Tommy Lee Jones Was Cringe When He Tried to Be Funny in ‘Men in Black’
Tommy Lee Jones is a great actor, but he’s not necessarily known for his work in comedies. That led to a dilemma for Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld: Who was going to tell the intimidating Tommy Lee Jones that he’s not funny?
According to a People excerpt of his upcoming book Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time, Sonnenfeld knew he was in trouble when Jones had to film an MIB scene with an alien named Mikey. Special effects guru Rick Baker created Mikey as a long-nosed ET who had multiple flippers to go along with the usual arms and legs.
In the scene, Jones’ tough-guy Agent K interrogates Mikey while puppeteers manipulate his eyes, mouth and flippers. The alien is protesting his innocence when Jones interrupts him with a stern, “That’s enough, Mikey. Put up your hands.”
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And then, writes Sonnenfeld, “Mr. Jones sing-songs his way towards what he thinks should be a big-time comedy punchline: ‘AND ALL YOUR FLIPPERS!’”
Sonnenfeld broke into a cold sweat as he realized he “was about to embark on a very, very, very long 20 weeks of directing an actor who was, gulp ... trying to be funny.”
Sonnenfeld called “Cut!” while avoiding eye contact with the Oscar-winning actor. “Hey, Tommy,” he finally managed, still pretending to study his script. “It will be funnier if you don’t acknowledge that ‘And all your flippers’ is funny.”
Jones responded with “a fiercely opinionated glare,” so Sonnenfeld tried to explain. “See, Tommy, for you, this is all in a day’s work. … Agent K doesn’t think ‘All your flippers’ is funny. You’re just saying it the same way you’re saying, ‘Put up your hands.’ It’s just normal police procedure. That’s what makes it funny for the audience.”
Still no response from Jones other than a cold hard stare. “Let’s try one more!” Sonnenfeld suggested. “It’ll be fun!”
Thus began five months of convincing Jones to play it straight, and the actor’s agent not being happy. “You don’t want Tommy to be funny,” the agent cried. “You only want Will Smith to get laughs.”
Sonnenfeld tried to explain how all the great comedy duos worked. “You need one funny guy and one straight man, but they both get laughs,” he pleaded. “In fact, I would argue the straight man gets the bigger laugh. The comedy is in the reaction shot.”
The agent wasn’t buying it and kept pushing back. “I promise,” swore Sonnefeld. “Tommy is as funny as Will. Trust me.”
Jones was never really convinced until he saw Men in Black in front of an audience. The actor never received laughs that big, before or since. As Jones made his way through press tours for the film, journalists kept asking him what the secret was to being so damn funny.
“Stand next to Will Smith,” Jones replied, “and do whatever Barry Sonnenfeld tells you to do.”
