Star of the Coen’s No Country For Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones, has filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures claiming he is owed around $10m in royalties having taken a reduced fee up front for starring in the movie. This from Press Association…

“Tommy Lee Jones is suing the makers of No Country For Old Men for more than 10 million dollars which the actor claims he is owed for starring in the 2007 Oscar-winning crime thriller.

The lawsuit against Paramount Pictures claims that Jones was promised “significant box-office bonuses” and other compensation depending on the success of the film, which went on to take in more than 160 million dollars at the box office.

The movie, which is set in Texas and is based on a critically acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, scooped four Academy awards, including best picture.

No-one from Paramount was immediately available for comment. Jones declined to comment through his publicist, Jennifer Allen, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

“The paperwork stands for itself,” Ms Allen said.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Bexar County in San Antonio. Netherlands-based NM Classics Inc, a Paramount subsidiary, is also named in the lawsuit.

Jones, who played Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in the film, claims he was not paid promised bonuses and had expenses wrongly deducted.

The lawsuit says Jones was paid a reduced upfront fee in joining the film, and that his contract had known errors not corrected before the movie was made.

The 61-year-old star is asking that an auditor be named to review financial records to determine how much he should be paid.”

What kind of crazy person gambles on taking a points deal on a Coen brothers film? Anyway, good luck to him. He was terrific in the movie and deserves to get what he’s owed.

Thanks to Sean and Bunnie for letting me know.

No Country For Old Men has been nominated for 9 BATFAs! And this one being a British award ceremony, will be unaffected by the WGA strike and will actually happen. The film’s nominations were; Best Film, Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Editing (amusingly Roderick Jaynes), Best Director (Joel and Ethan Coen), Adapted Screenplay (again Joel and Ethan), two for Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones), Supporting Actress (Kelly MacDonald) and Sound (Peter Kurland/Skip Lievsay/Craig Berkey/Greg Orloff). Good luck to all.

More casting news for No Country For Old Men. Joining Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin in the cast will be Woody Harrelson, Stephen Root and Tim Blake Nelson. Both Rooth and Nelson have worked with the Coen brothers before on O Brother, Where Art Thou? where they played the blind radio station manager and Delman respectively.

Thanks to the following people for emailing me- Barry Watson, Matthew Leach and Stephen Gliteroe.

Some more casting news for what now is surely the Coen’s next, No Country For Old Men. Josh Brolin has, evidently, joined Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem in the cast. From Empire- “Brolin will play the man who kicks the plot into gear – a Vietnam vet who discovers a bundle of cash he finds at the site of a drug deal gone wonky.” I can’t wait for this one!!!

Like buses you wait ages and then two come along at once! News gathers apace on No Country For Old Men, more from Empire Online… We reported yesterday that the Coen Brothers No Country For Old Men was due to go into production in May. Today comes the news that Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones are in talks to lead the cast. The story of a young man who takes a fortune in cash from a dead body he finds near the Rio Grande, only to find himself at risk from drug dealers and hit men. We’re guessing that Bardem and Jones are down to play the bad guy and local sheriff respectively, but we’ll keep you up to date as we learn more. Bardem is predominantly known for his excellent dramatic work in Before Night Falls and The Sea Inside, but he had some comedy roles earlier in his career, so the Coens could really bring out his lighter side. Recently the Coens have been skewing a little too close to mainstream – not that popularity and quality are mutually exclusive but bigger budgets seem to have diluted the creativity they had when they were working with a 48p and as much John Turturro as they could carry. Here’s hoping this sees them back on form.