EXCESS BAGGAGE
Starring Alicia Silverstone, Benicio Del Toro, Christopher Walken, Nicholas Turturro, Sally Kirkland, Harry Connick Jr.
Director Marco Brambilla
Opens Aug. 15
Excess Baggage is the story of a rich, attention-craving teen princess — and if that sounds vaguely familiar, don't blame 20-year-old producer-star Silverstone. Baggage, she says, ''has nothing to do with Clueless. They're two different films.'' Could be. Baggage represents the first leg of Silverstone's two-film, $10 million production deal with Columbia Pictures — a deal that gave her the clout to impose a darker edge on what started out as a screwball comedy. ''I was definitely aiming towards having it be as unconventional as possible,'' she says. The plot: A neglected daughter stages her own kidnapping in order to get some TLC from her workaholic dad — and winds up developing a crush on a car thief (Del Toro). Along the way, the movie picked up some excess baggage of its own: Veteran producer David Valdes left midway through shooting, while the Los Angeles Times published reports of on-set bickering between director and star. ''A lot of that was blown out of proportion,'' says Brambilla (Demolition Man). ''As with any film set, you've got creative conflict, but I think it was productive. It wasn't interfering with the production.'' Silverstone also denies the reports and disapproves of the press for quoting ''unknown resources.'' UPSIDE It shouldn't be hard to recoup the film's $20 million budget at the box office. DOWNSIDE Unconventional?
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