- Title: USA: MEL GIBSON'S NEW FILM 'RANSOM' PREMIERES IN LOS ANGELES
- Date: 20th October 1996
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA (OCTOBER 20, 1996) (RTV-ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) RON HOWARD SAYS GIBSON MADE THE PART BELIEVABLE WITH HIS COMBINATION OF BEING ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES AND HUMAN AND VULNERABLE AT THE SAME TIME (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) MEL GIBSON EXPLAINS WHAT DREW HIM TO THE PART OF TOM MULLEN - MULLEN WAS USED TO WEALTH AND POWER AND GETTING WHAT H
- Embargoed: 4th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA2E2C1UXC34ISZMQJTV4HQ93FA
- Story Text: The new Mel Gibson movie 'Ransom' premiered in Los Angeles on Friday (November 1). Gibson and his co-stars Rene Russo, and Gary Sinise showed up for the occasion, along with director and former "Happy Days" star, Ron Howard.
Gibson teamed up with Howard, his Oscar rival from last year, in the new thriller. "Ransom " is the story of how a man's perfect life is turned upside down when his son is kidnapped.
Gibson plays Tom Mullen, a wealthy corporate executive used to mediating tough business deals and doing things his own way. He and his wife Kate, played by Rene Russo, are forced out of their comfortable existence when their only son Sean is kidnapped and held for a multi-million dollar ransom.
Gary Sinise plays New York City police detective Jimmy Shaker, who is unexpectedly drawn into the the ransom plot, while Delroy Lindo plays FBI agent Lonnie Hawkins, called into the Mullens' home to handle the case.
When the FBI and the police suggest the Mullens come up with the cash and pay off the ransom, the family goes along with it at first. But after a payoff attempt goes violently wrong, Tom decides to try a different strategy to get his son back. He goes on television and displays the mountain of ransom cash, offering it as a reward to whoever gives him information leading to the capture of the kidnappers. Of course, this tactic also puts his son's life in mortal danger and infuriates the FBI agents handling the case.
"Ransom" was shot on locations in New York City during one of the city's snowiest winters on record. But it wasn't just physically gruelling - Rene Russo said Howard pushed the actors "sometimes to places I didn't want to go" in his quest for authentic drama. But in the end Russo admitted Howard did the right thing and got "a really raw" performance out of her.
The personal drama of "Ransom" is a big departure from director Ron Howard's last film the epic "Apollo 13," for which he won the Director's Guild of America award and for which he was nominated for a Best Director Oscar. Howard lost in the Oscar race to none other than Mel Gibson, who won for directing "Braveheart." In fact, both Gibson and Howard were working on "Ransom" during the run-up to the Oscar announcements, a situation which apparently gave rise to a lot of good-natured joking on the set.
"Ransom" is also a reunion for Gibson and Russo, who worked together five years ago on "Lethal Weapon 3 ", one of Russo's first major motion pictures. And Russo has known Ron Howard from way back - they were high school classmates together.
The film also brought Ron Howard and Sinise together again - Sinise worked with the director on "Apollo 13." Other cast members include Lili Taylor, Evan Handler, Liev Schriber, and former New Kid On The Block band member Donnie Wahlberg, all of whom play members of the kidnapper gang. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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