USA/FILE: WORLD PREMIERE OF "ARMAGEDDON" IS HELD AT CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA

Record ID: 545594

  • Title: USA/FILE: WORLD PREMIERE OF "ARMAGEDDON" IS HELD AT CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA
  • Date: 13th June 1998
  • Summary: (MUST COURTESY TOUCHSTONE PICTURES) CLIPS FROM ARMAGEDDON
  • Embargoed: 28th June 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA AND CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVAB8KJOC0FHAQKW28YESSFUROQ6
  • Story Text: Bruce Willis made a surprise appearance on Monday, (June 29) at Cape Kennedy, Florida, when Disney held the world premiere of his new summer film "Armageddon" at the world famous space launch facility.
    He did not speak to the press during the event apparently in order to avoid questions about his recent break-up with his actress wife Demi Moore.
    "Armageddon" is the second film of this summer dealing with an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.The first was "Deep Impact," which has already earned more than 130 million dollars at the box office in the United States.
    Whereas "Deep Impact" dealt with relationships developing in the shadow of the asteroid, "Armageddon" is a more traditional action-adventure story full of explosions, space shuttles and patriotic, flag-waving heroism.
    Bruce Willis plays Harry Stamper, the world's foremost deep core oil driller who is enlisted by the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), played by Billy Bob Thornton, to help save the world.The plan is to send Harry and his motley crew of drillers into space aboard two shuttles to land on the asteroid, drill into its surface, and drop a nuclear bomb into its core.
    The crew includes Will Patton, who plays Harry's right hand man Chick, Ben Affleck, who plays A.J., a young hot shot who's in love with Harry's daughter Grace, played by Liv Tyler, and "Fargo" star Steve Buscemi, who plays Rockhound, a brilliant but slightly unstable geologist.
    The cast also includes Buscemi's fellow "Fargo" co-star Peter Stormare as a Russian cosmonaut who joins the team and William Fichtner as the veteran astronaut who leads the inexperienced space travellers in their mission.
    "Armageddon" is directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the team that previously united for the hits "The Rock" and "Bad Boys" with Will Smith.In addition, Bruckheimer has also been behind some of the most successful action movies in recent years, including "Top Gun," "Crimson Tide," "Con Air," and "Beverly Hills Cop." In making those films, Bruckheimer made contacts amongst officials in the United States military and high reaches of government.He put those to good use in "Armageddon," getting unprecedented cooperation from both the U.S.Air Force and NASA.
    NASA was so accomodating the agency even let crews film two different space shuttle launches up close, permitted shooting of some scenes on the launch tower and let them hang out with current and retired astronauts and scientists.
    NASA's cooperation was in some respects historic.Willis and Affleck became the only two civilians ever to wear the several-million-dollar space suits that American astronauts wear in space.They wore the suits while filming scenes inside a huge buoyancy tank inside NASA where astronauts are trained in weightless conditions like those found in outer space.
    "Armageddon" employed legions of special effects experts, computer wizards and model-makers to create the asteroid and its jagged, unstable surface.
    The movie opens in theatres throughout the United States July 1 and Hollywood insiders are already predicting that it may be the only summer movie this year to earn more than 200 million dollars at the American box office.
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