After Titanic, scores of Leo fans asked, "What next?"
In fact, we all wondered what this genius of an actor
who captured our hearts as the charismatic Jack Dawson
would do after this blockbuster of a film. The Beach
was his answer.
The Beach will be Leo's first movie after his cameo appearance
as Brandon Darrow in Woody Allen's Celebrity, in 1998. Based on the
bestselling novel of the same name by British author Alex Garland,
The Beach will be somewhat of a test for Leo; a decisive
answer to the question many critics have posed: whether
Leo could ever top Titanic.
And for Leo, not only will this movie be his comeback after
a year's hibernation, but simultaneously a way to banish his "teen-idol" title and
re-establish himself as a true artist.
In this unconventional follow-up to the highest grossing film of
all time, Leonardo plays Richard, a backpacker on a quest to
find paradise. Set in Thailand, Richard rests at a boarding house
one night where a deranged next-door boarder gives him a
map of a secret island; a beach. He meets up with several other
drifters and off they go to seek this idyllic refuge. At first sight
their destination looks like a perfect spot, free of all
troubles.Then things go wrong--terribly wrong.
The Beach is touted as one of the most anticipated films of
the new year. And rightly so- it contains an ensemble
of some of the newest, freshest faces on the big screen, a load of
eclectic characters,
and reknown director of Trainspotting fame, Danny Boyle.
Leonardo, now tanned, leaner and visibly buff will star
in this film playing Richard, a complex character with a looming
dark side.
Among Leonardo's co-stars is French actress, nick-named
the modern-day Brigitte Bardot, Virginie Ledoyen; British
actress best known for her work in a modern day adaptation
of Virginia Woolf's satire, Orlando, Tilda Swinton; Guillaume
Canet and a cameo appearence by Scottish Actor Robert Carlyle
who was recently seen in the new James Bond thriller, The World is
Not Enough.
The cast and crew began filming in February of 1999, in Phi Phi Leh,
Thailand and ended in April. Those were not easy four months.
Cast members, especially Leo, got stung by jellyfish
and once a sea storm struck an area where the crew were filming.
But perhaps one of the hardest problems was overcoming the
accusations that the film crew had damaged environmentally fragile
land on Maya Beach, where the
movie was being shot.
Thai environmentalists claimed that the crew had
uprooted trees which weakened the landscape, and contributed
to extensive damage of the picturesque land. The controversy is
still being settled in court today (as of Dec. 99). A website
devoted to the filming of The Beach can be viewed at http://www.thaistudents.com/thebeach.
On the defense side, Fox stated that the trees and other
flora were carefully replanted, and that they had actually left
the beach cleaner than it was when they arrived, after removing
up to three tons of garbage and waste.
Leonardo himself has spoken out on behalf of the film.
In a February Time Magazine interview
he vehemently pronounced: "It's a stab on my reputation if I'm associated with a film that comes in and recklessly destroys things,"
and in a recent December segment on the American show, Entertainment Tonight
he stated that he would never be assosciated with a film that
threatened the environment.
As of December 1999, several trailers of this film have been
shown in theatres in the US as well as in Europe.
They can be viewed on Leo's homepage.
Three of them are meant for US release, and the fourth
is the international trailer.
There has been some disappointment that the film will not
be released in time for Oscar qualification. After the first
stated release date of the movie (Dec 1999) was pushed back
to February 2000, several rumours have been going around insinuating
that after the first screening producers were unsatisfied with
the movie. Several re-shoots were done during the summer, as some
say, to tone down some of the violence. Others say that Leo's
acting was terrible, to say the least.
Based on some of these advance reviews, credible or not,
it seems safe to say that The Beach will be at one, a provacative,off beat
film. Leo's lead character is one that will either repulse the
audience or please them. What is certain is that Richard is
no Jack Dawson. In either case, the film should most
certainly show Leonardo's matured acting skills and his ability
to prove that he is no one-hit wonder; no doubt it should also be
yet another addition to his brilliant repertoire. It shall be
interesting to see just how America's most adored star can
portray himself in his most challenging role yet.
