Word: kasdan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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CONTINENTAL DIVIDE Directed by Michael Apted Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan...
...enormous logjam of talented actors out there," Kasdan says, "and precious few of them have good parts to chew on." Body Heat is full of meaty characters and pungent performances-Ted Danson as a tap-dancing prosecutor, J.A. Preston as a dogged detective, and especially Mickey Rourke as a savvy young ex-con who looks and acts as if he could be Ned's sleazier twin brother. Kathleen Turner's Matty mixes come-hither looks with a sultry, baritone voice. This is a creature of fire and ice, with no intermediate shadings of warmth or aloofness. Thanks largely...
...plot and tone to James M. Cain's Double Indemnity: a man more ordinary than he thinks he is meets a newly rich femme fatale; sparks fly, plots hatch, a husband dies, insurance claims are debated, friendships fray, the lovers quarrel and part explosively. And though Lawrence Kasdan's film is set in today's South Florida, its characters move through an atmosphere that suggests the confluences of decor and demeanor in a 1940s film noir...
...scenes in Body Heat are humid and tumid enough, but they are there to serve the symmetry of Kasdan's visual and narrative design. "Ned is caught in limbo, in a dream," Kasdan, 32, told TIME. "I wanted this film to have the intricate structure of a dream, the density of a good novel, and the texture of recognizable people in extraordinary circumstances." In his first film as writer-director (he was the co-author of The Empire Strikes Back and wrote the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark), Kasdan has succeeded handsomely. There is intricacy...
Film work seems less central to his concerns and his demands. Asked about his grueling 18 months making Altered States, he replies: "Have you ever been beaten up on the street? Well, working on a film set is easier." But he lavishes praise on Larry Kasdan, who, like Marshall Mason, offers actors that precious directorial commodity: trust. After Altered States, Eyewitness and Body Heat, Hurt may be said to have mastered the craft. But he won't say it. "I respect what people have told me," he says. "If I make it to 40, 1 might be a good...