USA: DENNIS QUAID STARS IN "SAVOIR" , A FILM ABOUT A U.S MERCENARY FIGHTING IN THE BOSNIAN CIVIL WAR

Record ID: 387855

  • Title: USA: DENNIS QUAID STARS IN "SAVOIR" , A FILM ABOUT A U.S MERCENARY FIGHTING IN THE BOSNIAN CIVIL WAR
  • Date: 27th October 1998
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER,29) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) DENNIS QUAID SAYING: (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) "THIS MOVIE IS NOT JUST ABOUT THE BOSNIAN WAR, IT'S SORT OF A MICROCOSM FOR ALL WAR AND WHAT DREW ME TO IT IS THAT IT LOOKS AT ITS SUBJECT MATTER AND IT DOES NOT BLINK AT IT. IT REALLY SHOWS WAR WITH ITS TRUE FACE AND IT IS OUTSIDE OF HOLLYWOOD REALM, EVEN THOUGH OLIVER STONE IS THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ON IT, SO IT IS AN AMERICAN VENTURE, BUT, THE DIRECTOR IS ALSO FROM THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AND WE SHOT IT OVER IN MONTENEGRO AND MOST OF THE ACTORS THAT ARE IN IT BESIDES MYSELF AND STELLAN SKARSGARD, THE REST OF THE CAST IS FROM YUGOSLAVIA." PETER ANTONIJEVIC SAYING OF THE YUGOSLAVIAN CREW MEMBERS, (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) "THE PEOPLE WERE REALLY TRYING HARD TO OVERCOME THE LACK OF THIS AND THE LACK OF THAT, AND WE HAVE A VERY SOLID PROFESSIONALS AND CREW MEMBERS IN YUGOSLAVIA BECAUSE THE INDUSTRY BEFORE THE WAR WAS PRETTY, YOU KNOW, STRONG AND THEY REALLY, REALLY WORKED VERY HARD AND THEY WERE INSPIRED BY DENNIS BECAUSE HE DID NOT BEHAVE LIKE A HOLLYWOOD STAR. HE WAS THERE, YOU KNOW, UNLOADING THE, YOU KNOW, WITH THE GRIP GUYS UNLOADING THE TRUCKS, SOMETIMES, REALLY. AND THAT KIND OF HELPED THE SPIRITS, SORT OF." DENNIS QUAID SAYING: (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) "TO SEE WHAT WE AS HUMAN BEINGS ARE STILL CAPABLE OF IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 20TH CENTURY, AND, EVEN THOUGH IT HAPPENED WAY OVER THERE, IT'S STILL HUMAN NATURE AND THAT'S WHAT THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT, WHAT WE'RE ALL CAPABLE OF DOING. AND EVEN FROM THAT, IN THE END THE STORY IS ONE OF HOPE AND OF REDEMPTION." PETER ANTONIJEVIC SAYING: (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) "I UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S NOT AN EASY THING YOU KNOW TO DO A MOVIE ABOUT AN ETHNIC WAR IN SOME FOREIGN COUNTRY. PROBABLY WOULD BE VERY HARD FOR HARD FOR ME AS WELL TO DO SOMETHING ON RWANDA OR YOU KNOW, BUT, I AS WELL TRIED TO MAKE THIS MOVIE NOT ONLY AS AN ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS WAR IN BOSNIA, BUT RATHER TO MAKE IT LIKE A MOVIE ABOUT ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS WARS IN GENERAL, YOU KNOW, TO SHOW WHAT'S OUT THERE, WHAT CAUSES THEM AND TO GO DEEPLY INTO THE HEART OF HATRED." LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 27, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) EXTERIOR OF PREMIERE THEATRE "SAVIOR" MOVIE POSTER GUESTS GATHERED INSIDE THEATRE LOBBY DENNIS QUAID AND WIFE MEG RYAN ARRIVING MORE SHOTS OF QUAID AND RYAN
  • Embargoed: 11th November 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA3GH2FDMO0FT5PLBA185MXJ7V4
  • Story Text: With tensions flaring once again in the former Yugoslavia, American actor Dennis Quaid and Serbian director Peter Antonijevic have teamed up to make a new film called "Savior," the story of an American mercenary fighting in the Bosnian civil war.
    Besides Quaid and Antonijevic, the production also boasts Oliver Stone as a producer and features Nastassja Kinski and Stellan Skarsgard in small cameo roles.
    Quaid plays a professional soldier whose life has been torn apart by the burst of a terrorist bomb.In an instant, he loses his wife and son.
    Numbed by the experience, he enlists in the Foreign Legion which takes him to Bosnia, where he becomes a mercenary fighting on the Serbian side of the brutal ethnic war that ripped apart the region in the early 90s.
    In the course of a mission, he comes across a pregnant and helpless woman who soon gives birth to her child.He quickly starts caring for them both and makes it his new mission to safely guide them through the war-torn countyside and deliver them to safety on the Dalmation Coast.
    The production shot mostly on-location in and around the picturesque city of Budva in Montenegro, one of the last remaining provinces of the former Yugoslavia.Although the war was long over when production began, the crew was still hindered by the lack of infrastructure in the region.In fact, each day, Antonijevic had to send his unprocessed film to Rome to have it developed and then waited days for it to return.
    The crew consisted almost entirely of Serbs, Croats and Muslims, most of whom had their own tragic and horrific experiences during the conflict.Antonijevic himself was briefly jailed by Yugoslav President Milosevic for his outspoken views during the war.
    Quaid and his actress wife Meg Ryan attended a special benefit premiere screening of the film in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 27.
    "Savior" opens throughout the United States on Friday, November 20.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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