Under the Cherry Moon

Under The Cherry Moon is a 1986 movie directed by and starring Prince and Time member Jerome Benton as gigolos who swindle beautiful French women. The situation gets complicated when Christopher Tracy (Prince) falls in love with Mary (Kristin Scott Thomas). Mary's father (Steven Berkoff) also disapproves of the romance and provides an excellent adversary for Tracy.

Related Topics:
1986 - Movie - Prince - Time - Jerome Benton - Gigolo - French - Kristin Scott Thomas - Steven Berkoff

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The movie was released in black-and-white and was filmed on location in Nice, France, partly to ensure that there was good weather for filming and also to ensure that Prince was free of American film unions. The movie attempts to combine different styles and themes, including a musical, romantic comedy and drama. Poor acting and direction resulted in a odd mixture of the 3 that ultimately fails to succeed. The result is unintentially comical scenes mixed with egostical mugging by Prince that verges on camp. The film's soundtrack is much better and features the hit single "Kiss".

Related Topics:
Black-and-white - Nice - France - Musical - Romantic comedy - Drama - Mugging - Camp - Soundtrack - Kiss

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At the time of it's release in 1986, many critics were expecting in one form or another, a direct sequel to Purple Rain. However, barring a performance of Girls & Boys by Prince in the French restaurant, most of the excellent soundtrack remains as background music, thus shaving much commercial potential off the film. The majority of critics were unimpressed, citing Prince as a self-indulgent egomaniac, although there was praise for the film's cinematography. The film was orginally slated to be directed by Mary Lambert, the director behind some of Madonna's most striking music videos, but after disagreements about the film's direction, she was made a creative consultant instead. Much of her imput was disregarded and numerous drafts of the screenplay exist to show the revisions the story went through.

Related Topics:
1986 - Critics - Sequel - Purple Rain - Girls & Boys - Cinematography - Mary Lambert - Madonna - Music videos - Consultant - Screenplay

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The cast was also changed during pre-production.Isaac Sharon (Mary's father) was orginally slated to be played by Terrance Stamp, although he found that the direction the film was going in dislikable and eventually quit, replaced by Steven Berkoff. Susannah Melvoin (twin sister of Revolution guitarist Wendy and Prince's then-girlfriend) was to play the part of Mary Sharon, but quit before filming start as she and Prince were nearing the end of their relationship. Emmanuelle Sallet who played Katie in the final version was originally included in a much smaller role, but had her part expanded after she met with Prince over dinner. Allegedly, the part of Mary's mother was also much larger, but was cut down in the final draft of the screenplay.

Related Topics:
Terrance Stamp - Revolution

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Filmed with a budget of about $12 million, Under The Cherry Moon failed to gain any breakout audience, despite much pre-publicity (including a special MTV premiere in Sheridan, Wyoming). It just managed to make back 10 million in worldwide ticket receipts, and current figures (if VHS/DVD rentals and sales are included) stand at about 12.5 million. It was this commercial failure that saw the beginnings of Warner Brothers long-running feud with Prince.

Related Topics:
Budget - MTV - Sheridan - Wyoming - VHS - DVD - Warner Brothers

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