Actor Tommy Lee Jones in a scene from No Country for Old Men

London, Sept. 8: Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones is suing for a bigger share of the profits made by Academy Award-winning film No Country for Old Men, in which he had a leading role.

The 61-year-old Hollywood star has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for promised bonuses he said he never received following the film’s success. If successful, the lawsuit could force studio lawyers to re-examine the contracts of Hollywood’s leading actors.

“The paperwork stands for itself,” said a spokeswoman for Jones shortly after the lawsuit was filed in Becar County, Texas. Media reports say the court papers claim that Jones took a reduced fee prior to filming in exchange for “significant box office bonuses”, and was promised other rewards which were never paid.

Jones played the role of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s crime novel. The film won four Academy Awards, including best picture, and made more than $160 million at the box office worldwide.

The Guardian newspaper claims that Jones’s contract to appear in the film was signed with NM Classics in April 2006, and that according to the lawsuit it promised additional “back-end compensation” for post filming work.