Tuesday January 15, 2002 9:47 PM ET
By Bob Tourtellotte
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - Actor Andy Garcia has some sage advice for young filmmakers eager to sell their movies at the Sundance Film Festival here: when it comes to making edits that meet Hollywood's demands, hold your ground. Or, at least, consider the changes carefully.
Garcia's latest film, "The Man from Elysian Fields," which he co-produced and stars in with Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies and James Cobum, premiered here Monday, and if it weren't for a last-minute distribution deal announced on the festival's first day, he'd be right there with the wannabe movie moguls trying to sell his film.
But it's a sure bet Garcia, who starred in the recent blockbuster "Ocean's Eleven" wouldn't bend too far with edits to his movie just to cut a Hollywood deal. '' In the past, I've found that issues that come up when they want to alter a film that's already been made or cut... for marketing reasons or something... ultimately I find it doesn't make a difference," he told Reuters. "My sense is that it's best to diplomatically hold your ground as much as you can. Keep with the vision of why you made the movie, as much as you can," he said.
Practically speaking, he knows there is always compromise in showbiz. Indeed, in developing the script for "Elysian Fields," he asked the writer to slightly change his character, a struggling author named Byron Tiller, and revise the ending. "Different types of movies have different issues," he said. "Some decisions will be more important and you say, 'No, I wont do that,' or, you have to say, 'OK, go ahead and distribute it." The notion of compromise was important in developing "Elysian Fields," especially when it came to the lead character. Tiller, who begins the movie as a married man and struggling writer but soon finds himself working as a male escort.
Garcia said originally Tiller was a real ladies man, but that image didn't fit well because he must wrestle with his conscience as he sleeps with women behind his wife's back. So, they altered Tiller's character and made him less willing to hit the bedroom.
There's another major change toward the end, but to give it away would spoil the movie. A MORAL TALE.
Tiller's first novel was a moderately successful mainstream thriller, but his second book has just been rejected by his publisher when he meets a mysterious man named Luther Fox (Jagger). Tiller is flat busted with no money in the bank to care for his wife (Margulies) and kid, and nobody willing to give him a job, except for Fox. Fox's offer, however is less than ideal, despite its lucrative paycheck. Still, Tiller takes Fox up on his offer, and soon he is being paid to date wealthy women.
As audiences might imagine. Tiller has a moral dilemma of the worst kind, but things get even more complicated when he provides his service to Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), wife of Pulitzer Prize winning Tobias Alcott (Cobum). Alcott is dying and approves of Andrea's liaisons because, he says, he wants her to be happy. He also takes a liking to Tiller and enlists him in finishing his latest novel, which only adds to Tiller's moral dilemma. Co-authoring with Alcott holds the possibility of fame and fortune as a writer -- all he's ever wanted, professionally - but it also means continuing to lie as a husband and father.
Fame, fortune, selling one's artistic soul to the devil? Sounds like an independent filmmaker's dilemma when Hollywood comes knocking at the door. And, as Tiller leams -- and Garcia says - sometimes it's best to leave the door shut. If you open it, there's always a price to be paid.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS