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LIEV SCHREIBER

(Jerry)


Liev Schreiber stars as Jerry, a bedroom-bound iconoclast who works in "telecommunications." Frank (Tim Daly) and his ex-girlfriend Gail (Dana Wheeler Nicholson) are determined to matchmake Jerry up with Gail's friend Barbara (Caroleen Feeney), a businesswoman whose career takes her from hotel to hotel and phone to phone, without ever getting any closer to a gratifying relationship. After a series of stops and starts, miscommunications and furtive moments, the two begin a long and complex blind date telephone affair:

"Jerry sustains the mystique for three months with Barbara without ever meeting her, which is why it's a successful pairing," says Schreiber. "There's no physical abuse, no verbal abuse, no heavy metal abuse, and they have a lot of great sex on the phone. For all intents and purposes, it's a good, long-lasting, monogamous relationship.

"On the phone you're so anxious to please and to be liked but face-to-face there's no hiding the reality. I've had three blind dates, long distance relationships with people on the phone, which to me always heightened the intensity of the relationship. Once my doctor set me up with a phone date. We talked for two weeks -- just like this movie, and then when we finally met it was a complete nightmare."

Schreiber describes his character as "a slob and a hermit. And like every other character in this film, Jerry is afraid of contact with the outside world. But of all of them, he is the most terrifed." He feels that Jerry's problems with intimacy reflect the problems of millions of others. "I think that as we move into the 1990's, technology is pulling us further and further apart, and we're able to stay by ourselves more and more.

"At the same time, it seems to me that our attention spans are getting shorter and our use of language is less, so it's much easier to watch a video or a news program in order to create a sense of community than to go out and actually talk to people. Shakespeare's vocabulary has been estimated at 26,000 words, while ours is supposed to be around 6,000. We're much more technically intelligent these days but the literacy levels are much lower."

Schreiber's upcoming projects include DAY TRIPPERS and WALKING AND TALKING. Other recently completed films include BUFFALO GIRLS and THE BIG NIGHT, co-directed by actors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott.


Past Credits Include...

FILM:
MAD LOVE, starring Drew Barrymore and directed by Antonia Bird
O HOLY NIGHT, directed by Nora Ephron
PARTY GIRL, directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
ROUGH, directed by James Chase

TELEVISION:
JANEK: THE BROWNSTONE MURDERS, CBS Movie-of-the-Week

BROADWAY:
IN THE SUMMER HOUSE, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, Lincoln Center

OFF-BROADWAY:
ALL FOR ONE, Ensemble Theater
GOOD NIGHT DESDEMONA, GOOD MONRING JULIET, CSC Repertory

THEATER:
ESCAPE FROM HAPPINESS, Baltimore Center Stage
G-FORCE,Edinburgh Festival
THE REAL THING, Berkshire Festival
IVANOV, Yale Repertory Theater
THE SIZE OF THE WORLD, Yale Repertory Theater
UNDERGROUND, Yale Repertory Theater
DRINKING IN AMERICA, Mass. Regional Theater
LONE STAR, Outer Limits Theater





Last modified 28-Mar-96.
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