Thornton said he was approached to play Norman Osborn, aka Green Goblin, in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man.” Years later, he was up for the role of the villain in “Mission: Impossible 3.”

Billy Bob Thornton has been in a lot of big movies and TV shows over the years, but apparently the actor could have played two iconic movie villains. The actor shared why he turned down being in one of the best Spider-Man movies and being an adversary to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt for rather practical personal reasons.

Impossible” villain role, he explained, “And with ‘Mission: Impossible III,’ I didn’t want to be the guy trying to kill Tom Cruise.

Billy Bob Thornton is more than happy to play a foul-mouthed Santa (“Bad Santa”) or a high school football coach (“Friday Night Lights”) or a NASA scientist (“Armageddon”), but one thing he won’t do on the big screen is kill Tom Cruise.

Billy Bob Thornton recently revealed a couple of big roles that he turned down for some high-profile movies. While a guest on The Playlist’s “Bingeworthy” podcast , the actor talked about rejecting th

Billy Bob Thornton has told how he rejected two high-profile movie villain parts, in 'Mission: Impossible III' and 'Spider-Man', because he doesn't like to portray a "bad guy in a big movie".

Billy Bob Thornton isn’t interested in villain roles and he’s turned down two huge jobs to prove it, he revealed on a new episode of The Playlist’s “Bingeworthy” podcast. “I don’t have much interest in those kinds of roles,

Billy Bob Thornton has starred in plenty of action films throughout his career, but when it came to becoming a part of Mission: Impossible, one of the most beloved action series of all time, the Landman star wasn't interested only because of the character he would play.

Billy Bob Thornton explains why he didn't take villainous roles in Spider-Man and Mission Impossible 3, saying "audiences remember it forever." Since the late 1990s, the actor has been known for playing complex,