Early last month we reported that Tommy Lee Jones had signed up to direct and star in the thriller Lincoln Lawyer, based on bestselling novel by Michael Connelly. However while it was due to be Jones’ second big screen directorial outing after the critically lauded but commercially unsuccessful The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, he’s now pulled out.
Variety reports that Jones left the Matthew McConaughey starring project over creative differences between him and the studio over the script, although as is the way with Hollywood, there’s no news on exactly what those differences are. However this doesn’t mean the film is dead in the water, as the studio is now busy trying to lock in a new director, with hopes to start production in the spring.
Lincoln Lawyer itself is about is about Mickey Haller, a wheeler-dealer Los Angeles lawyer who operates out of the back of his Lincoln car. Haller is content with a career defending garden-variety criminals until he lands the case of a lifetime – defending a Beverly Hills playboy accused of murder. However the case turns out to be a lot more difficult than he initially suspected.
At least Jones can console himself with the fact that he’s in production of the TV movie, The Sunset Limited, which he directed for HBO and reunites him with Rulles Of Engagment co-star, Samuel L. Jackson.