Billy Bob Thornton on turning down villain role in ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Mission: Impossible III’

Billy Bob Thornton doesn’t want to be remembered as a “bad guy”.

The actor and filmmaker shared why he passed on major villain roles in Spider-Man (2002) and Mission: Impossible III (2006), explaining that he prefers to take on less conventional characters.

“I don’t have much interest in those kinds of roles,” Thornton said during an appearance on the Bingeworthy podcast.

“With the Green Goblin, I didn’t feel like getting up at 4 a.m. for five or six hours of makeup. And with Mission: Impossible III, I didn’t want to be the guy trying to kill Tom Cruise.”

Thornton pointed out how playing such roles in high-profile films can have a lasting impact on an actor’s career.

“If you’re the bad guy in a big movie like that, audiences remember it forever. I prefer to keep things looser and less predictable.”

Willem Dafoe ultimately took on the role of Norman Osborn, also known as the Green Goblin, in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, while Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed arms dealer Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III.

While Thornton avoided those villainous roles, he later earned praise for his portrayal of hitman Lorne Malvo in the first season of FX’s Fargo, a performance that won him a Golden Globe.

Most recently, Thornton earned his seventh Golden Globe nomination for his work as an oil rig crisis executive in Taylor Sheridan’s series Landman.