- Title: USA: AMERICAN FILM PREMIERE OF "FULL FRONTAL " WITH JULIA ROBERTS
- Date: 23rd July 2002
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 23, 2002) (REUTERS) PAN FROM STREET TO MARQUEE PAN FROM MARQUEE TO RED CARPET SMV MEDIA CLUSTERED AROUND RED CARPET VARIOUS, MARY MCCORMACK ARRIVING VARIOUS, GEORGE CLOONEY ARRIVAL WIDE OF CATHERINE KEENER AND DATE DERMOT MULRONEY PAN FROM MEDIA TO BRAD PITT AND JENNIFER ANISTON SCU OF PITT AND ANISTON (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, DAVID
- Embargoed: 7th August 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA70DP75ABHESINXXGJKVSC6WQB
- Story Text: New bride Julia Roberts arrived alone to the premiere of her latest film "Full Frontal." Brad Pitt and wife Jennifer Aniston held hands as they entered the Beverly Hills theater showcasing the latest work from Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh. Digital cameras capture the intimate lives of seven characters in this low budget project that examines the boundaries between friends.
Director Steven Soderbergh is marketing his latest film as a movie about movies for people who love movies.
"Full Frontal" is a contemporary comedy set in Los Angeles and made on a low budget. Twelve years after the success of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" Soderbergh rejoined with Miramax Films to examine the intimate lives of seven characters, friends dealing with the pressures of life.
In "Full Frontal" the on-screen actors are followed by digital cameras as the lens captures their ongoings during a twenty-four-hour period. The unofficial sequel to "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" " traces the complicated relationships among friends as they deal with the fragile and sometimes erotic connections that bind them together.
Julia Roberts, who took home an Oscar following Soderbergh's direction in "Erin Brockovich," is part of the ensemble cast. Actors David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, Catherine Keener, Mary McCormack, David Hyde Pierce, and Blair Underwood followed Soderbergh's strict rules during an eighteen-day shoot.
Along with the script came a unique set of rules. All the actors were asked to outfit themselves with costumes, transport themselves to and from the set, and consider eating before going to work, or bringing food to the shoot, for no fancy meals were served during a tight filming schedule, following an even tight production budget. Soderbergh's final mandate to the cast was to have fun.
To promote their new film, the cast assembled in Beverly Hills for the Los Angeles premier.
In "Full Frontal" David Duchovny plays a successful producer from New York, whose birthday celebration is the culmination of the film.
"It was very much like doing something on-stage because we did it in one take," said Duchovny of the manner in which the film was made.
Catherine Keener plays a brittle career woman starved for affection. Improvising in front of the camera helped Keener learn more about her craft.
"Not to worry so much. Not to worry about feeling under prepared," said Keener, is something she learned from Soderbergh's guidance.
Newlywed Julia Roberts arrived at the premiere after most of the cast had entered the theater. Walking the red carpet unaccompanied as her cameraman husband Danny Moder was off filming a commercial, the actress waved to cheering fans.
Moder is credited for work in "Full Frontal" as a Camera First Assistant.
Actors Brad Pitt and George Clooney, who worked with Roberts in Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven," mingled on the red carpet before entering the theater.
A script stocked with dialogue tells the story of a magazine writer who is on the brink of losing his job in "Full Frontal." David Hyde Pierce plays reporter Carl Bright, a journalist at "Los Angeles Magazine." Pierce's character writes screenplays on the side and thinks he understands the reasons for his wife's unhappiness. His wife Lee (Catherine Keener) is VP of Human Resources at a large corporation who takes out her frustrations as she terminates company employees. Her sister Linda (Mary McCormack) works as a hotel masseuse and worries that she will never meet Mr. Right.
Calvin (Blair Underwood) is the star of a successful television series who has just gotten his big film break playing Nicholas, the sidekick of a major move star and, the subject of a celebrity profile being written by Catherine played by Francesca (Julia Roberts). Nicky Katt is an actor playing Hitler in a stage pay while Gus (David Duchovny) produces Nicholas' movie. The day, captured on film, culminates at Gus' 40th birthday celebration.
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