Paul Newman’s Unmade Dream: The Film Hollywood Passed On
Paul Newman hoped to direct and star in The Homesman, but studios showed no interest. Years later, Tommy Lee Jones brought the project to life after Newman’s passing.
Paul Newman, a towering figure in American film, spent his later years carefully choosing his roles, only taking on projects that truly spoke to him. Despite his legendary status and Oscar- winning career, even he found it tough to get a personal project off the ground. In the mid-1990s, after a rare double feature in 1994 with "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Nobody’s Fool," Newman slowed down, appearing in just a handful of films before stepping away from acting. His selectiveness made him even more sought-after, but it also meant he was less likely to accept just any script that came his way.
Chasing a Passion Project
Newman secured the rights to Glendon Swarthout’s novel "The Homesman," envisioning himself both behind and in front of the camera. He hadn’t directed since "The Glass Menagerie" in 1987, but he was ready to return to the director ’s chair and take on the role of George Briggs—a rough-around-the-edges drifter hired by Mary Bee Cuddy to help four women escape the harsh Nebraska frontier for a new life in Iowa. Newman’s wife and frequent collaborator, Joanne Woodward, was set for a major supporting role.
Despite his enthusiasm, Newman ran into a wall of indifference from Hollywood studios. In a 2000 interview with Esquire, he expressed his frustration with the lack of compelling roles and the industry’s disinterest in his own script.
“Lean stuff out there,”
he remarked.
“It’s a dry, dry season.”
On his struggle to get "The Homesman" made, he admitted,
“I can’t seem to get anybody interested. I may have just run out of steam on it.”
The One That Got Away
Had things gone differently, Newman would have directed and starred in "The Homesman," bringing his vision to life with Woodward by his side. But the project stalled, and he never got the chance to make the film he so deeply believed in. Years after Newman’s passing, the story finally reached the screen—just not in the way he had hoped.
It was Tommy Lee Jones, another Hollywood veteran, who eventually took up the mantle. Jones co-wrote, directed, and starred in the adaptation, assembling a powerhouse cast that included Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, John Lithgow, James Spader, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jesse Plemons. The film was well-received, but for those who admired Newman, there’s a lingering sense of what might have been if he’d been given the chance to tell the story his way.