Random Weird Things About Tommy Lee Jones, Hollywood's Most Grizzled Acto (19 items)

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  (#5) He Likes To Make People Uncomfortable, Or So Alleged Josh Brolin In An Interview

  At the table read for Men in Black 3, Josh Brolin, playing a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones, made the mistake of sending regards to Jones from his wife Diane Lane and friend Charlize Theron. Lane co-starred with Jones in Lonesome Dove and Theron, In the Valley of Elah.

  "I said, ‘Hey, man, Charlize and Diane send their hellos.’ And there’s a long pause and he goes, ‘Okay.’ And I’m thinking, What kind of f*cking response is that? That’s the weirdest... I don’t know what to say,” Brolin told EW. ”That’s his genius: How can I make this the most uncomfortable moment anybody has ever had in the world?” 

  Wonder what he thought of Brolin’s performance? Probably nothing good. 
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  (#14) He Was Considered To Play Snake Plissken

  Imagine Escape from New York with TLJ as a non-eyepatch wearing Snake. The eyepatch was Kurt Russell’s idea, an homage to John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. The studio was reluctant to go with Russell and considered Jones and other heavy hitting names such as Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson as potential alternatives. 
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  (#11) Loretta Lynn’s Husband Taught Him How To Drive A Bulldozer

  In researching the role of Loretta Lynn’s husband in Coal Miner’s Daughter, Jones spent some time with Loretta's husband Doolittle. He taught Jones how to operate machinery his character would have used, and the memory of it made Jones smile very briefly during an interview with EW, and enthusiastically exlaim, "Yeah! He taught me how to drive that bulldozer. In fact, that bulldozer was his.”

  Note to interviewers: let him drive around on heavy machinery. The noise will also down out the awkward silence.
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  (#7) He Has A Tailor On Savile Row In London

  Where does a legend get his fancy threads? London's legendary Savile Row, of course. The famous street is the home of some of the world’s most respected tailors. Henry Poole created the dinner jacket and tuxedo on Savile Row. Jones is a frequent visitor to London, and being a guy who loves luxury and finely made things, has his suits made there. He’s not shy about it, either.

  “I’m kind of pleased with myself that I’ve got a tailor on Savile Row. I’m 68 years old. I deserve it,” Jones told the Guardian. 
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  (#12) He’s Mentioned In Ripley’s Believe It Or Not For Landing An Agent And Part In 10 Days

  Only 10 days after graduating from Harvard in 1969, Jones moved to New York and landed an agent and Broadway debut (A Patriot for Me) so fast in he made it into Ripley’s Believe It or Not. 
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  (#16) He Does Interviews but Doesn't Seem To Like It and Sometimes Answers Questions With Silence

  In the name of every actor who hates lazy/soft/silly/rote interviews, Jones is the god of being the most awkward hardass ever. Behold the crash-and-burn as he regards interviewers with deadpan aloofness. 

  The Globe and Mail’s Johanna Schneller recounts the story of Jones making a GQ colleague of hers cry. “They were at a ranch he owned in San Antonio, TX., and for two days he offered little but critiques of her questions and corrections of her grammar, while - I kid you not - cracking walnuts with his bare hands.”

  After all these years, it’s worth asking whether Jones should give questions to interviewers in advance, forego being interviewed at all, or simply let us all know he’s Andy Kaufman. But Jones would probably give a long, blank stare into abyss as the in lieu of an answer, so never mind. 

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