- Title: USA: PREMIERE OF VAL KILMER'S LATEST FILM ABOUT MARS "RED PLANET"
- Date: 26th October 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 6) (REUTERS) GV, EXTERIOR OF PREMIERE THEATER CINEMA CU , MOVIE POSTER FOR RED PLANET VARIOUS, VAL KILMER ARRIVING AND TALKING TO THE MEDIA (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, CARRIE ANNE MOSS ARRIVING SCU (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) VAL KILMER SAYING OF LIVING ON ANOTHER PLANET, One of the hardest parts, the research is showing, is the length of
- Embargoed: 10th November 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA6SCB8VIMZ8V5OIEM1VLK0EJ52
- Story Text: The second Mars adventure movie of the year took a bow on Monday, November 6 when stars Val Kilmer, Carrie Anne Moss and Benjamin Bratt attended the Los Angeles premiere of "Red Planet.".
The first film of 2000 that explored the idea of a manned space mission to Mars was Brian DePalma's aptly named adventure thriller "Mission To Mars." It met with bad reviews and tepid box office reaction when it was released early last Spring.
Soon after the release of that film, Warner Brothers announced they would push back the opening date for "Red Planet" to the fall, ostensibly to facilitate the intensive special effects process. Some saw the move as an attempt to distance this film from its poorly received predecessor.
In "Red Planet," Val Kilmer, "Matrix" star Carrie Anne Moss and Benjamin Bratt are three members of a mission sent to Mars to fix the malfunctioning Mars Terraforming Project, designed to make the hostile environment hospitable for human colonization.
Also along for the ride are actors Tom Sizemore, Simon Baker and Terence Stamp, along with a computer animated artificial intelligence robot named A.M.E.E.
Of course, the mission goes horribly wrong and the four men are stranded on Mars while their commander, played by Moss, orbits high above in their disabled spaceship. In fact, Moss played most of her scenes totally alone without any of the other actors present on the set.
Meanwhile, director Antony Hoffman and his crew brought Kilmer, Bratt, Sizemore, Baker and Stamp into the middle of the the Jordanian desert where scenes from "Lawrence of Arabia" were shot. It was the closest facsimile of the Martian surface they could find on Earth. They also shot in remote locations of the Australian outback.
The locations proved to be breathtaking and exhilarating, but also exacted a toll on the actors, who had to play scenes inside bulky and constricting space suits while walking around in temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day.
Once the on location work was done, Hoffman turned the film over to his special effects team, who were responsible for more than 900 computer effects shots, most involving the cunning yet deadly robot A.M.E.E.
While Kilmer has played in action-adventure movies like "Top Gun," "Willow," "Batman Forever" and "The Saint" many times before, this is still new territory for Carrie Anne Moss. She recently garnered world-wide attention for her performance opposite Keanu Reeves in the blockbuster "The Matrix."
Although she's now following that film up with another sci-fi adventure, she says she's not afraid of being typecast as a female action hero. After "Red Planet," she returns to Australia to shoot the next two "Matrix" sequels.
"Red Planet" opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, November 10.
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