Spring Movie Preview: May 1998

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Black Dog
Starring Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Meat Loaf, Brenda Strong
Directed by Kevin Hooks
Every possible means of wrecking an 18-wheeler is explored in this $30 million thriller. Director Hooks boasts that trucks "flip over, fly through the air, and crash through mobile homes." The film centers on an ex-con (Swayze) who hauls guns on the interstate. Swayze joined the cast after Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) bowed out with a shoulder aneurysm. Other casualties included three crew members who were hurt in an explosion, but Swayze says the production kept on truckin', "because we knew the guys wanted us to." (May 1)
UPSIDE $30 million's not bad if the action crowd buys it. DOWNSIDE Hercules fans will be very disappointed.

Deep Impact
Starring Tea Leoni, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Blair Underwood
Directed by Mimi Leder
Leder, an ER veteran who made her movie debut with last year's The Peacemaker, hadn't even finished mixing the sound on the DreamWorks SKG picture when Steven Spielberg asked, "How'd you like to direct a movie about the end of civilization?" Leder jumped directly into preproduction for this $75 million tale of an earth-bound comet that neither the President (Freeman) nor an aging astronaut (Duvall) seem able to curb. Leder sought guidance from comet experts, along with retired astronauts ("smart jocks," she calls them), though there was little time to absorb their advice. With Disney's asteroid-crash flick Armageddon looming (it's due July 1), it was imperative, says veteran producer Richard Zanuck, that "we not be the second comet picture." (May 8)
UPSIDE It's the first comet picture. DOWNSIDE The Peacemaker didn't make much of an impact at the box office.

Originally posted Feb 20, 1998 Published in issue #419-420 Feb 20, 1998 Order article reprints

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