Josh Lucas Says That Throughout His Career His Good Looks Often Got Him Dismissed in Hollywood

Josh Lucas is best known for his roles in Sweet Home Alabama, Glory Road, Ford v Ferrari, Yellowstone, and most recently the series Palm Royale. The guy is a great actor, and is clearly easy on the eyes, but he says that has not always been the leg up in Hollywood that you’d think it would be.

Lucas told Chloë Sevigny in a conversation for Vanity Fair:

“I was thoroughly dismissed for it, frankly. It was like, ‘Oh, you’re an LA TV guy. You’re a pretty boy LA TV guy.’ I couldn’t break through that door. And then it’s frankly always been a bit of a, ‘Oh, you’re a Sweet Home Alabama guy.’

I consciously—and probably did very difficult damage to my career—was trying so hard to fight against that. I did a thousand independent movies that nobody saw. I tried to be Sean Penn in all of them.”

He went on to say:

“It’s funny to now go to [Palm Royale] and have people be like, ‘Oh, you’re funny!' I can’t tell you how much I yearned for years to go back and do that. It’s actually the place I think is the most interesting and rewarding and difficult from an acting standpoint.”

In Apple’s Palm Royale, Lucas plays Douglas Darby Dellacorte-Simmons, the black sheep of a high-society family who is supposedly the only heir to grand dame Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett).

In March, Lucas told Deadline that “as far as he knows,” he will be reprising his role as a young John Dutton on Yellowstone, which has returned to production.

The second half of season 5 will premiere on Paramount Network in November. Lucas said, “I did text Taylor [Sheridan] a couple of months back and said, ‘hey man, I’ve loved working on the show so much.’ He’s like, ‘well we’ll be back.’”

It’s hard to feel bad for the guy who’s just too darn good looking to get the roles he’s after in Hollywood. But I am glad that he is finally getting the recognition he deserves.