Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon star as Hank and Joan Deerfield, the parents of a soldier who goes AWOL after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, in the dramatic film In the Valley of Elah. Based on true events, In the Valley of Elah follows ex-military MP Hank Deerfield as he investigates his son's disappearance along with the assistance of a police detective (played by Charlize Theron) who doesn't believe the military's official version of events surrounding the Deerfield case.
Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon Press Conference
Why did you want to do this? Is it very similar to the role in the Coen Brothers film No Country for Old Men?
Tommy Lee Jones: “No, I don't see it similar at all. I hope not. I try as hard as I can for everything to be different from one movie to the next. Why did I pick this role? At first I said no, but I started thinking about it. I decided that, ‘Dang, it's actually about something. And if we do it well, I think every single American will be able to relate to it.’ It's about something that we all have in common. If you have not been to Iraq or Afghanistan and gone to war and come home, you are akin to somebody who has. If you're not, you've been paying attention to it every day and it's been speaking to you in the dead of night. This is something that everybody has in common. So it's timely. That's what appealed to me was it was actually about something important.”
Did you feel the plot was universal and not a left or right perspective?
Susan Sarandon: “I think it's not about if the war was right or wrong. It's about who's left afterwards. It's about, again, the effects that a war, especially a war where you're not fighting people in uniforms, it's a civilian population and you have nowhere to be safe, what that does to somebody. I would hope that would skew to everybody because we're not taking responsibility for these people when they come back.”
What were your impressions of working with Charlize Theron?
Tommy Lee Jones: “Oh, she's a wonderful actress. Very talented, lot of fun to be around. She's very funny and inexhaustible.”
Did you try the scenes different ways?
Tommy Lee Jones: “We nailed them very quickly. Not very difficult. She was prepared. I try to stay ready. We knew what the hell we were doing so just keep doing it until all the other people are satisfied, all the crew people, camera, lights, whatever.”
And working with Paul Haggis?
Susan Sarandon: “Well, by the time I got there they were exhausted so I don't think my experience was the same as Tommy Lee's. I got there towards the very end and they'd exhausted their long take things and everything. At least for me, we didn't do the way it was in the beginning. But I think Paul…he's very clear on his idea of what he wants. There were some things that I had a problem with but that he helped with. And other things that he refused to.
I'll always rather be in a ship that's got a captain that has some vision. It doesn’t really matter to me if I want to go out dancing with him later. I just want somebody who cares about what they're doing, which he does. He fought to make this film. It was a difficult film to get up, so you're working with somebody who really is not just waiting to go out to dinner at the end of the day. He really is committed to it so I think that helps. But by the time I got there, it was like being the youngest in the family. My experience with the parents were very different than the first child.”
Tommy Lee Jones: “He does care about his work. He cares about his work and he's bound and determined to get his desired results. He's finding his way as a director. The road to the result is sometimes a bit more twisty and windy and rockier than it should be, but that's only to be expected from a person who doesn't have a lot of experience around movie sets. The important thing is that he arrived at the destination. You tend to forget how many times you run the tires off your pickup getting there.”
Was there more to your role, Susan?
Susan Sarandon: “It's a little misleading when you see the trailer and my entire part's in the trailer. There was one scene that was cut. It was a scene before he drops me off. I say, ‘Come home. You don't have to stay,’ kind of like a soft scene after [spoiler deleted. I think you just see me getting in, but there's actually dialogue in the truck. But it was a small part. It was even smaller when he asked me to do it, and I didn't know what to do with it. It just seemed like there really wasn't a point of view, in terms of her character. Then he worked on it a little bit more.”
What drew you to it then?
Susan Sarandon: “Because I think that this man I'd worked with before [motioning to Jones] and he just seemed born to play that part. I thought it would be exciting to have a chance to do some of those scenes with him. But I also felt that it was really time to deliver something which acknowledged that war does terrible things to people and takes really good people and f---s them up in a way that is pretty significant. We've had a real disconnect between the politicized war and the actual war and I thought that this was a good way to start a dialogue. It's a very clever film because it's a whodunit and everything else. I thought it stood a good chance of being a good film.”
You agreed after a revision. What did you want to add?
Susan Sarandon: “She had no voice. I didn't know who she was. I don't mind doing a small part when you at least have a couple meaty scenes to tell you who this person is. I don't think he had thought about her point of view at all. So it wasn't the size as much as I just didn't understand why she was even there. She didn't function in any way.”
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