ITALY: Hollywood actor Tom Cruise leads the "Lions for Lambs" cast down the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival

Record ID: 219684

  • Title: ITALY: Hollywood actor Tom Cruise leads the "Lions for Lambs" cast down the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival
  • Date: 25th October 2007
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 23, 2007) (REUTERS) ACTORS TOM CRUISE CLOSE CRUISE, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR ROBERT REDFORD ACTORS ANDREW GARFIELD AND MICHAEL PENA WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR TOM CRUISE SAYING: "So now, to come full circle at this time for me and have this opportunity to be directed and to be in a Robert Redford picture personally as an actor meant a great deal to me. Definitely the character is something that, right from the beginning, I sat down and Redford said 'This guy has to be very real. We want him to be not a caricature but a real person with dimension and complexity, and he has to have an intelligence.' So yes it is a character, it's very different to who I am. That's a great challenge and a great honour for me to be directed by him."
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2007 12:00
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  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVAA47A0OT9E7OISUJMJ838SXDMR
  • Story Text: America's "war on terror" hits the wide screen with Robert Redford's new film "Lions for Lambs" - Hollywood's latest examination of U.S. foreign policy.
    "Lions for Lambs", which follows a slew of films related to the war in Iraq and the U.S. military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, is about two soldiers serving in Afghanistan and political intrigue back in the United States.
    Directed by Robert Redford and starring Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, the film has been branded "anti-war" by some media, and its backers are hoping its controversial subject matter will boost it at the box office and going into the awards season.
    But for Redford, who arrived on Tuesday (October) in Rome where the film will premiere as part of the city's film festival, his latest movie poses questions rather than gives answers.
    "I don't believe in propaganda in film. I never have. I believe that you have to show the complexity of the situation that's why this film doesn't attempt to give any answers. It just poses questions and hopes that maybe people will think and if they think about it maybe, different people can play a role to not let happen what has happened in the last several years in our country where we've lost so much," said Redford, a known supporter of independent films which are showcased during the annual Sundance Festival - an event he organises every year aimed at promoting young and up and coming filmmakers.
    For lead actor and the film's producer, Tom Cruise, working with Hollywood veterans Redford and Streep, presented a "challenge" and inspired him to do his own interpretation of his character.
    "To come full circle at this time for me and have this opportunity to be directed and to be in a Robert Redford picture personally as an actor meant a great deal to me. Definitely the character is something that, right from the beginning, I sat down and Redford said 'This guy has to be very real.
    We want him to be not a caricature but a real person with dimension and complexity, and he has to have an intelligence.' So yes it is a character, it's very different to who I am. That's a great challenge and a great honour for me to be directed by him," said Cruise who plays the role of an ambitious senator.
    Later that day Cruise said while walking the red carpet that he studied many politicians to prepare for his role as an ambitious Republican senator trying to sell an "exclusive" over Washington's new strategy in the war in Afghanistan to a television journalist, interpreted by Streep.
    "I think that this kind of film, you know Lions for Lambs, allows that platform to in some ways put people in position where they can clarify and at least question and their own personal feelings about it, raising awareness and responsibility," Cruise told Reuters Television as he made his way on the red carpet.
    Newcomer actor Andrew Garfield was also on the red carpet. He plays the role of one of Redford's students at university trying to maker sense and understand America's foreign policy post 9/11.
    Also attending the premiere was co-actor Michael Pena, who plays one of two U.S. soldiers who used to be Redford's students and are now part of a small advance group sent out in the mountains to fight the Taliban.
    Redford, who returned to the director's seat after a seven year break, joined the three on the red carpet, along with host Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni.
    "Lions for Lambs" is one of two films in a string of Hollywood productions tackling the broad military fallout from the September 11 attacks, a theme that has made U.S. cinema popular at European festivals even if box office returns have been mixed.
    The film made its world premiere at the London Film Festival on Monday (October 22).
    The film is due to open in U.S. cinemas on November 9.
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