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- Interviews
Billy Bob Thornton on “Goliath”
Amazon’s Goliath represents TV giant’s David E. Kelley’s first foray into streaming media. Billy Bob Thornton plays Billy McBride, a once brilliant attorney who has since landed on hard times. Blame it on an ugly divorce and too much drink (although he begs to differ: “I drink just the right amount”), at any rate the once high-flying lawyer has traded a partnership in a powerful firm for a stool at a Santa Monica beachside dive. It’s a character reminiscent of the cynical anti-heroes of film or maverick TV detectives like Jim Rockford or David Janssen’s Harry-O). When McBride’s permanent cocktail hour is interrupted by a seemingly routine insurance case, he uncovers a shadowy conspiracy involving secret defense contracts and wide corruption which will pit him against his former firm and the demons of his past in a noir-tinged David and Goliath procedural. We spoke to Thornton about the role and why playing a lawyer was a natural fit.