‘I’ve carried 2 babies so I think if you still want to see it let’s go’

For Ali Larter, who takes on the role of Billy Bob Thornton’s larger-than-life ex in the Paramount+ series Farmer was “a high-pressure situation.”

“This is not a pitch, you know,” the actress told Yahoo Entertainment. “I’m working with an Oscar winner, the cast is a bunch of GOATS. I mean, our crew is the best working in the business. So I put a lot of pressure on myself for that.”

Farmer will premiere on November 17 and was co-created by Yellowstone executive producer Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, based on Wallace’s podcast Boomtown. The series explores West Texas oil towns and the billionaires and so-called roughnecks who help fuel the economy.

Thornton stars as the titular farmer, who juggles the needs of a billionaire oil company executive played by Jon Hamm, and the rig workers who sometimes risk their lives as part of a day’s work.

Larter stars as Angela, Thornton’s “passionate and hot-tempered” ex-wife and mother of his two children. She has since remarried, but is trying to woo him back.

The New Jersey-born actress said that in addition to working with a dialect coach for six months to perfect her West Texas accent, as well as working with an acting coach, she also had to work on “physically getting myself so I felt confident to strut in a bikini.”

While Larter shot her iconic whipped cream bikini scene in the 1999 film Varsity Blues — coincidentally about a Texas town also produced by Paramount — she said that intimacy on location is “horribly uncomfortable.”

“It’s terrible,” Larter said. “I wouldn’t even say it’s easier when you’re 19.”

Before Farmerthe mother of two embraced awkwardness while also acknowledging where she is in her life.

“You know, at this point I’ve been carrying two babies,” she said, “so I think if you still want to see it, let’s go.”

What also helped, according to the actress, was having an “amazing” intimacy coordinator on set during revealing scenes with her and Thornton.

“She’s there with us all the time,” Larter said. “They shut down the sets.”

Even with the intimacy coordinator’s guidance and support, Larter said she doesn’t think intimacy at the site “will ever get easier.”

“I just feel like this was very warranted in the character and this is who (Sheridan) wrote, so I wanted to be able to go there for that. And I wanted to feel confident going into it,” she explained.

Larter also praised Sheridan, director Stephen Kay and Thornton for creating a safe environment on set.

“I love being able to play someone who was kind of provocative and could also show herself to be so vulnerable and raw,” she said. “You have to hold on for dear life when you see Angela.”

That mix was something Larter embraced in her character, but she told Yahoo Entertainment that Sheridan began creating elements of Angela for her as well.

“The great thing about Taylor is that he starts writing for his actors,” she said. “I think it’s really special – when someone writes to you, there are moments that are close to the vest, which is pretty good. So I love that.”

She is not alone. Thornton told Yahoo Entertainment that Sheridan wrote Farmer with the actor in mind. He also said that his most fun scenes to shoot involved Larter and his on-screen family.

“What’s fun? Define fun,” Larter joked. “My character is having fun and I’m in a state of terror all the time.”

The first 2 episodes of Farmer start streaming November 17 on Paramount+.