Tommy Lee Jones Won't Direct The Lincoln Lawyer

By Russ FischerNov. 24, 2009 9:36 am EST

Back in October, we told you that Tommy Lee Jones was coming on board a film called The Lincoln Lawyer. Plan was for him to direct from John Romano's script, and also co-star alongside Matthew McConaughey. While the film is still going, sadly Jones is no longer part of the project. He'll find a different directing gig for his feature follow-up to The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Variety reports on his split. The reason is those oft-cited 'creative differences', which in this case seems to mean that Jones wasn't happy with the script. The film will find another director and co-star, and hopes to begin production next spring. The film will adapt Michael Connelly's novel about a small-time Los Angeles lawyer who operates out of his Lincoln and lands the case of a lifetime defending a playboy accused of murder. McConaughey is reportedly still playing the title lawyer, while Jones would have been the playboy. On the face of it, this doesn't seem like a huge loss. If his first film was any indication, Jones has a good hand with much more weighty material, and I'd rather see him going in that direction.

Meanwhile, Jones has already shot The Sunset Limited for HBO. That's his adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's play about two men (Jones and Samuel L. Jackson) unexpectedly linked when one saves the other from being hit by a subway train. McCarthy wrote the screenplay. The project came together fast — it was just announced in August — and is in post right now. We'll see it on HBO next year. Another teaming of Jones and McCarthy sounds great, and as I've said before I'm excited to see Jones directing again. I'd rather see him tackling a theatrical feature with a larger canvas, but I'll take this as a stopgap measure.