Maggie Betts, writer-director of The Burial, spoke about her film’s Oscar-winning stars Saturday at Deadline’s Contenders Film Los Angeles event.
Jamie Foxx plays a lawyer representing a funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones) in a lawsuit against a big corporation. Betts learned she had to give Foxx space for his process. “He never does the same take twice,” Betts said. “He doesn’t like to rehearse.
I think he only drops in five minutes before. That’s Jamie’s process. The results are extraordinary. He likes to do four takes and then he wants direction at that point.” By contrast, Jones is all about rehearsal and preparation.
But the test for Betts came during preproduction meetings with Jones. He spoke about his Texas ranch at length, and paying attention paid off for Betts. “The next Zoom I had, he was in Argentina,” Betts said. “He was talking about this ranch he was in in Argentina.
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