Why Billy Bob Thorton’s College Daughter Made It Easy to Channel Landman Character: ‘I’m Very Protective’

Billy Bob Thornton didn’t have to look far for inspiration to play his character in Taylor Sheridan’s new high-stakes drama Landman.

During a screening of the Paramount+ series in Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday, Oct. 23, the actor shared how his daughter Bella Thornton, helped him in his portrayal of Tommy Norris, an oilman who is always looking out for his daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph). (Thornton shares Bella, 20, with wife Connie Angland; he also shares daughter Amanda Brooke Brumfield, 45, with ex Melissa Lee Gatlin, and sons William Langston Thornton, 31, and Harry James Thornton, 30, with ex Pietra Dawn Cherniak.)

“I have a daughter who just turned 20 and just started CalPoly out in San Luis-Obispo,” Billy explained, adding, “I’m very protective and it was not hard for me and Michelle Randolph to be protective of her.”

When Bella was 9, Billy gave PEOPLE a rare glimpse into family life, sharing his daughter’s passions at the time.

“My daughter wants to be an entomologist, so everything is about insects like butterflies and caterpillars,” he shared. “Last Halloween she went as a monarch butterfly and I went as a ladybug. That doesn’t really look like me, but I did it. I strapped on the wings and everything.”

While Bella has largely stayed out of the limelight, she’s made several appearances with her parents over the years. She performed with Billy onstage in 2008 with his band The Boxmasters in L.A. and joined her parents at an event for Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar’s book The Tale of Steven in October 2019.

With Landman, Billy explained during the Nashville screening on Oct. 23 that “you always have to play yourself.”

“I’m known for playing characters that are all very different. They look different. They act differently,” he acknowledged. “So, you always have to play yourself … Because your strongest work is going to be yourself.”

While Billy found the creative wherewithal once again to portray Tommy, the actor also explained to PEOPLE at the Landman premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Nov. 12 how Sheridan wrote the complex role with him in mind.

“Taylor wrote it specifically for me, so he wrote it in my voice, which really helped a lot, and anytime a writer does that, when they know who they’re writing for, it really helps them,” he says. “There were challenges, and obviously, because I knew some about the oil business, but not everything. I’m learning as I go along.”

The actor ultimately hopes viewers walk away a little more enlightened about the nuances of the oil industry and maybe even life, in general.

“I hope they do learn something about a business that most people don’t know the inside of,” he added. “But I also hope that they take away the way that people, in the face of intensity and danger, that there’s still humor in life and also that they take away how relationships are affected by a business that you’re in.”

Landman premieres on Sunday, Nov. 17 on Paramount+.