I play a lodger, Ted Brautigan, and getting the part involved an amazing coincidence. I was on location for Hannibal in Florence and reading William Goldman's latest non-fiction book, Which Lie Did I Tell? He was talking about Kathy Bates and Misery (William wrote the screenplay).
I liked the book and was thinking it would be good to do a Stephen King novel.
And three or four days later my agent was in Florence and said, "I've a book for you to read. And a script by Bill Goldman. It's called Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King."
So I thought it was kind of propitious. It's a gentle, small film, not a big story, and I just liked it.Ted Brautigan reminds me of my grandfather on my mother's side. I was very close to him as a child. He had a big influence on my life - a very gentle, but profound influence. He gave me courage and hope that I wasn't the dummy I thought I was. He was encouraging - and this is what Ted Brautigan is with this boy, his landlady's son.
But Ted is being hunted by some shadowy figures. They're not from Mars or anything spooky. Ted has a gift, a psychic gift. He's not Cassandra, but he intuits. And he's wanted by this agency. They're perhaps government agents. Maybe CIA. Maybe FBI. Maybe Mafia. Maybe another clandestine group. It's unknown. But he's wanted because he has a powerful gift and they want to use it.
Ted comes out of nowhere. There's no explanation for him - a bit like Shane in the Western film. He has a mystery about him. He's certainly not a sinister man. He's a good, gentle man. There's nothing spooky about him.But the mother resents him because she resents everyone ? especially strangers. She's not a bad woman, just a little locked up in herself. She doesn't like the influence she suspects Ted is having over the boy. He's in fact having no influence at all - he's just being a friend, almost like a guardian angel.
Hearts In Atlantis
Cert: cert12A
