The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts [Hardcover]

Billy Bob Thornton (Author), Kinky Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 15, 2012

There is—and could only ever be—one Billy Bob Thornton:  actor, musician, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, and accidental Hollywood badass. In The Billy Bob Tapes, he leads us into his Cave Full of Ghosts, spinning colorful tales of his modest (to say the least) Southern upbringing, his bizarre phobias (komoda dragons?), his life, his loves (including his marriage to fellow Oscar winner Angelina Jolie), and, of course, his movie career. Best of all, he’s feeding these truly incredible stories and righteous philosophical rants through his close friend, Kinky Friedman—legendary country music star, bestselling author, would-be politician, and all-around bon vivant. Put these two iconoclasts together and you get a star’s story that’s actually an insightful pop culture manifesto—a hybrid offspring of Born Standing Up with Sh*t My Dad Says.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Like many Southerners, Mr. Thornton, who grew up in Arkansas, is a gifted storyteller, with an eye for the telling detail and a moving way of blending comedy with tragedy. ” (New York Times )

“One of the more readable, insightful and entertaining celebrity autobiographies in recent memory - a tragicomedy that could be turned into its own movie.” (Chicago Sun-Times )

“As a writer, Billy Bob puts Tennessee Williams in the back seat.” (Robert Duvall )

“Bone-deep East Texas/Arkansas feel . . . rife with Southern gothicisms, delightfully weird digressions, and the sort of 3am philosophizing that Flannery O’Connor had to make up . . . [Thornton is] a natural born storyteller.” (Austin Chronicle )

“Thornton’s congenial, spirited delivery makes the story of his life before stardom an unexpected scene stealer . . . Like his approach to acting, The Billy Bob Tapes has a natural, unrehearsed style that’s sure to not only entertain but also to charm. ” (Oxford American )

From the Back Cover

Raised in small-town Arkansas, Billy Bob Thornton grew up amid a rich storytelling tradition. See, the South is just different than other places. . . . You can feel the ghosts there. As a kid, he would sit on the porch listening to his family or some old man down the road spinning yarns about colorful neighbors. These stories didn't have to be made up. The characters were already there, so the stories just came out of the characters we knew. Thus was borne his Oscar®-winning masterpiece Sling Blade and now The Billy Bob Tapes—a narrative based on late-night conversations with Kinky Friedman and other friends who gathered 'round to hear Billy mine a cave full of ghosts.

Billy grew up shooting squirrels, playing drums in VFW clubs, and dreaming of rock 'n' roll stardom or pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals. Then at sixteen he took a drama class to meet chicks—and met Mrs. Treadway, who noticed the young man's talent and encouraged him as an actor and writer. "You don't know what it's like to be a drama teacher in a small town in Arkansas where nobody really cares," she said, "but let me tell you something. You can do this." These stories didn't have to be made up. The Everything I've accomplished since, I can trace back to this woman, Maudie Treadway.

The colorful characters, stories, and experiences of his youth would find their way into Billy's work, in his films and music, and in his perspective and attitude. It's like the old saying goes: you can take the boy out of the hills, but you can't take the hills out of the boy. That boy did leave the hills—for Hollywood Hills. A true fish out of water, he recalls stories of miserable jobs, the cheapest accommodations, and physical hunger—but also a devoted writing partner Tom Epperson, a life-changing acting teacher in L.A., and a compassionate nurse who snuck him milk shakes when he was near starvation. But there was always the dream of being an actor, and his fortunes turned when he served hors d'oeuvres as a catering waiter to legendary director Billy Wilder, who advised him, "Write about your interesting life."

Billy's long career in Hollywood yields stories of inspired collaborations and failed ones, true friendships with other actors and musicians, and good friends gone too soon. In The Billy Bob Tapes, he reflects on the critics, the culture around fame, and the challenges of conveying an artistic vision in film. Most striking is Billy's clear-eyed perspective about the magic of entertainment, and how we perceive it in a rapidly changing world. With passion, unvarnished honesty, wry humor, and a little help from friends Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall, Dwight Yoakam, Tom Epperson, and Daniel Lanois, Billy Bob finally talks.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (May 15, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780062101778
• ISBN-13: 978-0062101778
• ASIN: 0062101773
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It May 18, 2012

By C. Bloomfield

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Listening to Billy Bob Thornton speak makes me feel like I have been transported back to my childhood that was spent in the Mississippi Delta and the hills of Arkansas. The cadence of his speech and the colloquialisms that he uses when he speaks - like those rainbow colored sprinkles they put on ice cream cones - are soothing and familiar to me. This book is written so that it feels like you are sitting beside him on his screened-in front porch at his childhood Arkansas home, drinking a sweaty cold glass of sweet tea,listening to him quietly, but with that mischievous little smile, tell the story of his youth, and how he came to be Billy Bob. And I feel that I am, at last, home again.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It is awesome May 21, 2012

By Tammie Anderson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts as soon as I heard he had a book out. I have always liked him and his work and I feel he is as true as a person can be working in the entertainment biz these days. I grew up and still live in the deep South and I found myself nodding my head to some of the things he says and even laughing-out-loud for real! I wish I could someday meet him and just talk. I loved the part about the Snowdrift shortening, as I too grew up poor and we used that. This is a great read and I really enjoyed it. I think anyone who grew up in the South or without a middle-class family (ok I will say it, poor) will find tender moments in this work and you will love it. And those who didn't, well I think yall will love it too, becasue who couldn't love BBT?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A really interesting read.... May 25, 2012

By Barbara K. Palmdale, CA

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the first celebrity autobiography I have read. I usually would not waste my time, but something intrigued me about Billy Bob Thornton. I liked the way he told his life story like he was sitting with you and talking to you. At times he broke my heart with his childhood memories and how he struggled to even eat when first starting to make a name for himself. I loved his honesty...his weirdness. At times he was a little "out there" for me, but you have to give him kudos for never giving up his dream. He seems like an average guy who likes the simplier, real life, not a phony. I really enjoyed this book.