Tommy Lee Jones

Emmanuel Itier: How was it working with Coens?

Tommy Lee Jones: Fine. They are good guys.

EI: Is it true that you hesitated to accept this role?

TLJ: For a little while, not long.

EI: Why?

TLJ: I wasn’t sure, at first, how I could make it different from other things I had done.

EI: How did you make it different?

TLJ: My so called misgivings vaporized once I reminded myself we were working on one of Cormac McCarthy’s books with Joel and Ethan Coen and they were going to bring it to the screen. That’s nothing you want to pass up.

EI: Can you talk about your friendship with Cormac McCarthy?

TLJ: No, not really. He’s a good man. He’s a friend. We’ve had breakfast a few times in Santa Fe. He came to our house one night for dinner. I don’t know. The last conversation we had, he had figured what makes a ball curve. That’s the kinds of things he is willing to talk about.

EI: He’s not a reclusive anymore. He was on Oprah?
TLJ: Yeah, that surprised me.

EI: What attracted you to play this sheriff?

TLJ: What attracted me was that it was one of Cormac’s books. His language is wonderful. That was the most attractive thing.

EI: Were you familiar with the Coens?

TLJ: I had seen all their movies.

EI: What do you think of those?

TLJ: I like them all.

EI: Any favorites?

TLJ: Fargo and this one. My favorite is No Country for Old Men. I thought Fargo was a wonderful, well-shot, unpredictable movie. I thought Frances was magic. And I thought Bill Macy was amazing.

EI: Do you think they are similar, in a way?

TLJ: No… They are both in color.

EI: Can you turn the title around and ask who this country is for if it’s not for old men?

TLJ: I know that country. I was born there. I know several old men who are living there quite happily, and in ten or fifteen minutes, I expect to be one. I think the country that they refer to might be metaphorical rather than strictly geographic.

EI: What about all that violence?

TLJ: Personally, I think the book and the movie are contemplation of morality and the character of evil. The predator changes its face. The attitude is the face of goodness is constant, and the face of evil can change like that. I believe that’s what my character is facing–the changing of evil. He’s not used to all those drugs coming across the border and the horrible things it does to our children. He’s not used to the people who want to kill each other anytime, anywhere over the money that can be made. He feels overmatched. He says this to his uncle, who tells him that this is vanity. “It’s not about you, you don’t live at the center of the universe.” Then he tells him a story about his uncle who, a hundred years ago, was at his house in a remote part of the country and several people rode up and shot him on his porch and left him bleeding to death, and his wife helped him and they rode off. That looks to us…it could seem like a scene out of a third-rate western, but if you were there that day, it would look like real evil and feel like real evil, but it would have a different face. I think that occurs to the sheriff as the story goes on and he grows up. Regardless of the passage of time, he matures and becomes not so old.

EI: Have you ever been exposed to pure evil?

TLJ: I don’t think so. It depends on what kind of mood you’re in. I can remember, as a child, seeing cigarettes advertised on television.

EI: Did you ever smoke?

TLJ: No.

EI: Do you think the face of evil has changed in the last decade?

TLJ: I think it changes every few minutes. [Smiles]

EI: Do you feel like you’re old-school?

TLJ: I suppose in some ways I’m old fashioned and in some ways I’m radical.

EI: When do you feel like that?

TLJ: I don’t know, should I look at the watch?

EI: What is your radical side?

TLJ: I don’t want to talk about politics. It’s a private matter.

EI: Did you have a chance to spend some time with Javier on the set?

TLJ: Coming and going, not very much. He’s a very fine actor. I’d like to work with him one day.

EI: Have you seen any of his previous films?

TLJ: Oh yeah. He’s a marvelous actor.

EI: Are you impressed with the quality of the scripts going around these days?

TLJ: Not in every case!

EI: What kind of stuff are you offered these days?

TLJ: Kind of stuff… That’s impossible for me to answer because there is no “kind of stuff.” There are good screenplays and bad ones everywhere.

EI: Do you feel that Hollywood perceives you in a certain way when it comes to parts?

TLJ: I don’t know. Every actor wants to avoid typecasting. No, that’s not true. Some would love to be typecast. [Laughs] But many of us are able to avoid it.

EI: You also adapted one of McCarthy’s books to the screen.

TLJ: I was hired by Sony Studios to write a screenplay of it and I did, and it’s really quite good and I’d love to shoot it.

EI: Is there any chance that you could?

TLJ: You never say never.

EI: After this movie is a success…?

TLJ: I don’t think this movie is going to decide anybody’s fate.

EI: Do you ever pay attention the Oscar buzz around a film, like this one?

TLJ: No, only when somebody asks me about it. I don’t think about it. I like to hear that kind of talk, this sounds good. It’s better than bad talk, it’s good talk. Other than what I just said, I don’t have any thoughts.

EI: Do you think these two films are Oscar-worthy?

TLJ: It’s not my decision until I’ve got a ballot in front of me. Otherwise, it’s not a comfortable subject to talk about for me.

EI: Have you seen anything that has impressed you this year?

TLJ: I really enjoyed Freedom Writers and I enjoyed Things We Lost in the Fire. I liked Casey Affleck’s performance in the Jesse James movie. Overall, the movie may have fallen short off its mark. Casey did not.

EI: You said the Coen brothers were well-prepared. How can a director not be well prepared, I wonder?

TLJ: I wonder the same thing. How dare you come to work unready? But they do.

EI: How so? Just going with the flow?

TLJ: All directors are different. Really, my job is find out what they want to see and do everything possible to make them see it, and my job is a lot easier if they know what they want to see.

EI: So they have a vision from the beginning to the end?

TLJ: The preparation on a simple level. There are storyboards that are drawn out to show what different frames look like. I, as a director, use a lot of storyboards. Everything is storyboarded. I also have shot lists of what shots we are going to make that day, and I also have diagrams of every location that indicate where every camera is going to be and what lenses are going to be put on that camera. If you have all that material, everybody’s day is planned, everybody’s day goes smoother and less confusion. So a shot can build as all the people are going to work on it from a single mind. You get more work done and it goes more smoothly and it’s more coherent. People are happier and they do all the better work. That’s what people mean by preparation. Some directors go to a location and put the camera on the set, they will look through the viewfinder and start to try and find a shot. That’s a different way of life and it usually has a different result, not always favorable.

EI: Do you like to do few takes?

TLJ: If you’re the director, we’re going to do this until you get tired.

EI: How did you feel when you saw the movie?

TLJ: I thought it had some originality to it. I saw it last night again. I sat through the whole thing.

EI: Was it a difficult shoot in any way? Weather-wise…?

TLJ: No, I don’t remember it being really hot or cold.

EI: Cattle farming–you are breeding a new breed of cattle. Are you planning to branch out to other countries?

TLJ: No, the cattle we raise are called Brangus, which is a combination of Brahma and Angus. They are not registered cattle. It would be called a commercial cow calf operation, which goes to say we own mother cows and their product is their calves. Everything we do in terms of ranching centers around the mother cow. Everything we do for the mother cow centers around two things: 1) lactation–if we can keep her lactation at a maximum, then the calves are going to be happier and healthier and they’re going to gain more weight. Not to sound vulgar, the world evolves around her tits. So every decision we make has to do with lactation. The first thing we need to do is to keep her body condition score at a constant level, no matter how much rain there is and what the weather conditions are. The protein content of the grass depends on the season. I can talk about this until you go to sleep! We have to keep her protein intake at a constant level, which makes for a better calf, which is what we sell.

EI: How did being a Texan influence you as an actor and as a human being?

TLJ: I don’t know. Thirty-five years ago, it became apparent to me that I could live where I wanted to, and so I decided I could live at home. That’s what it means to me–it’s my home. Clearly it means more to other people, because I don’t hear anybody asking someone, “What’s it like to be from Ohio? What does it mean?” People ask me that. I don’t know the answer to that question. I live at home.

EI: Did you ever feel comfortable anywhere else?

TLJ: I lived in New York for seven years. I’m very comfortable in New York City. I lived in Los Angeles for about the same amount of time. I feel very much at home here. They are both an important part of our lives in our family.