- Title: USA: TAIWANESE FILMMAKER ANG LEE'S "THE ICE STORM" HAS ITS PREMIERE IN AMERICA
- Date: 13th October 1997
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 14) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) EXTERIOR OF PREMIERE THEATRE JOAN ALLEN AND CHRISTINA RICCI GREET EACH OTHER AND POSE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) CHRISTINA RICCI SAYING OF HER SEX SCENES IN THE FILM, "WELL, WE WOULD GET NERVOUS, LIKE, WHETHER IT WAS ME AND ELIJAH OR ME AND ADAM, IT WO
- Embargoed: 28th October 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA7NRYBBNGI346MS856SXKFHRE1
- Story Text: Following it's successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" has premiered in America.
Stars Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen and Christina Ricci attended the Los Angeles opening last week (October 14), along with Lee.
"The Ice Storm" is based on a 1994 book by author Rick Moody.
It tells the story of two upper middle class families living in suburban New Caanan, Connecticut, in 1973.
The film is played out over one weekend.
Ben Hood, played by Kevin Kline, is trying to bed his mistress, next-door neighbour Janey Carver. Janey, played by Weaver, is uninterested.
Ben's wife, Elena, played by Joan Allen, is reading "Human Sexual Response" and losing patience with her husband's clumsy lies.
Young Wendy Hood, played by Christina Ricci, is finding new, grown-up games to play with the boys next door, Mikey Carver (Elijah Wood) and his little brother Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd).
Meanwhile Wendy's brother Paul (Toby Maguire) is pursuing a rich girl from his prep school.
The film's sub-plots culminate one night during a fierce winter ice storm that metaphorically represents nature lashing back at the story's characters -- all of whom are acting quite "unnaturally".
Ang Lee made a name for himself by directing the films "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman" in his native Taiwan.
He then went on to garner international acclaim by directing Emma Thompson's screenplay adaptation of the Jane Austen novel "Sense and Sensibility." Thompson won an Oscar for her screenplay.
"The Ice Storm" was also recently honoured for its screenplay, winning the best screenplay award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
Along with the usual problems faced during making a film, the townspeople of the real-life New Caanan were upset over the way the story depicted the town's residents. But Lee and screenwriter James Schamus eventually were able to calm their fears and get the support they needed in order to shoot the film on location. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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