Billy Bob Thornton appeared in a modern western neo-noir crime thriller film.
A Simple Plan is a 1998 American neo-noir crime thriller film adapted by Scott B. Smith from his 1993 novel of the same name . Billy Bob Thornton . He appeared in several major film roles in the 1990s following Sling Blade , including Oliver Stone 's neo-noir U Turn ( 1997 ) , political drama Primary Colors ( 1998 ) , science fiction disaster film Armageddon ( 1998 ) , which was the highest-grossing film of that year , and the crime drama A Simple Plan ( 1998 ) , which earned him his third Academy Awards nomination . U Turn is a 1997 modern western neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Oliver Stone , and based on the book Stray Dogs by John Ridley .