Me, Billy Barty and Sybil Danning.
This week I had the chance to see an advance screening of Ron Howard’s latest, The Missing. It’s a fabulous, edge of the seat thriller starring Kate Blanchet and Tommy Lee Jones. The film, which takes place in 1885, opens November 26th. I’ll post a full review closer to opening day, but wanted to share a bit about Tommy Lee Jones with you. Over thirty years, I’ve interviewed just about everyone in the entertainment business (big and small), and have found no one more difficult to interview than Jones. This isn’t just my opinion, all my fellow interviewers feel the same way. Everyone finds him surly and reticent. His answers are never more than one or two words, and one year at the Oscars, he almost bit my head off. I mean how upset can you get when someone asks how it feels to be going home with the Academy Award?
But there’s another side to Jones that reporters don’t often see. When Batman Forever was released in 1995 (in which he played Two-Face), we did an interview. As usual, I was desperately trying to get him to tell me something, anything, about his role in the movie. My son John was with me at the time and wanted Mr. Jone's autograph. I told him ahead of time it was very unlikely he would get it. Well, at the end of our one sided conversation, I thought “what the heck” and asked if he would sign a picture for my son. At that point, Tommy Lee Jones broke into a big smile, called him over and said, "Sure, what's your name?” They shook hands and he couldn't have been any nicer. I guess his character in "Batman Forever" could not have been better named.
Posted by Tush at November 13, 2003 02:19 PM