- Title: USA: "CHARLIE'S ANGELS" WORLD PREMIERE
- Date: 22nd October 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 22) (REUTERS) MCU (ENGLISH) CAMERON DIAZ SAYING OF HER ACTION WORK IN THE FILM, "I love it. I love a physical challenge, you know, and this was something that was, you just can't pass it up. You know, getting trained by the best in the world of Hong Kong filmmaking. We just had an amazing experience and we just, well, you kn
- Embargoed: 6th November 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA55ZWMNGQRS884P6XSJSXSE29Y
- Story Text: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu have unveiled one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year - Charlie's Angels. The girls were in high-kicking mood when they attended the World Premiere at Mann's Chinese Theatre in downtown Hollywood.
After an exhaustive search for three leading ladies, a ninety-million dollar budget, a reported FOURTEEN script writers, countless rewrites and tales of tensions on the set, the big screen version of the cult hit seventie's television series is finally ready for audiences.
In addition to starring in the film as one of the new angels, Drew Barrymore also shepherded its production from start to finish and claims a producer credit as a result.
But she shares that distinction with Leonard Goldberg, who was executive producer of the original series, which launched the careers of actresses Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jacqueline Smith.
In this big screen version, Barrymore plays Dylan, Cameron Diaz plays Natalie and Lucy Liu, who came on board last, plays Alex.
Their mission is to foil an elaborate murder-revenge plot that not only could destroy individual privacy worldwide, but spell the end of Charlie and his Angels.
As in the original series, actor John Forsythe provides the voice of Charlie, the mysterious and unseen leader of the elite Townsend Detective Agency.
Also on board is Bill Murray as Bosley, the angels' supervisor and part time undercover partner.
It's been almost 20 years since the original series went off the air, and everyone involved knew the film had to update the concept into the 21st century and not simply impersonate the characters in the television version.
This task fell to first time feature filmmaker 'McG,' previously best known for his celebrated music videos and television commercials.
For the three lead actresses, preparing for "Charlie's Angels" meant weeks of intensive physical training in the martial arts. Guided by Chinese martial arts expert Cheung-Yan Yuen, the same team responsible for the work in "The Matrix" came to America to train the angels six to eight hours a day.
But it wasn't all smooth sailing.
Reports began to leak off the set of high tensions between the actors, including one widely-reported story of an incident in which Lucy Liu slapped Bill Murray and stormed off the set, shutting down production for a day.
There were also many rumors of hurried script re-writes and chaotic last minute production changes.
Through it all, Barrymore and her production team stood determined to finish a project that she was personally committed to from day one.
Whether or not audiences in the 21st century will embrace a concept made popular over 20 years ago will only become apparent once the film opens in theatres throughout the United States on Friday, November 3. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None