Tuesday, April 20, 1999
'Dream Catcher' draws applause at L.A. premiere
BY MARGARET A. McGURK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOS ANGELES — When the lights went down in the Directors Guild of America theater after the premiere of The Dream Catcher, producer Julia Reichert was worried.
In her mind, a few technical glitches loomed large. A projection error left the screen blank for about 2 seconds; she had heard a brief warble in the soundtrack and spotted imperfect color registers.
“I felt bad,” she confessed.
It took about an hour for the truth to sink in: The applause was genuine. The compliments were heartfelt. The audience at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival loved the movie about a pair of troubled teen-agers making their way across the country looking for a home.
It's true the audience was heavily weighted with friends. Many had worked on the film or were related to someone who had. Director Ed Radtke was accompanied by his parents and other family members; his co-author, Marc Nieson, had traveled from Minnesota to see it; relatives of Los Angeles-based composer Georgianne Gomez occupied a full row of seats.
Others were alumni of Wright State University, where Ms. Reichert and Dream Catcher editor Jim Klein are on the faculty, and where producer Steven Bognar and Mr. Radtke had both studied.
Erik Bork is among those alumni. He works for Tom Hanks' production company. He earned his first producing credits — and shared an Emmy — on the HBO series From The Earth to the Moon.
He said he was NOT impressed when, at Ms. Reichert's request, he had looked at the film on videotape in December, when it lacked a final soundtrack and other finishing touches. “I doubted its entertainment value,” he said.
But seeing it in its completed form moved him to tears, he said. “I thought it was completely compelling from beginning to end.”
Actress Marisa Tomei was also in the audience. She came out of the theater raving.
“I thought it was excellent,” she said. “It was really human and had real heart and didn't lie at all. I thought everything was excellent — the acting, the directing, the editing, the music, everything.”
Cheers for actors
The audience was particularly enthusiastic about the performances by the two young lead actors, Maurice Compte and Paddy Connor. Both drew loud cheers at the end of the film when more than a dozen cast and crew stood for introductions. One audience member wanted to know if both actors had agents. They do.
Director Paul Bartels (Eating Raoul), who also saw the screening, called the acting “marvelous.”
Ira Deutchman, who is representing the film to potential buyers, was cautious but pleased. “It seemed to me we accomplished what we needed to. The film has a tremendous buzz — whatever that means. . . . The distributors witnessed a terrific screening, which is the sort of thing they need to see in order to know how to market a film,” he said.
He said he expected the positive word from the premiere to draw more distributors to a second festival screening on Monday, and to increase interest in Thursday's showing at Lincoln Center in New York.
“It would be a lovely thing if we didn't have any rights to sell any more by the time we get to New York,” but such a fast sale is unlikely, he said.
Director pleased
Mr. Radtke said that, despite the countless hours he has spent reviewing the film, “Visually it was exciting to see” on a big screen with Dolby sound. “I was happy. And the audience seemed genuinely appreciative.”
He said that even before the screening, he and Mr. Nieson removed themselves to a scenic cemetery for a quiet talk about ideas for another story. “It was like a drug,” said Mr. Radtke. “It was so effortless and so exciting.”
For her part, Ms. Reichert — whose name is listed on the lobby wall at the DGA in an exhibit about the history of independent film — lost her misgivings about The Dream Catcher in the wave of enthusiasm that enveloped the filmmakers after the screening.
“I'm thinking we have a real movie here,” she said. “I think it's really something special.”
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