Thomas Haden Church and Rudy Pankow star in this well-crafted dramedy about Texas oil drillers.
More than a year before Landman kicked off its premiere season as Must-See TV on Paramount+, a comedy-drama then titled Chocolate Lizards — a much lighter and brighter tale of Texas oil-drillers — was already drawing attention on the film festival circuit. Indeed, it was voted the audience favorite at the 2023 Dallas International Film Festival, and received the 2023 Texas Independent Film Award from a Houston Film Critics Society jury.
In early 2024, nine months before the debut of Landman, Chocolate Lizards — by then retitled Accidental Texan — received limited theatrical release nationwide, then moved on to digital platforms. It’s still available for streaming, if you haven’t seen it yet, and want to catch up before you cast your ballot for the 8th annual C&I Movie Awards. (Accidental Texas is nominated in five categories, including Best Picture.) Or maybe you’d like to watch it again, to see if it’s really as good as you remember. Take our advice: On a second viewing, it’s even better.
As I noted in my review for Variety, director Mark Bristol’s Accidental Texan is “an unapologetically old-fashioned feel-good dramedy that, with a few minor tweaks, could pass as a newly rediscovered family-friendly feature from the mid-1970s.” Sure, it’s not nearly as dramatically intense (or uproariously foul-mouthed) as Landman, which recently concluded its ten-episode Season 1. But while you’re impatiently waiting for that show to return — and remember: it’s a Taylor Sheridan production, so you know Season 2 won’t arrive anytime soon — you can fill the void in your viewing schedule by spending quality time with another crew of risk-taking, rule-breaking roughnecks in the Lone Star State.
Rudy Pankow of Netflix’s Outer Banks stars as Erwin Vandeveer, a twentysomething Harvard dropout and budding actor who turns his first big break into a total disaster by failing to silence his cellphone before a dramatic movie scene, thereby triggering explosions of multiple squibs meant to indicate his being on the wrong end of gunplay. Fired on the spot, he drives from the New Orleans film location on his way home to Los Angeles, all the while avoiding calls from his father — who strongly disapproves of his son’s career move — and seriously questioning his future in showbiz.
Unfortunately, Erwin’s car breaks down in the small Texas town of Buffalo Gap, and he can’t afford the necessary repairs. Fortunately, he makes the acquaintance of Merle (Church), a veteran roughneck who proudly proclaims by way of introduction, “I punch holes in the earth like a badass.”
Trouble is, Merle’s oil-drilling outfit has been punching a lot of holes in the wrong places lately, and he’s on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to stave off foreclosure, he needs to supplement his crew with someone who’s a good enough actor to pass as a seasoned landman, in order to assure his creditors that he’s on the verge of striking black gold, and brainy enough to secure info about potentially oil-rich sites (like the one owned by a crotchety coot robustly played by Bruce Dern). In other words, Merle needs someone just like Erwin — who’s primed to make a comeback with the performance of a lifetime.

During an interview shortly before the theatrical release of Accidental Texan, Church told C&I that he was able to draw upon memories of real-life experiences while playing Merle.
“Like, you know that scene where I talk about punching holes in the earth like a badass?” Church said. “Well, I’ve got to tell you, that’s an improvised line. But I probably stole it from someone I used to work with. See, I grew up in South Texas around the oil industry, and I actually worked briefly in the oil field whenever I was about 17. I spent about six months working on a drilling rig and around the drilling rig, but I probably heard some drillers say that, and it just got buried in my brain and until I finally was able to use it.
“And yeah, as soon as I read that whole scene where Merle meets Erwin at the diner, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a guy that I need to play.’”
“I was immersed in the ranching and oil and gas industry, because you couldn't get away from it. In this movie, I drew from all of that.” — Thomas Haden Church
Why?
“Because Merle is really a throwback to 50 years ago, when I was a kid growing up in South Texas, and being around men that were exactly like Merle. Whether they were oil men, they were ranchers, they were farmers, they were oil field services, crew members, whatever — men that we went to church with, that my dad was friends with. I mean, I was immersed in the ranching and oil and gas industry, because you couldn't get away from it. In this movie, I drew from all of that.
“Like I say, Merle is really a throwback. And that’s why I wore the clothes I did. Those boots, that Wrangler khaki shirt, the hat — which is actually my hat, because I’ve been a rancher for 25 years.
“And so while reading the script, and seeing it was in West Texas around Abilene and Buffalo Gap, and knowing my brother has a ranch out there — the authenticity was just pouring out of it for me. And I was honored that they asked me, because they could have easily gotten Dennis Quaid or somebody else. Another Texan.”

Again, to quote my Variety review: “Church, a native Texan with real-life oilfield experience and his very own ranch in the Lone Star State, is especially convincing and compelling as he fully commits to his role, neatly balancing the wisdom and sadness that comes from years of chasing dreams that only sporadically come to fruition, and eloquently expressing a well-nigh inexhaustible drive that stops just short of desperation. And if he sometimes crosses that line, well, that’s probably just what you might expect Merle to do in his current situation.”
Sounds a bit like Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris in Landman, doesn’t it?
Church also found it easy to identify with Erwin’s early misadventures as an actor.
“The very first acting job got was a thing in Dallas,” Church said. “After that experience, I moved to L.A. But I got fired early on from my very first role out there, which was a tiny independent film that nobody ever saw, and I don’t even know if it ever came out in any format. And then I got signed for a show that was a critical and commercial success, a TV series called China Beach. I got hired on that show for 10 episodes to be Dana Delany’s love interest. But I got fired after the first episode for something that was an accident, but somebody didn’t take kindly to it, and I was gone.
“So in that way, yes, I can relate to what Erwin went through, because it was a deeply wounding experience. Thank God I recovered from it very quickly. I was cast in Cheers literally the next week, which led to a series called Wings, which I did for six years.”
And the hits have just kept on coming. Other notable credits on Church’s resume: Sideways, the 2004 Alexander Payne-directed comedy-drama for which he received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor; Broken Trail (2006), the two-part 2006 western miniseries co-starring Robert Duvall; and Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which cast him as the villainous Sandman.
“But yes, Erwin’s misfortune was familiar to me, and I think that that’s at the heart of our story. Merle wants to help him not only move past that, but be emboldened by what we do together. And, of course, Errin helps my character spiritually and emotionally heal from the loss of my son. I think that’s what’s great, that’s what the feel-good message at the end of the film is: Everybody’s moving forward in a very hopeful life-affirming way.”