BEST ACTOR: TOMMY LEE JONES
In the Valley of Elah
Age 61 Role Hank Deerfield, father of a missing U.S. soldier. Practice Makes Perfect Director Paul Haggis wasn't put off by the actor's tough reputation. ''I'd heard some of the stories how he could face down directors,'' Haggis says. ''But he loves to take direction. He isn't the type of person who would do two takes and say, 'Why should we do a third?' He'd keep going because he knows he can do something better.'' Box Office Blues ''Yeah, it's a disappointment,'' Jones says of the film's $6.8 million domestic gross. ''I'd like as many people to see it as possible, but heck, that's not my province.'' Up Next He plays Det. Dave Robicheaux in In the Electric Mist, an adaptation of a James Lee Burke novel. —Gregory Kirschling