AS ANOTHER WORLD'S CAMERON, MICHAEL RODRICK plays a former jailbird who's since turned his life around. In the independent feature Under Hellgate Bridge, Rodrick's character, Ryan, has a similar background. "He is racked with guilt," Rodrick explains. "He got both of his brothers and his girlfriend hooked on herion." Ryan went to jail and straightened himself out, and is released the day of one brother's funeral. "He wants to redeem himself by saving his (remaining) brother and ex-girlfriend, who's now married to the local head of a crime family."

    Rodrick said the film, shot on location in Astoria, Queens, taught him about the rigors of independent film making. "One of the locations had a bedroom, and I remember sleeping there, exhausted," he says.

    Directed by Michael Sergio and co-starring Jonathan LaPaglia, Under Hellgate Bridge is an official selection of the Avignon/New York Film Festival, which runs through May 2. The film premieres April 26 in the Gould Theater of the French Institute in Manhattan. *----IRENE S. KEENE



JUNE 8, 1999 Volume 10, Issue 23

EAST COAST
By Pat Sellers

    THE GOSSIP

    MICHAEL RODRICK'S life after AW includes the release of Under Hellgate Bridge, an independent feature in which he stars. I sat next to him at the premiere at the Avignon/ New York Film Festival, which was also attended by his girlfriend, Julie, his twin brother Mark, and AW co-star John Littlefield (Gary). When he came on-screen I turned to him and gasped my professional critique: "Michael, you look yummy!" The film camera loves him so much, you can't help waiting for him to screw up his lines - no one that good-looking could also act. But does he, ever! Director Michael Sergio confided in me at the party afterward that he'd wrested Michael's stunning performance out of him by pushing all his emotional buttons, then giving the command to roll camera. "He was raw during the whole shoot because he was wearing the pain (of a personal loss). I felt really mean doing it to him but it helped his performance. Jordan Bayne, who plays Mike's love interest, told me that Sergio further taunted him by telling him (incorrectly) that she
    was sleeping with Jonathan LaPaglia, the actor who plays his enemy in the film. "He used it to fuel the competition between them, He'd say, 'Mike, Jordan could have been yours, but Jonathan came and just swept her off her feet.' He just freaked."

    By the way AW make-up artist Francesco Buccellato makes her acting debut in this film as the girlfriend of a Mafia lord played by Frank Vincent (Goodfellas). The actor, who thought the woman they had booked for the role was too tall, recruited her on the spot. "I was totally floored!" says Francesca, who was make-up artist for the film. "But I hurried into wardrobe, did my own hair and make-up, and just did it." She had one line: "Well what about me, Sal?" Could this be the start of a whole new career? "You never know - stranger things have happened. I took acting classes years ago, but I thought it would be better to have a bank account."