Demi Moore Takes Us Inside Shooting Cami's Epic Landman Premiere Speech: 'I Had So Much I Was Wrestling With'

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of "Landman." Proceed accordingly.

The cowboy hat-wearing oil financiers that showed up to MTex's luncheon in the "Landman" Season 2 premiere had no idea what was waiting for them.

Cami Miller's official debut as head of the oil company came via her delivery of a speech that left zero doubt about whether Monty's widow would be able to carry on in his stead. After a ladies' room run-in with younger women who sought to make her feel small and old, Cami emerged, stepped to the podium and delivered a scorching warning to the assembled bigwigs.

"The only difference between me and Monty is that I'm meaner," she said in closing. "Test me, and you'll find out how much. Enjoy your lunch. I paid for it with your f**king money." (Read a full premiere recap here.)

When the Paramount+ series' cast was in New York ahead of the premiere, I sat down with Demi Moore to discuss the making of Cami's fiery talk. As we chatted, Moore's 5-year-old, under 2-lb. Chihuahua, Pilaf (whom she sometimes calls "little mouse") snuggled on her lap; when we got to talking about Cami's big speech, Pilaf unexpectedly piped up. The pup knows quality!

Read on as Moore takes us inside the making of the empowering moment — and what it might mean for the rest of Season 2.

TVLINE | Grief is something that affects people on a cellular level. Cami has experienced a massive loss. Are you playing her differently this season because of that?
I only realized more now, in retrospect, looking back. Even though I was around for a season, in a way, I feel like... I'm just trying to catch up, in a way. I was really just finding her this season. I, at first, was really not entirely prepared for the grief part of it and just the depth of pain that I needed to touch into. I think in my mind, perhaps, before the scripts started to come in, I was thinking about the company part and what that was going to entail. And I definitely had a lot of, not resistance, but maybe more fear about having to go to that place.

TVLINE | And it's not like she can be alone at her house, grieving. There's business going on that she has to do and be and take part in.
But having to show up, and get out of yourself when it's — and there is a scene in another episode where we define the timeline, and it's not very long that she's lost him — and in particular this is not a loss of a relationship that wasn't a good one. This truly was the love of her life.

TVLINE | We know there's something Monty was hiding, we don't know what yet. He WAS the love of her life. She knew him so well. And yet this is a surprise to her, right?
There is a lot of unexpected... I think figuring out the ins and outs of how Monty worked, and perhaps stuff that he kept from everybody and just what that means for what she needs to do. One of the things Taylor talked a lot about was the importance for Cami in ensuring his legacy and that that was a real driving force. The way I looked at it was for her to lose the company would actually in some ways be really losing him.

TVLINE | I'm glad you brought that up, because there's that scene at the end of Season 1 where Tommy says, "You could sell this now, still have more money than God, and start a foundation and do great things," and she says, "No, I want to see this through." Do you think that's because of the legacy aspect?
I think for Cami, it's not about the money. It's about loss, loss of him. And so the way to hold onto him, to keep him alive, is to make sure that she doesn't step in and lose everything that they've built.

TVLINE | There's that moment in the premiere where Cami tells Tommy that she's not going to learn if she keeps deferring to him, and he tells her he'll handle the hard stuff for now. I watched that and I was like, "That's a little bit patronizing," even though he means well.
My first knee-jerk was exactly that: She's looking weak. And the truth is, he's actually protecting her. In a way, he's actually educating her in that moment by saying, "Trust me, they're going to go to you thinking that they can pull it over, so just let me in there." In a way, both things are existing. It might be patronizing to a degree, but it's also protective.

TVLINE | After she gives the speech at the luncheon, I'm #TeamCami, let's do this, we go at dawn!
[Laughs] I know! When I read that in the script, that last line was just, oh yeah. [Moore's dog, Pilaf, suddenly pops up on her lap and barks.] Oh, thank you, mouse. And there's still a lot of room for what Cami brings, of who she is in that speech, to still unfold.

TVLINE | How many takes did you do for that speech?
We did quite a few, because we also had a lot of different angles. But the main, we probably did seven, eight all in. It was a lot. Literally that was my first day of shooting back. And I needed to know it and in my mind I had so much I was wrestling with, which is I want to get the accent right and I want to represent these women authentically. The women — Taylor and his wife, Nic[ole Muirbrook], set it up for me to meet quite a few of these women, one in particular that experienced the loss of her husband. These are fierce women who embody a lot of femininity, unapologetically. So when Cami says "I'm meaner," I think it's because there's a fierceness to these women. And so, I hope I've made them proud.

TVLINE | How did that feel in your body when you knew you had the speech the way you wanted it?
First of all, I was relieved. But it was so fun, so juicy. His writing is really — I was talking to a friend who's an actress this morning, and we were talking about what a gift it is to work with such great material. Really smart writing, and just the difference of what that is. It just makes it so much easier.

What did you think of Cami's speech in the premiere? Hit the comments, and let us know!