Tommy Lee Jones - Tommy Lee Told To Keep Ants Alive

Movie star TOMMY LEE JONES almost fell foul of animal protection officials when he shot his movie directorial debut THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA - because one scene involved killing ants.

The MEN IN BLACK star admits he was dogged by creature watchdogs on the set of the gritty new western, in which he stars, and they insisted he couldn't set fire to live ants.

In one scene, Lee Jones' character sets fire to his pal's dead body when ants start crawling all over his face.

He says, "We had to have two sets of ants - one set to crawl on the face and the other set to set fire to.

"We had to take all the live ants off, put them in a little box."