Fall Movie Preview: October 2006

CATCH A FIRE
STARRING Derek Luke, Tim Robbins
WRITTEN BY Shawn Slovo
DIRECTED BY Phillip Noyce

OCT. 27
Aussie director Noyce first distinguished himself with the 1989 Nicole Kidman seafaring thriller Dead Calm, made his mark in Hollywood with the Jack Ryan action entries Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, then moved in a different direction with 2002's political/historical dramas The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence. His latest — the true story of 1980s South African freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso (Antwone Fisher's Luke), who was imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela — is a happy medium, he points out, mixing social consciousness with blockbuster set pieces. ''A man is so persecuted by the state's desire to eradicate terrorism that he — a peace-loving man, a man with no politics — takes up arms to destroy his own country,'' Noyce says, acknowledging the film's contemporary relevance. ''This is a story that's set in 1980 but it's also set in 2006.''

LUCKY YOU
STARRING Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall
WRITTEN BY Eric Roth, Curtis Hanson
DIRECTED BY Curtis Hanson

OCT. 27
Hanson, an avid cardsharp, cracks open the old chestnut that love is life's ultimate gamble in this story of a professionally fearless, emotionally terrified poker champion (Bana) floundering in his relationships with his lounge-singer girlfriend (Barrymore) and hard-hearted dad (Duvall). ''I've always been fascinated with the contrast between the skills one develops to do well at the poker table and in human relationships,'' says Hanson (L.A. Confidential) of the bluffs and aggressive moves inherent in the game. ''All this would be hateful when you're struggling to form partnerships based on being open and vulnerable. It's not a movie about poker,'' he adds, ''it's a movie about people struggling to connect.''

For Bana, who shot Lucky You before taking on the lead role in Steven Spielberg's Munich, the struggle was not conjuring his character's emotions but rather sustaining his interest in the endless hours spent at the poker table. ''Curtis was so intent on each detail being right, and it meant thousands of hours playing the same hand over and over,'' says the actor, who spent months under the tutelage of poker legends like Dale Brunson. ''I think if I saw another poker chip after I wrapped, I would have spontaneously combusted.''

Barrymore had to face off against a very different set of demons in order to sing on screen for the first time. ''Everybody had always told her she couldn't sing, and I'm convinced she gravitated to the part because she was terrified to sing,'' says Hanson of Barrymore, who shaped her character's country-music repertoire to include songs by Waylon Jennings and George Jones. ''The first time she sang for me, she burst into tears because she was so nervous!''