JFK
Oliver Stone's JFK
The Cast: In Their Own Words
Tommy Lee Jones (Clay Shaw)
"[Do I believe in conspiracy theories?] Oh, yeah."(1)
"I was in Dallas the day the President died, and we were stunned."(2) "[To research the role of Clay Shaw] I interviewed Jim Garrison. What I wanted to understand first was Jim Garrison's understanding of Clay Shaw, so I sat with Jim for hours and hours, three two-hour interviews, and took notes and asked questions steadily, until he got too tired -- he's sick. [Garrison died shortly after this interview was conducted.] He explained at the beginning of the first interview that he could tell me more about Clay Shaw than Clay Shaw's mother could have ever told me. By the end of the six hours I was convinced that he was right."(3)
"Jim Garrison is considered a 'discredited figure'? By whom? I mean, how did that get established? Why, all that means is that there were a lot of negative headlines in the newspapers, and that's not reality, now is it?"(4)
"I'd read a lot of books about Shaw. I kind of went around town and talked to different art gallery owners, retired attorneys, people on the street, and so forth. Then there were the endless volunteers with Clay Shaw stories.
"One of the most useful sources was an interview two hours long with a man who was in the hospital, who worked for Clay Shaw. His son conducted this interview with him to get the old man to talk about Shaw, and what kind of work they did, and what he was like, and what he sounded like. I was told this man had an accent almost identical to Clay Shaw's. It was from this interview that I learned that he had painted himself up like the winged Mercury one Mardi Gras, and I went running, tape in hand, to Oliver and said, 'Got to paint myself gold, man,' and he said, 'What?' I finally sold him on the idea. I would say that tape was the most useful thing, that tape and Jim. The main task at hand was to understand Jim's understanding, rather than to exhume the Clay Shaw. Or at least that's what I think Oliver wanted me to do; and I was working for him at the time."(5)
"[What was the most difficult thing about the role?] Dealing with the wig, actually. It was hard to get it to fit. We had two wigs -- one fit up perfectly and one did not. But it takes a long time to put one of those wigs on and then you have to look good to the camera. We finally got it down to about a forty-five-minute effort, but it took two or three people to do it."
"[I have nothing but praise for Stone's crew.] There is definitely a feeling of camaraderie around the set. That's the camaraderie of people working hard together. It's especially interesting for me because these are among the best in the world at what they do. I love the motion picture camera. And I love the cinema, the process and the people I work with. I develop relationships with camera crews, lighting people, makeup personnel, costumes. Oliver's company is world class." (6)
"[I received little negative feedback about the film.] There were phone calls from certain journalists, representing certain special interest groups, wanting to know if our intentions were homophobic, to which I said, 'No. You know better than that.'" (7)
"[JFK is] one of the most daring things I've done."(8)
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You may wish to see:
Who's Who in the Jim Garrison Case
Jim Garrison's New Orleans Photo Gallery
Articles and resources on the JFK assassination
1. "Mr. Showbiz Interview: Tommy Lee Jones."
2. Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1992), Warner Video, directed by Danny Schechter and Barbara Kopple.
3. Carole Zucker, "An Interview with Tommy Lee Jones." Figures of Light: Actors and Directors Illuminate the Art of Film Acting (New York: Plenum Press, 1995), pp. 48-49.
4. James DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed (New York: Sheridan Square, 1992), p. 384 fn. 6.
5. Carole Zucker, "An Interview with Tommy Lee Jones." Figures cof Light: Actors and Directors Illuminate the Art of Film Acting (New York: Plenum Press, 1995), pp. 48-49.
6. James Riordan, Stone (New York: Hyperion, 1995), p. 390.
7. James Riordan, Stone (New York: Hyperion, 1995), p. 390.
8. Rhonda Markowitz, "People Profiles: Biography, Tommy Lee Jones," September 23, 1999.