Earlier in the month I let you know that along with World War Z, you’d be able to catch the mostly AWOL Matthew Fox on the big screen again in Peter Webber’s Emperor. Along with inexplicably spawning the most retarded repeat troll in CHUD’s long and storied history of nonsensical trolls, it also brought you up to speed on the project’s post-WWII love story of a man in charge of helping Gen. Douglas MacArthur restructure and run Japan immediately after their surrender to Allied forces. He’s also working to find his true love amidst the post-war chaos.
Fox will be playing Gen. Fellers, around which the story centers, but Gen. Douglas MacArthur will be a large looming presence in the story, and that role has been filled by Tommy Lee Jones.
While it was by no means the first time he’d donned a uniform, a lot of credit was thrown Jones’s way for his humorous performance in Captain America last year specifically, where he seemed a bit more… energized than usual as a WWII special forces Colonel. It’s unlikely he’ll get to let loose with those same dry comedic chops in this much more dramatic film, but I’m sure a cranky old general will still be plenty entertaining when filtered through TLJ’s gruffness. MacArthur was a an exceptionally intelligent and experienced general that had overseen innumerable campaigns by the time he was made effective ruler of Japan, where he remained until relieved in 1951 (though he only really in power till ’49). He was a controversial figure though, with a reputation that varies wildly depending on who’s telling it, which will make it interesting to see the film’s interpretation if Jones isn’t phoning it in.
Depending on the size of the role, I wonder if we’ll be clamoring for a Jones-centered MacArthur biopic this time next year.
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Source | THR