something very different than you've
Upcoming is Patch Adams, which is
ever seen before."
based on a real-life doctor who's also a
This vision is provided by New
clown. ("People who have been to an
Zealand-born director Vincent Ward,
HMO say, 'What's the difference?'" he
who was a painter before turning to
interjects.)
filmmaking and brings that sensibility
Williams followed the difficult shoot
to What Dreams May Come.
for What Dreams May Come with an
equally demanding role, the lead in
"The challenge," Ward explained,
Jacob the Liar, based on Jurek Becker's
was to create heaven and hell in a way
that can reference past visions of it, but
acclaimed Holocaust novel.
"It was an extraordinary experience,"
also have a contemporary psychological
Williams explained, "to be in Poland
ethic to it." By making the character of
and Hungary. We shot in a little town
Annie a painter, and asserting that each
near Lodz, and actually in the old
individual creates a personalized mental
Jewish ghetto of that town, which was
landscape, Ward anchored his enve-
liquidated almost 50 years to the day
lope-pushing visual experimentation in
we were there. It's really surreal. You go
a solid story.
in these little alleyways and the houses
For Ward, the film's extensive special
are still the same."
effects and its metaphysical concerns,
In the movie, Jacob Heym, a pan-
are, in a sense, secondary. What Dreams
cake vendor played by Williams, over-
May Come is, above all, a love story
hears a radio broadcast and realizes the
about two very different people who
Russian army
are fated to
is advancing
meet and fall
toward the
in love.
Polish border.
This
He spreads the
theme, which
he also
0 news.
"Once peo-
explored in
ple hear that,
Map of the
they start
Human Heart
thinking the
(1993), is
war's over,"
confirmed by
said Williams.
Ward's own
"It starts to
experience:
generate
hope.
the chance
Robin Williams: "The most primal thing about
The danger is
meeting that
the whole movie is that its made me appreciate
that after one
brought
everything that's in my life right now."
broadcast,
together his
people want
Irish Catholic
more, and they think [Jacob] has a
father and German Jewish mother.
radio, so he starts making [the broad-
The underlying love story is what
casts] up. Hence the title.
bolstered Williams, who was thankful
"Part of survival encompasses
that most of the filming took place in
humor," he continued. "There's a
his home base of San Francisco, which
whole thing about humor and the
allowed him the opportunity to return
Holocaust, people who had jokes
home to his wife and three children
among themselves to keep their own
after emotionally taxing days.
humanity and dignity alive. They're
"You have to deal with that if you're
jokes very specific to the situation, but
doing a movie like this," Williams
told to each other to keep going and
explained. "You personalize it and it's
knowing the reality is that any
hideous. But then you come home at
moment, you're gone.
night and they're there and you're
"Every Holocaust survivor who read
going, "Thank God.'
the script said, 'Don't be afraid of that,
"The most primal thing about the
don't back away from that, because it
whole movie," he continued, "is that
existed,"' Williams said. "But doing the
it's made me appreciate everything
research for that is the most painful shit
that's in my life right now — my fami-
in the whole world.
ly, my friends, my wife, my children,
"Having to get to that place where
and what a gift they are and to treasure
you
have to deal with stuff like this in
every moment with them."
an open way," he explained, "to deal
Williams, who after three previous
with intimate loss and try to make it
nominations, this year won an
accessible to people, you have to really
Academy Award for his role in Good
inhabit it — not be acting it — and
Will Hunting, continues to tackle both
just let it happen."
comedic and dramatic roles.
What To Do!
•
'Whom To See!
(
Find out in this week's
JN Entertainment Section
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Detroit Jewish News
10/2
1998
91