A decade or so ago, Billy Bob Thornton was juggling his acting gigs with a burgeoning career as a director, helming Sling Blade, All The Pretty Horses and Daddy And Them. He then seemed to retreat back to acting, but apparently these projects come in threes, since Thornton-as-director has just made the Willie Nelson documentary The King Of Luck and the drama** Jayne Mansfield's Car**, and is now talking about his next idea: a road movie based on personal experience, called **And Then We Drove.
Thornton says the story is "ethereal", and is about "a guy who's on a road trip and picks up this girl along the way, and what happens to them. It's about the question of life: 'What is this? Where do I fit in?'"
Deep stuff, but most interest in the film this morning has been of a more prurient sort, since an unnamed Variety inside-source has suggested that it's partly based on Thornton's infamously intense relationship with Angelina Jolie.
"It's based on his personal experiences in many ways," producer Alexander Rodnyansky sort of confirms. Rodnyansky is also behind Jayne Mansfield's Car, and heard the pitch for Drove during that film's production: "I found the story amazing. It's a pretty new combination of genres to put into one movie."
Thornton is aiming to have his screenplay written by the end of March, before hitting the road to shoot in LA, New Mexico and Arizona.
Jayne Mansfield's Car, starring John Hurt, Ray Stevenson, Kevin Bacon, Robert Duvall, Robert Patrick, Shawnee Smith, Tippi Hedren and Thornton himself, has just premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. There's no word on a general release date yet, or one for The King Of Luck. Thornton has received offers, but he's holding out for the one that guarantees a theatrical release.