USA: RUSSELL CROWE AND MEG RYAN ATTEND PREMIERE OF THEIR NEW FILM, "PROOF OF LIFE."

Record ID: 754172

  • Title: USA: RUSSELL CROWE AND MEG RYAN ATTEND PREMIERE OF THEIR NEW FILM, "PROOF OF LIFE."
  • Date: 1st December 2000
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 1, 2000) (REUTERS) CU: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) RUSSELL CROWE SAYING Mate, the last 12 months seems like 5 years, you know? And this year, since January, I've spent 21 nights sleeping in my bed on the farm, you know? The rest of the time I've been traveling the world and it's December now right, you know? That's not really that healthy. About a week from now I get to go home and, yeah, I don't regret any of it or any of that sort of stuff. It's been very interesting and so on, but I think I need time to go home and process what the hell's been going on. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MEG RYAN SAYING OF PLAYING IN DRAMAS VERSUS ROMANTIC COMEDIES, It's fun to go back and forth and I always think, you know, when I finished this movie, I thought, I said, I told my agent, that's it, I just want to do a drama, I gotta, I just got, I'm just getting my appetite wet. I love it! I love it! I love it! And, you know, cut to, I'm doing a romantic comedy. (LAUGHTER) I can't help it!
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, USA AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACB8VB8WNYZFX9N0V7A7QNKLQE
  • Story Text: Following months of speculation regarding their personal relationship, Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe attended the World Premiere of their new film "Proof of Life" in Los Angeles.
    Tabloid stories about a romantic relationship between Crowe and Ryan almost eclipsed the film itself while production was underway in the South American nation of Ecuador.
    During this time, Ryan also filed for divorce from her husband of nine years, actor Dennis Quaid.
    Ryan denies that her relationship with Crowe was the cause of her breakup with Quaid, but the confluence of the two events caused speculation in the tabloid media throughout the world.
    On the eve of the release of their film, both actors refused to discuss details of their relationship, but both were willing to voice their opinion of the media and the way they were treated in the press.
    Ironically, the storyline of "Proof of Life" somewhat imitates their real life situations.
    Ryan plays a married woman who falls in love with a man that she must work with in order to rescue her husband from a band of South American kidnappers.
    Fresh from his overwhelming success in "Gladiator,"
    newly minted superstar Crowe plays Terry Thorne, an expert in "K & R," also known as "Kidnap & Ransom."
    Based on a real-life term and thriving multi-million dollar industry, K & R refers to a process whereby specialists negotiate and resolve kidnapping and hostage situations throughout the world.
    In the film, Crowe is called in to negotiate the release of Peter Bowman, played by David Morse, an American engineer who's building a dam in a Latin American country. But the job gets complicated when he falls in love with Bowman's wife Alice, played by Ryan.
    Also in the cast are former "NYPD Blue" star David Caruso as a fellow K & R specialist and Pamela Reed as Bowman's sister.
    The film was directed by Taylor Hackford, who previously helmed such movies as "The Devil's Advocate" with Al Pacino, "Against All Odds" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" with Richard Gere.
    In order to infuse the film with a strong sense of reality, Hackford brought his cast and crew to the South American nation of Ecuador and its high-altitude capital Quito.
    Many scenes were also shot an hour outside the city near Papallacta Pass, which rests 14 thousand feet above sea level.
    Cast and crew alike suffered from symptoms of altitude sickness throughout the production.
    For both Crowe and Ryan, "Proof of Life" offered a chance to learn about a world most people don't even know exists.
    Crowe met with and learned from real K & R experts, many of whom are former military operatives and mercenaries.
    "Proof of Life" opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, December 8.
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