26 BOXOFFICE SNEAK PREVIEW NOTHING BUT "NET" Director Irwin Winkler Ventures Into Cyberspace With A Thriller, By Jean Oppenheimer ''The Net" A patriotic Irwin Winkler with actress Sandra Bullock and other project members on the set of Columbia 's "The Net. Ahalf-dozen crew members, freed from duties on a Los Angeles set for a few minutes, crowd around a big-screen TV to watch the NCAA basketball finals. The UCLA Bruins have pulled ahead, and a production worker heads over to director Irwin Winkler to tell him the news. Winkler nods his head approvingly, pleased the hometown favorites are holding up under championship stress. How people react in such situations of crisis is a favorite theme ofWinkler's, running through the 30-some films he's produced ("Raging Bull," "The Right Stuff," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "Rocky" among them) as well as the two he's directed, "Guilty by Suspicion" and 'TMight and the City." The theme of the project he's working on now—a techno-thriUer involving a different kind of net (cyber, not hoop)—likewise falls into that crisis category. A Columbia release, "The Net" tells tlie story of a computer analyst ("Wliile You Were Slceping's" Sandra Bullock) who finds herself in harm's way. "Most of my films [o)ncx;m) what happens to a cKiracter when he or she Ls in a crisis situation," Winkler says. "How Rocky responded to the opportunity of a lifetime. How the Jessica Lange character in 'Music Box' responded to finding out her father has betrayed her In 'GoodFeUas,' the Ray Liotta character turns [his friends] in when feced with a crisis; in "Guilty by Suspicion," the Robert De Niro character doesn't "If you go through all my films, you'll see that basic theme." He laughs, adding, "Although I never knew it unto someone told me. It was all unconscious." In "The Net," a skilled but reclusive computer expert analyzes a puzzling prototype of an Internet program. She discovers it allows a user to access highly sensitive databases, including those of the Federal Reserve Board, the Internal Revenue Service and the Atomic Energy Commission. As she continues her investigation, her life becomes endangered; on a trip to Mexico, all her belongings are stolen, including her passport and identification papers. Logging onto the Internet, she Hnds every record of her existence has been erased. "Here's a woman who likes to stay at home, who finds comfort dealing with the world through computers," Winkler says. "The crisis is that, when she does leave, somebody tries to kill her That can be the worst thing that can happen to someone, but in this case it turns out to be the best, because it opens her up to the world. In order to save her life, she has to get away from the computer and get out into the world and face reality." Born and raised in New York City, Winkler began his entertainment career in the William Morris mailroom, then worked as a projectionist, secretary, assistant agent and agent. With Robert Chartoflf, he formed a theatrical management company and then segued into producing— first with Chartoft', then solo. Always a hands-on producer, Winkler prefers to be intimately involved in the development of a script, as well as in financing, casting and editing. No matter how immersed Winkler became, however, the picture was never tes— film being a director's medium— so the longtime producer decided to try his "Most ofmyfilms [concern] what happens to a character when he or she is ma crisis.... Ahhough I never knew it until someone told me. It was all unconscious. " hand at helming. Winkler's first behind-the
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