Nobody gets into the role of playing a loud, brash hard ass more than Tommy Lee Jones. Ok, maybe R. Lee Ermey, but Jones is a very close second. Dude couldn't even be bothered to soften up for Meryl Streep in Hope Springs, so you know he's committed. Earlier this year we learned that Jones would be playing one of the ultimate hard ass figures in military history as General Douglas MacArthur in the WWII drama, Emperor. Now with the film set to premier tonight at TIFF we're getting our first clip.
Directed by Peter Webber, who is probably still trying to atone for Hannibal Rising, the film is a historical romance based on true events taking place following the Japanese surrender post-WWII. Matthew Fox plays General Bonner Fellers, a Japanese expert called in to assess whether or not Emperor Hirohito should be charged for war crimes. Jones plays the renowned MacArthur, the de facto leader of Japan after the war, who secretly wants all charges to be dropped. There's also a love story involving Fellers' search for the school teacher(Eriko Hatsune) who first drew him to Japan, but really the big draw here is going to be Jones' performance, and based on this footage he's having a ball. Fox sounds like he's phoning it in a little bit in the voice-over, but otherwise this looks like a solid period piece.
Check out the clip from Emperor below....
