Thanks to the TV juggernaut "CSI", Marg Helgenberger is one of the most-watched women in the world; in movies, however, it's been a very different story thanks to duds like "Fire Down Below" and "Always." Now, with a sweet-sounding heist flick on the horizon, Helgenberger might have better days on the big-screen ahead.
"Val Kilmer is the star of the film; he's the lead," grinned the perky actress, discussing "Columbus Day", a currently-filming thriller that also stars Wilmer Valderrama. "He plays a man who's a thief." The flick is substantial for two reasons that go beyond Helgenberger. First off, it features Kilmer returning to the cops-and-robbers world he last mined in the 1995 classic "Heat". Secondly, it marks the debut of writer/director Charles Burmeister, an up-and-coming Sundance protege whose "Columbus" script beat out 5500 others to win the coveted Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship.
"You're introduced to [Kilmer's character], and he's carrying a briefcase full of something or other," laughed Helgenberger, revealing the "Pulp Fiction"-esque plot device. "You know he just pulled off a heist, but you never find out what's in the briefcase. He's just trying to sell it - so he makes a series of phone calls in hopes to sell whatever is in the briefcase." But it wouldn't be a true heist flick, she acknowledged, unless there was a fly in the ointment. "While he's waiting to set up this deal, there's a young boy at the park where he's waiting for this all to transpire; this boy and he develop a friendship, and through that relationship he realizes who the important people in his life are."
Those people include Wilmer as a robber alongside the "CSI" superstar, cast as Kilmer's very lonely, but lovely ex-wife. "She's quite different than what I play on 'CSI'," Helgenberger admitted. "She's holding down a job as a receptionist in a corporate firm, not making much money, just trying to eke it out. At the same time, she's doing the online dating thing, and then the ex that caused all the problems to begin with contacts her again."
Helgenberger added that although much of her performance is delivered "Phone Booth"-style, the allure of the "Real Genius" heartthrob is too much for any woman to resist. "He wants to reunite with his ex-wife and our daughter. Most of my scenes with him are over the phone, in which he contacts me and is essentially trying to woo me back into his life," she added. "Eventually I succumb, because he's kind of a poetic type, and I come and pick him up."
"Columbus Day" reunites Kilmer with his former high school buddy-turned-producer Kevin Spacey; the flick is due in theaters next April.
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