USA:"THE JACKAL" STARRING BRUCE WILLIS AND RICHARD GERE PREMIERES IN LOS ANGELES

Record ID: 693040

  • Title: USA:"THE JACKAL" STARRING BRUCE WILLIS AND RICHARD GERE PREMIERES IN LOS ANGELES
  • Date: 25th October 1997
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 25, 1997) (REUTERS) RICHARD GERE SAYING OF COMPARISONS TO ORIGINAL FILM, "IT'S SO DIFFERENT, SO DIFFERENT. I DON'T THINK IT'LL EVEN BE RECOGNIZABLE TO ANYONE WHO'S SEEN THE FIRST FILM." (ENGLISH) MICHAEL CATON JONES SAYING, "THE ORIGINAL WAS MADE A GOOD 25 YEARS AGO AND TIMES HAVE CHANGED AND PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS OUT OF FILM HAVE CHANGED. SO I THINK THE DIFFERENCE IS REALLY REFLECTIVE OF THE TIME PERIOD THAT THEY'VE BEEN MADE IN, YOU KNOW, ONE IS FROM THE 70'S AND ONE IS FROM THE 90'S." (ENGLISH) DIANE VENORA SAYING, "I HAD NEVER PLAYED A RUSSIAN, I'M FASCINATED BY THE CULTURE. I THOUGHT IT'D BE A GREAT RESEARCH PROJECT AND I LIKE WORKING WITH GUYS, ESPECIALLY HEAVY-HITTER GUYS, I ALWAYS FEEL KIND OF CALM IN THAT ENVIRONMENT." (ENGLISH) BRUCE WILLIS SAYING, "IT WAS A NICE CHANGE OF PACE. I ACTUALLY HAD A GOOD TIME WITH IT....YOU KNOW, WHEN PLAYING THE BAD GUY YOU DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW ANY CODE OF ETHICS OR MORALS IT'S....THIS GUY'S JUST A SOCIOPATH." (ENGLISH)
  • Embargoed: 9th November 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/ FILM lOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9F3CDMNI3NJ8JONILZL637N5A
  • Story Text: One of Hollywood's top male actors was in Los Angeles on Monday (November 10) for the premiere of his new movie "The Jackal". Bruce Willis and his wife Demi Moore turned up for opening night of the thriller which stars Willis and Richard Gere.
    Willis admitted that through his portrayal of a villain in the film he had come to understand the criminal mind. "I got very close to the world of crime and it almost made me wanna give up acting and, I mean, just start blasting(" he said.
    The Jackel's director Michael Caton-Jones said the most difficult part of making the movie had been the need to move location a number of times. "We shot in ten different cities in Europe and in America and in Canada", he said.
    Attending the premiere, actress Jacqueline Bissett said she had come to see the film because she admired the leading actors.
    In a role which is unusual for him, Willis plays the bad guy - title character The Jackel - a ruthless assassin who has been hired by international cutthroats to eliminate a top U.S. government man.
    His price: 70 million dollars. His method: Constantly keeping on the move, changing his identity and location, sometimes several time a day.
    Willis said he enjoyed playing a nasty character. "I actually had a good time with it...When playing the bad guy you don't have to follow any code of ethics or morals." Hot on The Jackel's tail are an FBI Deputy Director - played by Sidney Poitier - and a Russian intelligence officer - played by Diane Venora. But since no one has ever seen The Jackal and lived to tell the tale, they are forced to enlist the help of Declan Mulqueen - played by Gere - an Irish underground operative who has his own history with assassin.
    "The Jackal" is based on the screenplay of the 1973 classic "The Day of the Jackal," but the source material has been reworked and updated to include a wholly original series of characters and the advance of modern technology.
    Caton-Jones said changing times and people's growing expectations of film-making meant the new movie had to move on from the original. "The difference is really reflective of the time period that they've been made in, you know, one is from the 70's and one is from the 90's." Comparing the new film to the original, Gere said, "It's so different, so different. I don't think it'll even be recognizable to anyone who's seen the first film.
    The film crew worked all over the world, in locations ranging from Moscow and Helsinki to London, Montreal and Washington D.C. By the time the film had wrapped, the cast and crew had moved a total of 10 times - and must have felt a little Jackal-like themselves.
    While Willis and Gere are well-known, Diane Venora is the relative newcomer in the cast. She received critical acclaim for her role in Al Pacino's "Heat" and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance in Clint Eastwood's "Bird." She recently co-starred in Baz Luhrmanns' modern-day adaptation of "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." Venora said though Gere and Willis had much more experince then herself, they treated he equally on set. "If you have an idea or opinion they say "yeah, let's take that on". They dont go "What is she doing?" You know? They're not threatened by you." Caton-Jones most recently directed "Rob Roy," starring Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, and Tim Roth. He first made his mark on the international film scene with his feature debut "Scandal," the provocative story of the notorious Profumo sex scandal that shook the British government in the early 1960's.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register