USA: BRUCE WILLIS PLAYS A BITTER FBI AGENT IN AN ACTION THRILLER "MERCURY RISING"

Record ID: 693125

  • Title: USA: BRUCE WILLIS PLAYS A BITTER FBI AGENT IN AN ACTION THRILLER "MERCURY RISING"
  • Date: 25th March 1998
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 1, 1998) (REUTERS) BRUCE WILLIS ARRIVES FOR PREMIERE COSTAR MIKO HUGHES AT PREMIERE BRUCE WILLIS AND DIRECTOR HAROLD BECKER SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA BRUCE WILLIS SAYING, "WELL, IT'S THE ONLY THING THE ACTORS REALLY HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT, YOU KNOW. YOU TRY TO MAKE THE STORY INTERESTING, YOU FIND LITTLE NUANCES AND WE, FORTUNATELY HAD A REALLY GOOD GROUP OF ACTORS WORKING ON THIS ONE. ALEC BALDWIN IS GREAT, MIKO HUGHES IS, I'M GONNA KNOCK THIS KID OUT. NO, HE'S REALLY GOOD, HE'S A REALLY TALENTED ACTOR, WE WERE REALLY LUCKY TO HAVE HIM." (ENGLISH) MADONNA ARRIVES MADONNA GREETS BRUCE WILLIS
  • Embargoed: 9th April 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVABNYBNHDHGNSR8NMCA72BDSAZ2
  • Story Text: Bruce Willis revisits the action-thriller genre that has served his career well in the past in the new film "Mercury Rising".
    Willis and his young co-star Miko Hughes attended the film's world premiere in Los Angeles last week (April 1).
    Madonna also was there to show her support.
    Willis plays FBI agent Art Jeffries, a cop without hope, teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
    Relegated to routine assignments following a botched undercover operation for which he was made the scapegoat, Jeffries feels betrayed by the government to which he has dedicated his life.
    When he is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a nine-year-old autistic child whose parents have been killed, he stumbles into a situation that is anything but routine.
    While exploring the scene of the murders at a Chicago home, Jeffries discovers the missing boy hidden in a crawl space.The child, Simon, played by Miko Hughes, is traumatized and can't speak, but Jeffries believes he is in danger and insists on protection for the child at a local hospital.
    When that protection is withdrawn, Jeffries takes the boy under his own protection and flees.
    A later attack on Simon proves Jeffries' theory and he soon discovers Simon is an autistic savant, unable to contect with other human beings, but able to decipher a top-secret military code.
    The code was designed to protect American espionage operations around the world and was thought to be indecipherable.
    It falls to the ruthless high-ranking National Security Agency official Lt.Colonel Nicholas Kudrow, played by Alec Baldwin, to use whatever means necessary to protect the code and eliminate the child who cracked it.
    Now outcast from the FBI and unable to seek help from the police, Jeffries and Simon are alone, in peril and on the run.
    "Mercury Rising" is directed by Harold Becker, who previously directed the films "City Hall" and "Sea of Love," both starring Al Pacino.Its producer is Brian Grazer, who was responsible for the films "Ransom," "The Nutty Professor," and "Apollo 13." The 18-week production of "Mercury Rising" took place in South Dakota and Chicago, with the majority of the work taking place in and around the so-called Windy City.
    The biggest challenge for Miko Hughes was to learn how to act like an autistic savant.The young actor worked closely with noted child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Bennett Levanthal to capture the gestures and idiosyncrasies of a child with autism.
    Together, they spent time with autistic children, studying and playing with them, practicing voice rhythms, body posture and facial expressions.
    Although it appears Hughes would be the newcomer when compared to Willis and Baldwin, this is his tenth film in the last ten years.His other credits include "Kindergarten Cop" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Jack the Bear" with Danny DeVito, "Apollo 13" and "Spawn." He is also the youngest person ever interviewed by Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show." "Mercury Rising" is now playing throughout the United States.It opens in Europe in August.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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