Tommy Lee Jones surprised everyone when he appeared in the role of Agent K in Men in Black. His appearance in a comedy flick was unexpected and was a major surprise for everyone. However, Jones was not the initial choice for the makers who wanted to cast Clint Eastwood in the role. It was director Barry Sonnenfield who vouched for Jones.

Tommy Lee Jones
The role of Agent K or Kevin Brown was quite different from the gruff type of roles that Tommy Lee Jones played in his other films. Initially, the actor was also very uncomfortable with the role. It was Barry Sonnenfield who solely believed on his part and knew how to infuse humor in his character in the correct way.
Why wasn’t Tommy Lee Jones interested in Men in Black at first?
The studio wanted Clint Eastwood for the role of Agent K
Although the Lincoln actor was turned into a sci-fi icon for his performance in the Men in Black franchise, the Oscar winner didn’t seem the perfect fit for several reasons. In an interview with Inverse, it was revealed that the studio’s initial choice for the role was Clint Eastwood. Director Barry Sonnenfield said:
“The studio really wanted Clint Eastwood. It was me who asked for Tommy, and then I almost got screwed — they couldn’t hire me because Tommy had director approval. Tommy gave me approval.”
The 1997 film was plagued with further troubles even after Tommy Lee Jones was cast. It was different from the roles he played till that time and it took some time before the actor got used to it. At first, Jones couldn’t rely on Sonnenfield’s direction and thought that the director was only focused on making Will Smith funny.
Agent J and Agent K
However, it was the deadpan expression and the straight-man attitude that was needed by Barry Sonnenfield. He wanted Jones to believe in him that he would look fun in the final cut. Eventually, the presently 77-year-old actor’s doubts were cleared after the film was released. It also helped him to bond better with the director during the filming of the sequel.
The Fugitive actor even took to a later interview to acknowledge how Will Smith’s company and Barry Sonnenfield’s direction were the sole reasons he looked so funny.
Also Read: “We don’t want to waste our time”: Men In Black Actor Tommy Lee Jones Angered Emmy-Winning Journalist After Acting Bratty During an Interview
Tommy Lee Jones’ interaction with Jenna Ortega took a weird turn
Tommy Lee Jones and Jenna Ortega star together in Finestkind
The Natural Born Killers actor who is known for being tough in interviews was recently subjected to an awkward interaction with the young actress Jenna Ortega. Tommy Lee Jones co-starred in a crime thriller drama titled Finestkind for Paramount+ alongside the Wednesday fame.
During the red carpet of the film when Jones and Jenna Ortega posed together for photos, the moment turned awkward when the elder actor questioned if he had any scenes with the actress. The actor turned to Ortega midway and asked (via Mirror): “Did we have any scenes together?”. 
When the 21-year-old replied that they had a scene together, the MiB fame asked if she had watched the movie to which Jenna Ortega replied no. Following this, both the actors started laughing while the fans also had a fun time on social media talking about it. Several fans referred to the MiB and stated how Agent K’s memory might have been erased with a Neuralyzer.
Men in Black can be streamed on Hulu.

Clint Eastwood has been an iconic actor ever since he stepped foot in Hollywood. With several action movies to his name, veteran director Martin Scorsese once refused to direct a film which he thought was too similar to one of Eastwood’s offerings.
Talking about the classic 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop, the movie saw a plethora of directors and actors rejecting the movie. One of these rejections was from Martin Scorsese who felt that the plot was too similar to one of Clint Eastwood’s iconic movies.

Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop
When Martin Scorsese Rejected A Movie Because of Clint Eastwood!
Back in 1984, director Martin Brest released the buddy cop action-comedy movie Beverly Hills Cop. With a plot of Axel Foley helping a murder investigation and things going south (in a hilarious way), the movie received quite great reviews.
Clint Eastwood in Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
Also read: Steven Spielberg’s Favorite War Film Starring Clint Eastwood Got Made Due To Elizabeth Taylor’s Children
During the production and writing of the movie, Martin Scorsese was considered as a director of the film. As per the book, Martin Scorsese: A Biography, the director read the plot of the movie and rejected the offer. The director revealed that he felt the concept of Beverly Hills Cop was too similar to Clint Eastwood’s 1968 film Coogan’s Bluff. After Scorsese, David Cronenberg also turned down the movie.
Instead of Eddie Murphy, several actors such as Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, and James Caan were also considered for the role. It was Murphy who brought in the humor and a comedic element in the movie which made the movie unique. As for Clint Eastwood, the veteran actor had to go through some disgusting acts just for starring in a role.
Clint Eastwood Had To Smoke Cigars For His Role!
Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name in the Dollars trilogy
Portraying the iconic role of Man with No Name, Clint Eastwood worked alongside Italian director Sergio Leone on The Dollars Trilogy. Becoming famous with his on-screen role, Eastwood had to grab some cigars for a shot but Eastwood revealed to The Independent (via Far Out) that he felt like throwing up.
“I went out and bought a bunch of cigars that I thought would look good in a western. I had no idea they’d taste so vile. But I brought those along with me and I gave them to props and we cut them all up.”
Eastwood further continued that when Sergio Leone wasn’t satisfied with a single take, he said to the director,
“You better get it this time, because I’m going to throw up”.
Despite his character being known for smoking cigars, Clint Eastwood never smoked in real life and hated it. As for the film that was too similar to Eastwood’s Coogan’s Bluff, Beverly Hills Cop received a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

We have a bit of a rule that whenever a Hollywood legend like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne has dished out advice on cinema, we listen to it. So what happens when the two great icons of the Western genre disagree on filmmaking? Well, that gives us a bit of a conundrum.
In this case, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne don’t see eye to eye when it comes to… eyes. They’ve both made some of the best Westerns in the history of cinema, but Wayne fundamentally believes you always need to be able to see an actor’s eyes for a scene to work. Eastwood, who is still churning out impressive new movies into his 90s, is not so sure.
“In a lot of those old movies, there’s light all over the place and there’s no contrast. But you really don’t have to see everything,” Eastwood told the DGA Quarterly Magazine. “John Wayne had this theory that you had to see the eyes all the time, the eyes tell the story. I never believed that.”
Eastwood referenced Jack Green and Tom Stern’s lighting for his 1992 Oscar-winner Unforgiven as a great example of an exception to Wayne’s rule. We adore Unforgiven, which is one of the best movies in the history of big-screen Westerns, and so we find it hard to disagree with the man behind making the masterpiece.

He continued: “You see the eyes when you need to see the eyes. And sometimes, what you don’t see is very appealing to the audience. You can dramatize a picture with shades of light.”
Eastwood singled out Westerns of the past for being particularly guilty of over-lighting scenes. He said: “I like getting on a realistic plane with the light. If you go back and look at some Westerns that were made by some of the most beloved directors of the 1930s and ’40s, you see people walk from the outdoors into a brightly lit room and you wonder: ‘Where’d they get all that electricity back in 1850?’”
The best Clint Eastwood movies, especially those of the last few decades, have certainly taken a more realistic approach to Western stories than the classics of the past. In Unforgiven, especially, it pays off.
We can’t wait to see what Eastwood brings us with Juror #2, which will be his next film. If the man himself is to be believed, it’s also very likely to be his last movie. He’ll definitely want to go out with a bang, and we have the utmost faith in him.
For more on one of Hollywood’s best actors ever, find out why Clint Eastwood is Morgan Freeman’s favorite director and learn why Clint Eastwood regrets this Western. Finally, read our piece exploring how the Western has always been a genre for women too.