For comments or link exchange,
email me at: roy_villalobos@yahoo.com

Excess Baggage - The Story

Emily T. Hope (Alicia Silverstone) is a brazen teenager looking for love and an identity. Unfortunately, she is emotionally neglected by her father, Alexander.

Unable to win his approval, Emily has had to resort to a series of dangerous stunts ... to gain her father's attention, all to no avail. So there's only one thing left to do: kidnap herself and hold herself for ransom!

Disguising her voice, she calls her father, outlines her demands and tells him where his daughter can be found.

A bit of duct tape around the ankles, wrists and over her mouth and the deed is done. All that's left is to lock herself in the trunk of her BMW... the very same BMW that professional car thief Vincent Roche (Benicio Del Toro) has targeted as his next prize.

Vincent's about to find that he's stolen more than he bargained for in Excess Baggage.

When Emily and Vincent's felonies collide, they become instant adversaries.

However, with police detectives Sims and Barnaby (Robert Wisden, Leland Orser), heavies Stick and Gus (Nicholas Turturro, Michael Bowen), and Emily's ominous "Uncle" Ray Perkins (Christopher Walken) -- an ex-CIA assassin employed by her father -- in pursuit, they soon find that they are each other's only way out.

The premise of the script immediately grabbed my attention," says director Marco Brambilla, on directing his second feature. "After Demolition Man, I was offered a lot of films in the same action genre, but I was eager to explore other options where compelling characters are more central to the story".

"Excess Baggage was such an opportunity. The plot deals with the conquering of some deep-rooted psychological problems that exist between Emily and her father and how she expresses herself to outsiders. Her 'coming of age' as a teenager is treated with a compassion and sense of humor, connecting her journey emotionally to audiences".

Brambilla's observation points to the main theme of the film: the alienation a daughter feels from her father -- and just how far she'll go to change that situation.

Producer Bill Borden explains, "Alicia's character is trying desperately to get recognition from her father, to get him to demonstrate his love, not in terms of just giving money, but by giving of his time and attention. She's been going about it by creating these awkward, sometimes bizarre situations."

Having failed in all her previous efforts, Emily is certain she's hit upon the one scheme that will work. After all, what father could remain unaffected by the abduction of his only daughter? She's planned the whole caper meticulously and everything's running according to plan. The ransom demand has been met, the money delivered as ordered, and Emily's now waiting patiently, bound and gagged in the trunk of her car, for her imminent rescue and tearful reunion with her now contrite father.

But enter fate, who has other plans in the form of professional car thief Vincent Roche. In a matter of seconds, he's jimmied the door, hot-wired the car and is on his way back to his warehouse hideout when he runs right into a gauntlet of police cars rushing to the parking garage to free Emily. The chase is on and Vincent barely manages to elude his pursuers and make it back to his warehouse, where he makes his unsettling discovery.

Emily will turn out to be nothing but trouble for Vincent as he discovers that she is anything but a meek, frightened teenager.

Having starred as the fun-loving, shopaholic young socialite, Cher, in the summer hit film Clueless, Silverstone points out how Emily differs from Cher. "While Cher was basically a happy girl with good values, Emily is angry and has no guidance."

Poor Vincent finds himself totally outmatched by the feisty Emily. "Vincent and Emily are thrown into a situation neither of them wants to be in," says Silverstone. "She's got her agenda, he's got his and those agendas are in complete conflict with each other. The second she realizes he's not a threat, that he's not going to hurt her, she begins to realize that she can toy with him and manipulate him into getting what she wants. Then they kind of become partners in crime."

Finding this girl in the trunk of the car is only the beginning of trouble for Vincent. She causes a fire in his warehouse, destroying not only the BMW but several other exotic automobiles, and the very unhappy man for whom those cars were intended has put two goons on Vincent's trail. And then there are the police, convinced that Vincent is a kidnapper and anxious to please the very rich, very influential Alexander Hope.

But Vincent's biggest problem will turn out to be Ray Perkins, friend and confidant to Emily's father, committed to finding his "niece" and punishing her captor. With Ray Perkins, Christopher Walken adds another mysterious, somewhat sinister characterization to his impressive resume. But this time, there's a hint of civility and kindliness in the portrayal.

Commenting on his character, Walken muses, "I've played a lot of serious villains, even twisted people. I don't think Ray is like that. He's one of the more human types. I don't get to play male/female relationships very much. I don't usually have a wife, I don't usually have a girlfriend or daughter. I always suspected, though, that when I got to be a certain age, I'd start to play fathers and uncles."

As Emily and Vincent spend time together in their efforts to outwit and elude the various uncles, goons and cops on their trail, they begin to open up to each other. They come to realize that each has something to give the other and that perhaps they are looking for the same thing.

Silverstone saw something more in the script, and her character, than just a "poor little rich girl" getting anything she wants by merely stomping her feet. "When I first read the script," Silverstone said, "I was really taken with the fact that this girl would set up her own kidnapping. It was clear to me that these two people, this father and daughter, are never, ever going to be okay, and that Emily has got to understand and accept that. Emily is only asking for the most innocent, most precious thing you could ever ask for, the love of your father. But somehow it is the most common thing to be neglected and how this girl goes about getting it is completely irrational and very immature".

"By the end of the movie," she continues, "Emily realizes she is her own person and that by stepping up to bat, by claiming responsibility for her life, she will gain the respect of her father because she has earned it and not just demanded it."

"By the end of the movie," she continues, "Emily realizes that she must accept her father for who he is and will never be able to change him. Emily finds strength and love inside herself and is even able to share it with someone else."

Producer Carolyn Kessler sees a definite parallel to everyday life in Excess Baggage. "I think this movie will speak very much to people of all ages, especially young people" says Kessler, who partners with Silverstone in First Kiss Productions.

"What both Emily and Vincent are looking for is love and acceptance, which is what all people strive for. I think this movie will reach many people on a lot of different levels. It's romantic and adventurous and definitely a slice of life."

Producer Bill Borden agrees. "This is a very complex movie and I think a lot of teenagers will relate to it," says Borden. "It deals with the kind of alienation that they experience with authority, their parents and with life's problems growing up. It's told in a kind of whimsical way, set in an urban, gritty background."

Excess Baggage opens August 29, 1997 in North America © 1997 Columbia Pictures