Tommy Lee Jones is going to have his day in court. The actor, who typically upholds the law onscreen will now go behind the camera for 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' a Matthew McConaughey-starrer based on a 2005 bestseller by Michael Connelly.According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jones is in negotiations to direct and co-star in the film, which centers on a wheeler-dealer Los Angeles lawyer who operates out of the back of his Lincoln and lands the case of a lifetime defending a Beverly Hills playboy accused of murder.
McConaughey will play the lawyer, while Jones might take on the playboy, though the character in the book is younger than the actor, and the role might have to be adjusted to suit him. Both actors got their big breaks playing good guys in the legal system: McConaughey as a defense attorney in 'A Time to Kill' and Jones as federal marshal Samuel Gerard in 'The Fugitive.'
This would be the second directorial outing for Jones. He helmed (and played the lead in) the Mexico-set crime drama 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' in 2005.
If Jones does take on the playboy role, the teaming could be electric. McConaughey is used to playing snappy, suave, often smarmy characters, but he's never quite lived up to the strong dramatic potential he showed in 'A Time to Kill' (remember that gut-wrenching closing argument?) ... and this could the role to change that. Meanwhile, Jones' edgy, world-weary persona, fine-tuned in 'No Country for Old Men,' could be adapted to take on a more sophisticated role. And the resulting interaction just might be a the stuff of Oscar gold.
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