Patricia Clarkson, Demian Bichir, Diane Venora,

Chelsea Altman, John Shea, Jeffrey Ross a. o.

Opens in New York Sept 6
and Los Angeles Sept 13

JOHN SHEA - Milo
Emmy Award winner John Shea stars as Adam, the brilliant leader and strategist in the action drama series MUTANT X. He also portrayed the sociopathic Lex Luthor opposite Teri Hatcher in the international hit series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

He became famous through his leading role as Charles Horman in "Missing" (Costa Gavras). He was also very popular as Lex Luther in the TV-series "New Adventures of Superman". He recently played in "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" or "Honey, I blew up the Kid" , "Stealing Home" and "Lost and Found" (w/David Spade and Sophie Marceau). His TV-movies include "Ladykiller", "A Weekend In The Country" and "A Will of Their Own".

Neely’s feeling down about her acting career. Tonio, her adoring boyfriend, isn’t having any luck either selling his line of pasta sauces. They’re about to throw in the occupational towel, get married and move to Mexico, when Neely is cast as ‘the coma patient’ on daytime’s most popular soap opera, "Heartbreak Hospital." Of course, it’s not the most esteemed of acting venues, but she’s finally got her big break. New-found success creates tension in her relationship; and as her part grows, Neely gets a little too big for her britches.

Soon, life as a soap star turns out to be just as crazy and overwrought as any soap script. The show’s leading man, Milo, begins to make advances toward Neely, causing the show’s leading lady, Sunday, to plot a jealous scheme against him. Things get even worse when Neely’s neighbor, Lottie, begins to confuse the events on "Heartbreak Hospital" - her all-time favorite show - with real life. Lottie goes too far and becomes dangerously jealous when Neely’s character starts to date Milo’s character on the soap.

Neely finally tires of the circus her life has become and decides to win back Tonio. However, on the day they plan to get back together, Lottie takes Neely hostage and demands to be brought to Milo. Tonio, who thinks he’s been ditched, is found at the rendezvous spot by the cunning and seductive middle-aged Sunday. She coaxes him back to her apartment and attempts to seduce him; but at the last moment, he resists.

Neely and Tonio manage to get back together, but nothing stays calm long -- Sunday is found murdered and Tonio is the prime suspect. Neely smoothes over the gaps in Tonio’s alibi at the police station and he is released. Now all signs point to Lottie as the killer. But it may be too late, she’s just watched the Heartbreak wedding of Milo and Neely and she’s on the hunt again — for Neely! A madcap chase ensues with Tonio pursuing Lottie; and just when it seems Lottie has disappeared forever — she’s back with a gun. But is it real? Is she the killer? The lines are so blurry that no one’s sure where real life begins and the script ends...except Neely and Tonio, who decide they don’t care as long as they have each other.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
I wanted to create a light entertaining romantic story with vivid colors and music around a bizarre satire with dark undertones about the struggle between fiction and reality.

The characters in HEARTBREAK HOSPITAL forget that there is a difference between the beautiful menu and the tasty food. NEELY and LOTTIE are two sides of the same coin. In their confusion and conviction, they end up eating the menu instead of the food. They remain hungry and needy like all of us.

The world is like a stage, but actors see the stage as their world and it's their ultimate goal to be real. The more we try to be real, to become real to touch reality and make our fantasies real, the more ridiculously pathetic and even dangerous we are. A real soap opera...

RUDOLF GERBER ‚ Director, Writer
Rudolf Gerber recently directed the award-winning documentary film "Meta-Mecano." He also directed and produced "Living with the Spill," a documentary about the Alaskan oil spill, for Channel 4 in London. In addition Mr. Gerber directed and produced a series of award-winning fictional short films, including "Cafe Mecanique" and "Midnight Barbeque." Prior to his film career, Mr. Gerber acted in over 30 plays at various German State theaters.

contact Rudolf Gerber at: ruedigerber@zasfilms.com

HENRY SLESAR ‚ Writer
Emmy-award winner Henry Slesar has written over 100 teleplays for "Alfred Hitchcock", "Run for Your Life, The Man From Uncle, Batman", and "ABC Movie of the Week." He has also written numerous short stories and novels.

see also www.mysterynet.com

A Tribute to Henry Slesar
(1927-2002)

Henry Slesar, two-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" Award, had a prodigous output of mystery fiction, including more than 450 short stories, seven mystery novels, three features, and more than 100 primetime teleplays.

He scripted more stories for the "Alfred Hitchcock" TV show than any other writer. His longest writing assignment was for the daytime mystery serial "The Edge of Night." For fifteen years he was the head writer of the suspense soap, writing all the stories and the vast majority of the scripts. Among "Edge of Night's" devoted fans were P.G. Wodehouse, Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. TV Guide once featured Henry Slesar as "The Writer with the Biggest Audience in America" when he was the head writer on two leading soaps. For his work on "Edge of Night," Henry was awarded both an Emmy and an Edgar, and went on to become head writer on three other serials, and consultant on several more. He continued on to write primetime serials for European TV.

Henry adapted well to new forms of the mystery, including online mysteries. In conjunction with MysteryNet, Henry wrote the ground-breaking online mystery soap "Love Kills," in which a new episode was written and posted each day, and viewers voted to determine what would happen in the following episode. MysteryNet published 12 month-long individual "Love Kills" storylines over a period of a year and a half. In addition, MysteryNet published numerous Twist and Solve-it mini-mysteries, as well as other features relating to TV shows and characters in the mystery genre, crafted by Henry.

Most recently, Henry authored the novel "Murder at Heartbreak Hospital." Drawing on his own long experience in the hothouse world of soap opera, he wove a skillful, witty plot with twists and turns, red herrings and streaks of black humor. The surprising climax of this thoroughly enjoyable mystery tells us that soap opera stars might be open to threats from totally unexpected quarters.

News Update: Murder at Heartbreak Hospital has been made into a film, by Ruedi Gerber. The film premieres in Los Angeles September 13. Click here for more about the movie!
Henry was a true gentleman

NEW YORK

Opens on Sept. 6th in New York at The Screening Room theater at 54 Varick St. (just below Canal St) in Tribeca

The showtimes will be 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8:05, 9:55 everyday. There will be no 2:45 on Sunday the 8th and on Thursday the 12th there will be no 6:15 or 8:05.

Tickets can be purchased at the phone number 212-777 FILM or at the theater directly:

Theater number is 212 334 2100. Calling this number will reserve dinner at the theater which will automatically get you tickets, but other than that tickets are only available for purchase one hour before the movie starts.

For a larger group: presales by creditcard without dinner attached.
Please talk to Beryl.

LOS ANGELES

Opens on Sept 13 at the Laemmle at Fairfax.

Laemmle Fairfax Theatre
7907 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel. 323 655 4010

RAM BERGMAN and DANA LUSTIG: BERGMAN LUSTIG PRODUCTIONS ‚ Producer
Ram Bergman and Dana Lustig just completed "Dancing At The Blue Iguana", an improvisational film directed by Michael Radford (Il Postino 1994) and "Kill Me Later" (with Selma Blair, Max Beesley and Brendan Fehr). Other recent films include "Partners in Crime," starring Rutger Hauer and Paulina Porizkova (Artisan release). Their other producing credits include "Stranger Than Fiction" starring Natasha Gregson Wagner, Todd Field and Dina Meyer; "Long Time Since" starring Julian Sands; "Black and White" starring Gina Gershon and Ron Silver (HBO World Premiere); "For Hire" starring Joe Mantegna and Rob Lowe; "Wedding Bell Blues" starring Illeana Douglas, Julie Warner and Debbie Reynolds; "Power 98" (Warner Bros. Release); and "Rave Review."

LEMORE SYVAN: GOLDHEART PICTURES ‚ Producer
Lemore Syvan recently co-produced "Santitos," winner of the Latin American Film Award at the Sundance Film Festival. She is also Associate Producer of Tony Goldwynís "A Walk On The Moon" (Miramax Films). Other credits include "Better Living" (Lakeshore Entertainment) starring Roy Scheider and Olympia Dukakis; "Harvest," starring Mary McCormack, John Slattery and James Van DerBeek; "Walking to the Waterline," starring Matt Mulhern, Hal Holbrook and Matthew Broderick; "The Substance of Fire" starring Tony Goldwyn, Timothy Hutton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ron Rifkin (Miramax Films release); and "Angela" (Lakeshore Entertainment) directed by Rebecca Miller. Prior to joining Goldheart, Ms. Syvan produced and worked on David Salleís "Search and Destroy," Ulu Grosbardís "Georgia," and Henry Jagiomís "Last Summer in the Hamptons," winner of the 1995 Sundance Film Festival Filmmakerís Trophy.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Producer Ram Bergman & Lemore Syvan

Director Ruedi Gerber

Cinematography Wolfgang Held

Editing Sabine Krayenbühl

Sound Tammy Douglass

Music John Davis

Art Direction Shawn Caroll

Lighting Josh Solson

FULL CAST

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Film Format: 35 mm

Film Duration: 91 mins.

Screen Ratio: 1:1.85

Speed (Images/Sec): 24 frames/sec.

Original Language: English

Production Year: 2001

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