Billy Bob's Filmography
THE GIFT (2001)
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Director
Sam Raimi
Writer
Billy Bob Thornton
Character
None, but he's there in spirit.
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Movie Quote
ANNIE: You've had enough icing to put you in a coma.
Plot
Annie Wilson, a widowed mother of three young boys, lives in a
small Georgia town and makes ends meet by offering psychic card
readings to the locals. When the local bad girl Jessica
King (Katie Holmes) disappears, Annie is plagued by an
increasingly disturbing series of dreams about the young woman's
fate. Suspects
include battered wife Valerie Barksdale (Hilary Swank),
Valerie's violent husband Donnie (a scary-good Keanu Reeves), and
an emotionally unbalanced mechanic named Buddy Cole (Giovanni
Ribisi). Donnie threatens to kill Annie, who finds solace
in a blossoming romance with the local school principal (played
by Greg Kinnear).
What Billy Bob Gets To Do
Annie is based on Billy Bob's mother, the lovely and famously psychic Virginia Thornton
Faulkner, who uses the same Zener ESP cards Annie uses in the
film for her readings. Like Annie, she was a widow who
raised three young boys, using her special perception to bring
in extra money. This script must have made a nifty
Mother's Day present.
Backstory
Billy Bob has some interesting tales about
his mother's abilities. One of the more memorable ones
involved his early struggles as an actor. Virginia predicted that he would be successful as an actor,
noting that
he would star with Burt Reynolds. Sure enough, Billy Bob's
first serious break came when Harry Thomason cast him as a
floral delivery man who misdelivers a bouquet to Burt Reynold's
character on the show EVENING SHADE. Billy Bob would star
again as Reynold's cousin on the same show, then wound up in the
regular cast of Thomason's sitcom HEARTS AFIRE.
The
IMDb points out that Annie's car, the yellow-beige 1973
Oldsmobile Delta Royale, nicknamed "The Classic" by
Sam Raimi's fans, is a recurring player in Raimi's films,
including A SIMPLE PLAN.
Awards
(for Billy Bob Thornton)
Saturn Award (Best Writing, with Tom Epperson) - 2001 - Nomination
Awards
(for THE GIFT)
Saturn Award (Best Horror Film) - 2001 - Nomination
Saturn Award (Best Actress, Cate Blanchett) - 2001 - Nomination
Saturn Award (Best Supporting Actor, Giovanni Ribisi) - 2001 - Nomination
Saturn Award (Best Supporting Actress, Hillary Swank) - 2001 - Nomination
Independent Spirit Award (Best Supporting Actor, Giovanni Ribisi)
- 2001 - Nomination
World Stunt Award (Taurus Award, Best Fire Work, Eric Cord) -
2001 - Nomination
Relevant Links
IMDb Link
Official Site
Hollywood.com interview with Cate Blanchett
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
TV Guide review
Photo gallery from the film
Joe Blo review
Science
Fiction Weekly interview with Sam Raimi, Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves
Cincinnati
Post interview with Cate Blanchett, includes spooky story!
MovieWeb review
IndieWire
interview with Sam Raimi
Photos of The
Classic in action!
Test your psychic
abilities with Zener Cards here
Related Merchandise
Of course, you can acquire the song soundtrack (heavy on fine
country western talent) and the original score by Christopher Young
(that's two separate CDs).
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