Ashley Judd was the moment. If you lived through the late 90s, you couldn't escape her. She had this specific brand of "fragile but will absolutely ruin your life if you cross her" energy that fueled some of the decade's biggest hits. But looking back at the cast of movie Double Jeopardy, it wasn’t just a one-woman show. It was a perfectly balanced ecosystem of a grizzled Tommy Lee Jones, a slithery Bruce Greenwood, and a supporting group that made the whole "faking your own death" premise feel almost plausible.
Honestly, the movie is kind of a legal mess. Lawyers have been debunking the actual "double jeopardy" loophole for decades. But we didn't go to the theater in 1999 for a bar exam prep course. We went to see Libby Parsons hunt down her husband across the country.
Ashley Judd as Libby Parsons: The Queen of the 90s Thriller
Ashley Judd didn't just play a victim; she played a woman who was methodically re-engineering herself. At the start of the film, Libby is this wealthy, somewhat sheltered wife in the Pacific Northwest. By the time she’s hitting the heavy bags in the prison yard, she’s someone else entirely.
Judd’s performance is what anchors the film. It's easy to forget how huge she was. Between Kiss the Girls and Double Jeopardy, she was the go-to lead for high-stakes suspense. Her ability to switch from genuine grief to cold-blooded determination is what makes that scene in the library—where she realizes she can’t be tried for the same crime twice—so satisfying. Even if the law doesn't actually work that way in real life.
What's wild is that the role almost didn't go to her. Jodie Foster was originally attached to the project. Foster eventually dropped out because she was pregnant, and while she would have brought a very different, perhaps more cerebral vibe, Judd brought a raw, physical desperation that defined the role. She makes you believe she would actually let herself be locked in a coffin just to get a shot at the guy who framed her.
Tommy Lee Jones: The Professional Grump
Then you have Tommy Lee Jones as Travis Lehman. This was peak "Tommy Lee Jones is a grumpy lawman" era. Just a few years after The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, he was basically the king of the cynical-but-fair hunter archetype.
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Lehman isn't Sam Gerard, though. He’s more broken. He’s a former law professor who lost his career and his family because of his own mistakes, and you can see that weight in the way Jones carries himself. He’s not just chasing Libby; he’s looking for some kind of redemption for himself.
His chemistry with Judd is fascinating because it isn’t romantic. It’s a mentor-protege relationship built on mutual trauma. He starts the movie thinking she’s just another convict breaking parole, but by the end, he’s basically her accomplice. That transition happens mostly in the quiet moments—the way he looks at her after she jumps off the ferry, or his realization that the "dead" husband is very much alive in New Orleans.
Bruce Greenwood: The Villain We Love to Hate
Bruce Greenwood plays Nick Parsons (or Jonathan Devereaux, depending on which part of the movie you’re in). Greenwood is one of those actors who is so good at being handsome and untrustworthy that he made an entire career out of it.
He plays Nick with this chilling entitlement. He didn't just frame his wife; he took her son and started a whole new life without a hint of remorse. The way he operates in the New Orleans social scene as a "charming businessman" while knowing he left the mother of his child to rot in prison is genuinely unsettling.
Supporting Players You Might Have Missed
While the big three dominate the poster, the cast of movie Double Jeopardy includes some familiar faces that give the film its texture.
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- Annabeth Gish as Angie: She plays the "best friend" who betrays Libby. It's a small but pivotal role. Gish brings a sense of guilt-ridden conflict that makes you almost feel bad for her, even though she basically stole Libby’s life.
- Roma Maffia as Margaret: She’s the fellow inmate who gives Libby the "legal advice" that sets the plot in motion. Maffia has this authoritative presence that makes even the most questionable legal theories sound like gospel.
- Jay Brazeau as Bobby: The colorful New Orleans guy who helps Libby track down Nick. He adds a bit of local flavor to the third act.
The Legal Myth of the Double Jeopardy Clause
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The entire premise of the movie relies on a massive misunderstanding of the Fifth Amendment. In the film, a character tells Libby that if she was convicted of killing her husband while he was actually alive, she can go find him and kill him in the middle of Times Square and the police can't do a thing.
That is absolutely, 100% false.
In the real world, "double jeopardy" prevents you from being tried twice for the same specific act. If you are accused of killing your husband on a boat on Tuesday and acquitted, they can't try you again for killing him on that boat on that Tuesday. However, if you find out he's alive and you shoot him on a Friday in New Orleans? That is a brand-new crime. A new act. A new "transaction" in legal terms.
Legal experts like those at the Harvard Law Review have frequently used this movie as a "what not to do" example in criminal law. But does it ruin the movie? Not really. It’s a "what if" scenario that works perfectly for a 90s thriller. It gives the protagonist a superpower—the "license to kill"—that keeps the audience rooting for her.
Behind the Scenes: Direction and Style
Directed by Bruce Beresford, the man behind Driving Miss Daisy, the film has a much more grounded feel than your typical action flick. There’s a lot of focus on the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest and the humid, Gothic vibe of New Orleans.
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Beresford focused heavily on Libby’s isolation. In the first act, the cinematography is bright and expansive. Once she’s in prison and later on the run, the world gets tighter, darker, and more claustrophobic. It’s a subtle way of showing her mental state without a bunch of expository dialogue.
Why the Movie Still Finds an Audience
Even decades later, Double Jeopardy keeps popping up on Netflix and cable rotations. Why? Because the "wronged woman" trope is timeless. We love watching someone take their power back from a system that failed them.
It’s also remarkably lean. There isn’t a lot of fluff. It’s a 105-minute sprint from the boat to the cemetery in New Orleans. In an era where every movie is two and a half hours long, the efficiency of the cast of movie Double Jeopardy and its script is refreshing.
Viewing Guide: Where to See the Cast Now
If you want to see what the primary players have been up to since 1999, they haven't exactly slowed down.
- Ashley Judd: She transitioned into more dramatic roles and became a major figure in the #MeToo movement. She’s been in everything from the Divergent series to Twin Peaks: The Return.
- Tommy Lee Jones: He won an Oscar (though not for this) and has become a staple of prestige cinema, like No Country for Old Men and Lincoln.
- Bruce Greenwood: You’ve probably seen him as Captain Pike in the Star Trek reboots or as the lead in Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He’s still the master of the "complicated authority figure" role.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
If you’re planning a rewatch or diving into this genre for the first time, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Watch the "spiritual sequels": If you liked the vibe of this movie, check out The Fugitive or The Net. They share that specific late-90s paranoia and high-stakes chase energy.
- Research the Fifth Amendment: If the legal stuff bothered you, look up the "Dual Sovereignty" doctrine. It explains how someone can actually be tried twice for the same act if it violates both state and federal laws—the exact opposite of the movie’s logic.
- Check out the New Orleans filming locations: If you’re ever in Louisiana, the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 (where the coffin scene happens) is a real place and one of the most beautiful spots in the city.
- Compare the "Jodie Foster" Version: Read some of the early production notes from 1997-1998 to see how different the script was when it was being developed for a different lead actress. The tone was originally much darker and less "action-heavy."
The cast of movie Double Jeopardy managed to take a fundamentally flawed legal premise and turn it into a high-octane character study. It’s a testament to the actors that we don’t care about the legal loopholes; we just want to see Libby Parsons get her life back. It’s a masterclass in 90s tension that holds up surprisingly well against modern blockbusters.