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Our Witch Doctor friend feeds along info on EYES WIDE SHUT and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2!!

Published at:  Mar 12, 1999 4:48:47 AM CST

Hey folks, Harry here, I've been out all day and night hanging out with a friend and watching Hanks' FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON series on DVD... Boy I love that series... But anyway, back to the issue at hand. Here's a bit that came in from a Croatian Newspaper about both EYES WIDE SHUT and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE... Pretty groovy stuff I think...





I've decided to write down the
highlights of the latest interview by Rade Serbedzija in Feral
Tribune. Feral is the celebrated Croatian opposition newspaper, and
Rade is that actor-with-an-unpronouncable-name who played the villain
in 'Saint' and 'Mighty Joe Young'.

So let's learn to pronounce his name together, and see what's he up to.

The Pronounciation:

Rah-deh Cher-badge-ee-yah.

Whoa, it really sounds like something from 'MJY'.

The News:

Well, Rade spent two months working with Kubrick on 'Eyes Wide Shut'.
He describes his character as a "weirdo, a dangerous character - like
someone out of a Dostoevsky novel. Very complex. When I got the part,
he was an American, but then Kubrick insisted that he should have a
Slavic name, even though he doesn't have a backstory. I got to name
him, and I chose to call him Mr. Milic. It took me a while to come up
with a name, because any movie I make lately offends either the Croats
or the Serbs..."

Here I interrupt with some uninteresting bacground info on how Rade is
a Serb from Croatia, which was not exactly a perfect nationality to be
lately, so even though he was Croatia's foremost actor he chose to
seek employment elsewhere. End of interruption.

"...and Milic can be a Serbian name as much as a Croatian name."

So Rade plays a psycho opposite Tom Cruise for two months, and lo and
behold, they become friends. Last autumn, Rade throws a birthday party
for his daughter Vanja in London, when suddenly Tom appears, and
obviously gives all the little girls there petite pink heartattacks.
Then he and Rade have a little chat, and Tom tells him how great a
time they had working on the Kubrick movie, and would Rade consider
working with Tom again.

So then a little later Rade gets a part in 'Mission: Impossible 2'.
Like, he was the first person cast beside Cruise and Ving Rhames. This
time, amazingly, Rade plays a good guy, Ethan Hunt's best friend, a
scientist, a very positive, interesting character...

This interview was done sometime last week, and Rade explains how they
kept moving back the production start date in Sydney, and the latest
is March 29. This seems to agree with your most recent posting.

In closing, Rade says that after MI:2 he has another American film
lined up. 'Independent' will be directed by another ex-Yugoslav,
Djordje Milicevic, who wrote 'Runaway Train' for Andrei Konchalovsky.
This is his first film as a director, and Rade will be playing
opposite Diane Venora.

OK, that's it as far as scoops go. As you can suppose, most of the
interview was centered on trials and tribulations of Rade's expatriate
life. But even this little much is more than what was previously
available on the Net... and I can't help wishing that I'd interviewed
Rade personally. I would have gotten EVERYTHING out of him. Plus, he
really is a great guy.

Hope this helps,

your good ole Witch Doctor



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    Readers Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 9:26:57 AM CST

    Excellent! Thanks, Harry.

    by wesley snipes

    I was afraid that the start date had been moved way way back, but this is good news. It's also good to see AICN posting real news that actually has info that no one else has...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 11:00:16 AM CST

    Ditto, Wes

    by lynnbracken

    I agree. And I'm glad to hear something about Rade. I was really impressed with him in The Saint and wondered who the hell he was and why I had never seen him in anything. I'm glad he's getting the attention and work - look forward to seeing him in other projects. P.S. Re my many postings of late ... long time reader, new poster. I'm like a kid with a new toy so you'll just have to excuse me for a while. Thanks again Harry. For ALL of it!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 2:06:09 PM CST

    Rade

    by whiskey nick

    This is great news. This guy is a terrific actor. If you want to see some earlier work, look for a foreign flick entitled BEFORE THE RAIN. I believe it's a macedonian production. While overly artsy and pretencious, his performance and the beautiful photography make it worth watching.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 6:26:22 PM CST

    John Woo and Mission Impossible

    by vondoom

    The best news about this movie
    has got to be Woo directing. Not
    being a big fan of the first movie
    (which I thought was a little 'stiff' and frankly boring), it
    would be cool to see serious
    ACTION. With Ving and Cruise back
    it sounds like a fun movie.
    Anyone know of any plot hints
    thus far or who is behind the
    screenplay?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 10:52:36 PM CST

    Feral etc.

    by pepper

    I'm a bit annoyed. This should have been MY scoop! After all, I'm the Rade Serbedzija fanatic who's spent the last several months trying to learn to read Croatian so I can get rare info from "Feral" and "Nacional" and the others. And the one week I don't check out the Feral site THIS happens! Seriously though, thanks hugely for the information. If anyone is interested in reading the original go to:
    www.feral.hr/feralweb/ascii/novi_broj/intervju_2.htm

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 1999 10:52:44 PM CST

    Feral etc.

    by pepper

    I'm a bit annoyed. This should have been MY scoop! After all, I'm the Rade Serbedzija fanatic who's spent the last several months trying to learn to read Croatian so I can get rare info from "Feral" and "Nacional" and the others. And the one week I don't check out the Feral site THIS happens! Seriously though, thanks hugely for the information. If anyone is interested in reading the original go to:
    www.feral.hr/feralweb/ascii/novi_broj/intervju_2.htm

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 13, 1999 3:06:24 AM CST

    "The circle is not round" - Before the Rain

    by methos

    Rade rocks! He played a defining Hamlet, roomed with Vanessa Redgrave when his homeland went to shit, and starred in the excellent 1994 - 1995 film "Before the Rain." It was Milcho (I got fired from Ravenous by Laura Ziskin)Manchevski that directed and it starred Rade with the delightful Katrin (Mike Leigh's Naked) Cartlidge. Yeah, it's an art film, but it was incredibly lush and moving on the big screen. Unfortunately it's still only available on vhs from Polygram. I spent all these years assuming the delay was that Criterion would land it for disc. I guess they're too busy producing 2 disc dvds of "Armageddon."
    Mitre!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 12, 2006 7:46:34 AM CDT

    The witch doctor won't accept my health insurance.

    by wolfpack

    Reply to Talkback

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