Bridges crosses into 'Tidelands'

Thesp docks with Gilliam

By TAMSEN TILLSON

Bridges

TORONTO -- Jeff Bridges will join the cast of Terry Gilliam's "Tideland," the director said Monday at a press conference at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

Pic also stars Jennifer Tilly, Canuck Brendan Fletcher and Janet McTeer. Gilliam also presented 9-year-old Jodelle Ferland, who has been cast in the title role.

"I met Jodelle, this remarkable little girl, and then I found out that she had made more films than I have," he marveled. This is the 26th production for the Vancouver native, who has been in the biz since the age of 4.

"Tideland" is based on Mitch Cullin's gothic novel of the same name about a girl who escapes a difficult reality with a rich fantasy life. Bridges will play the girl's failed rock star father and Tilly her mother.

Gilliam described the project as a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "Psycho."

"It's very different from what I've done. It's much more serious," he said.

Pic is a U.K./Canada co-prod, with Jeremy Thomas producing and Gabriella Martinelli of Capri Films as co-producer. Thomas and Martinelli have teamed before, on David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch."

Producer Jeremy Thomas estimated the budget of "Tideland" at C$20 million ($15 million).

Worldwide distribution is being handled by HanWay Films, while Capri Releasing will distrib in Canada.

Lensing will begin near Regina, Saskatchewan, at the end of the month for 20 weeks. Exteriors will be completed before the bitter prairie winter sets in, and interiors will be shot in the 2-year-old Canada/Saskatchewan Production Studios.

Asked why he chose Saskatchewan, Gilliam said, "The countryside is incredibly beautiful and spare, and they gave us a lot of money."

Saskatchewan's provincial tax credit, maxing out at 50% of a film's budget, is among the most generous in the Great White North. In 1998, the year the province put the credits into effect, the province did $1.9 million in business. In 2004, the figure is estimated to top $46 million.

Gilliam said there will be far fewer special effects in this film than in his "Brothers Grimm," which is in post-production.

Asked when "Brothers Grimm" is to be released, he said, "I don't know when it's coming out. 'Brothers Grimm' is going through a rather confused time."