The profound connection Tommy Lee Jones shares with the women in his life significantly influenced his work on the film The Homesman. This Western, which delves into the challenges of sexism in the 1800s, saw Jones not only act but also take on the roles of writer and director.

In a candid discussion with fellow actor Meryl Streep for Interview magazine back in 2014, Jones, who has been married to Dawn Laurel-Jones since 2001, reflected on the impact these relationships have had on his perspective. “My grandmother, my mother, my wife, and my daughter are all women,” he explained. “A lot of my dear friends, yourself included, are women. I am just interested in how they feel, and what’s wrong. And if you want to know what’s wrong today, looking at what was wrong yesterday is a pretty good place to start.”

Jones further elaborated on the historical context that intrigued him. “There’s an undeniable tradition of sexism in this country that ties into the move westward by people of European descent, and different ways of looking at Manifest Destiny on the west side of the Mississippi River,” he noted. “So those struggles and what made them a struggle is of interest to me.”