as its predecessor, critically or commercially. Still, the original remains an irreverent holiday favorite. 

That's not to say the man himself didn't have some reservations going in. "[My manager] told me all about it, and he actually said to me — before I read it — he said, 'This is either, like, a horrible idea, or an amazing idea,'" Thornton admitted on "The Dan Patrick Show" in 2019. But elsewhere in the interview, the actor acknowledged that turning down "Bad Santa" would have been, in his words, "a big mistake."