I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Billy Bob Thornton, but you have to give him credit for being one of the most eccentric actors working in Hollywood today — aside from internet favorite Nicolas Cage. Variety reports that the actor is currently co-writing and plans on directing a road picture, And Then We Drove, which he describes as “ethereal.”
The title of the film is still under construction, as Thornton himself and his longtime writing buddy Tom Epperson are busy writing the script. The funding — which will be one of the first of six under-$2o million feature to come from the $120 million film fund formed by Alexander Rodnyansky‘s AR Films and Geyer Kosinski’s Media Talent Group — and Drove itself were developed during the Berlinale world premiere of Thornton‘s latest, Jayne Mansfield‘s Car.
Rodnyansky and Kosinski are both producing, with the hopes of receiving a first draft of the script in March, while production is eyed to start sometime this year. After hearing the plot details for the film, the former of the two stated the following of the project: “I found the story amazing. It’s a pretty new combination of genres to put into one movie. It’s based on his personal experiences in many ways.”
Coming from Thornton himself, the film will be 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?'” The story takes place throughout the United States, with stops in L.A., New Mexico and Arizona. For those interested in some celebrity gossip-type stuff, an insider to the film said the film “is partly inspired by Thornton’s wild and well-documented relationship with ex-wife Angelina Jolie. (Scandalous!)
Aside from Jayne Mansfield’s Car, Thornton‘s other directing work consists of Sling Blade, Daddy and Them, All the Pretty Horses and the 2011 Willie Nelson documentary The King of Luck. His next project, a bear hunting thriller titled Red Machine, will hit theaters sometime next year.
Do you find And Then We Drove to be as ethereal as Thornton proclaims?