USA: LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF THE FILM "MICKEY BLUE EYES" ATTENDED BY LIZ HURLEY AND HUGH GRANT

Record ID: 705831

  • Title: USA: LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF THE FILM "MICKEY BLUE EYES" ATTENDED BY LIZ HURLEY AND HUGH GRANT
  • Date: 18th August 1999
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 31) (REUTERS-LA) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) HUGH GRANT SAYING The last movie we produced was a thriller, which I'm quite proud of, and there are people who come up to me now and say, loved "Extreme Measures," saw it at 4 AM on some very obscure cable channel, while drunk, but other than that, no one saw it, and that's sad, but this
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAWEKA0I0CLLWCNMO47LMG6YO5
  • Story Text: Hollywood's British First Couple Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley on Tuesday, August 17 attended the Los Angeles premiere of the newest comedy from their production company called "Mickey Blue Eyes."
    Walking a well-trodden path, Grant once again plays a proper Englishman who gets caught up in a world he's totally alien to and suffers the "fish out of water" syndrome with comedic results.
    This time, he's Michael Felgate, a successful auction house manager in New York who is head over heels in love with his beautifful girlfriend Gina, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn.
    But their seemingly perfect relationship is threatened when he proposes marriage and she turns him down because her family is a high profile, notorious Italian-American crime syndicate.
    Not to be deterred, Michael tries to ingratiate himself with her family, only to get caught up in an accidental gangland shooting and then is forced to take on the persona of a fictional but fearsome mobster that goes by the nickname "Mickey Blue Eyes."
    Guiding him in this transformation is Gina's loving and well-connected father Frank, played by James Caan.Caan is certainly no stranger to this type of character or environment.His first big role was in "The Godfather," for which he won an Oscar nomination.He also grew up in the Bronx and Queens sections of New York and was surrounded by Italian American families, many of whom were involved in organized crime.
    In fact, the film's director Kelly Makin and producer Elizabeth Hurley used Caan's connections in order to do research for the film.With Caan's help, Hurley and Grant immersed themselves in New York's Italian-American community, met with "made" men, went to their houses and went out to dinner with them.In the end, Grant says the New Yorkers made Hurley their honorary "princess."
    "Mickey Blue Eyes" is the second film to come out of Simian Productions, the company Hurley and Grant formed several years ago.The first was the thriller "Extreme Measures," which starred Grant and Gene Hackman and went largely un-noticed by audiences and critics alike.Both Grant and Hurley admit they have high hopes for this one.
    "Mickey Blue Eyes" is the second film starring Grant this summer, marking a bit of a come-back for him.The first was the Julia Roberts comedy "Notting Hill," which was a hit earlier this year and has earned 113 million dollars so far in the United States alone.
    This second Hugh Grant comedy of the summer hopes to do similar business when it opens throughout the United States on Friday, August 20.
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