Michelle Randolph Defends Landman’s Character “Sparking Conversation”

Michelle Randolph he knows Landman viewers are confused by her character Ainsley’s behavior – but she has no regrets about how she chose to play her.

“It’s hard not to be aware of that,” Randolph, 27, said The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday, December 22. “But I digress and the point is that I got the script. i read it. I had my moments, my thoughts.”

However, Randolph disagrees that Ainsley’s actions can be confusing. “Some of the things Ainsley says are shocking and there were times when I thought, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this,'” she admitted. “I want to find the most human version of this character that I can, and I’m working really hard on that.”

Despite the online backlash, Randolph notes that he’s sticking with what’s on the page.

“My work ended when I finished my last day on set and then I let her go. The show went off,” she continued. “I can’t tell people how to interpret my character, but at least it will spark a conversation.” And I’m really proud of the show we did.”

IN Landmanwho premiering on Paramount+ in november Billy Bob Thornton plays a corporate fixer for an oil titan (Jon Hamm). Set in West Texas, the drama has life and death at stake, but Thornton’s scenes with Randolph, who plays his 17-year-old daughter, have gone viral for moments like when she talks to her father about her sexual rules while walking around his house — which she shares with two men of a similar age — in bikinis and her underwear.

“I worked with a dialect coach, a movement coach and an acting coach and studied like crazy. I had almost a year to prepare for her,” Randolph told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday about her approach to Ainsley. “It was incredibly rewarding to sit with that character. I worked really hard to find ways to justify her behavior and make someone who doesn’t always seem like what a 17-year-old would say a full-fledged person, but people like that do exist.”

It first appears in Taylor Sheridan‘with 1923 seriesRandolph said Landman “requires 10 times more preparation” for her.

“I wanted to be very careful about the way Ainsley comes across. There’s only so much I can control, but you can also control a lot as an actor,” she shared. “And just having Ali (Larter) and Billy (Bob Thornton) and Jacob (Lofland) and being in Texas really helped make Ainsley the full person that he is. She has this loose essence about her and she’s wild and I loved every second of her.”

Randolph he called on the audience to give Ainsley room to grow and said: “She’s 17 and growing. I think it will get more than the audience will see. There are times when you realize he can be, not manipulative, but he knows how to play his father and also his mother. He knows how to get what he wants. He loves his family.”

She concluded, “She’s finding out who she is, meeting different peers and going to school. She’s not just the bratty young daughter; she is a person. We see 5 percent of who Ainsley is. Hopefully, as the show goes on, we’ll see who it is.”

New episodes Landman premiering Sunday on Paramount+