Billy Bob Thornton on 'Goliath': 'I Play It As If It's Me'

Was there a certain point in life where you decided to start taking better care of yourself?

Probably when my wife [special effects artist Connie Angland, 53] and I had our daughter, Bella, who’s 14 in September. When you have a daughter at my age, you're a parent, you're a grandparent — you're everything. But I've actually been eating well since the ‘90s, because I'm allergic to wheat and dairy. I'm a vegan who cheats — that's what I call myself.

Your mother, Virginia, was a psychic who partly inspired Cate Blanchett’s character in the paranormal thriller you cowrote , The Gift [2000], and your father, William, was a high school teacher. What did you get from them?

My dad was one of those hard-ass coach types and a Korean War veteran. He didn't want me to take piano lessons. We didn't have much money, and he thought that piano was for sissies. One of the great regrets of my life is that I don't play piano . He taught me how to physically defend myself. But I was a mama's boy. I could trace everything I do that's decent back to my mother. She was a dreamer and a very artistic-minded person who encouraged me in the arts. She only passed away this past year, in July. She had Alzheimer's.

That's rough.

Really rough. My father died at 44, cancer. But my mom lived to 83. She had a great life. She even spoke at medical conventions on parapsychology.

Goliath is very noirish, and you’re a film noir fan, right?

I'm a big Bogart guy. And Robert Mitchum. One of my favorite movies I ever did was The Man Who Wasn't There by the Coen Brothers. And I’ve always liked really good law movies, too.

Are you a romantic?

Absolutely, all my life. Which seems odd for someone who's been married so much [six times, once to Angelina Jolie]. But every woman I was with — even if it was for a couple of days or six months or two years — for that time, I was in love. You know what I mean?

What’s your personal style these days?

Kind of what it's been since I was a teenager, other than I had long hair then. I’m kind of bony, so I usually buy my jeans in the women's Levi department or at Old Navy. Men's jeans are usually too baggy on me. I wear a women's size 4 or 6.

During his long and successful career, Thornton has won several awards for his acting, including a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

You just filmed A Million Little Pieces, based on James Frey’s controversial addiction memoir.

I play an older guy, Leonard, who takes the main character (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) under his wing in rehab. He's a Vegas fringe mobster, and it's the campiest role I've ever done. The wardrobe is pretty spectacular. The book had its controversies because [Frey] made a lot of it up. And the movie [directed by Aaron's wife, Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson] takes the story even further, so people will just have to watch it as its own thing.

Your very first screen character, in Hunter’s Blood [1986], was named Billy Bob. What would you like your last screen character to be named?

Ah, Charles de Gaulle. That way I'll live  forever,  because I know they'll never cast me as Charles de Gaulle!