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September 12, 2005
Tommy Lee Jones's Western Gets Picked Up By Sony
Via The Hollywood Reporter, it appears that Tommy Lee Jones's directorial debut film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada made a well enough impression at this years Festival de Cannes that Sony Pictures Classics has picked it up for an international release, adding yet another western to the list of up and coming films.
Written by Guillermo Arriaga ("28 Grams"), "Three Burials" stars Jones as a Texas cowboy who refuses to allow his Mexican pal, who is accidentally killed by a border patrol officer (Barry Pepper), to be buried in Texas. When local law enforcement refuses to arrest the hapless patrol officer, Jones kidnaps him, forces him to dig up the body and embarks on an odyssey to return the body to Mexico.I am very interested in seeing this because Jones is behind the camera. Many times we see actors taking on the responsibilities of a director -almost as if they think it wont be any problem at all-, but Jones is a seasoned professional who has years and years of experience in Hollywood. I have faith that he will be very meticulous in fine details and compelling story telling. Plus, Jones is such a "Good Old Boy" that I think it will show trough and will only add to the authenticity of the movie. The film is proposed to be released towards the end of the year so it can have a run for an Academy Award -so I guess they are pretty confident-. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada also stars Barry Pepper and Dwight Yoakam.
Posted by Brad Shipston at September 12, 2005 12:32 PM