USA: MAKERS OF 'THE TEARS OF JULIAN PO' SPEAK ABOUT THEIR FILM

Record ID: 386530

  • Title: USA: MAKERS OF 'THE TEARS OF JULIAN PO' SPEAK ABOUT THEIR FILM
  • Date: 3rd August 1995
  • Summary: WADE TALKING TO ACTORS VARIOUS OF CREW SETTING UP IN STREET, EQUIPMENT IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 18th August 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FLEISCHMANNS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4IXFWFUTW3PRN0VHPNYHS5FYV
  • Story Text: American filmmakers moved into a small Catskill Mountains town this summer to capture the mood of their story of a young man's final journey.

    Christian Slater plays the title role of "The Tears of Julian Po," which was shooting in Fleischmanns, New York State, during July.

    The town's existing storefronts, some dilapidated and deserted, form an ideal backdrop to the film, which portrays acommunity isolated from the rest of the world.

    Slater stars as Julian Po, a shy, troubled young man who visits the town through a twist of fate: his car breaks-down nearby. Po was on a drive "to see the ocean," he says. However, it turns out in this dark comedy that Po actually intends to end his own life at the water.

    First-time director Alan Wade wrote the screenplay from a Yugoslav novel. He told Reuters Television the story caught his interest because Julian Po makes a chance encounter into his destiny. Events become "real" happen purely because Po believes they will happen.

    Po's unexpected visit turns out to be one of the most exciting things to happen in the small town in decades. The townspeople suspect the worst of him; yet they also trust him with their secrets and seek his advice.

    The producers of the film compared the role to that of "Chauncy" played by Peter Sellers in the 1979 film "Being There." As for the ending, director Wade chose not to discuss it, except to say that he hoped audiences "will be moved at the end..

    and find the story as unforgettable as I have." Slater speaks more directly, saying the act of taking his own life is "courageous .. in a bizarre sense" for the character, because he is fulfilling a promise, after a lifetime of broken promises.

    Filming of "The Tears of Julian Po" was completed in July, and New Line Cinema plans to release the film in 1997.
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