Men in Black’s Tommy Lee Jones has been accused by several crew members of acting like a diva on the set of the 1997 science fiction comedy film. The actor was reportedly the reason why production took longer than it should have and why the set became a living hell for the director and writer.

Tommy Lee Jones
While Will Smith was a little less difficult to work with, screenwriter Ed Solomon had to contend with Lee Jones on several aspects of the draft, and this even got him hired and fired five times because the studio could not get a good script.

Men In Black Crew Members Hated Working With Tommy Lee Jones

In an interview with Inverse, Ed Solomon revealed the grueling experience of working with Tommy Lee Jones on the set of Men in Black. The actor apparently had an issue with the tone of the writing. Solomon shared:
“[Tommy Lee Jones] said I needed to make up my mind whether it was a comedy or science fiction, and that it couldn’t be both. I said it wasn’t good enough science fiction to be dramatic. Comedy would allow the leaps of faith needed for this to work. So, I was asked to do a draft that was more dramatic and which made him the lead.”
Solomon did not agree with the actor’s idea; still, the studio had to fire him and bring another writer on board, only to have him back on the team again. The writer continued:
“I argued that that wasn’t a good idea because it’s a world-build notion, and he already knows the world. They brought in [writer] Dave Koepp, who did a really great job at breaking the spine in a different way. Then I was hired back and did a pretty massive overhaul of the stuff.”
Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men In Black
Director Barry Sonnenfeld also had a difficult time working with Lee Jones. He admitted the actor questioned his creative decisions. In the same interview, the filmmaker confessed:
“Tommy didn’t think that I knew what I was doing. I would get calls from his agent at the time, saying, ‘You only want Will Smith to be funny; you don’t want Tommy to be funny.’”
Production designer Bo Welch explained that Lee Jones’ character would be much funnier if he acted dry and flat to contrast Will Smith’s personality. He also remarked that the actor was “kind of a pain in the a** during the shooting.”

Sony Pictures Wanted Another Actor To Play Agent K In Men In Black

Barry Sonnenfeld shared with Inverse how he and his wife decided to cast Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black while Sony Pictures eyed another Hollywood star:
“I was sent two copies because my wife and I read scripts together. We finished at the same time, and I turned to her and said, ‘Tommy Lee Jones.’ And she turned to me and said, ‘Will Smith.’ The studio really wanted Clint Eastwood. It was me who asked for Tommy, and then I almost got screwed — they couldn’t hire me because Tommy had director approval. Tommy gave me approval.”
Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith
Even though he had a rough experience working on Men in Black, Sonnenfeld noted that, at some point, Lee Jones complimented his supervision skills. The director said:
“In all the interviews, they said, ‘How did you get to be so funny?’ And Tommy, God love him, said, ‘The secret to being funny is to stand next to Will Smith and do whatever Barry Sonnenfeld tells you to do.’”
Despite the clash between Lee Jones and the crew members, his chemistry with Smith’s character was flawless that it made the franchise the biggest box-office hit for Sony at the time.

Men in Black is available on Netflix.