Fine Line Films 'Hurlyburly'

Stars Kevin Spacey Interview

Check out the full length trailer for 'Hurlyburly.'

Set amidst the ranks of the Hollywood power culture, 'Hurlyburly' is an edgy black comedy that follows the intersecting lives of a group of friends that exist in their own morally bereft world.

Award-winning playwright DAVID RABE's scathing, controversial look at morality in Hollywood and its denizens' search for meaning makes its long-awaited transition to the big screen.

ANTHONY DRAZAN (whose first feature 'Zebrahead' won the 1992 Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy) directs from a screenplay by RABE (who also co-scripted the film version of 'The Firm').

SEAN PENN (the Oscar® nominee for 'Dead Man Walking' currently appears in Terrence Malick's new film, 'The Thin Red Line') stars as Eddie, a high-powered casting director in a tail spin searching for meaning in his hollow existence.

Academy Award®-winner KEVIN SPACEY ('The Usual Suspects') plays Eddie's smugly charming business partner Mickey, who is "taking a break" from his wife and kids. Occasionally crashing in on Eddie and Mickey's posh Hollywood condo are Phil (CHAZZ PALMINTERI, who appeared opposite Sharon Stone in 'Diabolique'), a brutish, struggling would-be actor, and Artie (GARRY SHANDLING, Emmy®-nominated star of "The Larry Sanders Show"), a smooth Hollywood wannabe player. The women in the cast are equally strong.

ROBIN WRIGHT-PENN (who appeared most recently in 'She's So Lovely') also stars as Darlene, a cool, beautiful fast-laner with no qualms about two-timing Eddie and Mickey.

ANNA PAQUIN (who won an Oscar® as Holly Hunter's daughter in 'The Piano') plays underage runaway Donna, whom Artie gives to his friends as a "care package."

Finally, in a daring bit of casting, MEG RYAN (currently starring opposite Tom Hanks in 'You've Got Mail') appears as Bonnie, a sweet but stepped-upon exotic dancer whose run-in with Phil has fateful consequences for all concerned. RICHARD N. GLADSTEIN ('54'), DAVID N. HAMBURGER and director DRAZAN produced this blistering comedy about the quest for true love and redemption in our morally muddled times.

Giving the film its Hollywood sheen are Oscar®-nominated cinematographer CHENG WEI GU ('Farewell My Concubine'), production designer MICHAEL HALLER ('The Crossing Guard'), costume designer MARY CLAIRE HANNAN ('Jackie Brown') and editor DYLAN TICHENOR ('Boogie Nights') 'Hurlyburly' will be released in select theaters on Christmas Day.

For more on the film, check out the official Web site.

KEVIN SPACEY is in a great mood. Why you ask? He's talking about the film version of "Hurlyburly," adapted from a play that Spacey starred in at the beginning of his career. Why is it so important to the Oscar® winner? Find out as Kevin dishes dirt on the the ensemble cast of 'Hurlyburly.'

Leonard Maltin: You seem very chipper, that's great!

Kevin Spacey: I'm great. I'm having a blast. This whole year's been an incredible time. To be talking about this movie, 'Hurlyburly,' for me is a completion of a circle... because when I was just starting out in theater in New York, I met the great director MIKE NICHOLS, who had done this very successful production of 'Hurlyburly' on Broadway. I auditioned for the role of Phil, which is the part CHAZZ PALMINTERI plays, and I got cast as the understudy. So, I did Phil for a while and then Mr. Nichols came and saw it and he said, "That's pretty good. How soon could learn Mickey?" And I said, "What do you mean?" He says, "Well, RON SILVER, (who was playing the part at that time), is going up to Toronto to do a miniseries. I need someone to play Mickey and I want you to do it and I'll have a standby do Phil." And I said okay. So, I learned Mickey and did it. Then he liked that so much so he asked me if I could learn Eddie. And then I did Eddie and then I did Arty, but I never went on as Arty, which is the one solace that GARRY SHANDLING has -- I didn't play Arty. But it was really an incredible time in my life, because it was the beginning of when I really started to work as an actor and started to make my living as an actor. It was rather unique to do a play from four different perspectives. Mickey was always my favorite role to play on some levels because in the play it was the one that got the biggest laughs. And it was a much more blatant performance going for comedy than what TONY DRAZAN and I decided on in the film version, which I think is a much more subversive. Tony really wanted the feel that you didn't quite know whether this guy was entirely full of it or being sincere or not being sincere. So, it's a line that you walk through the whole movie. For me, it's the fact that it's opening, the fact that SEAN [PENN] also has a great history with the play, that we've known each other as long as we have.

Leonard: Did you ever do it together?

Kevin: No, we never did. Although DANNY AIELLO did it with me, then did it with Sean when Sean did it here in Los Angeles. So, for me it's a very exciting project and one that's always been very dear to my heart and I'm glad we finally got it together.

Leonard: At the same time I'm wondering, since you have done it on stage so much -- so many points of view -- is it unnerving to do it on a film set with no audience and without that tangible feel of a response?

Kevin: Well, we have the advantage in this movie, as I have in almost every film I've done over the last number of years, of rehearsing. So, we did have an opportunity to do it for ourselves and to be in a rehearsal room for a couple of weeks. And we giggled a lot. When you're with your crew, and we were in this house and we were shooting a lot of nights, and a lot of very giddy silly nights I can tell, it's a wonder we got anything done. Because when you work at night, you just get silly. By four o'clock in the morning, you can't actually believe you're still awake. Then, on top of that, you're supposed to be stoned so there's this thing... I don't know what it is... It's like you're not, but there's this thing that kicks in that they say you can tap into anything... well, you somehow find ways. And, we just had a blast doing it. The crew reallybecomes your audience. When you're doing rehearsals and stuff, their laughter -- I mean, they're definitely laughing ... Then, of course, they don't when you do the take. So, you do get a little sense of it. But it is something you kind of miss, because you have to judge on some level where you think some laughs might be. And it was an interesting thing to gauge because we really weren't going for laughs so much this time with this character as I had in the play. It was a very interesting line to walk.

Leonard: That's a lot of wattage on-screen at once. I don't just mean the star power in the conventional Hollywood sense but by acting juice, a lot of chops! Did you feel that while you were doing a scene?

Kevin: Yeah, because I truly think that Sean is not only one of the best actors of our generation -- if not the best -- he's just miraculous in this part. It's a difficult, demanding character who's grappling with all kinds of demons and trying to struggle through, and fight through, and break down these walls that he begins to recognize and perceive that he's put up in his own life. To play against that, particularly a character who is so skilled at being able to keep everything at bay, and is so impenetrable as a figure, is a formidable force. And for me, it's literally like playing tennis with a pro. Your game gets better and he hits those aces and what can you do? You just go, "All right, I'll try next set."

Leonard: I just talked to GARRY SHANDLING, who came out and said he was intimidated walking into this, but he's really good in that part. It's great casting too!

Kevin: Yeah, we always knew he would be great in that part. And I remember I ran into him and he wasn't sure -- maybe what you described -- he was a little nervous of the whole idea. He wasn't sure he was the right actor for it, so he was wavering. I ran into him at a party, I said to him, "Gee, you know, Garry, are you going to join us?" And he said, "Well, you know, I just don't know." And I said, "Oh well, I really hope you do, because if you say no, I think they're going to go to JAY LENO next, then I think BILL MAHER is on the list. And funny enough he joined us the next day. --

December 14, 1998