Tommy Lee JOnes Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The legendary Helen Mirren may once again be serving crown and country as Queen Elizabeth II. WENN is reporting that Mirren is being called upon to play the once and current queen in Mother: The Indira Ghandi Story, a biopic about the Indian prime minister who was asassinated in 1984.

Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones are also reportedly in talks to play Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively, while Emily Watson is attached to play the formidable Margaret Thatcher. Director Krishna Shah calls it "the project of my life" so one hopes this could actually come together for him with this kind of cast. The film is scheduled to be released in 2010, which seems a bit too optimistic with so many schedules to coordinate, but we'll see.

Obviously, this should be filed firmly under "rumor," but it's an intriguing prospect. Indira Ghandi is certainly long overdue for a biopic, and the cast would be fantastic. It would be fascinating to see Mirren go back and play a younger Queen Elizabeth II, even for just a small part in a larger historical picture. Besides, with Michael Sheen doing triple duty as Prime Minister Tony Blair, it seems very appropriate that his onscreen monarch get another shot at the throne.

A mere month ago, it seemed like Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer was set for a top notch adaptation thanks to the arrival of Tommy Lee Jones. Jones was interested in directing and costarring in the film, which gave us all hope that he could help makeover Matthew McConaughey into something serious and shirt wearing. But alas, it's not to be. Variety reports that Jones has departed The Lincoln Lawyer, leaving it idling and spitting fumes.

Jones departed for that vague and all-encompassing reason "creative differences." Variety reports that he had issues with John Romano's script, and neither Jones nor Lakeshore Entertainment were willing to budge. The studio is currently on the hunt for a new director, and hopes to be shooting by spring.

So, feel free to speculate on just what script issues there might have been. I know we have some Connelly fans who were looking forward to this, and who know more about the book than I do. Given that it is a star vehicle for McConaughey, and the character is a bit of a legal freewheeler, I wonder if the script is more of a comedic departure from the book. We've cracked a lot of jokes about bongo drums and shirtlessness, but could that actually have been what Jones departed over? It's sleazy and easy to jump to that conclusion, and I can't really believe a Connelly book could be adapted into Fool's Gold. But this is Hollywood. Stranger things have happened.

I don't think there's enough Tommy Lee Jones on cinema screens, and I'm not alone in hoping he'd jump right back behind the camera again after his 2005 debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. But it looks like he's going back behind the camera, as Variety reports that he's in talks to direct and costar in The Lincoln Lawyer.

At first glance, The Lincoln Lawyer might be a startling choice for Jones' next directing foray because it would appear to be Matthew McConaughey's attempt at a serious makeover. McConaughey is set to play Mickey Haller, a aimless lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln, and defends low rent criminals. One shiny day, he ends up with a case defending a Beverly Hills playboy against a murder charge, but it isn't all easy peasy and high paychecks. It's a Michael Connelly book, after all. Look elsewhere for bongo drums and shirtlessness. If it actually threatens to bubble over, just trust that stern glare of Jones to nip it in the bud.

No one knows what role Jones is interested in playing. Variety notes that "the playboy character" is the most logical choice for his stature, but Connelly's book paints him as younger and more hard-partying. They may rewrite it, or Jones may be eying a smaller part and spending most of his time behind the camera. It might take all his energy just trying to remind us of the days when McConaughey was just that Young Turk in A Time to Kill, and not the running gag of the gossip scene.

In the last several weeks, "Shelf Life" columns have examined venerated films from different genres or filmographies that were tangentially if not directly related to the week's new releases: Carrie in anticipation of Jennifer's Body, Dawn of the Dead before Zombieland, and so on. This week, we're looking ahead at a future Blu-ray release, next week's Natural Born Killers, because, quite frankly, who's seen this thing in the last decade?

That of course isn't to say it's not still an incendiary classic, but in retrospect, Oliver Stone's treatise on media savagery feels like both a product of its time and a random blitz of imagery that has since dulled our perceptions of (and reactions to) the film's overall effect. But then again, it just might have been ahead of its time, or maybe just a misunderstood romance, or some other unholy beast that looks a lot different 15 years after it debuted in theaters. As such, Stone's Natural Born Killers is the subject of this week's "Shelf Life."

So many comedians don't really play well with others. They're mostly scene-stealers with little regard for anyone who gets in their way. So it's always a treat to find some that click together. If they click, their connection usually passes on to the audience. Two mega-comedians, Adam Sandler & Seth Rogen, team up for the first time in this week's Funny People. It remains to be seen just what kind of chemistry they'll have, or if it deserves to be repeated, but in any case, it's a good time to revisit some of cinema's greatest comedy team-ups. [Note: I thought I would stay modern and therefore exclude Martin & Lewis, Laurel & Hardy, Fields & West, Abbott & Costello, Hepburn & Grant, Hepburn & Tracy, etc. Just because it goes without saying.]

In last year's Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones played a weary sheriff chasing after a man who was chasing after some money. Well, according to the San Antonio Express-News, Jones is now himself a weary man chasing after some money, specifically from the pockets of Paramount.

It appears that a contract signed by Jones between Paramount and its subsidiary, N.M. Classics, Inc. contained two "mistakes" that may have prevented him from garnering up to, and perhaps upwards of, $10 million in the wake of the film's success. What's worse is that he was still deducted for any number of expenses, despite alleged awareness of the errors on the part of Paramount. As such, Jones wants an auditor to go through their books and figure out just how much he is owed.

Naturally, neither side of the case has made much in terms of formal comment. As his character might say, if this ain't a mess, it'll do 'til the mess gets here.

[Thanks to Movie City News for the tip.]

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters tells the true story of a Nazi plot to flood the US and UK with forged currency, using concentration camp prisoners to do the dirty deeds. Christopher Campbell thought it was "not quite a great film," while Kim Voynar wrote: "At its core, this is a film about courage and morality." Critical consensus overall was 94% positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The DVD includes an audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes, a "making of," interviews, and more. The film is also available on Blu-ray.

Set some two decades after the events in The Counterfeiters, the much lighter, sentimental My Brother is an Only Child "follows two brothers through years of Italian history," wrote James Rocchi. Though comparisons to the more ambitious and effective period family drama The Best of Youth might be inevitable, James said My Brother is still "a handsomely made, brightly charming pleasure in its own right." The DVD appears to be a bare-bones edition without any extras.

First broadcast on network television in November 1982, The Executioner's Song left a very strong impression on me. Career criminal Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones in a powerful performance) tries to go straight, taking up with young Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette in a startling, sexy, star-making role) before returning to crime and eventually killing two people in brutal fashion. Sentenced to die, Gilmore insisted on paying the ultimate penalty as speedily as possible.

Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown. I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb..

Okay, sorry. I couldn't resist. Like Ryan back in January, I had to start this with a little "Islands in the Stream," Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers style. (Btw: Did you know it was written by the Bee Gees?) Anyhow, back in January, we learned that Tommy Lee Jones was circling a new adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's first posthumous novel, Islands in the Stream. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jones has signed on to adapt, direct, produce, and star in the project, which will be presented to buyers at Cannes.

Stream follows an American painter, Thomas Hudson, tucked away in the Bahamas. Through three acts, the reader is introduced to Hudson's life, from the arrival of his sons to his island getaway, to alcoholism and naval reconnaissance during WWII, to Hudson's desire to pursue a ship of German soldiers who killed an entire village. At one point, there was also a fourth part, but it was removed and became the epically popular The Old Man and the Sea.

So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).