Summary
Overview
Billy Bob Thornton joins Joe Rogan for a wide-ranging conversation covering his early life in Arkansas, the creation of Sling Blade, his music career with The Boxmasters, Hollywood culture, the evolution of fame, and reflections on aging, technology, and authenticity in entertainment. They discuss Southern stereotypes, the art of acting versus criticism, social media's impact on society, and the importance of staying grounded despite success.
Early Life, Southern Culture, and Regional Stereotypes
Billy Bob discusses growing up in Arkansas and the cultural differences between the South and coastal cities. He talks about how Southern people and Southern rock bands were often dismissed or stereotyped by the entertainment industry. The conversation touches on the hookworm epidemic that contributed to Southern stereotypes and how regional prejudices affected his early career in Hollywood.
- Billy Bob's father would discipline him with a belt when he was loud during the day while his dad worked graveyard shift - this was common and accepted at the time
- Discussion of how 40% of people in the South were affected by hookworm in the late 19th/early 20th century, causing fatigue, anemia, and mental fog that contributed to stereotypes about Southerners being 'lazy or slow-witted'
- Billy Bob's first audition in LA was for a USC student film about a guy from Alabama, but they told him he wasn't 'southern enough' despite actually being from Arkansas
- Southern bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers got lumped into 'Southern rock' despite having very different styles - The Allman Brothers combined jazz, blues, rock and pop
" I told my wife the other day I said if I live to 85 I'm gonna go to long john silver's every day for lunch I'm just gonna eat shit that's like everything that I dream of right now that I can't eat, I'm going to eat all of it. "
" My version of heaven would be like if I could go back to when I'm 12 years old, live through junior high and high school again and have the knowledge I have now and just I would know exactly how to navigate everything. "
1960s-70s Fashion, Cars, and Cultural Shifts
The conversation explores the bizarre fashion and design choices of the 1970s, from bell bottoms to terrible car designs. Billy Bob shares his theory about how the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which scheduled psychedelics, may have contributed to the decade's aesthetic decline. They reminisce about classic muscle cars and discuss how certain eras produced timeless designs while others were complete disasters.
- Billy Bob's theory: After psychedelics were scheduled in 1970, people were cut off from substances that make you think and started doing more cocaine, leading to disco and weird 70s fashion
- Billy Bob owns a '67 Chevelle 396 and wants to get a '64 GTO (the first year they were made)
- Gas crisis in the 1970s forced car manufacturers to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, resulting in plastic, lighter, cheaper cars with worse engines
- AMC cars like the Pacer and Gremlin were particularly bizarre and looked 'almost like a fake company'
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