“Landman” stars Jacob Lofland as Cooper Norris, the highly educated son of oilman Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) and his ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter). At the start of the series, Cooper drops out of Texas Tech to take a job on his father’s oil farms. It’s not going well. In the first episode of the series, Cooper is present during a disastrous oil explosion. Resentments grow and Cooper’s story quickly becomes complicated. He eventually learns to handle his new job, but he also discovers that his father’s business is connected to criminals and gangsters. “Landman” isn’t a particularly realistic series, and it can be a little confusing to follow at times — so much so that Lofland was forced to explain the Season 2 timeline in an interview.
“Landman” was a boon for Lofland’s career, however, as it was the latest in a long line of hit Paramount+ series developed by Taylor Sheridan (the creator of “Yellowstone” and its multiple spinoffs, as well as series like “Tulsa King” and “Mayor of Kingstown”). If you don’t watch Sheridan’s shows, your dad probably does. Before his entry into the Sheridan-verse, a teenage Lofland made his screen debut in “Mud,” a moody, textured 2012 drama directed by Jeff Nichols. The actor would later appear in the YA sci-fi films “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” and “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” as well as the western series “The Son” (aired from 2017 to 2019) and 10 episodes of the hit series “Justified.”
This brings us to “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The 2024 “Joker” sequel features Lofland in a small but pivotal role as Ricky Meline, an Arkham Asylum inmate who becomes involved with Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck… only to suffer a dark fate that leaves Arthur deeply unstable.
Jacob Lafland played a Joker fanboy in Joker: Folie à Deux
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is indeed a curious film. Because the first “Joker” was a billion-dollar box office hit, a sequel was inevitable, but the one directed by Todd Phillips was almost designed to deliberately alienate fans of the original film. Some may remember that “Joker” was released amidst a climate of concern. It was a clown-themed origin story for the famous Batman villain, but it also affected a dour, smoky tone taken from Martin Scorsese films like “The King of Comedy” and “Taxi Driver.” Before “Joker’s” release, some experts worried that it would worship the villain too much, making his incel-style insecurities and complaints seem valid to a generation of angry young internet users. “Joker” had some of those elements, to be fair, but it wasn’t the poem aimed at lonely, violent white men as some feared.
Regardless, “Folie à Deux” was apparently intended to demean anyone who bothered to admire Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur/Joker in the first film. Most of “Folie à Deux” is a legal drama where Arthur is put on trial for his crimes and misdeeds. He’s supposed to look as ridiculous and pathetic as possible. The only people who admire him are yes-men or violent buffoons… Ricky, an inmate at Jacob Lofland’s Arkham Asylum, being one of the people who admire Arthur. At the end of the film, when Arthur is mistreated by the Arkham guards, it is Ricky who stands up to defend him. For his troubles, Ricky is strangled to death by the guards.
Arthur thinks Ricky is one of the only “good” people around him, so his murder makes Arthur realize how far things have gone. Lofland’s screen time isn’t long, but his role is important.
