Stranger Than Paradise
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Willie is a Hungarian immigrant living an aimless life in New York, passing his time with his friend Eddie. His routine is disturbed when his teenage cousin Eva arrives from Budapest on her way to stay with an aunt in Cleveland. Willie is initially unwelcoming, but over the ten days she spends with him, the two discover they have more in common than he expected. When Willie and Eddie later visit Eva in Cleveland, they end up taking her along on a trip south to Florida.
Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed the film, his second feature after Permanent Vacation and the one that came before Down by Law. John Lurie plays Willie, Eszter Balint plays Eva, Richard Edson plays Eddie, and Cecillia Stark appears as Aunt Lotte. Sara Driver produced.
Made for a modest budget, the film earned about 2 million dollars worldwide, a strong result for an independent release of its kind. On IMDb it holds a 7.4 rating from roughly 43,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.2 from around 628 votes. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10, drawn from 26 reviews, places it above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Jim Jarmusch shot the first (half-hour) version of the film on film stock given to him by Wim Wenders. These were the leftovers that the German director had after filming “The State of Things” (1982).
- Jim Jarmusch was very indignant to learn that all the money he paid for using Screamin' Jay Hawkins’ (1929-2000) song “I Put a Spell on You” went to the record company, and Hawkins himself didn’t receive anything at all. The film was commercially successful, and Jarmusch tracked down Hawkins (who was living in a trailer at the time) and handed him a certain sum of money in person. This incident began a friendship that ended only with Hawkins’ death. According to Jarmusch, Hawkins repeatedly promised to return the money to him, although Jarmusch always denied it and said it was a gift.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
