- Title: UNITED STATES: "STEAL THIS MOVIE" PREMIERES IN LOS ANGELES
- Date: 14th August 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 14, 2000) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) VINCENT D'ONOFRIO SAYING When you're playing a real guy, you have to do the research and when you're inventing a character, it takes more imagination. You have to study the script and know the structure of what you're doing, but when you're playing a real guy, in this case Abbie Hoffm
- Embargoed: 29th August 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,
- Country: USA
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVABUPA7PM8G05MG6E8C4VBG9V29
- Story Text: As protests continued in the Los Angeles streets surrounding the US Democratic National Convention, actor Vincent D'Onofrio attended the premiere of "Steal This Movie,"
in which he plays one of America's best-known and controversial political and social activists, the late Abbie Hoffman.
This film charts the rise and fall of Hoffman and follows the radical 60's and 70's activist through a maze of music, politics and personal struggles.
It picks up in 1968 when Hoffman and his wife Anita, played by Janeane Garofalo, founded Yippie! -- a band of revolutionaries organized to protest against the Vietnam war at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The riots that followed made headlines around the world and resulted in Hoffman standing trial with seven others including Jerry Reuben, future California state senator Tom Hayden and black activist Bobby Seale.
The group became known as the Chicago Seven - forever a symbol of the battle for political expression in America.
In the film, the late Reuben is played by actor Kevin Corrigan, Hoffman's longtime friend Stu Alpert is played by Donal Logue and Hayden is played by the politician's real-life son with Jane Fonda, Troy Garity.
Also in the cast are comic-turned-actor Kevin Pollak as Hoffman's lawyer Jerry Lefcourt and Jeanne Tripplehorn as his lover Johanna Lawrenson.
Besides his activities at the convention in Chicago in 1968, the film also details his constant surveillance by the FBI and a brutal smear campaign by the government that eventually cost him his friends and his marriage.
Hoffman went underground in 1974, leaving behind Anita and their young son America.
For seven years he lived on the run, away from his politics and family until he resurfaced in 1978 as "Barry Freed," an environmental activist in New York.
For D'Onofrio, preparing for the role meant studying hours of film reels and videotapes of the real Hoffman, who committed suicide in the nineteen eighties.
He also relied on audio tapes, books and the consistent input of Hoffman's family and friends.
The film was produced and directed by Robert Greenwald, an independent filmmaker who has been trying to get this story told on the big screen since he met the real Anita Hoffman in the late 70's.
She was at first reluctant to agree to the project, but Greenwald was able to convince her when he told her it would be done as an independent film outside the Hollywood studio system, just the way Hoffman would have wanted it to be told.
Everyone involved in the project sees many similarities between Hoffman and his group of activists and the young people demonstrating this week in the streets of Los Angeles in conjunction with this year's Democratic National Convention.
In fact, the night before the film's premiere, Hayden addressed a crowd of protesters outside the convention and his son Troy Garity was injured when police attempted to break up a demonstration that threatened to become violent.
Taking advantage of current events, Artisan Entertainment is releasing "Steal This Movie" immediately following the close of the convention this Friday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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