I wondered if director/writer David Koepp had been watching the 'Twilight
Zone' when he was inspired to do "Trigger Effect" and boy, was
I right. "My uncle, Claude Akins, starred in a 'Twilight Zone' episode
entitled 'The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,'" recalls Koepp. "I
always loved that episode which deals with the 'red scare' paranoia of the
1950s. It seemed to me that's a theme worth exploring again in the 1990s.
The same kind of paranoia appears to exist today but, rather than being
directed outward and overseas at some foreign enemy, it's being directed
at our own neighbors and our own government." So the man who worked
on the screenplays for "Jurassic Park" and "Mission: Impossible"
wrote his own interpretation of what would happen if the lights went out
in suburbia.
Opening with a four-minute-long steadicam shot of a typical night at the
movies, we have a condensed version of the constant stream of petty annoyances
that fill modern life. Kyle MacLachlan is our everyman, trying to deal with
the changing definition of masculinity while keeping his marriage to Elisabeth
Shue, our everywoman, intact. But when the lights go out she is the one
to invite his best friend, construction worker Dermot Mulroney, to stay
with them. The tensions among the three are amplified by the tensions in
the neighborhood as everyone goes just a little crazy without CNN to keep
them informed. "Trigger Effect" is never predictable and the performances
of three strong leads gives it resonance. And if you think they over-react
to the loss of electricity, you should have seen me the day America Online
was down!
And now for a little gossip: Dermot Mulroney also stars in Robert Altman's
"Kansas City" this summer and has been heating up the screen this
year with "How To Make An American Quilt" and "Copycat".
But did you know he has a band with his brother Kieran called "The
Sweet and Low Orchestra"? He is the 'cello player! Look for their first
album on Interscope Records.
Copyright 1994-2008 Film Scouts LLC
Created, produced, and published by Film Scouts LLC
Film Scouts® is a registered trademark of Film Scouts LLC
All rights reserved.
