USA: PREMIERE OF STEVEN SODERBERGH FILM "TRAFFIC" STARRING MICHAEL DOUGLAS AND CATHERINE ZETA JONES

Record ID: 390551

  • Title: USA: PREMIERE OF STEVEN SODERBERGH FILM "TRAFFIC" STARRING MICHAEL DOUGLAS AND CATHERINE ZETA JONES
  • Date: 2nd December 2000
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 2) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) STEVEN SODERBERGH SAYING: "You have to, I think, be smart about building on your opportunities, you know, and knowing when to, you know, now is a good time for me to try and get "Traffic" off the ground because it was coming on the heels of "Erin," and, you know, even then, every studi
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, US AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5KM2YTEHLX0K7QANBA2HNQQDR
  • Story Text: Fresh from winning the Best Picture of the Year award from the New York Film Critics Circle, director Steven Soderbergh and the cast of his new film "Traffic" attended its World Premiere in Los Angeles.
    Although the night's event was held to celebrate the film's premiere, the biggest draw was newly wed couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who both star in the film, albeit in different segments not opposite each other.
    This was their first big public event since their glamorous and highly-publicized wedding on November 18.
    The film tells three interwoven stories all centering on the U.S. government's war on illegal narcotics flowing into America across the porous border with Mexico.
    Douglas plays an Ohio Supreme Court judge who is named by the President as the new White House anti-drug czar.
    While he's touring the border, meeting with officials and getting used to his new job, his daughter is rapidly slipping into a destructive drug habit of her own.
    Meanwhile, Zeta-Jones plays a beautiful socialite and very pregnant wife of a highly successful San Diego businessman who turns out to be a notorious drug runner.
    When her husband is thrown in jail by undercover Drug Enforcement agents played by Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman, she takes matters into her own hands to protect her family.
    The third story centers on a Mexican border state policeman played by Benicio Del Toro, who, confronted with temptations of power and money, finds himself caught in a web of corruption.
    Also in the huge cast are Dennis Quaid as a lawyer defending Jones' character, Steven Bauer as her husband, Amy Irving as Douglas' wife and newcomer Erika Christensen as his drug-addicted teenage daughter.
    "Erin Brockovich" director Steven Soderbergh based "Traffic" on a late 1980's British television mini-series called "Traffik," which tracked a drug route from Pakistan through Europe to Great Britain.
    As he has in many of his other films, Soderbergh was extremely hands-on in this production, giving it an almost documentary-like tone. He often operated his own hand-held camera and used only natural or minimal artificial light sources. These techniques had a positive effect on his actors.
    Further complicating the production was the fact that Catherine Zeta-Jones was six months pregnant with her and Douglas' first child during shooting.
    In fact, the original script did not call for her character to be pregnant, but she wanted the role so badly, she was able to convince Soderbergh to write that into the script.
    Both the director and husband-to-be Douglas says she performed beautifully, suffering no morning sickness and acting like a trooper.
    For Douglas, playing scenes along the U.S/Mexican border crossing meant improvisational interactions with real-life Customs, Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI agents.
    He applauds the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees many of these agencies, for its cooperation in making the film.
    Although it's not scheduled for release in the United States until Wednesday, December 27, "Traffic" is already being mentioned as a sure-fire multiple Oscar nominee.
    It recently was named best picture of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle, made up of influential movie critics.
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