Just Like in Reel Life
Director-actor Tommy Lee Jones discusses the women of The Homesman
Tommy Lee Jones has been an unforgettable presence on the screen for years, acting in films that are milestones in cinema. Since his screen debut in the 1970 classic Love Story, Jones has appeared in iconic films like Natural Born Killers, Men in Black, No Country for Old Men and, recently, Lincoln. He’s also a four-time Academy Award nominee—including his Best Supporting Actor win for 1993’s The Fugitive.
In recent years, Jones has stepped behind the camera. His directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2005. With his second venture, The Homesman—now in limited release—Jones also stars and co-writes along with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver.
Based on Glendon Swarthout’s novel of the same name, the film focuses on the female struggle during America’s western expansion circa the mid-19th century. Hilary Swank stars as Mary Bee Cuddy, an independent, pious woman living on the Nebraskan plains. When three local townswomen are driven mad by the harsh environment, Cuddy volunteers to take them to safety and care in Iowa. By covered wagon—and with the help of a drifter, George Briggs (Jones)—Cuddy embarks on a journey to save both the women and herself, throughout which she faces immense physical and psychological challenges. The film also boasts an incredible supporting cast with John Lithgow, Meryl Streep, Miranda Otto, Grace Gummer and James Spader.
Paste sat down with Jones this week in L.A. to discuss the many hats he wore during production of The Homesman. We chatted about the process of working with his two writers, being on set as both an actor and director, and the themes of intimacy and isolation that run throughout the film.
Paste: It’s always nice to meet a fellow Texan. Do you live there?
Tommy Lee Jones: We have a house in San Antonio, and we’re in the horse and cattle business. Those ranches are in San Saba County. I’m a [Dallas prep school] St. Mark’s boy.
Paste: You grew up in Midland?
Jones: Yeah. It’s a good place to grow up.
Paste: Well, I loved the film. I grew up watching Lonesome Dove and it’s really nice to see the western reinvented. [Executive producer] Michael Fitzgerald sent you this novel—one that Paul Newman had optioned and Sam Shepard had wanted to tackle. What about it inspired you?
Jones: I thought we could make a screenplay of it that would have some originality to it. Life in the movie business is a never-ending search for originality.
Paste: You started off writing vignettes that focused on these three women and the circumstances that made them go crazy. Tell me about those vignettes; what are the ones we didn’t see?
Jones: We had a red notebook, a white notebook and a blue one. I told the boys, “I’m going to write the screenplay.” I was going to create a series of vignettes, maybe a quarter to a half-page long, probably 15 to 20 of them that might describe this woman’s journey into madness. I told the one that was the youngest [Kieran Fitzgerald] to take the youngest girl, do the same thing for her. I told the other one, who was a little bit older, that’s Wes Oliver, to take the middle girl. I would take the oldest one and write the screenplay. Once we had the screenplay finished, we could find ways to editorially insert these vignettes. Our cameraman was going to be very athletic. I knew I could put it into a situation that would motivate or prompt the so-called flashback.
Paste: There’s a scene where [Gro, played by Sonja Richter] is spinning the needles through her skin.
Jones: I thought that was pretty good, a beautiful thing. It looks like a Dutch painting.
Paste: Working with two other writers, did you email back and forth? Word is that the draft was written in 5 days?
Jones: It wasn’t written in 5 days but it was written very quickly. We didn’t have a lot of time. I was shooting a movie in Connecticut and I had a big house leased in Greenwich.
Paste: This is Hope Springs [Jones’ 2012 movie with Meryl Streep and Steve Carell]?
Jones: Yeah. So the guys just moved in. Our family maintains a chef so we didn’t have to worry about food or anything other than writing. They would go to work with me in the morning and all of those hours that actors ordinarily spend sitting around their trailer, or studying their script, were filled with the task of writing. At the end of the day, we’d all go home to the big house in Greenwich and work until bedtime and we developed a system that went smoothly and quickly. That, of course, required being thoroughly prepared for the work on Hope Springs.