Tommy Lee Jones Plans to Direct 'Islands in the Stream'
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Scripts, Politics, Remakes and Sequels, War
No, it won't be a movie based on the duet between Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It will be a movie version of the Ernest Hemingway novel, posthumously published in 1970, about an American painter who lives the quiet life in the Bahamas and ends up getting entangled in some naval activities-adventures at the tail end of World War II. The book has already been filmed once, in 1977, with George C. Scott in the pivotal role but that version wasn't well-received. Tommy Lee Jones tells The Telegraph in a new interview that this project is likely to be his directing follow-up to 2005's very well-received The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Jones says of the project "In the 1970s it was made into a bad movie. I reckon there's a good movie in that book and that's the one I want to make." The actor-director is currently at work on a script for the film, but offered no other details about how far along in the process he is.
The interview also contains some other interesting tidbits, such as Jones' assertion that his character in In the Valley of Elah is intensely dislikeable. "I was really interested in the more disgusting aspects of the man," Jones says. "Old Hank is the kind of character that I, personally, would dismiss. He's certainly ethnocentric and blindly, unquestioningly patriotic. I looked upon him as typical of the sort of person who can be led by the nose by jingoistic headlines into a fraudulent war." He also gets into the subject of No Country for Old Men and how he approaches acting and working with directors -- all in all it's a pretty interesting read.










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-12-2008 @ 12:39PM
Chuck said...
I checked out the George C Scott version and I have to admit that I actually liked it. I definately would welcome a remake however.
Reply
1-14-2008 @ 3:05PM
Salamndstron said...
This seems to be a bit stupid
Reply
1-14-2008 @ 3:06PM
Salamndstron said...
ohh and he didnt even get me any good points on www.starvsstar.com
Reply