On Screen: “Landman”
Landman
Based on Christian Wallace’s podcast about industrial corruption within the big 21st century oil boom in the West Texas Permian basin, Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman,” premiering in 2024, attracted 14.9 million viewers in its first four weeks, making it the biggest global opening for any Paramount original.
Billy Bob Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a disgruntled, disillusioned crisis-management landman whose job is to secure mineral rights for M-Tex Oil, owned by Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), who is married to Cami (Demi Moore), and dealing with dangerous cartel boss Gallino (Andy Garcia).
A longtime roughneck, Tommy is all too familiar with America’s dependence on oil, a 150-year petroleum-based infrastructure. So expect to become acquainted with the personnel operating the oil derricks (the large metal apparatus holding pipes, drills, pumps, filters, etc.) that pull crude from the ground, refine it and prepare it for mass consumption.
That includes ‘toolpushers’ and ‘drillers’ who specialize in fracking, utilizing highly pressurized water to break ground. ‘Ginsels’ are low-level crew members who perform menial tasks, and the ‘worm’ is the most novice worker on an oil rig.
Tommy’s also got his hands full with the ridiculously sexy, skimpily clad women in his life: his fiery, seductive ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) and 17-year-old daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), along with his ambitious 22-year-old son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) — in love with widowed Ariana (Paulina Chavez).
Since he’s admittedly $500,000 in debt, Tommy also shares a sprawling home with lawyer Nathan (Colm Feore), oil patch worker Dale (James Jordan) — and, in season two — his cynical, semi-estranged 82-year-old father T.L. (Sam Elliott).
Drilling is a dangerous business, so when a horrific ‘blowout’ occurs, Rebecca Falcone (Kayle Wallace), a ferociously intelligent young attorney joins them, her provocative presence complicating matters further.
Critics have already attacked outspoken Taylor Sheridan’s (“Yellowstone,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” “Tulsa King,” “Lioness”) controversial assertions about renewable energy — particularly the concrete, crane and lubricants in wind turbines — and climate change technology. Now that he’s left Paramount, it makes the globally relevant narrative — in the hands of co-creator Christian Wallace — even more compelling.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Landman” is an engaging, exciting 8 — with its first two seasons streaming on Paramount+ and its renewal confirmed.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.