Billy Bob Thornton might be starring in the latest in a long line of successful shows in the Taylor Sheridan-verse with "Landman," but like every actor, his filmography has its share of duds. The star, who propelled himself to stardom by writing, directing, and starring in the 1996 drama "Sling Blade," wasn't always able to match the quality of that breakthrough performance, as evidenced by his Rotten Tomatoes page.
The site that claims there are only two perfect Alfred Hitchcock movies might not
be the most reliable source, but it gives us an overall sense of how Thornton's films have been received, and there are plenty of missteps here, from the Western flop "South of Heaven, West of Hell" and its 14% critic score to the comedy-drama "Waking Up in Reno," which earned just 8% and which Todd McCarthy of Variety called "a hillbilly romantic comedy in which the hillbillies show up but the romance and comedy never do."
But neither of those failures quite compares to 2018's "London Fields," which by all accounts was a complete blunder both in terms of its reception and its production. The mystery thriller from director Mathew Cullen was an adaptation of Martin Amis' 1989 novel of the same name, with the British author co-writing the screenplay alongside Roberta Hanley. While the book was well-received (though also prompted its share of controversy), the film was absolutely eviscerated by critics. Considering its troubled production, however, that's not all that surprising.
Read more: Gilligan's Island: Every Main Character, Ranked
London Fields Was A Misguided Adaptation Caught Up In Legal Issues
"London Fields" stars Billy Bob Thornton as writer Samson Young, who, after struggling with writer's block for 20 years, travels to London, where he meets Amber Heard's Nicola Six. This clairvoyant temptress claims to be able to see her impending death at the hands of one of three men she's currently seeing, one of which is Young himself. Jim Sturgess plays taxi driver Keith Talent, while Theo James plays beleaguered businessman Guy Clinch, both of whom round out Six's love triangle. The film also features Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne, Obi Abili, and Jaimie Alexander.
"London Fields" was set to be screened as part of the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, but the day before it was due to premiere, festival organizers pulled it from the schedule. At the time, the festival cited "uncertainty surrounding the creative vision of the version of the film scheduled to be screened," which was a way of saying director Mathew Cullen was suing the producers over their cut of the film. As Global News reported at the time, a lawsuit filed by the filmmaker accused the producers of fraud and of using his name to promote a version of the film he didn't support.
Eventually, the producers and Cullen reached a settlement, which allowed "London Fields" to receive a wide theatrical release in the United States on October 26, 2018. But it probably should have remained in the vault considering the critical response and its commercial performance. As Martin Amis' old buddy Christopher Hitchens used to say, "Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases, that's where it should stay." In this case, the book wasn't the issue -- it was the adaptation that probably should have stayed hidden, seeing as it managed that rare accomplishment of actually appearing to enrage the critics who were forced to see it (much like the worst movie of all time according to IMDB).
London Fields Upset Critics And Made No Money
As you might not be surprised to learn, "London Fields" is Billy Bob Thorton's lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes and the only project in the actor's filmography with a 0% score. Clearly, director Matthew Cullen didn't stand behind the cut that was released, but it's hard to see how his own version could have improved on what audiences actually got, given the critical response.
David Fear of Rolling Stone claimed that "nothing works" in the film, and lamented the way in which Amber Heard was forced to "become a vamping pin-up, ogled by the camera like it was a horny college freshman." Writing for RogerEbert.com, Peter Sobczynski dubbed "London Fields" a "boring and garish mess that even fans of the book will find nearly impossible to follow," ultimately bestowing just half a star on the film. Things didn't really get much better from there. Words like "horrendous," "trashy," and "bizarre" cropped up quite a bit in critics' appraisals of the film, with Kaleem Aftab of The Independent going so far as to label the whole thing "car-crash film-making." What's more, while I acknowledge that it's time to retire the Razzies forever, Heard did receive a Worst Actress nomination for her role in the film, which didn't exactly help. Neither did the box office returns, which totaled a negligible $433,732 by the end of the film's run.
Martin Amis, meanwhile, tried hard to make the best of the adaptation, telling The Guardian he found it "surprisingly faithful in many ways" and that he thought the central relationship was "moving." Interestingly enough, the author also claimed not to have noticed any significant differences between the various cuts of the film, which casts at least some doubt on Cullen's disavowal of the theatrical cut as being somehow inferior — though Amis did acknowledge that it wasn't just Cullen that was upset by the final cut. "Everything in the new cut looked familiar," said Amis, "so I can hardly remember what all the argument was over. I think it was the ending? All I know is that the cast was very much against the producer's cut."
Regardless, as far as Thornton is concerned, "London Fields" is just a small stain on his career, and he can now look forward to "Landman" lasting for several seasons.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
