USA: :OSCAR-WINNER MIRA SORVINO TAKES ON THE SCIENCE-FICTION THRILLER GENRE IN THE NEW FILM "MIMIC"

Record ID: 387157

  • Title: USA: :OSCAR-WINNER MIRA SORVINO TAKES ON THE SCIENCE-FICTION THRILLER GENRE IN THE NEW FILM "MIMIC"
  • Date: 15th September 1996
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 26) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) GUILLERMO DE TORO (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) SAYING, "WELL, WE GET OUR THRILLS WHERE WE CAN. WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY THAT, FORTUNATELY OR UNFORTUNATELY, ISOLATES US FROM THRILL. WE GO FROM OUR SAFE CARS TO OUR SAFE HOUSES WITH AIR CONDITIONER AND WE GO FROM THOSE HOUSES TO OUR PLACES OF WORK AND BASICALLY, NOTHING HAP
  • Embargoed: 30th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND FILM lOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA98X0ZQKAXW8CWAJWJR60DY059
  • Story Text: Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino takes on the science-fiction thriller genre in the new film "Mimic." The film sees giant cockroaches, that look like human beings, grow up in New York City's subways to threaten the human population.

    Sorvino plays Dr Susan Tyler, a brilliant scientist who successfully eradicates an epidemic threatening the lives of scores of children.

    With the help of her husband, Dr Peter Mann, played by Jeremy Northam, Tyler recombines the DNA of various species to create a biological counteragent to the carrier of the disease.

    She calls this new species the "Judas breed" and introduces it into the biosystem of New York City.

    Three years later, what seemed like a stroke of genetic engineering genius has come back to haunt them with a vengeance.

    Their cure has taken on a life of its own. As a defence mechanism, their creation from the lab has come to live beneath the city and begun to mimic the most dangerous predator of all, human beings.

    In a horrifying turn-about, the hunter has suddenly become the hunted and the only people who can stop it are the same pair of scientists who accidentally started it.

    Also in the cast are "Flirting With Disaster" co-star Josh Brolin, "A Time To Kill's" Charles Dutton as a New York City subway cop and Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham as Sorvino's academic mentor.

    "Mimic" is written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, marking his first foray into American feature films.

    He sprang to prominence with "Cronos," a Mexican-American co-production which won first prize, International Critic's Week, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

    Del Toro based "Mimic" on a short story by American pulp fiction writer Donald Wolheim.

    The director became fascinated with the concept that a species could imitate man in order to survive undetected in the human world.

    Del Toro worked in special makeup effects before turning his hand to writing and directing and was involved in creating the design of the creatures in the film.

    Once he had the designs, Del Toro employed makeup and creature effects expert Rick Lazzarini to fabricate the creatures.

    Part of the Mimics' subterranean habitat was created by two sets which filled one of the largest studios in Toronto, Canada, where the film was shot.

    "Mimic" is now playing in theatres throughout the United States.
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