JERICHO, NY, October 18, 2001–AMC's Emmy award-winning, weekly, original series "Behind the Screen," visits the premiere of MGM's newest "dramedy," BANDITS. The Sunday, October 14 episode includes interviews with BANDITS' stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett. The show reveals little-known secrets about the making of the film as well as its blockbuster stars.
BANDITS is a sexy comedy starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett, directed by Hollywood veteran Barry Levinson. Joe Blake (Willis) and Terry Collins (Thornton) are bank robbers, hoping a final string of heists will finance their dreams of retirement. The duo become "The Sleepover Bandits," taking bank managers and their families hostage in their own home the night before a robbery; having dinner and sleeping over; and then making the trip to the bank with the manager the next morning, before business hours, so a break-in is unnecessary. Along the way, they meet Kate Wheeler (Blanchett), an ordinary housewife sick of her dull life. Kate decides to join the pair on their cross-country robbing spree. However, the unexpected happens when both Joe and his neurotic partner Terry fall in love with their new partner in crime.
BANDITS was filmed at nearly 60 different locations along the west coast including Oregon's state penitentiary, where the films opening break-out scene was filmed. For security reasons, the extra's used in this scene were the penitentiary's correction officers dressed in inmate uniforms to avoid prisoners from escaping during filming. "Behind the Screen" correspondent Doug Stone goes on location and speaks with the prisons warden, correction officers and inmates to find out what it was like to be an extra in a Hollywood movie.
Barry Levinson sits down with "Behind the Screen" for a visual director's dialogue chronicling scene by scene some of the funny mishaps that took place during filming, and how he used them in the movie. "Those spontaneous movie moments are the lifeblood of any interesting film. For instance, we were doing a scene where Bruce and Cate's characters have just met and have to sleep together in the same room. To give Kate a sense of privacy, Joe hangs a blanket between them