- Title: USA: FILM PREMIERE OF KEVIN COSTNER'S LATEST MOVIE "DRAGONFLY"
- Date: 9th February 2002
- Summary: NEW YORK NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY , 2002) (REUTERS) SCU SOUNDBITE (English) TOM SHADYAC SAYING: "The challenges were plentiful in this movie, you had to bring Venezuela to us, I won't give away any story lines but we worked real Yani Mami, real descendants Yani Mami tribe, language problems, weather. It was a real challenging film to make even though there wasn't
- Embargoed: 24th February 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA6QMAZG0DPT440G67VSAZ44TTF
- Story Text: Kevin Costner premiered his new supernatural drama movie "Dragonfly" in Hollywood Monday (February 18). He plays a hospital doctor whose wife is killed in a car crash. Then, while working marathon shifts to bury his grief, children in his paediatric ward claim they've seen his wife during near-death experiences.
Kevin Costner's new film "Dragonfly" is a super-natural drama that explores one of life's biggest mysteries, what happens after we die. Costner plays a burnt out doctor who has to deal with his wife's death in Venezuela. When strange signs start occurring in his life he becomes convinced that his wife is trying to reach out to him after her death. Costner said that he found the film thought provoking Kevin Costner said, "I like the idea that even though you lose somebody, maybe you haven't lost them. Its a question that no one's been able to answer for generations before us, and I suspect even after us it will be one big mystery. The challenge was to believe what happening and let someone back into you life through other people and let the sheer impact of that hit you. "
After September 11th, both the actors and the director felt that the film had a special message for its audience, especially those who have lost loved ones.
Susanna Thomas, who plays Costner's wife in the film said that the film inspires hope.
Thomas said, "I think any movie like this gives individuals -because at some point in our lives we are going to experience that. It just happens that we are experiencing it on a bigger collective and energy, so many people are dealing with loss right now and it's been going on all through the world, but here on this land there's nothing like it. I hope that it would give people hope and comfort. At least a space to identify that someone else is going through what they are going through what they may be going through. I think its important not to feel alone."
As well as an optimistic wider message, "Dragonfly" is a movie with a narrative the director hopes will keep the audience guessing. Tom Shadyac had to overcome practical challenges to give the movie an authentic feel.
Shadyac said, "The challenges were plentiful in this movie, you had to bring Venezuela to us, I won't give away any story lines but we worked real Yani Mami, real descendants Yani Mami tribe, language problems, weather. It was a real challenging film to make even though there wasn't a lot of special effects, even just telling the story itself and putting the clues together."
"Dragonfly" is a change for Shadyac who is best known for his blockbuster comedies, "The Nutty Professor" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective". "Dragonfly" is much more serious, combining suspense and mystery to explore questions of life and death.
-ENDS- - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None