In the perfect world envisioned by screenwriter Ehren Kruger, the masses would flock to multiplexes and buy tickets for "Arlington Road" without undue prodding by a marketing blitz.
"If such a thing were possible," Kruger said during a phone conversation while his prizewinning script was being filmed last year, "I'd like people to know nothing about this movie before they walked in the theater. Ideally, I'd like them just to know that they're walking into a story that is in some sense about the country they're living in today."
During several springtime weeks of location shooting in Houston, everyone involved with "Arlington Road" took their cues from Kruger and labored mightily to maintain a veil of secrecy over the movie's plot. Producer Peter Samuelson described the $30-million production as "a political horror film," then quickly added: "I don't want to say much more than that."
Mark Pellington, directing "Arlington Road" as his sophomore feature after "Going All the Way," was equally evasive: "This is a cautionary film--about people watching other people." No, thank you, he didn't care to elaborate.
The lead actors--including Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack and Hope Davis--were only slightly more forthcoming. While discussing his preparation for "Arlington Road," Robbins mentioned the titles of two books: James Coates' "Armed and Dangerous" and Morris Dees' "The Gathering Storm."
But before he could describe what he read, or explain why it was useful, Robbins caught himself mid-sentence. Then, with just a hint of a conspiratorial grin, he added: "Of course, the more learned people who know what these books are about will know that I've already said too much at this point."
Only a few beans were spilled in a cryptically imprecise precis contained in a studio press release: "Jeff Bridges stars as an anti-terrorism expert who grows extremely suspicious of the all-too-normal family who just moved into his suburban neighborhood. But the more he finds reason to fear his neighbors, the more his friends and colleagues grow convinced that he is simply battling his own personal demons."
As vague as that might sound, it's much more specific than anything that might have come from producer Samuelson. Indeed, Samuelson was such a stickler for secrecy during the filming of "Arlington Road" that he took the relatively unusual steps of providing his own ambiguously worded plot synopsis for the Internet Movie Data Base and prepared detailed "Interview Talking Points" for cast and crew. Under the heading of "What Not to Talk About With the Press," Samuelson listed five major plot elements. Last but not least on the list: "The ending of the film." No kidding.
