Martha Plimpton was thrilled to reunite with her former on-screen father Tommy Lee Jones on her new show “The Lowdown.”
“Many people think [Tommy Lee] Like a tough, gruff kind of guy, but I think he’s just a teddy bear,'” Plimpton — who played Jones’ daughter when she was 14 in the 1984 film “The River Rat” — told Page Six.
She said she was “very excited” to see Jones, 80, and to work with him again in the second season ethan hawk fx show.
“When you meet someone and work with someone who played your father at that age, there’s always a little part of you that sees him the same way,” Plimpton, 55, explained.
Plimpton told Us the “Men in Black” actor “didn’t even recognize” him at first until Hawke told him his full name on set, which left Jones “upset.”
“And he turned and looked at me, and we had the biggest hug… it was incredible,” she said.
“The Lowdown” follows the exploits of Oklahoma-based citizen journalist Lee Raybon (Hawk) as he exposes corruption in Tulsa.
Jones joined in Season 2 in a rare TV role as Lee’s estranged father. Plimpton joins the cast as the tough sheriff, Vela Thorne, who clashes with Lee.
The “Goonies” actress told Page Six that she’s not “very picky” when it comes to roles.
He quipped, “Looking at my career I think it’s self-evident at this point.” “But as long as the character is important to the story, it doesn’t matter how big he is [the role] Is for me.”
The Emmy-winning actress and Hawke, 55, have been longtime friends since they both arrived in Hollywood in the ’80s. The two also starred in Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia” Broadway play trilogy in 2006.
“We never really lost touch,” Plimpton told us.
He said, “It’s wonderful to see someone you’ve known for so long at different stages of development in life.”
The ‘East of Eden’ actress said Hawke has always been ‘smart, a lovely, silly and fun person, a curious person, a real reader – interested in the nuances of literature and poetry.’
But as Hawk grew up, “I think he’s turned into a really exceptionally nice person,” Plimpton said. “There’s something about when a person feels comfortable in their own skin – in horsemanship, we call it ‘finding your seat.’
Plimpton is going through an important moment in her career at the moment, as she also recently starred in the Netflix series “East of Eden” with Florence Pugh. and in HBO’s Emmy-winning “The Task” with Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey.
The actress teased her upcoming role on Task, the second season of which is currently filming in Philadelphia, “The entire cast is brand new, except for Mark’s character and his family and my character.
“So, it’s a completely new story and it’s been opened up quite a bit. Mahershala Ali is in it. Edgar Ramirez. We’re having a good time.”
“The Lowdown” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on FX and Hulu.