He's a successful actor with an Oscar on his mantelpiece, but Billy Bob Thornton doesn't appreciate his acting credentials being mentioned in the same breath as his music career – as a Canadian radio host found out this week.
A radio interview on national radio station CBC turned sour after presenter Jian Ghomeshi introduced Billy's band The Boxmasters - in which the star also plays drums and sings - while also noting Billy as an "Oscar-winning screenwriter-actor-director".
From that point on Angelina Jolie's former husband gave vague or oddball answers to questions. When asked about his band being together for only two years, Billy replied: "I don't know what you're talking about". And when Jian tried to discuss the star's musical influences as a child, he replied by explaining how he used to subscribe to a monster magazine and entered its model monster contest.
When pressed on air Billy admitted the reason he was being evasive was because the presenter had been "instructed not to discuss" his film career. His rep later said Billy had "simply elected not to engage with the interviewer because of the direction of the interview from the outset".
The pair appeared to call a truce to discuss the Boxmasters' new album ModBilly, which the Monsters' Ball star labelled "cosmic cowboy music". Billy walked out of the studio soon after, however, having told Jian he would not be performing a track from the album with his bandmates as he'd left his drums at home.
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