Yes, bikini-clad baristas do exist. No, the cartel doesn't maintain ties to Earthmen like Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris.
Christian Wallace should know what's real and what's fictional when it comes to what's happening around Texas' Permian Basin; It was his podcast of 2019 Boomtown About big oil that inspired Taylor Sheridan to embark on it Landman For Paramount+.
before LandmanIn the Jan. 12 Season 1 finale, Wallace — who is co-creator and writer with Sheridan on the series that also stars Jon Hamm and Ali Larter — answered some burning questions about the making of the show and whether or not he actually met a man Land is as fearless (and ferocious) as Tommy himself.
DEADLINE Can you explain how your role in the series works? Were you part of the writer's room?
Christian Wallace Yes. Taylor and me He was Writer's room. We spent about two years talking about the show, the characters, and the story before writing any scripts. Taylor asked me to write a specific script based on the things we were talking about. I went and did that and he said, “Okay, you're going to be the co-creator of the show.” We were talking about scenes and dialogue and things like that. And then Taylor will go and write the episodes. I was on set the entire duration of the shoot to help with anything I could help with, whether it was props, costumes, dialogue or anything else.
DEADLINE So as someone who has done a podcast about big oil companies, how accurate is the show?
Wallace Many of them are very accurate. We had to squeeze some of it together to make it make sense for our characters. Which is funny, depends on who you ask. My uncle who has been in the oil business for 30 years will nitpick over every little thing. But I think for the most part, it's safe to say you've got a good idea of what it's like to work in oil and gas out there.
DEADLINE Well, obviously the big factor is the cartels. Is this something you address in your podcast? Is that a reality there?
Wallace I haven't covered the cartel issues much on the podcast, but it's a real problem with drug trafficking through that region. There is oil theft, there is equipment theft. It's kind of the Wild West in certain ways. So this part is accurate. The relationship between the cartel and [the fictitious oil business] M-Tex is a fantasy movie, but I think it's within the realm of possibility.
Deadline Bringing in the National Guard to help keep the cartel away was a great plot point. Does anything about this ring true?
Wallace That's part of Taylor's specialty, being able to take a script and bring the action and intensity to that level. I mean, he's so good at weaving the narrative to the hilt. So all credit to Taylor's National Guard.
DEADLINE So what specifically about your podcast has become a story in the series?
Wallace There are things in the whole show that are little calls from parts of the podcast. A lot of people have asked me if there really are baristas in bikinis serving coffee to men on their way to work in the oil field. The answer to that is, yes, there really is. We actually did an episode of the podcast where we talked to some of these baristas. Sex work is a large part of any thriving city that forms part of the economy. It's part of what happens, and then there are the deaths on oil rigs. Those are things that actually happened. We touched on that on the podcast. We've delved into some oilfield incidents and safety. Some scenes are taken directly from that, such as the pipe-breaking scene. This is a true story I heard from my uncle when I was young. It was a pipe rack that fell on him, not pipes, but he did call his wife before he died. Some things that seem unbelievable are actually based on reality.
DEADLINE I assume you met a few Earthmen while you were there?
Wallace Yes. One of my best friends is actually an earth man.
DEADLINE Is Tommy like Billy Bob?
Wallace He loves Bud Light! The role of a groundsman on our show is more exciting than 99% of the work groundworkers do in the real world. Billy's character, Tommy, is really kind of a Swiss Army knife of roles in M-Tex, so he does a lot of different jobs that a traditional Earthman probably wouldn't do. That's part of how we wanted to show a lot of industry and correction and being out there. We needed the character of Tommy to be able to do all these different things. Otherwise, he'd be on his computer looking up leases and doing regulatory compliance stuff, and no one would watch a show about it.
Deadline It's clear that Tommy is completely fearless. The real earth men I've met, are they like that?
Wallace I think it's a little different. Some of them are more like pencil-pushing nerds who might be better suited to leafing through files in a courtroom. Others are very bold and can sit through multi-million dollar negotiations with nerves of steel. So, in any job, they kind of run the gamut.
Deadline There were two speeches in the series addressing the oil industry and talking about the folly of renewable energy. Is this all from Taylor's head or is this something you covered in the podcast?
Wallace We talk about renewables on the podcast and how solar and wind are spreading in the Permian Basin. There's really no hostile attitude towards them if they bring jobs. However, Tommy's monologue is very much how many people feel and is just a counter-narrative to the one we usually hear. And yeah, those are the conversations you would hear in West Texas, those kinds of monologues.
DEADLINE What do you think of the women in Tommy's life? Is there Ali Larter there and does she look as good as Ali?
Wallace This is a funny question. I don't want to get in trouble with any Midlanders or Odessan. I will say, you can ask almost anyone from West Texas if they know some loud, bold women, and you're sure to get a resounding yes. There's a big Texas personality to both Angelas [Larter] And Ainsley [Michelle Randolph]. I think that's one of the things I personally love about them. There's a lot of comedy and lightness in those characters that brings something to the show as guys get crushed with pipes or burned in an oil well. You need that lightness. The show wouldn't be the same without them.
Deadline Viewers have certainly learned a lot about the industry from this show. Do you hear that often?
Wallace Yes I did. This is something I was hoping to achieve with the show, to at least pique people's interest and perhaps invite them to learn more. This is definitely not a documentary. People won't be able to get a full understanding of the oil and gas industry by watching our show, but I think it should motivate people, or I hope it will prompt people to look deeper because it's an important industry that touches our lives. He lives on a daily basis. Most people don't know about this or never think about it. So, if this show helps ignite that conversation, I think that's a good thing.
