THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050030
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 105 lines
THE GHOST Who Walks has stalked onto the screen.
After six decades of comic strip adventures, fighting pirates and ``all forms of greed and cruelty,'' ``The Phantom'' finally makes it to the movies, via a $45 million production opening Friday.
Billy Zane, the dark and brooding actor who has the title role, figures that ``The Phantom'' will be something new all over again.
``The time is right for him,'' Zane said. ``He's a superhero, but he's also human. He has no superpowers, other than his own wits. He doesn't have a big bankroll or special weapons, but he's super-human and super-decent. I think people want that in a hero at the movies now. Everyone is tired of the anti-hero.''
The man in purple who lives in Skull Cave and sits on the Skull Throne dates back to 1936 when cartoonist-writer Lee Falk created the comic strip for King Features. Today, The Phantom, along with his white Arabian stallion, Hero, and fierce gray wolf, Devil, still appears in over 500 newspapers, with over 60 million readers.
Despite that, the Phantom isn't quite the household name that Batman was even before the blockbuster movies.
Zane and director Simon Wincer (``Free Willy,'' ``Lonesome Dove'') aren't worried that children today might not know The Phantom and that adults might mistake the film for a version of ``Phantom of the Opera.''
``The action in the film will speak for itself,'' Wincer said. ``And with 60 million readers around the world, I think our Phantom is well-known enough maybe too well-known. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't making the movie just for the comic strip readers. They aren't enough to make it a hit. I had to walk a tightrope in making sure it was a movie, not a comic strip. ''
Zane, who scored as a sexy, psychoticvillain in ``Dead Calm'' opposite a young Nicole Kidman, has been cast primarily as evil characters up until now. He was chosen over big names for the coveted role because, Wincer said, ``I wanted the movie to be the event, not the actors.''
Zane was eager to dispel the rumors that he has been both sullen and distant in dealing with the press in past years.
``I pursued this role with gusto,'' Zane said. ``I first read a `Phantom' comic book eight years ago, about at the time I was filming `Dead Calm' in Australia. I became a big fan - a collector. There are great plots. `The Phantom' is a cult figure in Australia. Each new comic book becomes a collector's item. I know everything there is to know about The Phantom.''
There is a great deal of ``Phantom'' lore and history.
Falk created ``The Phantom'' as a reaction to the Depression years. It was not his first comic strip; in 1934, he created ``Mandrake the Magician'' for William Randolph Hearst's King Features Syndicate. ``The Phantom,'' though, proved even more popular.
Falk gave up drawing ``The Phantom,'' but he continues to write the plots. Over the last half century, he has written 600 Phantom adventures. He's never missed a deadline, even during World War II when he was doing undercover work for the U.S. Army.
The fictional character lives deep in the jungle island of Bengalla, where the original Phantom, 400 years ago, took the Oath of the Skull to fight evil. The oath, taken by the original Kit Walker, was made on the skull of his father's murderer and has been upheld by each generation.
Set in 1938, the film's hero is the 21st Phantom. Believing that the man in the purple suit is always the same, the natives have dubbed him The Ghost Who Walks.
On one hand, he wears the dreaded Skull Ring - when an enemy is hit by it, the impression never disappears. On the other hand, he wears the Good Mark ring - its corresponding mark means that the person is protected by the Phantom.
And then there is that purple, unforgiving suit. Zane said he wasn't reluctant at all to climb into it.
``None of my friends made fun of it,'' he said. ``I've been lifting weights, big time, for a year and a half now, getting in shape for the part.''
Treat Williams, who last was directed by Norfolk's own Gary Fleder in ``Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead,'' is Xander Drax, the snarling, super-evil villain.
``I never worried about going over the top,'' Williams said. ``An actor can't go over the top if he's committed to the role. I never want anyone to see a wink in this role. I wanted to take it entirely seriously. If they want to laugh, that's fine, but I'm not encouraging them.''
Kristy Swanson (``Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'') is Diana Palmer, the Phantom's love interest; she said was most in danger when riding the stallion as he was being chased by wolves.
``I was more afraid of the wolves than the horse,'' she said. ``There were four of them and they took turns running behind the horse. I was afraid they might get excited if I fell off in their path.''
Zane feels that setting the film in the 1930s ``allows the extremes. It was a more innocent time - a time that is separated from today. And the Phantom doesn't have a computer or other gimmicks to solve things. I think the introduction of the computer has meant the end of good plotting in a lot of movies. It's lazy writing when a hero finds the villain simply because he has a good computer.''
The purple-obsessed actor said his most dangerous scene was ``the one when the truck turns upside down and hangs by a vine above a cliff. The windows broke and there was broken glass everywhere. The truck was protected from falling, but not from the glass.''
Zane also has to jump from a moving plane to the back of his trusty steed. ``It's important that they can see it's me,'' he said. ``The stunt guys helped with a lot of stuff, but I had to be a part of all of it.''
After all, we can't have a wimp for a Phantom. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Paramount Pictures
Billy Zane (with Kristy Swanson) the original comic-book series
eight years ago.
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW PROFILE by CNB