U.S.A.: FILM PREMIER OF 'THE HAUNTING', ATTENDED BY IT'S STARS CATHERINE ZETA- JONES AND LIAM NEESON

Record ID: 705753

  • Title: U.S.A.: FILM PREMIER OF 'THE HAUNTING', ATTENDED BY IT'S STARS CATHERINE ZETA- JONES AND LIAM NEESON
  • Date: 19th July 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 20, 1999) (REUTERS) PAN FROM CAMERA TO CATHERINE ZETA-JONES SPEAKING WITH REPORTER AT PREMIERE OF "THE HAUNTING" CUTAWAY TO FANS WATCHING PREMIERE-GOERS LIAM NEESON, IN CROWD AT PREMIERE "THE HAUNTING" CO-STAR LILI TAYLOR SPEAKING WITH REPORTER NEESON AND ZETA-JONES SEPARATELY SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS CLOSE-UP OF ZETA-JONES
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA7SZ2DWH60DUKC5SWY7O834OGO
  • Story Text: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Liam Neeson were among the stars of "The Haunting" attending the film's premiere night in Los Angeles.Those hoping for a glimpse of Zeta-Jones' new beau, Michael Douglas, may have to settle for the release of his next film, as the Welsh beauty attended the screening with only her father in tow.
    While Zeta-Jones' solo turn had wags speculating, her demeanor and openness provided them with little ammunition.
    "Things are going great.Sometimes everything gets whipped up and its not until years later that you actually realise you were having a good time but I know that I'm having a good time," said the 29-year-old.
    Director Jan DeBont's film is the second adaptation of Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel "The Haunting of Hill House." Dr.
    Marrow (Liam Neeson) lures three insomniacs -- Nell (Lili Taylor), a fragile soul searching for some place to call home; Thea (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a cosmopolitan bisexual beauty; and Luke (Owen Wilson) a charming cynic -- to the allegedly haunted Hill House under the pretense of helping them.
    In truth, he's using them as test subjects for a research project about the experience of fear.Hill House, possessed with the souls of sufffering children and one very foul father figure, has even more diabolical plans.
    DeBont, best known for his directing of a bus in "Speed," and a tornado in "Twister," was hired for "The Haunting" to impart a similar sense of character to a house.
    "How do you make a house come alive, without going nuts, without going crazy, because nothing would be worse than just overdoing it," explained the one-time cinematographer."So to find a balance was quite hard but technically of course it was really difficult and complex to have rooms moved, to have walls moved and ceilings moved, and it was a combination of visual and special effects that took a lot more time than I ever had imagined."
    Adding to the ominous nature of the cinematography is the film's sound, which is enhanced with Dolby Digital Surround EX (first used in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace"), allowing the creaks of floorboards, and groans of old plumbing -- and possibly ghosts, to seemingly leap out of the screen.
    Also adding to the foreboding atmosphere are the interior sets, which were rumoured to have cost 8-10 million (USD), and were designed by Italian craftsman Eugenio Zanetti with Turkish, Gothic and Victorian architecture in mind.
    Inarguably, a central character in "The Haunting" is Hill House itself.The sheer size of the house dictated that the majority of the sets be constructed in the cavernous Dome outside Los Angeles, where Howard Hughes' notorious wooden plane the Spruce Goose had once been housed.
    The huge interior sets dictated that the house's exterior had to be equally enormous.After a thorough search in the US, the production team finally found the perfect Hill House: Harlaxton Manor near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
    Today, the manor house is owned and occupied by Harlaxton College.
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