USA,
1994, 89 min
Shown in 1995
CREDITS
- dir
-
Wayne Wang, Paul Auster
- prod
-
Greg Johnson, Peter Newman, Diana Phillips
- scr
-
Wayne Wang, Paul Auster
- cam
-
Adam Holender
- editor
-
Christopher Tellefsen
- cast
-
Harvey Keitel, Roseanne Barr, Lou Reed, Jim Jarmusch, Lily Tomlin
- source
-
Miramax
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
One of two Closing Night films. Wayne Wang, Paul Auster in person.
OTHER
While shooting Smoke, director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Paul Auster realized that could never include all the characters and subplots they'd originally intended. So they proposed and eventually won a go-ahead from the producers to extend the contracts of available actors and crew and make a second feature in the same Brooklyn location. Like Smoke, Blue in the Face centers around a neighborhood cigar store managed by Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel) and owned by Vinnie (Victor Argo). But Blue in the Face also includes an impressive roster of cast members not in the first film, including Roseanne Barr (who plays Vinnie's wife), Lou Reed, Jim Jarmusch, Madonna, Lily Tomlin and Michael J. Fox. Shot in less than a week and based in part on ideas from local residents, the film has a loose, spontaneous feel. Scenes are stitched together with videotaped comments from a number of Brooklynites—and it's these people who are really the heart and soul of Wang and Auster's film.
FACTOID #300
When she attended the 1980 San Francisco International Film Festival for a tribute, Federico Fellini’s wife and muse Giulietta Masina, admitted that she accepted a bit part in the American film The Madwoman of Chaillot (despite the fact that she could not speak English) just so she could get costar Katherine Hepburn’s autograph.
