Billy Bob Thornton 'beaten up' by disappointing movie

Billy Bob Thornton was very disappointed with the finished movie version of his 2000 screenplay 'All the Pretty Horses'.

Billy Bob Thornton was "so beaten up" after he directed 'All the Pretty Horses'.

The 56-year-old actor - who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar after he wrote and directed 'Sling Blade' in 1996 - admitted while his 2000 adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel was supposed to be a successful follow up, he ended up being "so disappointed" with the finished film and it almost put him off directing for good.

He said: "I was so beaten up over that experience, and so disappointed, that I didn't want to have that happen again until I was in a position that my original vision could be seen by people."

Billy Bob didn't realise how "little control" he would have over the finished version of 'All the Pretty Horses', which resulted in a third of the movie's running time being cut and Daniel Lanois' original score being dropped.

Billy Bob added: "I didn't realise how little control you have over what the finished thing is. So if you say: here's and epic movie about the end of the west, and we'll take 42 minutes of essential stuff out so it can be under two hours to get more screenings in theatres.

"And advertise it as a love story, which it wasn't. And then to take Daniel Lanois' haunting score out of it, because it was too sparse."