USA: FILM PREMIERE OF ANTHONY MINGHELLA'S FILM THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY STARRING MATT DAMON AND GWYNETH PALTROW

Record ID: 388825

  • Title: USA: FILM PREMIERE OF ANTHONY MINGHELLA'S FILM THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY STARRING MATT DAMON AND GWYNETH PALTROW
  • Date: 12th December 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 12) (RTV-LA) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MATT DAMON SAYING OF HIS NEWFOUND CELEBRITY, Yeah, no, it is an odd place for me to be. I still feel like the same person I always was and, so, so, yeah, It's not that I'm reluctant to be a celebrity, it's just that I don't want to be different, you know? I like my life and I like the people in my life, my family, my friends and you know, and I like people in general and I don't want to be treated specially, I'd rather just be treated lke the way I've always been treated because life's just fine for me that way, you know? (SOUNDBITE) (English) GWYNETH PALTROW SAYING I don't know. I think Matt is a really good actor and I think he wants to be a movie star, otherwise he wouldn't be doing what he's doing, in a sense, but, at the same time, you know, it brings up this whole thing that, I'm losing my life, I'm losing you know, the sense of my life that I've had my whole life and my relationships are changing and people around me are changing and it's very scary and it's very difficult to, you know, stay on the straight path and stay grounded and really be responsible about who you are in the face of this immense change around you. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTHONY MINGHELLA SAYING Even if you look at the choice of doing this film, I mean, the courage to play a part like this in Hollywood. It's about jettisoning the appearance of stardom for the possibilities of being an actor. I think he's in movies because of movies and because of a love and passion for movies and I think the rest of it is slightly troublesome to him. He's the nicest, nicest man, you know, in some way, I feel like a sort of shame. I could bore for Matt Damon forever. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JUDE LAW SAYING The celbrity stuff is something, you know, that rises up and dissipates at different times and he handles it like a gentleman cause he is one. I think it's more a case of his focus being on the work which I completely emphathise with because that's why we're here. You know what I mean? That's why we're doing what we do. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MATT DAMON SAYING OF PARALLELS BETWEEN HIS LIFE AND HIS CHARACTERS' Sure, sure, it made him a lot easier to relate to for me. Yeah, and I think, also, just, I generally have a quality, this is more a criticism of myself, that I do want to be all things to all people and I tend to, you know, be too aware of who I'm talking to and, you know? I think that's me as a person. Yeah, that was always there. I always want to, I want to make people happy. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GWYNETH PALTROW SAYING I don't feel like I have to prove myself to anyone but myself. So, external pressure or external expectations don't factor into my work but I'm the toughest critic on myself and I'm the hardest one to please but, I think if you start worrying about what other people think about you and what judgements they're making about you then, you know, you stop trusting your instincts. I mean, you can't do that as an artist. You jsut can't, you know? (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTHONY MINGHELLA SAYING You know what happened is, I was very alert to the fact that Hitchcock had filmed the first book this writer had written, "Strangers On a Train," one of my favorite movies and, you know, when I was making "The English Patient," I was always alert to the fact that David Lean might have made "The English Patient" and I kept thinking, well, if he was making it, what would it have looked like, what would it have felt like, and the same with this movie. In some ways, I was much more conscious of the Italian cinema then I was of the British cinema or the American cinema but, obviously, because the material is so disturbing and so unsettling, it felt to me that the obligation was to give the audience both a sort of philisophical ride, because that's the thing that really intrigued me about the film, but also, you know, I felt that I was biting my nails when I read the book right down to the quick and I wanted the audience to have that great experience where you just think, oh my gosh, what's going to happen next, what's going to happen next? EXTERIOR OF PREMIERE THEATER MOVIE POSTER GWYNETH PALTROW ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) GWYNETH PALTROW SAYING OF MATT DAMON, Well, it was great, you know, he's a sweet guy and he's so good in the movie and his work ethic is so amazing and I felt like I learned a lot from the experience and we had a good time. PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA MATT DAMON SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MATT DAMON SAYING The Italian people were really jus incredible and really supportive. In every little town we went to they really welcomed us and it was, it was great and I'd never been abroad for that long, I mean, in Europe, it's a little more common to travel but us, you know, the ethno-centric Americans don't get out much, you know? CATE BLANCHETT SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA PATRICK STEWART SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA MEDIA GATHERED ALONG RED CARPET BEN AFFLECK ARRIVING AND HUGGING MATT DAMON
  • Embargoed: 27th December 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, US AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ALX2XR93RM66NLBB4GZP635
  • Story Text: A group of recent Oscar winners and nominees gathered in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 12 to celebrate the World Premiere of "The English Patient" director Anthony Minghella's newest film "The Talented Mr.Ripley," starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
    For his first starring role since storming the Oscars and the world stage with his writing and acting in the hit film "Good Will Hunting," Damon chose to play Tom Ripley, a deeply confused and tormented American who travels to Italy in the 1950's to take on the persona of the charming and wealthy son of a New York shipbuilding magnate.
    The film is based on the suspenseful novel by the late writer Patricia Highsmith, whose first book "Strangers On a Train" was adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.
    Director Anthony Minghella had this connection firmly in mind while he was putting "Mr.Ripley" together, going so far as to create an opening sequence that seems to be a ode to "North By Northwest" and "Vertigo."
    Ripley is initally sent to Italy when the wealthy New York tycoon played by James Rebhorn mistakes him for a college friend of his son Dickie's, who's currently living la dolce vita in Italy with his beautiful expatriate girlfriend Marge Sherwood, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
    But once Ripley arrives in Italy and meets up with Dickie and Marge, he becomes infatuated with their lifestyle and, having always spent his life as an awkward outsider, starts to covet everything Dickie has and, more importantly, everythinghe is.
    The book and Minghella's film also touch upon Ripley's ambiguous sexuality, which manifests intself in scenes bristling with sexual tension between Damon and actor Jude Law, who plays Dickie.In all, Damon and Minghella both admit this role was a big challenge and huge risk.
    It also required Damon to lose 20 pounds to fit the role, learn how to play the piano and practice up on his singing for the sake of a sequence in the film where he and Dickie perform in a jazz club outside Rome.One of the highlights of the characters' obsession with jazz is Damon's falsetto rendition of the standard "My Funny Valentine," which is a dead-on impersonation of the famous version by American jazz great Chet Baker.
    Also in the cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles, one of Dickie's fellow expatrites in Italy and Oscar nominee and "Elizabeth" star Cate Blanchett in a small role as Meredith Logue, another wealthy American youth traveling abroad who falls for Ripley's deception that he is Dickie Greenleaf.
    After six months of location scouting, 16 weeks of pre-production and two weeks of rehearsal, Minghella, his cast and crew all departed for months of on location filming in cities throughout Italy including Rome, Naples and Venice.
    "The Talented Mr.Ripley" opens in theaters throughout the United States on Christmas Day.
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