The ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ actor joined Taylor Sheridan’s Western drama during its season 1 finale as Gallino, a powerful cartel boss
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NEED TO KNOW
- Andy Garcia reveals the moment he first met Landman costar, Sam Elliott
- During a Landman cast panel at the Newport Beach TV Festival on June 6, Garcia recalled the hilarious moment, calling it “a beautiful sight”
- Landman seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Paramount+, with its third season set to release in November
Andy Garcia had the perfect first impression of his Landman costar Sam Elliott.
The cast of Taylor Sheridan's Western drama came together at the Newport Beach TV Festival in Orange County, California, on June 6, to talk all things Landman. In a panel, alongside Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, and Michelle Randolph, Garcia, 70, recalled the “beautiful” moment he met Elliott, 81.
“The first time I saw Sam at the hotel, he was sitting alone in the restaurant nursing a martini,” he shared. “Totally at peace.”
“I walked over, introduced myself, and invited him to join us for dinner,” Garcia continued. “That was my introduction to Sam. It was a beautiful sight.”
Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty
The Ocean's Eleven actor brought up his first encounter with Elliott while the cast was discussing who breaks character the most while filming Landman. Thornton, 70, assured that Elliott “doesn't get the giggles,” but instead he'll “mutter something under his breath that makes me laugh” when he breaks character.
On the other hand, Randolph, 28, confessed that she and Thornton are the ones who often catch a case of the giggles. “Definitely us,” she said. “There are so many dinner scenes where we all break at the exact same time. I desperately want the blooper footage.”
“Sometimes Michelle and I read a scene and just look at each other like, ‘How are we going to pull this off?' ” Thornton explained. “We have to do so many absurd things, you know? Flashing room service workers, hiding under tables. Everybody breaks eventually.”
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Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Garcia joined the cast of the Paramount+ series in the season 1 finale as Gallino, a powerful cartel boss who spared the life of Thornton's Tommy. In an interview with Variety, The Untouchables star revealed that Sheridan had written the role specifically for him.
“When he approached me, he hadn't written the part yet,” Garcia told the outlet. “He met with me and said, ‘I'd like to create this part for you.' He was a fan of a movie I did many years ago called Eight Million Ways to Die, and I played this crazy young drug guy, and he killed people.”
“I think he understood it based on the work he had seen me do over the years, and what he had felt was my voice, my persona,” he added.
“The thing you look for always is great writing, a great cast, great direction,” he said. “This thing checked all those boxes. Absolutely.”
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the red carpet of the Newport Beach TV Fest, Garcia noted that being a part of Landman and working with the “sublime” cast has been a “joy.”
“It was a sublime group of people,” Garcia continued. “We're really privileged to be a part of it.”
Landman seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Paramount+, with its third season set to release in November.
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