USA: FILM PREMIERE OF BRUCE WILLIS , BILLY BOB THORNTON AND CATE BLANCHETT'S LATEST FILM - COMEDY THRILLER "BANDITS"

Record ID: 392097

  • Title: USA: FILM PREMIERE OF BRUCE WILLIS , BILLY BOB THORNTON AND CATE BLANCHETT'S LATEST FILM - COMEDY THRILLER "BANDITS"
  • Date: 29th September 2001
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 29, 2001) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) BRUCE WILLIS TALKING ABOUT BILLY BOB THORNTON "You know we are friends in real life, and I thank God that he is as funny as he is .It's really an nice guy, and very early on we discovered that if we could make Barry Levinson laugh then we were onto something. Barry has a great se
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA6SIW0MBLOIHTPGLS1N65X4KG
  • Story Text: After their successful collaboration on the
    blockbuster "Armageddon," Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton
    reunite for the new crime comedy thriller "Bandits,"
    co-starring Cate Blanchett. They attended the film's World
    Premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday, October 4.



    The set of "Bandits" was a reunion for the actors in
    more ways than one. In addition to Willis and Thornton having
    had a previous relationship from working on "Armageddon"
    together, Thornton and Blanchett previously acted opposite one
    another on the little seen air traffic controller comedy
    "Pushing Tin." The familiarity bred a sense of easy and
    comfort on the set that easily translates onto the screen.

    Filmmaker Barry Levinson, who previously won an Oscar for
    "Rain Man" and directed the films "Bugsy," "Wag the Dog" and
    "The Natural," is behind the camera in this story about a pair
    of charismatic bank robbers and the woman who almost destroys
    them.

    Willis plays Joe Blake and Thornton plays Terry Collins, a
    pair of recently escaped convicts hoping a final string of
    successful bank robberies will finance their
    South-of-the-Border retirement dreams. They devise a rather
    unorthodox method to loot banks all along the Pacific coast:
    the take the bank manager and his family hostage the night
    before a heist, have dinner, sleep over, then go into the bank
    with him in the morning before business hours.

    Their unique method wins them international fame and the
    grudging respect of law enforcement and bank employees in
    their path. While it seems to work for a while, the plan
    starts to unravel when an unhappily married and desperately
    bored housewife named Kate, played by "Elizabeth" Oscar
    nominee Cate Blanchett under a fire red wig, stumbles into
    their route.

    Actually, it's Terry who stumbles into Kate's path. She
    absent-mindedly runs her car into him as he's trying to escape
    from a botched get-away attempt. Soon, she finds herself
    taking up with the pair of bandits and even possibly falling
    in love with one, or possibly, both of them.

    While Joe is the handsome and charismatic man of action,
    Terry is the brilliant but neurotic man who can't take a step
    without a plan. In fact, one of Thornton's own real life
    neuroses made its way into the script. During a scene where
    he describes to Kate his many fears and phobias, he includes
    the fact that he's afraid of antique furniture. This is a
    lifelong phobia of Thornton's as well, one that he's never
    been able to determine the source of.

    While some of the production for "Bandits" was done on
    soundstages in Los Angeles, the majority of "Bandits" was a
    true road movie. Levinson and his cast and crew filmed in
    nearly 60 different locations throughout Oregon and
    California.

    "Bandits" opens in theatres throughout the United States
    on Friday, October 12.


    - ENDS -
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