USA: "Gardener of Eden" - a dark comedy produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City

Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio walked the red carpet once again for a new film, except that this time he's not starring in it, but is instead backing it as a producer. "Gardener of Eden" is a production that brings DiCaprio together with close friends, Kevin Connelly and Lukas Haas, with the former making his directorial debut with the film, and the latter playing the lead in it. The film premiered on Thursday evening (April 26) at New York City's annual springtime ritual -- the Tribeca Film Festival. DiCaprio drew the flashbulbs and the pleas for quick interviews as he strolled down the red carpet, but as he was running late for the premiere, he had few words to share on the film. But Connelly and Haas spoke on DiCaprio's behalf, saying that the actor was keenly involved in the making of the film, which tells the story of Adam Harris (played by Haas) whose aimless life takes on new and surprising turns when he accidentally captures a serial rapist. Harris then starts looking for different ways to do heroic things, fashioning himself into a sort of vigilante, but only getting into trouble in the process. Critics are saying that tale of Harris evolves into a "satire" of a generation inspired and excited by vigilante films. Connelly, who is most well known for his role in the HBO original series, "Entourage", said that DiCaprio was very hands-on with the making of the film and that he greatly admired the actor's thorough knowledge of the film medium. "He's great, he's fantastic. He's a good producer, he's an expert on film. He's seen more movies than anybody that I know and he knows what he's doing," said Connelly of DiCaprio. Haas said that he enjoyed playing the character of Harris, a young man who makes some very bizarre decisions in the film. Haas added that the crazy elements of the character of Harris made the film more fun to be part of. "It's just fun to explore and it's fun to kind of have not too many boundaries. I could kind of do anything I wanted and really explore, and that was a lot of fun," said Haas. The film also includes actress Erika Christensen, who also walked the red carpet on Thursday, as well as Giovanni Ribisi, recently seen in the Halle Berry-Bruce Willis thriller, "Perfect Stranger." Christensen spoke about the dynamic between DiCaprio, Haas and Connelly, and how that impacted the film. "These guys have all been friends for so long, I think the kind of love they all have for each other is a really good way to start a film and carry through a film. They've been working on it for so long, so many years in development and so I really enjoyed the experience," said Christensen. Also on the red carpet to show support for "Gardener of Eden" were other actors from "Entourage" as well as model Petra Nemcova. The film will also be taking part in the World Narrative Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival, which opened on April 25 and runs through May 6.

ITN Source | May 3, 2007

Tags:. .adam. .surprising. .process. .inspired. .competition