There are very few actors who have the reputation of Tommy Lee Jones. His talent is obvious and well respected, but in person, he can be one of the most guarded, surly and unapproachable people in the business. Jones doesn't discriminate either. Whether you're a member of the press or the head of a movie studio, he'll make his feelings known. Yet, for the first time, Jones shows a previously hidden compassion that is clearly at the heart of his feature directorial debut "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada."

Set near the border between Texas and Mexico, the picture is a moving account of a rancher (Jones) who forces a mistaken killer (Barry Pepper) to help him transport his dead immigrant friend's body back home. Jones helped conceive the story with award-winning screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga ("Amores Perros") and had no qualms or nervousness about directing. In fact, he admittedly has a "lust for creative control."

"I can be very demanding and it takes a long time to get the demands I make met," Jones says. "I don't want to take direction from anybody. I'm smarter than most of the directors I work for [anyway]."

The strongest element of "Three Burials" is its subtle plea for universal humanity, but there are other issues that are critiqued, such as America's treatment of illegal aliens and the actions of the government's border patrol. The film is very timely with the current debate over the Minutemen's actions in the Southwest. Jones is particularly appalled by the group and the fact that the U.S. Senate is considering a bill to fund them. He refers to it as, "the degree of raging paranoia in the United States [today]."

"Can you imagine it," he says. "Hundreds of frustrated 'Rambos,' each with his own [Minuteman] ball cap and t-shirt, enough money to buy them a gun and pay for their hotel rooms ... while they trample up and down private property. Somebody is going to get hurt."

Jones clearly has first-hand knowledge, as he owns a massive ranch in Texas that was used for the movie. His roots run deep in the area, and his life-long sympathy for the Mexicans who live and work there influenced his desire to make "The Three Burials." Considering the untapped talent he shows as a filmmaker, audiences can only hope other producers and studios will be willing to deal with his curt exterior again.

"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" opens for a limited qualifying Oscar run in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 14. It will open nationwide in February 2006.