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本 事

【 燃 情 追 蹤 】 是 一 個 駭 人 聽 聞 的 旅 程 , 一 個 關 於 一 聰 明 的 密 探 如 何 被 那 美 麗 的 、 謎 一 般 的 妖 姬 殺 手 所 吸 引 。

伊 雲 麥 葵 格 飾 演 那 失 去 妻 女 、 孤 寂 的 英 國 密 探 , 他 覺 得 他 負 了 妻 女 , 對 此 始 終 耿 耿 於 懷 。 「 眼 睛 」 的 最 新 任 務 被 派 往 跟 蹤 涉 嫌 勒 索 一 政 府 高 官 的 祖 安 娜 . 艾 莉 絲 Joanna Iris ( 艾 絲 莉 茱 迪 飾 演 ) 。 在 監 視 了 一 段 日 子 後 , 「 眼 睛 」 發 覺 艾 莉 絲 不 只 是 勒 索 者 那 麼 簡 單 , 更 是 偽 裝 專 家 、 狂 暴 的 殺 手 、 一 個 迷 失 的 孤 兒 與 及 是 一 個 可 憐 的 凶 悍 的 殺 手 。

「 眼 睛 」 不 自 覺 地 被 他 吸 引 住 , 尤 其 是 當 他 發 現 祖 安 娜 一 張 與 其 失 蹤 已 久 女 兒 極 其 相 像 的 照 片 。 在 他 的 幻 想 世 界 裡 面 , 這 兩 個 失 落 的 靈 魂 好 像 早 已 聯 繫 。 當 他 看 著 艾 莉 絲 一 次 又 一 次 地 犯 案 , 他 越 發 想 「 看 」 著 她 , 從 沒 想 征 服 她 、 與 她 談 話 , 深 深 地 被 她 迷 住 了 。 他 如 形 隨 形 地 跟 著 她 而 不 讓 她 知 道 , 就 像 她 的 守 護 天 使 般 。

為 免 重 滔 失 去 至 愛 的 經 歷 , 他 決 定 不 顧 危 險 、 走 進 艾 絲 莉 的 世 界 , 希 望 能 夠 影 響 她 的 生 活 藉 以 改 變 她 的 命 運 , 誰 不 知 把 自 己 也 置 身 於 重 重 危 機 之 中 …

演 員 及 幕 後

伊 雲 麥 葵 格 Ewan McGregor

伊 雲 麥 葵 格 在 片 中 飾 演 眼 睛 , 他 被 派 往 監 視 一 美 麗 的 疑 犯 , 誰 不 知 他 逐 漸 成 為 她 的 守 護 天 使 。

打 從 最 近 在 【 星 戰 前 傳 之 魅 影 危 機 】 (Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace) 中 飾 演 奧 比 溫 一 角 後 , 麥 葵 格 的 影 星 地 位 快 速 地 在 提 昇 。 他 在 【 聲 光 乍 洩 】 (Little Voice) 、 【 看 夜 更 】 (Night Watch) 及 【 紫 醉 金 迷 】 (Velvet Goldmine) 等 的 演 出 備 受 賞 識 。 他 的 最 新 作 品 為 James Joyce 的 【 Nora 】 及 Baz Luhrmann 的 【 Moulin Rouge 】 。

自 從 他 參 與 演 出 Danny Boyle 的 【 同 屋 三 分 驚 】 後 , 麥 葵 格 被 國 際 間 認 同 為 一 率 直 的 演 員 , 尤 其 是 他 在 【 迷 幻 列 車 】 (Trainspotting) 的 演 出 廣 被 認 同 , 其 後 他 演 繹 了 很 多 不 同 的 角 色 , 他 演 出 過 Doug McGrath 的 【 芳 心 愛 漫 遊 】 (Emma) 、 Peter Greenaway 【 枕 邊 禁 書 】 (Pillow Book) 及 【 股 壇 狙 擊 手 】 (Rogue Trader) 等 。

艾 絲 莉 茱 迪 Ashley Judd

艾 絲 莉 在 片 中 飾 演 一 神 秘 、 充 滿 誘 惑 性 的 殺 人 兇 手 , 她 的 生 命 就 像 操 縱 在 一 守 護 天 使 的 手 中 。 茱 迪 的 家 鄉 在 肯 德 基 , 生 於 演 藝 世 家 , 其 家 族 在 大 銀 幕 上 有 非 凡 的 成 就 。

茱 迪 首 先 演 出 Victor Nunez 的 【 Ruby in Paradise 】 , 接 著 片 約 紛 至 。 繼 與 摩 根 費 曼 合 演 【 Kiss the Girl 】 外 , 她 亦 曾 經 演 出 過 【 盜 火 線 】 、 【 殺 戮 時 刻 】 、 【 生 命 中 不 能 承 受 的 煙 】 以 至 到 最 近 的 【 亡 命 追 兇 】 及 【 Where the Heart is 】 等 。

在 電 視 方 面 , 她 曾 在 【 】 裡 飾 演 一 角 曾 獲 提 名 角 逐 「 艾 美 獎 」 及 「 金 球 獎 」 。 她 亦 參 與 舞 台 劇 的 演 出 , 其 中 包 括 William Inge 的 � Pulitzer Prize � 得 獎 名 劇 【 Picnic 】 。

k. d. Lang

k.d. Lang 飾 演 的 希 拉 莉 在 片 中 的 出 現 不 算 多 , 她 飾 演 「 眼 睛 」 在 現 實 社 會 中 的 唯 一 接 頭 人 。 她 亦 是 一 非 常 著 名 的 怨 曲 歌 唱 家 , 出 碟 無 數 , 獨 唱 與 及 合 唱 的 也 有 不 少 。

柏 德 烈 貝 甘 Patrick Bergin

柏 德 烈 在 片 中 飾 演 艾 歷 士 , 祖 安 娜 的 富 有 但 雙 目 失 明 的 愛 人 。 身 為 劇 院 老 闆 的 兒 子 , 他 在 劇 院 的 演 出 經 驗 , 為 他 擠 身 於 電 影 及 電 視 的 發 展 , 奠 定 了 良 好 的 基 礎 。

他 首 先 在 九 零 年 代 初 期 演 出 Carolco 片 公 司 的 【 Mountain of the Moon 】 , 其 後 他 又 與 茱 莉 亞 羅 拔 絲 合 演 【 與 敵 同 眠 】 、 與 烏 瑪 花 曼 合 演 John Irvin 的 【 羅 賓 漢 】 與 及 與 夏 里 遜 福 合 演 的 【 Patroit Games 】 。

史 提 芬 伊 利 安 Stephen Elliott ( 編 劇 / 導 演 )

史 提 芬 最 為 人 知 曉 便 是 他 的 【 風 塵 三 絕 】 ， 他 是 道 地 的 澳 洲 雪 梨 人 。 他 最 先 執 導 由 Phil Collins 主 演 的 【 Frauds 】 被 邀 參 加 「 康 城 電 影 節 」 、 「 多 倫 多 電 影 節 」 及 「 香 港 國 際 電 影 節 」 等 , 其 中 嬴 了 比 利 時 「 布 魯 塞 爾 科 幻 電 影 節 」 的 大 獎 。

緊 接 著 【 Frauds 】 , 他 祇 用 了 十 日 的 時 間 , 便 寫 成 了 【 風 塵 三 絕 】 , 該 片 隨 了 打 破 澳 洲 的 票 房 紀 錄 外 , 在 全 世 界 均 創 下 佳 績 , 跟 著 嬴 了 「 三 藩 市 」 及 「 西 雅 圖 電 影 節 」 的 大 獎 、 「 康 城 電 影 節 」 的 觀 眾 評 選 大 獎 獲 「 奧 斯 卡 」 最 佳 服 務 處 獎 。 隨 後 他 執 導 的 【 Welcome to Woop Woop 】 也 獲 邀 參 加 97 年 的 「 康 城 電 影 節 」 的 特 別 視 窗 部 分 。

尼 古 拉 斯 奇 利 文 Nicolas Clermont ( 監 製 )

自 六 十 年 代 初 期 , 尼 古 拉 斯 在 法 國 開 始 他 的 獨 立 製 作 人 事 業 , 68 年 移 居 到 滿 地 可 並 開 始 導 演 及 製 作 教 育 性 節 目 供 應 給 電 視 台 。 迂 迴 曲 折 地 在 洛 杉 磯 拍 過 片 後 , 終 回 到 滿 地 可 成 立 Filmline International 合 作 。

Filmline 的 製 作 極 其 豐 富 , 其 中 包 括 有 Aidan Quinn 的 【 This is My Father 】 、 卜 賀 斯 堅 的 【 Rainbow 】 與 及 馬 龍 白 蘭 度 及 美 娜 蘇 雲 露 主 演 的 【 孖 你 兩 老 襟 】 (Free Money) 。 其 他 產 品 尚 包 括 有 【 Young Ivanhoe 】 、 【 挑 戰 者 系 列 】 及 隆 格 爾 的 【 The Peacekeeper 】 等 。

1996 年 九 月 , Filmline International 成 為 Behaviour Communications Inc. 的 全 資 附 屬 機 構 , 一 間 紮 根 於 滿 地 可 的 多 媒 體 上 市 公 司 。

希 拉 莉 桑 雅 Hilary Shor ( 執 行 監 製 )

希 拉 莉 是 畢 業 於 Annenberg School of Communication 碩 士 課 程 , 是 獨 立 製 作 公 司 Hit & Run 的 總 裁 , 畢 業 後 的 十 年 她 都 在 藝 能 界 打 滾 , 通 過 Phil Collins 的 關 係 , 她 結 識 到 Tony Smith 並 一 起 成 立 了 現 在 這 製 作 公 司 。

Hit & Run 與 大 部 分 的 荷 李 活 studio 都 有 合 作 , 除 了 【 燃 情 追 蹤 】 外 , 她 們 製 作 的 【 Beautopia 】 在 「 新 丹 斯 」 、 「 芝 加 哥 電 影 節 」 中 大 獲 好 評 , 更 嬴 得 「 芝 加 哥 電 影 節 」 的 Hugo Award 大 獎 。 她 們 最 近 的 作 品 為 米 高 德 格 拉 斯 及 Steve Reuther 監 製 、 Charlize Theron 及 艾 絲 莉 茱 迪 合 演 的 【 The Husband I Bought 】　

Synopsis

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is a startling journey into obsession, the story of an intelligence agent so taken with a beautiful killer he cannot bear to apprehend her. Set in the surreal world of a high-tech voyeur, the tale follows him across the county as he embarks on a desparate quest for this enigmatic femme fatale.

Ewan McGregor stars as The Eye, a lonely, isolated British intelligence agent who has lost his wife and daughter, for which he blames his own unforgivable inaction. Yet detachment is part of the job. The Eye's current mission is to track Joanna Eris (Ashley Judd), a woman suspected of blackmailing the son of a senior British official. But Eris is far more than a blackmailer. She is a seductive, shadowy master of disguises, a frenzied murderer, a lost orphan and an abject mystery whose rage is as fierce as her beauty.

The Eye cannot help but be fascinated by Joanna ' especially when a surveillance photo of her seems to reveal the ghostly image of his long-lost daughter, whose absence haunts him. In his deepest fantasies, their two fates as lost souls are somehow connected. As he follows Joanna from murder to murder, the more The Eye finds that he needs to watch her. Not capture her. Not speak to her. But watch her, becoming inexorably more and more obsessed with what he sees. He shadows Joanna without ever letting her know he is there ' except that sometimes unexpected turns of fate make it seem as if she has a guardian angel watching over her.

But the closer The Eye gets to Joanna's life, the more dangerous his fantasy becomes. Soon he begins to meddle in her existence, taking action, altering her fate. Yet to catch her would be to lose her, something The Eye cannot allow again in his life. So the odyssey continues... until the pursuer and the prusued find themselves on a perilous crash course.

Cast and Crew

Ewan McGregor (The Eye)

Ewan McGregor stars as The Eye, a surveillance agent so obsessed with watching a beautiful criminal, he begins to watch over her, becoming her guardian angel.

McGregor has quickly risen to one of today's most sough-after stars, most recently starring as the legendary Obi Wan Kenobi in George Luca' Star Wars sequel "Episode One: The Phantom Menace". He has recently won acclaim for his roles in "Little Voice", "Nightwatch" and "Velvet Goldmine". He will next be seen as James Joyce in the indie "Nora" and in Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge".

Following critically admired roles in Bill Forsyth's "Being Human" and Dnany Boyle's "Shallow Grave", McGregor came to major international attention as a frank, unrepentant but highly spirited junkie in Boyle's acclaimed "Trainspotting". McGrogor went on to a diverse series of roles in Doug McGrath's "Emma", Peter Greenaway's "The Pillow Book", Boyle's "A Life Less ordinary" and Phillipe Rousellot's "The Serpent Kiss".

On television, McGregor most recently appeared in James Dearden's "Rogue Trader" on Cinemax. He has guest-starred on "ER", garnering an Emmy nomination, and appeared in an "Tales from the Crypt" episode with Jane Horrocks. For British television he has starred in "Kavanagh QC", "Doggin Around", "Family Style", "Scarlet and Black" and Dennis Potter's "Lipstick on Your Collar".

Ashley Judd (Joanna Eris)

Ashley Judd takes on an unexpected role as a mysterious, seductive murderer whose life seems to be in the hands of a guardian angel. Judd is an eight generation Kentuckian, born into a highly accomplished entertainment family, who has found tremendous success on the big screen.

Judd made an auspicious debut as Ruby Lee Glassing in Victor Nunez's "Ruby in Paradise". She went on to garner attention in "Kiss the Girls" opposite Morgan Freeman, as well as "The Locusts", "Heat", "A Time to Kill", "Normal Life", "Smoke" and "Simon Birch". She msot recently appeared in Bruce Beresford's "Double Jeopardy" and as Lexie Coop in the motion picture adaptation of the bestseller "Where the Heart is".

On television, Judd garnered an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for her haunting portrayal of Norma Jean in HBO's "Norma Jean & Marilyn".

Judd also starred on Broadway in William Inge's Pulitzer Prize winning play, "Picnic" at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Jason Priestley (Gary)

Jason Priestley makes a surprise appearance as Gary, a fast-living, ultra-nihilistic drifter who becomes The Eye's nemesis when he threatens Joanna. Best known for his long-running role as Brandon Walsh in the hit television series "Beverly Hills 90210", a role which earned the young actor two Golden Globe nominations, Priestley has made a successful transition to the screen. His film credits include the critically admired indie "Love and Death on Long Island", the black comedy "Cold-blooded", "Tombstone", "The Boy who Could Fly", "Nowhere to Run" and "Calendar Girl". His most recent work includes "Dill Scallion", "The Highwayman", "Standing on Fishes" and "Zigs".

Priestley also directed several episodes of the series, and has gone on to direct episodes of "The Outer Limites", "The Apartment" and a music video for Bare Naked Ladies that won him a Best Director nomination at the 1996 Canadian Music Awards. His documentary, "Barenaked in America" is featured in the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. Priestley is currently directing and co-starring in the Fox Televison Movie of the Week, "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbuy" scheduled to air January 2000.

The Vancouver antive starred in his first tele-film at age 8 and later appeared on such shows as "21 Jump Street", "MacGyver", "Quantum Leap" and co-starred on the NBC series "Sister Kate".

Genevieve Bujold (Dr. Brault)

Genevieve Bujold portrays psychiatrist Dr. Brault, who may have insight into Joanna Eris. Ms Bujoid is a prolific and accomplished actress, having given outstanding performances in a wide variety of genres.

Ms Bujold made an early mark playing Anne Boleyn in "Anne of a Thousand Days" for which she received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. Ms Buhold's films include: "King of Hearts", "Kamouraska", "Isabel", "Act of the Heart", "Obsession", "Choose me", "The Moderns", "A Paper Wedding", "Mon Amie Max", "Dead Ringers", "Tightrope", "Coma", "The Adventures of Pinocchio", "You can Thank me Later", "The House of Yes" and "Last Night".

k. d. lang (Hilary)

Pop star k.d. lang makes a rare film appearance as Hilary, The Eye's sole contact with the real world. Lang has become the torch singer of our times, whose compelling, angelic voice has won audiences around the world. Her albums include "A Truly Western Experience", "Angel with a Lariat", "Shadowland", "Absolute Torch and Twang", "ingenue", the soundtrack to the motion picture "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues", "all you can eat" and her latest, "Drag".

k.d. lang has recorded duets with, amongst others, Roy Orbison, jane Siberry, Andy Bell from Erasur and Tony Bennett.

k.d. lang's film credits include "Salmonberries" and "Teresa's Tattoo". She also appeared in the acclaimed television mini-series of Mario Puzo's "The Last Don".

Patrick Bergin (Alex Leonard)

Patrick Bergin takes on the complex role of Alex Leonard, Joanna Eri' wealthy, blind love interest. The son of a theatre owner, Bergin began his career in repertory theatre in London, before landing memorable roles in several English telefilms and series.

His first major screen role came in 1990, in which he starred in Carolco Pictures "Mountains of the Moon", playing the charimatic English explorer Sir Richard Burton. The next year, he appeared opposite Julia Roberts, playing the chilling, obsessive husband in "Sleeping with the Enemy". He then starred opposite Uma Thurman in John Irvin's "Robin Hood", and co-starred with Harrison Ford in "Patroit Games". He was then cast in Miramax's "Love Crimes" as a photographer/sex offender. Other feature credits include, "Map of the Human Heart" with John Cusack and Jeanne Moreau, "Double Cross" with Jennifer Tilly and Kelly Preston, "The Proposition" with Theresa Russell, and "Island on Bird Street", a European co-production. His many television credits include "They Watch", opposite Venessa Redgrave and TNT's Frankenstein, starring as Dr. Frankenstein.

Stephen Elliott - writer/director

Stephen Elliott, best known in America for his runaway hit comedy "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", makes a departure with this surrealistic love story. Elliott is a native of Sydney, Australia. He made his feature debut with "Frauds" starring pop star Phil Collins, which went on to competition at Cannes, along with the Toronto and Hong Kong film festivals. The film won the Grand Prix at the Brussels Sci-fi and Fantasy film Festival.

Elliot followed "Frauds" with a script he wrote in just ten days: "The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". The freewheeling musical comedy followed the unlikely tale of drag queens trapped in the Australian Outback, and went on to defy the cynics by becoming one of the most successful Australian films of all time and an international phenomenon. The film won first prizes at the San Francisco and Seatle Film Festivals, becam the talk of Cannes, winning the audience-selecte Grand Prix and went on to garner the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Elliott's next feature, "Welcome to Woop Woop" starring Jonathan Schaech and Rod Taylor, was selected for "Un Certain Regard" at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. He will next direct "The Husband I Bought" based on the Ayn Rand novel.

Nicolas Clermont - producer

Nicolas Clermont is an independent producer whose career in films began in the early 60s in France. In 1968, he moved to Montreal where he became involved in directing and producing educational documentaries and series for television. After a detour to produce in Los Angeles, he came back to Montreal to found Filmline International Inc.

Filmline's impressive slate of features, telefilms and mini-series include Aidan Quinn's recent starrer "This is My Father", Ted Demme's "Monument Avenue" starring Denis Leary, martin Sheen and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Bob Hoskin' "Rainbow" and "Free Money" starring Marlon Brando, Donalk Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Mira Sorvino. Other Filmline producaitons include "Bethune: The Making of a Hero"; "Young Ivanhoe"; "A Young Connecticut Yankee"; "Vendetta II"; "The Breakthrough"; "highlander, the series"; "Hollow Point" with Tia Carrere and John Lithgow, "Natural Enemy" starring Donald Sutherland and "The Peacekeeper" with Dolph Lundgren. In Sepatember 1996, Filmline International became a wholey owned subsidiary of Behaviour Communications Inc., a Montreal-based multi-media public company.　

Tony Smith - producer

Producer Tony Smith started the Hit & Run Music Publishing and Management Group almost twenty years ago. His company has managed the affairs and careers of Genesis and Phil Collins, and has subsequently added such acts as Space, Mike & The Mechanics, Kula Shaker and Headswim. Smith recently formed Hit &Run Productions to explore his interests in film. The company has an exciting slate of projects ranging from smaller independent features up to large studio-based pictures.

Hilary Shor - executive producer

Hilary Shor is currently President of Production of the independent film company, Hit & Run Productions. Shor is a graduate of Smith College and the annenberg School of Communication. After she received her Masters Degree, hilary settled in Los Angeles where for 10 years she was both a talent and literary agent at several prestigious agencies. Through mutual client phil collins, she met Tony smith and they decided to partner in the London and New York-based film production company that Shor now heads.

After only a few years, Hit & Run has a variety of projects with both major Hollywood studios as well as the independent marketplace. She and Smith developed "Eye of the Beholder" for four years with Stephen Elliott prior to partnering with the Canadian finance partner, Filmline International.

Hit & Run's "Beautopia" was accepted at the Sundance, Chicago and Hampton Film Festival, winning the Chicago Film Festival's Hugo Award. Shor's next project with Tony Smith is "Children of Men", based on the PD James bestseller. She and Smith will also be producing Stephen Elliott's next project based on a novel by Ayn Rand, "The Husband I Bought" presently slated to star Charlize Theron and Ashley Judd and co-produced with Michael Douglas and Steve Reuther. Hit & Run is currently in production on "Offcuts" to be directed by Nadia Tass in Fall 99.

Mark Damon - executive producer

Mark Damon is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Behaviour Worldwide. Damon has produced or executive produced such noteworth films as Wolfgang Peterson's internationally acclaimed "Das Boot", Adrian Lyne's controversial "9 ? Weeks", John Badham's "Short Circuit", Joel Schumacher's "The Lost Boys", Neil Jordan's "High Spirits", Wolfgang Peterson's "The Never Ending Story" and the recent movie version of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book".

Damon has also been directly involved in the international licensing and distribution of hundreds of feature films, including such noteworthy projects as the James Bond film "Never Say Never Again", "Prizzi's Honor", "Once Upon a Time in America" and "The Cotton Clib".

Al Clark - co-producer

The producer of Stephan Elliott's "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of Desert", Al Clark began his career as with the London magazine Time Out, then worked at Virgin Records, eventually heading the company's film division, with production credits on Michael Radford's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" Julien Temple's "Absolute Beginners" and Ken Russell's "Gothic".

Moving to Syney, Clark was a board member of the Australian Film Commission from 1989 through 1992. Other than "Priscilla", his Australian production credits include, "The Crossing", "Heaven's Burning" (both starring Russell Crowe) and John Po;son's "Siam Sunset", winner of the Rail d'Or in the International Critics Week at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

Clark is also the author of the books, Making Priscilla (recently republished as The Lavender Bus) and Raymond Chandler in Hollywood.

Guy Dufaux - cinematography

Capturing The Eye's surreal point-of-view is Guy Dufaux, one of Canada's most prolific cinematographers. Born in France, he studied Fine Arts in Marseille and later established himself in Quebec where he acted as director of photography on some of the most memorable Canadian films of recent years, including Jean Claude Lauzn's "Leolo" and "Night Zoo", Denys Arcand's "Jesus of Montreal" and "The Decline of the American Empire", and Robert Lepage's "Poliograph". He most recently serves as director of photography on Theresa Connelly's "Polish Wedding" starring Claire Danes, Gabriel Byrne and Lena Olin.

Jean-Baptiste Tard - production designer

Jean-Baptiste Tard has worked on such films as Vincent Ward's "Map of the Human Heart", "Zelda", "L'enfant d'Eau" and two television mini-series: "Kidnapped Princess" and "Zelda".

Lizzy Gardiner - costume designer

Lizzy Gardiner won the Academy Award for the her design work for Stephan Elliott's "The Advenutres of Priscilla Queen of the Desert". Memorably, she showed up at the Oscar ceremony sporting an American Express gold-card dress.

A close personal friend of Stephan Elliott since childhood, she has worked on all of his films including "Welcome to Woop Woop". Her other Australian and American credits include "Dear Card Holder", "Tilted", "Devil's Hill", "Drug & Alcohol", "Kokoda Crescent", "Weekend with Kate", "Bound" and "Gone Fishin". Gardiner was educated at the Academia Di Italiana Art in Florence.

Sue Blainey - editor

Sue Blainey reunites with Stephan Elliott, having previously edited "The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of Desert". She later edited "The Deli" for director John Andrew Gallagher. Blainey began her career as an assistant editor on Roger Donaldson's "Cadillac Man".

In the theatre of man's life
It is reserved for only God
And angels to be lookers on
--Francis Bacon

Director Stephan Eliott has created a surrealistic thriller that takes a visceral journey deep into the eerie, seductive recesses of the obsessive psyche. At its center is a man whose job is observing from afar, a surveillance expert known only by his code-name The eye, who has taken the aloof, voyeuristic impulse to its extreme.

But when The Eye becomes captivated by a breathtaking criminal to whom he feels mysteriously connected, watching is no longer enough and he begins to watch over her. His journey across the country, tracking and then trying to save this woman who defies explanation but stirs his soul, is about the tricks of perception, the boundlessness of loss and desire and the way that fascination, love and regret change the very way we see – and sometimes behave. For as his quest unfolds, The Eye crosses the line from tracker to protector, and his killer transforms from predator to victim to lost innocent.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is an unconventional mystery, a labyrinthine human puzzle. Elliott captured images he hopes will not so much explain as surprise, provoke and linger, leaving audiences pondering what they have just experienced. There are clues and hints, but no pat solutions.

It is also a road movie, but a very different one from Elliott's runaway hit comedy "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert". Whereas "Priscilla" was a surrealistic trip across Australia stamped with an outrageous humor, EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is a surrealistic trip across America that plumbs the depths of heartbreak. Yet both films share Stephan Elliott's astonishing, sometimes bizarre, visual imagery that goes in directions unexpected in any genre. In this case, Elliott captures with the camera the distorted time, space and perception that defines the very emotional essence of obsession.

"I saw it as a story of two lost souls in America," comments Elliott. "That is what The Eye and Joanna share: a deep sense of loss. He is a man who has lost his daughter, and she is an orphan who has lsot her family. It is a tale of obsessive love about a man with a huge emptiness inside himself seeking to be filled and a tragic woman who unexpectedly stirs his soul."

Elliott made the decision early on to turn the character of The eye from an ordinary detective to its modern, even more emotionally removed equivalent: a high-tech survelliance agent. It was, he felt, the perfect metaphor for contemporary disconnection and isolation. "I've spent a lot of time watching people get lost in technology and I wanted to make this story about a man who gets so removed from reality that he wakes up one morning and his wife and kid are gone," states the writer/director. "It's the story of someone who has lost his connection to the world. This is a subject of great concern to me – how we're no longer able to deal with other people face-to-face. Everything is through a barrier, a screen. First, the phone replaced personal contact, then the fax replaced even voice contact and now e-mail has gone a step beyond that. The result is that people have become more and more isolated."

Elliott carefully researched the latest, state-of-the-art spy technology and included only equipment that actually currently exists in EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. "People look at this stuff and think it's the future but it's happening right now," says Elliott. "These new digital detectives don't even have to interact with the people they're investigating, they don't even have to ask questions anymore. They just sit in the investigating, they don't even have to ask questions anymore. They just sit in the background and watch. And this is what The Eye has done all his life – simply watched as events unfolded. He is totally inert. But as he watches Joanna Eris, she moves him to action. For the first time, he is engaging with the world."

Part of the Tye's journey back into the world is coming to terms with the ghost of his lost daughter, whose shimmering presence is like a window into his damaged soul. The palpable memory of her beckons him at first as he becomes obesessed with Joanna Eris, then recedes away as he begins to become a part of Joanna's fate, refusing to lose her as he lost his own child. Says Elliott: "The Eye is yearning for what is lost in his life, not just for his daughter but for the love that he has never really given, and something in Joanna awakens that."

Elliott also made the decision to delve more deeply into Joanna Eri' background, to deepen the audience's sympathy for her, even though she carries out unspeakable acts of violence, letting her become more and more human as the story progresses. He explains: "Allowing the audience to develop feelings for Joanna is the key to the whole movie. People told me that there was no way to make a murderer the object of love, but I disagreed. One of the things that really influcenced me is that I had jjustdone a series of interviews with prisoners – A-list, ax-murdering prisoners – for another project. What I discovered is that behind their tough fronts, they each have heartbreaking stories. They weren't born killers, they were made killers by tortured childhoods. That's why I decided to make Joanna Eris an abandoned child who is filled with an anger that is completely understandable. She is a tragic figure, a person pushed instead of helped, and yet you see in her that lost little girl who still wants to come home."

to cast The Eye, Elliott went for the unexpected. "I like to cast against type," the director comments. "That's why I loved Ewan McGregor for this role. Ewan has always played pretty outlandish, show-off roles. He very rarely plays still characters. But this one is the complete opposite. He only says a few words in the film and the rest of his performance is what is happening in his eyes. It was an enormous challenge and at the end of the day, he forged an extraordinary presence that carries the audience through the film."

McGregor was stongly attracted to the story's unpredictable maze of events and emotions. "I thought the script was quite exciting," he says, "and didn't follow any of the normal rules plot-wise. It's a love story that has an identity all its own. It's about a man who is stalking a killer yet falls deeply in love by the end of the movie. I saw it as being very new and very different."

He was also drawn by the opportunity to work with Elliot, whose reputation for bold invention precedes him. "I'd seen his films before so I had an idea of what I was getting into," says McGregor, "but it was quite exciting to keep up with his constant wild ideas and get them running in an isntant. It's great to be challenged in that way."

To play off against McGregor's aloof, voyeuristic lover, Elliott cast Ashley Judd to play the mysterious, provocative murderer who inspires his longing. Elliott had originally hoped to cast an older actress but found that no Hollywood star over 40 was willing to go all the way with Joanna Eri''conroversial character. Meanwhile, he was pursued endlessly by Judd who wanted the role with an almost obsessive desire. "She basically stalked me," Elliott jokes. "She hounded the hell out of me for months. She would not give up. And for awhile the more determined she became, the more determined I became not to cast her. Then we finally agreed to meet and I told her what I wanted. I said ‘this murderess has to inspire absolute sympathy and the whole premise is going to spin on people believing in Joanna.' She looked me straight in The Eye and said ‘I can do it.' And you know what? She did."

Judd took a daring, isntinctual approach to playing Joanna. "There's something very enigmatic about this character, even to me," she admits. "So I let the character show me what to do, become my map on how to proceed. I've never worked this way before but instead of being suspicious of it, I just let it happen. I just said this is a new way of doing things that is going to be exciting."

For Judd, the highly atypical character of Joanna wasn't the only reason for doing the film; there was also the chance to work with the highly atypical Stephen Elliott. "You can't believe sometimes how creative he is," she observes. "He is does all sorts of new and inventive things visually and has an attention to detail that rivals Michael Mann's. His mind is so kinetic and what I love most about him is how he really enjoys pushing the envelope."

Playing Joanna Eri' flesh-and-blood love interest is Patrick Bergin as Alex Leonard, the wealthy blind vintner. To create his character, Stephen Elliott conducted numerous interviews with groups of blind people to get their input. "They're sick of being portrayed as dull victims which they aren't, and I was inspired to make him extremely likable, classy, good-looking with a real sense of mischief. And that just said Patrick Bergin to me."

Polar oppostie to Patrick Bergin's character is Jason Priestley's flagrantly hedonistic drifter. Once again, Stephan Elliott went for reverse casting. "To play the baddest, evilest, most horrible character in the film I wanted the most likeable, smilling, happy, best-loved face in America. Someone mentioned Jason Priestley and I said ‘Bingo". It is a performance that breaks his mold and shows what a versatile actor he can be. It was a 'death to Brandon Walsh' sort of moment for him. He just had a blast with it."

Priestly says: "I found the story fascinating – there are so many twists and turns and unexpected things in it. I also like that it is spearheaded by a strong female character, something you don't see often. It has a lot to say on many levels and examines issues occurring right now in our society. But best of it all it was a chance to play a very unusual character. It's very liberating to play crazy, strange, wild characters – this kind of challenge is why I became an actor in the first place."

Priestley even altered his classic look for the film, donning a bad bleach job that Stephan Elliott admits emulates a look he himself wore a few years ago and comments, "It took a lot of guts for Jason to carry it off."

Rounding out the cast are two fascinating female characters: Genevieve Bujold as Joanna Eri' mentor Dr. Brault and pop star k.d. lang as Hilary, an intelligence coordinator and The Eye's only anchor to the real world. Elliott had been wanting to cast k.d. lang in a film of his ever since he had a whirlwind run-in with her at the premiere for "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." "It was one of those humiliating thins where we were forced into a situation by our agents that neither of us wanted to be in, but then a few dyas later she tracked me down in abar and told me how much she liked the film. We had a great conversation and I always kept that in the back of mind. So when it came time to cast Hilary, and I was thinking of someone who would be a real surprise, k.d. immediately leapt to mind. bEcause of who she is, we made the character much stronger, more of a partner than a secretary."

As for Genevieve Bujold, Elliot says: "She was just perfection in a nut shell. It's one of the film's most pivotal roles, a very complex role. Dr. Brault is a very dark character, in a sense the movie's villain, but she's also someone who belives she is just doing her job. She believes she is giving these vulnerable victims strength and hope, and doesn't realize she's creating a mosnter. Genevieve brought all this together. She gave the character both a chilling quality and an edge of human humility."

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is a visual reflection of obsession's dreamy, mesmerizing and sinuous contours. Per his usual inclinations, Stephen Elliott went to the visual edge, and dipped into surrealism, to create an atmosphere thick with portents and subliminal clues, using a style that disorient' distorting time and perception' in the way only obsessive desire can.

The visual concept for EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is one part longing –ginged nostalgia, one part brave new world. "Ultimately, since we were dealing with a film about technology, which moves so quickly that cutting edge items are obsolete in moments, I didn't want it to become dated in a short period of time. So I brought my entire design crew together and explained that we were going to look both backwards and forwards."

Thus it is that the film seems to move through emotional space and time rather than realistc locations and chronological dates. Elliott reveals the world through The Eye's vision of it – which is idealized, awash in his own fantasies. Alaska has the chromed, repressed feeling of 1950s diners. New York is rife with 40s sophistication. Chicago has a 1930's grittiness. And event he high-tech communications link-up console where k.d. lang fields calls from The Eye is lost in time: her computers are inserted into a huge Victorian, mahogany bureau with rococo touches, like a 19^th century writing desk forced into our millennial era.

Although his visuals are highly innovative, the director admits that he had to hold himself back at time. "I'm known for very garish, loud colors and I've had quite a lot of fun with that, but here I'm trying to make a serious movie," he states. "In some ways it was the most challenging and difficult experiences I'd ever been through. A lot of it was about trying to control myself, letting the film be visually extraordinary without going too far."

For Elliott, a lot of the impact is in the details. For example, to subtly support the concept of The Eye as guardian angel, the director filled his frames with winged statues. In fact every statue that appears in the film's background has wings.

Another original Elliott touch can be found in the transitional snowdomes that transport the audience from one fantasy-tinged city to the next. "I'm so bored with your standard location shots of a city, you know, when you see a street sign that says Philadelphia and that's how you know where you are. Since I have collected snowdomes for years, I'd long had the idea of using them to create a more magical entry point to various cities. With EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, which really is a road movie, I saw my chance."

adding to the look of EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is Academy award winning costume designer Lizzy Gardiner's costumes. Gardner and Elliott have a close collaborative relationship, forged during "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" for which Gardiner won an Oscar. Gardiner expllains her compulsion to work with Elliott this way: "Whatever the story or style, I always know that it will be visually exciting and that I'll get to do a lot of things I don't normally get to do. And by now we don't even need to speak to each other to communicate. He knows what I'm thinking and vice versa."

Due to Elliott's aversion to the typical noir look , Gardiner was challenged to go in an entirely new director. She too, went with the surrealist flow, weaving in costumes from various periods – from the 1930s through the 90s – to give a sense of distorted time. "It was pretty interesting to be designing period outfits for a film set in modern times," Gardiner remarks. "The train sequence is pure 1940s Hitchcock and when we wind up in Alaska at the tend, it's a 1950s version of the very ends of the earth. The costumes had to reflect all that."

To dress The Eye, Elliott forbid Gardiner from any James Bond or Dashiell Hammet type of styles. Instead, Elliott sacrificed his very own cherry red windbreaker as The Eye's main costume, much to Ewan McGregor's dismay. "You should have seen his face fall when he realized he wasn't going to get to wear cool black hats," says Elliott.

Continues Gardiner: "The Eye is very obsessive, so I see him wearing the same parka that he's had since he was 9 or 10 years old – it's his security blanket and he's worn it all his life. Under it, he wears a plain, white collared shirt which is also part of his obsessive nature. He is so preoccupied with Joanna that I don't think he would pay very much attention to what is he is wearing. He also wears just one pair of shoes, a brown brogue, that is brokern down in stages, fall apart, much as The Eye does by the films; end."

Ashley Judd, on the other hand, is dressed exclusively by legendary designer Valentino – in 46 different Valentino outfits, many of which are one-offs, drawn from his own personal archives. Gardiner's staff worked over-time quickly sewing facsimile's of the extraordinary outfits that could be ripped, tom and filled with bullet holes.

"We were exceptionally lucky to get Valentino to agree to loan us his archival clothing, which is kept in high-security vaults in Rome," explains Lizzy Gardiner. "These are all museum pieces that will eventually have a show in new York. They are very unique, very couture, very beautiful. When I look at Ashley and I think how great the looks, I also think that she should look great since she's wearing several hundred thousand dollars worth of clothes!

Most filmmakers end the production process by adding a music score to the finished film. Not Stephen Elliott. He starts with a musical concept – before he even writes a script. In the case of EYE OF THE BEHOLDER he imagined a haunting, rhythmic electronic score, much like the music of one his favorite bands, Massive Attace. When the band proved unavailable to do the score, Elliott hired Marius De Vries, who has worked closely with Massive Attack, helping to gorge their electronic sound, as well as with Bjork and Madonna.

"De Vries had never done an entire film score before but he was fantastic. I was lucky to have gotten him now, before he becomes the next big film composer," says Elliott. "We spent a lot of time together collaborating and it really paid off. I'd never done a film score like this one before. I've always had an orchestra and lots of chorales, always with instruments. Marius worked with a series of computer banks and almost no real instruments."

To inspire the cast, Elliott even played strains of the film's music on the set, a process he has found has an almost supernatural effect. "The result was nothing short of spectacular," he describes. "When you do that, you don't even have to give any direction. The actors, the crew, they all just go with it. Everybody hears the music and conjures up their own emotions and begins picking up the rhythms of the song and suddenly you have this great moment where everyone is working in sync.'

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER was shot primarily in Montreal, Canada, with American landmarks morphed into the landscape with computers, all furthering the combined sense of familarity and disorientation, a felling the obsessed know well. Explains Elliott: "I wanted this film to capture a timeless series of cities. Like The Eye, Montreal is very lost in time. It was perfect and with the use of CGI, we added in footage of Americna skyscapes."

To capture the cities, vistas and statues he wanted, Elliott set off on another adventure after principal production wrapped; he put a small second-unit crew, a camera, a tripod and a bunch of film into a van and set out a three-week journey across the United States, emulating the itinerary of The Eye. He comments, "We had an unbelievable amount of fun because it was totally pure filmmaking. They were just five of us playing ou way across the country."

"I think we're in a very strange time when too many movies have become big, bumb entertainment and audiences are beginning to retaliate," Elliott concludes. "I think that films can still challenge the audience and ask them to fill in the blanks. With EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, I raise a lot of questions I don't set out to answer. That's part of the fun of it. The style, the music and the performances weave many layers through which each person can have their own interpretation. And that's I think what we're really after."

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