In 1995, Andy Garcia visited Cannes as star of Miramax’s Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, accompanied by his entire family. That seemed to trigger the New York Daily News, which wrote, “Among certain Hollywood types, there is a saying: Wives don’t fit in in Cannes. Don’t tell that to Andy Garcia. The smoldering star not only brought his wife … he brought his three young daughters to the premiere of his new movie.”
Of course, the R-rated Denver, directed by Gary Fleder, in which Garcia plays a former hitman who’s called back into the game for one more job alongside a killer cast that included Treat Williams and Christopher Walken, was hardly a family film. THR critic Michael Rechtshaffen observed, like many reviewers, that “the derivative, darkly comedic caper” was something of an imitation of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. That was a comparison that Garcia rejected: “Hogwash. There are no similarities. That was a dark comedy where you laugh when someone gets stabbed in the heart with a hypodermic needle. Ours is a tragic poem. When people get killed, you care about them.”
Garcia takes another stab at the crime drama this year with his newest feature, Diamond, which will screen out of competition. He directed the film and stars alongside Vicky Krieps, Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.
