Jones, Jackson ride into 'Sunset'

Duo set to star in adaptation of McCarthy play

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Jones

Jackson

McCarthy

HBO has set Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson to star in "The Sunset Limited," an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy play. Jones will direct.

McCarthy adapted his play into a script. Production will begin next month in New Mexico.

Jackson plays a man who saves another man (Jones) from throwing himself in front of a Harlem subway train. The act begins an exchange of ideologies as the two men from different backgrounds debate the worth of their lives.

Barbara Hall will produce, and Jones will be executive producer.

Jones and Jackson previously worked together on "Rules of Engagement." The project marks Jones' third collaboration on a McCarthy-penned piece. Jones starred in the Coen brothers-directed adaptation of "No Country for Old Men" and also adapted the McCarthy novel "Blood Meridian" as a feature script.

McCarthy's play "The Sunset Limited" opened in 2006 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater and moved Off Broadway later that year.

Jones just wrapped the John Wells-directed "The Company Men" with Kevin Costner, and he's adapting to star in and direct the Ernest Hemingway novel "Islands in the Stream." Jackson just wrapped "Unthinkable" and "Mother and Child." After he completes "The Sunset Limited," he'll star in "Vengeance: A Love Story."