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From blockbuster heat to island noir for Bloom

BY JOSEPH V. AMODIO | Special to Newsday

September 13, 2006

Orlando Bloom may be a teen heartthrob, thanks to a certain series of hobbit films, but he's not the kind of guy who'll hold it against you if you spill carrot juice on him.

"I was a little nervous," says Frank E. Flowers, a young writer and director from the Cayman Islands, recalling his first meeting - and beverage crisis - with Bloom.

"I asked, 'You want another one?' and he said, 'Uhhh ... no,'" Flowers says, laughing. "I thought, great - there goes the meeting."

But there it didn't go. Bloom gave Flowers his cell phone number and encouraged the fledgling filmmaker to keep in touch. He did, and the result is their collaboration "Haven," a dark drama about teenagers living in the Cayman Islands. The film, co-starring Bill Paxton and Zoe Saldana, opens in New York this Friday.

On a terrace at Manhattan's Regency Hotel, where he's come to promote the film, Bloom squints as he thinks back to early versions of the script, which is split into three disparate tales. As the story progresses, subtle clues reveal links between characters. It was confusing when he first read it, Bloom admits. "But I knew it would be something quite loose and free and cool," he says.

Not a Caymans come-on

Yes to all three, though the film is no travel ad for the Cayman Islands. The characters are wounded: There are drug addicts in search of a fix or bathroom tryst, gang members out to jump tourists, tourists on the run with something to hide. In Paxton's case, it's a bag of cash, with which he arrives on the island, fleeing the feds in Miami and setting off a chain of events that can only lead to disaster.

Bloom plays Shy, a soulful, part-Caymanian man who yearns for the lovely Andrea (played by Saldana), though the match is one her family forbids.

"It's an honest little movie that doesn't pull any punches," Bloom says. "It deals with youth culture and the way kids handle sex, drugs, violence, peer pressure, class, race - all those things."

Bloom was initially offered another role but found himself drawn to Shy, even though the part was originally written as a 15-year-old Caymanian. Flowers rewrote the character.

The first Shy "was this lecherous kind of guy," Flowers says. "But Orlando - he's just not that guy. So ... sort of evolved into this, thank God, this emotional love story that has become the most compelling part of the film."

Impressed by Flowers' boundless enthusiasm, Bloom signed on to help produce. It's his first producer credit, and Bloom says he enjoyed behind-the-camera worries about the music or the movie poster - or the scene in which Saldana has an argument and kicks the side of a car.

"She just improvised this little moment, and it works fantastically, but she actually dented the car," Bloom recalls. "That cost us. . . 10 grand. That's lunch for everyone tomorrow. Suddenly, you realize the consequences of all these things."

No swashbuckling

"Haven" is a far cry from the kind of blockbuster fare that made Bloom a household name - at least, in households with tween girls. The boyish face of the British-born actor is plastered on bedroom walls across the nation, thanks to his swashbuckling turns in popular trilogies "The Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

"There aren't many down sides," he says. "It's not like I get mauled. Sometimes, it can be a little chaotic if I find myself in a shopping mall at the wrong time.

"It's not cool to be a teen idol. It's much cooler to be a dude who is ..." The eyes squint again. "I don't know, to be like Jimmy Dean. But Jimmy Dean was a teen idol. So was Paul Newman. So was Marlon Brando."

Bloom recalls discussing the phenomenon with Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the epic (and critically panned) "Troy."

"He said - and he's so cool - he said, 'Just enjoy the ride, man.... The girls put you there, and they'll keep you there.' He's absolutely right. There's no negativity coming from those fans. Just enthusiasm, excitement. When you read the fan letters, there's a genuine sense of appreciation for what you're doing."