SYNOPSIS:
"All I can say is that being on the set of Traffic doesn't qualify me to make a movie as well as Steven Soderbergh," jokes adapted-screenplay Oscar-winner Gaghan, who makes his debut as a writer-director. A recovering-alcoholic cop (Bratt), investigating the disappearance of a college student (Hunnam, who also stars in this fall's Nicholas Nickleby), falls for the student's girlfriend (Holmes), who may hold the key to the case. However, "it's not I Know What You Did Last Summer," Gaghan says. "I wanted to get at the psychological reality of what it feels like to be in college: the high expectations, the pressure, how people connect"-and how they don't. Holmes's character, she says, "is drawn to [Bratt's] because they both have a loneliness and sadness." When she wasn't busy developing her role, Holmes helped her costar with his. "The first week she gave me the John Irving book A Widow for One Year, because there was a cop in it that reminded her of the character I was playing," Bratt says.
Smells Like Team Spirit: Gaghan relied on the experience of others, especially while making the soundtrack. "I thought, 'I can do this.' But I just stuck in my favorite songs, and suddenly I had this incredibly dated movie." Having made some changes, the filmmaker can now laugh at himself: " 'That Gaghan, he sure loved the grunge.' "
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Abandon
Release Date: October 18
Starring: Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, and Charlie Hunnam
Directed by: Stephen Gaghan
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Copyright © 2008 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.