Sean Astin on
Where
the Day Takes You
Where the Day Takes You is one of the films of which I am most
proud. It is a dark, intense film experience that hits home for
those who discover it in off-beat video rental houses or when it
makes the occasional appearance on cable (probably the Indie
Channel). I remember once, at Magic Mountain a couple years
after the film came out, some kids dressed in black and purple
with lots of earrings and dyed hair came chasing after me
screaming, "Hey hey aren't you Greg from Where the Day Takes
You?"
It was like they had made friends with the character, just by
watching the movie.
I'm glad the movie is there, ready to be watched
by anyone who might gain comfort from seeing people like them, who
are feeling alone; to be used by parents or teachers as a way to
engage kids in a discussion perhaps about drugs, runaways, family
discord.
It's fun for me to see the other actors who are so
young in the film -- Ricki Lake, before her TV show -- Will Smith
in his
first film role -- Lara Flynn Boyle, Balthazar Getty, Dermot
Mulroney, James LeGros -- everyone
looks so young, it blows my mind! I don't think the film struck
the same kinds of nerves that Drug Store Cowboy and My Own Private
Idaho did, but Where the Day Takes You should be considered a
solid film in that genre! I'm proud of Marc Rocco the
director, and grateful to him for not taking "no" for an
answer when he asked me to be in the movie! King Baggot's
cinematography is worth looking at too. I will never drive through
the
streets of Hollywood again, without remembering the all-night film
shoots . . . the real homeless kids we hung out with, the dead body I
saw, the freeway underpass we filmed at. -- Sean Astin,
August 2001
