Is Steven Seagal directly responsible for Tommy Lee Jones winning an Oscar?
It sounds ridiculous, but Steven Seagal may have set a chain of events in motion that culminated in Tommy Lee Jones reaching the pinnacle of his chosen profession when he took to the stage to collect his first – and still only – Academy Award. At least, according to him, anyway.
Of course, a large pinch of salt needs to be taken whenever the martial artist and veteran action star opens his mouth, largely because he’s developed a habit of telling tales that start off being rooted in some degree of truth before taking on a life of their own once he gets the chance to burnish them a little.
Having directed Seagal’s first starring vehicle, Above the Law, director Andrew Davis reunited with cinema’s most famous aikido practitioner when he was tasked to helm the action-packed thriller Under Siege, which continues to endure as one of the actor’s very few films that can be called genuinely good.
Admittedly, not much of that is down to Seagal, but rather the scenery-devouring villains played by Jones and Gary Busey. Dialling their performances so far beyond ten, it’s clear they were in on the joke that lending their talents to what was essentially yet another Die Hard clone – this time on a battleship – was the perfect opportunity to have a little fun.
Jones’ William Strannix is one of the most gleefully entertaining characters he’s ever played, with the rogue CIA operative-turned-terrorist the ideal opportunity for the stoic and grizzled veteran to ham it up as much as possible. However, having such a blast with the part wasn’t there on the page until Seagal got his hands on the screenplay, or so he tells it.
J. F. Lawton may have been the only credited screenwriter on Under Siege, but Seagal laughed square in the face of attribution when he graciously accepted the praise for the film’s most memorable figure. “I did a lot of rewriting on that,” he alleged. “I completely redid the Tommy Lee Jones character, who was a flat, boring guy in the beginning.”
Davis had already worked with Jones before in Gene Hackman’s largely forgotten political thriller The Package. However, when he was drafted in to helm the big screen remake of the TV series The Fugitive, witnessing Jones having a whale of a time spouting ridiculous – and possibly Seagal-penned – dialogue on Under Siege convinced him there was only one man for the part of federal marshal Samuel Gerard.
Reflecting on the casting process, Davis recalled that “Tommy Lee Jones was in the movie more than Steven Seagal” and comfortably blew the less-talented leading man off the screen in a performative sense. He “knew he’d be perfect” to go toe-to-toe with Harrison Ford as the relentless pursuer constantly on Richard Kimble’s tail.
The Fugitive editor Don Brochu was of much the same mind, explaining to Rolling Stone how Under Siege proved Jones was the man for the job. “Steven Seagal was locked in a refrigerator for about a third of that movie, and if you saw it, you know how intense Tommy Lee Jones was in that role,” he suggested. “He was the villain, and you’d just feel creepy when he got on the screen because you didn’t know what he was going to do next. Well, he could play a good guy, too, with that same level of intensity.”
When The Fugitive was released, it was a massive hit that earned seven Oscar nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, with Jones taking home its only trophy when he was named ‘Best Supporting Actor’. Under Siege put him in that position, but did it happen because Seagal rewrote his entire role? Probably not, because being a notorious bullshitter, there’s a distinctly high chance he’s talking utter gubbins again.
