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Maggie Betts<\/strong> may be known as a great director of actors, but when it came to working with Jamie Foxx<\/strong> for her new film The Burial<\/em>, she found the best strategy was to get out of the way and watch him go. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t possibly direct him anyway, because he\u2019s such an insanely talented person\u2014almost frighteningly talented,\u201d she says on this week\u2019s Little Gold Men<\/em> (listen below). \u201cHe\u2019s an improv guy at heart. He\u2019s literally going to do what he feels in the moment. He doesn\u2019t like to rehearse. Every take is different. He\u2019ll ask for little things\u2014but he\u2019s launched and flying from the minute you call \u2018action.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That energy is plainly apparent in The Burial<\/em> (streaming Friday on Prime Video), an old-school star vehicle that sees Foxx (Ray<\/em>) tear into one of the best roles of his career. Adapted from a New Yorker<\/em> article by Jonathan Harr<\/strong> (who co-wrote the script with Betts), the courtroom drama set in mid-90s Mississippi stars Foxx as real-life personal injury lawyer Willie E. Gary,<\/strong> who begins representing the crusty funeral-home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones<\/strong>) against the takeover efforts of a ruthless acquisition company run by Raymond Loewen<\/strong> (Bill Camp<\/strong>). Betts peppers her throwback crowdpleaser with flashy costumes, legal hijinx, epic speeches, and a familiar clash of Davids and Goliaths\u2014one that gradually lays bare the grave racial and class disparities in the American South, if always with a light touch.<\/p>\n Foxx circled the film before Betts signed on, and he was part of what attracted her to the project. The Burial<\/em> is about as different in shape as you could get from Betts\u2019s previous feature, the severe nun drama Novitiate<\/em>, aside from one factor: Both center on explosive performances from Oscar winners. In the former movie, that honor went to Melissa Leo.<\/strong> Here, it goes to Foxx. \u201cI grew up loving Paul Thomas Anderson<\/strong> movies,\u201d she says, films that are \u201cjust on the verge of camp\u2014still in the world of reality, but a little B-ish too. It\u2019s my favorite thing about [his movies]\u2026so I kind of encourage that, which I think [actors] like because their instinct is to go for realism.\u201d<\/p>\n Foxx\u2019s wildly fun portrayal of Gary seems, at times, to speak to the performer\u2019s roots in stand-up. Betts would let him and his ensemble, also including Succession<\/em> alum Alan Ruck<\/strong> as Gary\u2019s reluctant partner on the case, Mike Allred, run take after take without intervention before gently offering some notes. \u201cI kind of let them figure it out,\u201d Betts says. \u201cWhen you fill the room with actors who really love improv and are very naturally funny, amazing things happen. But particularly with Jamie and Alan Ruck\u2014their takes were nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n One actor less accustomed to improv? Foxx\u2019s co-lead Tommy Lee Jones, which made for an intriguing dynamic that extended to their characters\u2019 relationship. While Foxx doesn\u2019t even care for rehearsal, Jones spoke with Betts via Zoom for over a dozen hours, dissecting the script line by line. \u201cHe wanted to discuss every word of it. He\u2019s like, \u2018So the word \u2018the\u2019 here, what did you mean by that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n