Smooth Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones never served in the military, but he told CBS Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel that he has no problem playing a marine in his new movie, Rules Of Engagement.
”By now, I don't find getting into these characters to be very difficult. It appealed to me that this guy was a failure at life. He had to reach within himself somehow to come up with a heroic act. It's always pretty smooth. I have been doing this a long time.”
The new drama, which earned $15 million its first weekend, is about two war buddies who find themselves battling together once again -- this time in a courtroom.
Jones plays a lawyer (Hayes Hodges) who thinks he never truly measured up. Then Col. Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) who once saved his life, asks him to defend him in court for commanding his troops to shoot civilians.
”It's about friendship. It's about loyalty. It's about what makes us a success and failure in life. It's also about the rules of engagement. How do we operate in the military on foreign soil? These days we have so many capabilities, and how do we exercise judgment? When is it right to use deadly force and when is it not?”
Jones, whose hits include The Executioner's Song, JFK, The Fugitive, and Men In Black, says he and Jackson got along very well. ”We're good friends. Our families are good friends. His wife is a good pal of my mom."
”It's very lucky that we do have a good personal relationship,” says Jones. ”You don't have to be friends in a professional environment. It's a big plus when you are.”
Jones takes a pragmatic attitude toward last year’s Double Jeopardy, a commercial hit but not a critical success.
”It's called show business,” he explained. ”The business is very, very important. Critical success is not reliable. It's probably not worth as much as money is.”
Jones, who was roommates at Harvard with Vice President Al Gore, is a staunch Gore supporter.
”I'm going to do everything I possibly can to see Al in the White House, for sure.”
When asked if it was a big deal to him that his former roommate might be president, Jones proved that he’s practiced his presidential parlance.
”The success and welfare of my friends and their families is a big deal to me,” he said, smoothly.