‘Landman’ Actress Michelle Randolph On Gross Scene She Shared With Billy Bob Thornton: “I Will Never Be Saying That To My Father”

We're finally getting to hear from Michelle Randolph - who plays Ainsley in Landman - about that viral scene from early on the show's inaugural season. While Taylor Sheridan has just brought his hit show Yellowstone to a close, he's just getting started with another drama titled Landman. The ten-part series that tackles the ins-and-outs of the various components making up the oil industry boasts an impressive cast, with the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm and Demi Moore all playing major roles. And Ali Larter, who plays Thornton's ex-wife Angela, has also made a splash this season with her "spicy" scenes. Fans went wild when they put two and two together and discovered that Larter is the same actress who famously sported a whipped cream bikini in Varsity Blues. Viewers of the show were also surprised during a scene in which Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris was talking to his 17-year-old daughter Ainsley. The dialogue was so shocking that the clip spread like wildfire online, garnering millions upon millions of views. In case you missed it, Thornton's character Tommy Norris had a fairly graphic conversation with his 17 year old daughter Ainsley, who doesn't hold back and happily shares that she loves "getting it on" with her boyfriend and reveals all the "creative ways" they avoid getting pregnant. Most online labeled the scene as unrealistic and cringey, and to be frank, it certainly was both of those things: https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan/status/1858996630235807775 Sheesh. Not only was it awkward to watch as a fan of a show, it was apparently just as weird for the actors and actresses to play out the scene in front of cameras. Michelle Randolph was asked by The Wrap how it felt to portray a young daughter talking in such graphic fashion to her on screen father in Billy Bob Thornton, and if it was weird process to go through. Randolph confirmed that it was a challenging scene to shoot for a number of reasons: "How could you not? I knew. You knew. I just thought to myself, ‘How am I going to say this with a straight face, looking into Billy’s eyes? I was Ainsley in that moment. I was not Michelle. And as Michelle, I will never be saying that to my father. Let’s be clear." That supports the "unrealistic" cries that many fans were sharing online. To make matters worse, Michelle talked about how the scene was filmed as an real-life high school football game was taking place mere feet away. Randolph wasn't just worried about what people online would think about the scene... she was concerned that someone there for the actual game would overhear the dialogue: "There’s people watching, and I’m like, they don’t know anything about the show. They don’t know the scripts. They don’t know the premise, and if they can overhear this one line, what do they think that we’re filming?" What were they filming? A gross scene... but a successful one nonetheless. Have you heard of the phrase, "Any publicity is good publicity?" As crazy as the conversation might have been, the clip of it was all over social media, and that probably helped draw more viewers to the show. Maybe Taylor Sheridan knew what he was doing... One place where he absolutely knows what he's doing is the music. Him and music supervisor Andrea von Foerster put together the Yellowstone soundtrack, and the Landman soundtrack is just as god, if not better. Give a follow to Whiskey Riff's "Landman - The Soundtrack" playlist featuring every song from every episode, updated every Sunday morning: Spotify Apple Music