Billy Bob Thornton explains why he turned down Mission: Impossible III villain role

Billy Bob Thornton does not want to be remembered as a villain.

Sure, he'll play characters who have a questionable morality, but when it comes to the world of big franchise films, he'd rather skip it. While sitting down for the Playlist's Bingeworthy podcast, Thornton explained his reasoning for passing on two major baddies: the Green Goblin in Spider-Man and arms dealer Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III.

The actor passed on the Mission: Impossible franchise because he was worried about the larger impact it might have on his career and how he was viewed. "I don't have much interest in those kinds of roles," Thornton said. "With Mission: Impossible III, I didn’t want to be the guy trying to kill Tom Cruise. 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."

Ultimately, the role went to Philip Seymour Hoffmam, who both created one of the most memorable villains in the M:I franchise and continued to surprise audiences with the wide range of roles and projects he pursued until his death in 2014.

As for declining to be in a comic book movie, Thornton's reasoning was far more practical. "With the Green Goblin, I didn't feel like getting up at 4 a.m. for five or six hours of makeup," he noted. We can't blame the guy.

Willem Dafoe ultimately signed up for the long hours in the makeup chair, which he did again when he reprised the role in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. For Dafoe, it was another opportunity to do what he calls "putting it out there."

"I like energetic performances," Dafoe recently told Entertainment Weekly. "I like engaged performances. I like performances that don't lay back and make the audience come to them. Performing is about doing things, and to be doing things in a structured environment really makes them more intense. We deserve more than an imitation of natural behavior. Film is better than that. It's not just to remind us what we know. It gives us the possibility to look beyond our experience. So, why lay back and create an environment where we're just recognizing it? Why not turn up the heat a little bit and lean into more extreme situations?"

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But Thornton has no regrets. Currently, he's starring on Taylor Sheridan's new oil drama, Landman. Sheridan actually wrote the role for Thornton. "He said he had something that he was writing, a thing for me, and we would talk about it later," Thornton told EW. "I believe it was at the premiere of 1883 in Las Vegas when he said, 'Okay, here's the deal. It's called Landman. It's about this.'"