Boxoffice-June.1997

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Sneak Preview it DARK" MAN Kiefer Sutherland takes on a new persona in New Line 's ''Dark City " What's by Wade Major Kiefer Sutherland and Rufus Seweli star in New Line 's "Darl< City. in a name? Quite a lot, if your name is Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufiis Sutherland. "I'm sure my father owed a lot of people money," jokes the star—better known simply as Kiefer Sutherland—of such films as "Stand by Me," "Flatliners," "Young Guns" and "The Lost Boys." "He probably said, 'I'll name my first son after you.'" Either way, it's safe to say that, having done almost three dozen films in just 15 years, the 30-yearold has more than met the expectations of his famous name. (Dad Donald still has the advantage, with 90-plus turns onscreen.) As did his father, Sutherland has made his name with the kinds of roles that aspiring stars usually avoid: villains, miscreants and anti-heroes. With "Dark City," a New Line thriller coming in September, that might change. "My whole desire as an actor is to keep doing different things," he says. "But I kind of wedged myself into a pattern for a while, and I wanted to break it. This seemed like the first effort to start the sidestep." Sidestep, indeed. To hear Sutherland describe it. "Dark City" promises to be little like any other film this year—or any year. Directed by "The Crow's" Alex Proyas fit)m a screenplay by Proyas, "Kafka" scripter Lem Dobbs " and David S. Goyer ("The Crow: City of Angels"), "Dark City" boasts a narrative that's already gaining a cult-like mystique. Sutherland plays a doctor forced by an alien race to participate in experiments on human individuality in which people "s memories are stripped away and replaced with artificial ones. One man (William Hurt) starts to discover the truth when his mind rejects the new memories. "It's one of the most complicated films to explain," Sutherland confesses. 'The aliens are trying to find the soul, that intangible quality that makes humans individual. And they're dying. They share a common brain—they have no self-identification. If one has a thought, all eight million of them have the same thought. And their lack of individuality is killing them." Much of what attracted Sutherland to his part was that afforded him the chance to it explore traits that audiences would least expect of him. He describes his character as "a deeply defeated, very sympathetic, frail, frightened little man. He came over with the others when they were stripped of their memories, and he is now the only human left who knows what's going on. He has had to live with the concept of their holocaust in his head. And I loved the idea of making a film about the value of the soul instead of trashing it all the time, about another society that valued our individuality. And yet it seems to be the one thing that makes us always fight." Although they might seem bizaire and disnjrbing on the surface, Sutherland finds the themes of "Dark City" provocative and comforting, a shared perspective that helped ease cast and crew through what might otherwise have been a grueling shoot. "I have never been a part of a picture diat was this big in scope," he says. "We had a quarter-mile river built on a soundstage along with buildings. We had 76 different sets like that." Sutherland entered "Dark City" almost immediately after completing work on his bigscreen directing debut, 'Truth or Consequences, N.M.,"' a project offered to him on the strength of his made-for-Showtime movie, "Last Light." But Sutherland is quick to stress the difference between it and his freshman effort. Triumph's "Truth or Consequences, N.M."—which began a limited rollout in May—is anything but the small, intimate piece id */ kind of wedged myself into a pattern for a whiley and I wanted " to break it. that "Last Light" was. '"Truth or Consequences,' when I read it, was more of an 'open' picture. More than that, it was like a collage of every film I'd ever loved, from 'The Getaway' to 'Freebie and the Bean' to 'Straight Time.' There were all these little stylistic things in the script that would allow me to make a film about a bunch of characters that reminded me of characters fix)m that era, namely the '70s and early '80s." The story of a quartet of crooks played by Vincent Gallo ("Palookaville"), Mykelti Williainson ("Forrest Gump"), Kim Dickens and Sutherland, 'Truth or Consequences, N.M." begins like any other heist-goneawry film but then takes a left when the turn gang kidnaps an innocent couple played by Kevin PoUak ("The Usual Suspects") and Grace Phillips. As the crisis deepens, Pollak's character is attracted to his captors' violent, reckless lifestyle, horriiying his mate and jeopardizing both their lives in the process. "Here's a guy who pretty much does everything right, has a regular life. When confronted with these jjeople who have stripped him of his masculinity, he starts to question himself. That was something different in the piece, that it did have that sidebar. And it's a credit to Brad Mirman ["Body of Evidence"], who wrote it. that it is so balanced." Sutherland also praises cinematographer Ric Waite, first assistant director Lee Cleary and each of his actors. "We had only $8 million," he says, "and for what we wanted to accomplish that was not a lot. It's thanks to everyone who worked on it that the film looks the way it does." Admittedly bitten by the directing bug for the long temi, Sutherland doesn't intend to give up acting any time soon, particularly after his experience on "Dark City." "Somame just asked me, 'Is it hard to do a film only as an actor now?' And I said, 'No. I just made a film with Alex Proyas that I wouldn't have wanted to touch with a hundred-fool pole. That would have made my brain twitch."H "Dark City. " Starring William Hurt. Rufus Seweli. Richard O'Brien and Kiefer Suihcrland. Directed by Alex Proyas. Written by Alex Prayas, Lem Dobbs and Dax'idS. Goyer Produced by Andrew' Ma.ion. A New Line release. Thriller Opervt Sept. 12. 24 BOXOFFICE
| ' , 0«IC,NAT0R5 OF NACHOS ,N CONCESSION' f TASTES GREAT HOT OR COLD ««(*7J consistent quality from coast to coast... Our theatres realize increased staff productivity through ease of preparation and clean-up, as well as, a significant decrease in product waste." >J John Sherley Manager Concession & Ancillary Revenue Hoyts Cinemas Corporation Thanks to Ricos new Portion Pack, We have now added nachos to our menu list. It's easier for our employees and much neater for the patrons Dan Vieira, Hoyts Cinemas Vice President/Operations mNN *^^£ w. Eliminates waste, easy preparation, great customer acceptance, consistent quality... Wally Helton Executive Director of Concession Operations (^Metropolitan Theatres Corporation ' Portion Pack gives us the control we are looking tor throughout our circuit. uiw^^ Deborah Clark, Metropolitan Theatres Vice President/General Manager
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