People Describe What It's Like To Work With Tommy Lee Jones
- Photo: Batman Forever / Warner Bros. Pictures
The filming of Batman Forever was notoriously fraught. Even before the cameras started rolling, the casting process was a nightmare for director Joel Schumacher. While the film ultimately did well at the box office, things weren't quite harmonious on the set.
Jim Carrey says Tommy Lee Jones wasn't a fan of his, and the notoriously gruff actor didn't mince words about it. While speaking with Howard Stern, Carrey described his first meeting with Jones:
I was really looking forward to working with Tommy because he was a fantastic actor, and he still is... But he was a little crusty... I think he was just a little freaked out because Dumb and Dumber had come out on the same weekend as Cobb, and Cobb was his big swing for the fences - pardon the pun. And that didn't work out, and it freaked him out... I walked into a restaurant the night before our big scene in the Riddler's lair... I went up to say hi and the blood drained from his face in such a way that I realized that I had become the face of his pain or something. And he got kind of shaking and hugged me and said, "I hate you. I really don't like you." And I was like, "Wow, okay, what's going on, man?" And he said, "I cannot sanction your buffoonery."
- Photo: Men in Black / Sony Pictures Releasing
While many actors and directors tell stories of how difficult it can be to work with Jones, Will Smith says there's a different side of the actor that comes out on set. In fact, he thinks the negative view of Jones is due to how he interacts with the press.
Shortly after filming Men in Black together, Smith gave an interview where he revealed just how fun Jones can be:
You know, I think that difficulty is a press thing... We had a great time. Barry Sonnenfeld claims to be the best shoe kicker in the world. He claims that he can put his shoe on the toe of his foot and kick it accurately anywhere within 30 yards. So one day, we set up a trash can. And Barry's kicking for an hour, nowhere near this trash can. Tommy Lee Jones walks on the set - never opens his mouth - he kinda observes what Barry's doing, pulls his shoe off onto the toe of his foot, kicks it 30 yards into the trash can, and says, "Good morning, y'all. One of y'all wanna get that shoe for me, please?"
- Photo: Andrew Toth / Getty Images
Josh Brolin worked with Jones on No Country for Old Men before jumping into the Men in Black universe for the franchise's third film. For that movie, he actually had to play a younger version of Jones's character, which taught Brolin a lot about the stern actor.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the process, Brolin shed some light on what it's like to be around Jones:
The ambiance that Tommy creates on a set is just unparalleled. The tension is f*cking amazing. I just found it fascinating. I grew up with a lot of cowboys, so it doesn’t affect me as deeply as it would the urban norm. I just laugh at it. But it’s still uncomfortable. That’s his genius: "How can I make this the most uncomfortable moment anybody has ever had in the world?" There’s no way he’s thinking it - it’s just intrinsic.
- Photo: DFree / Shutterstock.com
Some people just don't have a filter or bother with social niceties. While this can understandably upset people, the discomfort of others is unlikely to change this mindset. Case in point: Tommy Lee Jones is known for being off-putting, mostly due to his candor. Sally Field had worked with Jones before, but while promoting their film Lincoln, she explained what makes Jones come off the way he does.
Field spoke with Entertainment Weekly about Jones's reputation, and she, for one, didn't seem bothered by the actor's attitude:
It is eccentric. And it’s a true, real thing. He is who he is. I guess it comes off gruff. It is gruff. He’s not looking to be liked, and he’s not looking to be politically correct. And so he’s just the absolute most honest, funny, direct thing.
- Photo: The Homesman / Roadside Attractions/Saban Films
As a cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto has worked with a lot of actors and directors. He's also worked with two actor-directors: Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. While promoting The Homesman (directed by and starring Jones), Prieto was asked by IndieWire about the unique traits actors bring to the director's chair.
When it came to both performers, Prieto praised them for understanding cinema from both sides of the camera. As for Jones specifically, Prieto marveled at how he approached helming a film:
[Affleck and Jones] really understand the medium and they know exactly how to choose and dissect through cinema. Not only with the performance and all of that, but they really - both of them - understand sound, editing, cinematography.... And Tommy Lee was very specific and very keen to shoot this in a very minimalist way. So he was very interested as well in the use of color and composition. He knew the style he was after and it was really fun and interesting to come up with the way we were [filming] this movie with Tommy Lee.
- Photo: Suburbicon / Paramount Pictures
When Matt Damon was a struggling actor, Jones helped give him the break and - most importantly - the funding he needed to continue work on Good Will Hunting, which catapulted Damon and Ben Affleck into A-list status as both actors and writers.
As a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2016, Matt Damon revealed just how much he owes his prestigious career to Jones:
You know, Tommy Lee gave me a job, 20-something years ago, the first thing that he ever directed, it was this little cable TV movie he did. And I was out of money, and Ben and Casey and I were living together in LA, and that paid me $20,000. I'll never forget him for that. He doesn't even know that, I don't think.
Director Michael Apted worked with Jones early on. After a decade of smaller roles, Jones was cast by Apted for his 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter, the story of country legend Loretta Lynn. Jones played Lynn's husband in the film, earning his first Golden Globe nomination as a result.
Speaking with The Washington Post, Apted revealed that he thinks most people misjudge Jones:
He's not an easy man at all. There's a nervousness there, a kind of defensiveness. There are ways, as you know, to break it out. Tommy is a very smart man. I think where people make their mistake is treating him like a redneck.
- Photo: Everett Collection / Shutterstock
Though Jones's brusque demeanor may be hard to handle for some, many people have described the humor and kindness underneath the unfiltered facade. Hilary Swank worked with Jones on The Homesman, a Western both directed by and starring Jones.
When Movie Nation asked about Jones's ornery reputation, Swank said there's more to him than most realize:
He has this great sense of humor, and it comes across in his performances in the odd cadence he uses to deliver a funny line. There’s a little laugh in there that he’s half-hiding... And that’s him as a director, too.
- Photo: The Sunset Limited / HBO
When it comes to actors with larger-than-life reputations, Jones is only topped by a few performers. One of them is definitely Samuel L. Jackson, who worked alongside Jones on The Sunset Limited, based on the Cormac McCarthy play of the same name.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly for their rundown of Tommy Lee Jones and his singular nature, Jackson reaffirmed what many have said before - Jones is funnier than he lets on:
The Tommy Lee Jones you meet in person is intelligent, honest, earnest, and probably a lot funnier than you would imagine him to be. I’ve seen people come out of a room with Tommy Lee and their hair’s standing on end, because he just won’t let you ask him a stupid question.
- Photo: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock
Director and writer Oliver Stone has worked with Jones on a number of occasions - most notably, in both Natural Born Killers and JFK.
When The Washington Post did a rundown on the actor and how he's viewed in Hollywood, Stone made it clear that Jones is the real deal:
He is definitely the kind of man who would have ridden with Sam Houston to the Alamo. He is very strong in his beliefs, fierce and close to the land.
- Photo: An Inconvenient Sequel / Paramount Pictures
While it's no surprise that actors and directors have plenty of stories about working with Jones, not many realize that at least one politician has intimate knowledge of the performer. While attending Harvard, Jones shared a room with Al Gore Jr., the future senator and vice president.
When The Washington Post asked the man behind An Inconvenient Truth about living with Jones, Gore had nothing but kind things to say:
Tommy has an unerring sense for the poetry of life that is not apparent to someone who simply sees a taciturn man who doesn't necessarily pour out his heart to everyone who asks a question.
- Photo: Web Summit / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
When you think of words that best describe Jones, "gruff," "stern," and "intense" likely come to mind. But what about "goofy?" Time and again, those closest to Jones have detailed his surprising sense of humor. Barry Sonnenfeld shed light on another endearing side of Jones.
Sonnenfeld directed Jones in three Men in Black films, and he claims the crew had a tough time whenever the actor had to deal with a prop from the movie:
Tommy is like a really big, goofy kid in that he constantly is breaking everything, every prop... I remember the prop guy saying, "Dear Lord," whenever Tommy had the Neuralizer because we knew that he was going to break it.
