Julian Sands Movies
Tall, blonde, and statuesque British actor Julian Sands is equally fit appearing in elegant historical dramas as he is in cult movies and horror films. A native of Yorkshire, he has a fine bone structure, striking blonde hair, and an eloquent speaking voice. Sands studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and joined the Forum Theatre Company. He made his film debut in Derek Jarman's Broken English but stayed working in the theater until his breakthrough film performance as photographer Jon Swain in Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields. He paid his dues with some routine U.K. films (Oxford Blues, After Darkness) until he landed the role of free-spirited George Emerson in the Merchant-Ivory production A Room With a View. He entered the realm of sexualized horror films as poet Percy Shelley in Ken Russell's Gothic. This role seemed to lead straightaway to his title role in Warlock, followed by Warlock: The Armageddon. Briefly returning to historical costume dramas to portray composer Franz Liszt in James Lapine's lavish Impromptu, Sands was back to creepy, sexual thrillers like Mary Lambert's Siesta and David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. He also found time to play a few doctors in the Cyndi Lauper movie Vibes and in Steven Spielberg's Arachnophobia. After playing the sexually submissive surgeon in the critically dismissed drama Boxing Helena, he made a quick recovery in Paul Schrader's made-for-TV detective film Witch Hunt. Back in the U.K., he formed a close working relationship with director Mike Figgis and found roles in The Browning Version, Leaving Las Vegas, One Night Stand, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, Timecode, and Hotel. Meanwhile, he made a few films in Italy, most notably as the Phantom in Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera. In 2002, he was cast in the epic miniseries Rose Red and Napoleon. Not one to shy away from middle-brow genres, Sands can be also seen as the bad guy in the Jackie Chan movie The Medallion and as the voice of Valmont on the Jackie Chan Adventures animated series. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Jay Anania wrote and directed this drama that opens on New Year's Eve, 1971. Diane Thwaite (Paulina Porizkova) hits something with her car, stops to check, and faints next to her car. Flash forward to 24 years later, when she's working as a NYC botanical illustrator and friends with Cyril (Jeff Webster), while the mysterious figure of Michael James (Julian Sands) wanders the city. When Diane hears Auld Lang Syne, it triggers memories of the incident in 1971. More recollections are refreshed by a combination of hypnosis, research, and a confession from James. Suppressed memories surface, including a baby's cry, a van, and a missing mother and child. Small-town waitress Phoebe (Julianne Nicholson) may hold the key to the mystery. The music track features moody vocals by Judy Kuhn. This is the first film to take the technical path of a Super-16 original transferred to HDTV and then to a 35mm negative. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulina Porizkova, Julian Sands, (more)
A man's brief fling threatens to ruin what he values most in life in this drama. Max Carlyle (Wesley Snipes) lives in California, where he has a successful career directing television commercials and is happily married to Mimi (Ming-Na Wen), with whom he has two children. While visiting New York City, Max meets Karen (Nastassja Kinski) by chance after missing a flight; circumstances keep bringing them together over the course of the evening, and they end up spending the night making love. When he returns home, Max seems distant and unhappy, though Mimi can't tell why and Max won't say. A year later, Max and Mimi fly to New York to visit his close friend Charlie (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is in the last stages of an AIDS-related illness. Max meets Charlie's brother Vernon (Kyle MacLachlan) and is introduced to his new wife -- Karen. Facing Karen sends Max into an emotional tailspin, and he realizes that he must tell Mimi the truth about his indiscretion. Writer/director Mike Figgis adapted One Night Stand from a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, though Figgis' changes were so extensive that Eszterhas chose to remove his name from the project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
- 1997
- R
In this romance, a wealthy, single woman dutifully dotes upon her ailing father while watching the man she once loved fool around with a pair of younger lassies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Bisset, Peter Weller, (more)
- 1996
When young banker Thomas Murray's marriage to the blue-blooded Amanda falls apart, he begins working with his father-in-law Arthur in Paris and ends up finding solace in the arms of the beautiful Katharine. While he is off loving Katherine, Amanda rethinks her position and decides to reconcile with Thomas. Devastated by the discovery of his affair, she attempts suicide. Her father then makes Thomas a potentially lucrative proposition that leaves him faced with a difficult choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane March, Jean Rochefort, (more)
- 1996
Race Bannon is forced to negotiate the same obstacle course where he once set a record for Special Force Recruits, this time in the company of Jonny. The race has been set up by an old enemy of Race's, who doesn't intend to let the contestants survive to the finish line. Dr. Zin, a holdover from the original Jonny Quest series, makes his first Real Adventures of Jonny Quest appearance in this episode, which originally aired on December 16, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Quinton Flynn, John deLancie, (more)
- 1995
Filmed on location in Kenya, this made-for-TV movie tells the story of a boy's fight to save an elephant. Stephanie Zimbalist stars as Beverly Cunningham, a mother who takes her son to live with her in Africa. When her son and a pal befriend an abandoned elephant, a Safari chase ensues as they try to save the animal from the hands of an uncaring businessman. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
Mike Figgis' grim drama documents a romantic triangle of sorts involving prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue), failed Hollywood screenwriter Ben (Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage), and the constant flow of booze which he loves more dearly than life itself. Arriving in Las Vegas with the intention of drinking himself to death, Ben meets Sera, and they gradually begin falling for one another. From the outset, however, Ben warns Sera that no matter what, she can never ask him to quit drinking, a condition to which she grudgingly agrees. A darkly comic tragedy, Leaving Las Vegas charts the brief romantic convergence of two desperately needy people who together find a brief flicker of happiness. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, (more)
- 1994
Noted Austrian actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer stepped into the director's chair for this drama about the rise of fascism in Europe, based on a story by Thomas Mann. In the 1920s, Bernhard Fuhrmann (Julian Sands), a German author and outspoken leftist, takes his family to Torre di Venere, a resort community in Italy, where they are not welcomed warmly by all of the residents, especially after an incident in which Fuhrmann's daughter is caught swimming nude by the seashore. While several of the guests at the hotel where the Fuhrmanns are staying voice their opposition to the family's presence, the concierge defends their right to stay there -- until she is killed and replaced by a member of the local fascist brigade. As the village is enveloped in chaos, a magician named Cipola (Brandauer) appears, who has a profound effect on the lives of those around him. Mario und der Zauberer was shown in competition at the 1994 Moscow Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Anna Galiena, (more)
- 1994
- R
While investigating an infidelity case, an unconventional private detective discovers a far-reaching conspiracy in the magical world of 1950s Hollywood -- and in this film, the word "magical" is meant literally. Director Paul Schrader's comic mystery, originally made for cable, is set in an alternate universe where witchcraft is commonplace and magic just another modern convenience. The magic trend is particularly prominent in Hollywood, where detective H. Phillip Lovecraft is considered unusual for preferring to do things the old-fashioned, non-magical way. Still, Lovecraft is successful enough to be hired by famed movie star Kim Hudson, who suspects that she's being cheated on by her husband, wealthy producer N. G. Gottleib. It seems like a cut-and-dry case, until Gottleib winds up dead, the victim of a magic spell. Lovecraft's subsequent investigation finds this murder is part of a conspiracy centering around a secret, magic-run brothel and somehow involving Senator Lance Crockett, a McCarthy-like conservative leading a popular campaign to outlaw magic. When Crockett frames one of Lovecraft's friends as the witch responsible for Gottleib's death, it is up to Lovecraft to reveal the truth before his friend is burned at the stake. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Penelope Ann Miller, (more)
Forty-three years after the first screen treatment of Terence Rattigan's play about a teacher facing the end of his career, Albert Finney takes on the role of Mr. Crocker-Harris, the Latin teacher forced into early retirement by a heart condition. After teaching in a public school for twenty years, Crocker-Harris is being put out to pasture in a less stressful job teaching English to foreigners. Meanwhile, his home life is also falling apart: his wife (Greta Scacchi) is having an affair with the American chemistry teacher (Matthew Modine), who nevertheless admires Crocker-Harris for his dignity and decency. Through it all, Crocker-Harris hides his pain behind his stiff British reserve. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Greta Scacchi, (more)
In this stylized art film, which marked the directorial debut of second-generation filmmaker Jennifer Chambers Lynch, a surgeon with a mommy fixation and a problem with premature ejaculation grows obsessed with a vivacious young libertine, to the detriment of her mobility. Dr. Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands), the son of a frosty, unfaithful society matron, can't get lovely neighbor Helena (Sherilyn Fenn) out of his head. Although the two only ever shared a one-night stand, Nick won't let Helena go -- a hang-up that bodes ill for the health of his plodding romance with the smitten Anne Garrett (Betsy Clark). After Nick's mother dies, he moves into her mansion and promptly throws a lavish gala just so he can lure Helena into his orbit. She spurns him for another bedmate, but not before Anne figures out something fishy is going on. Discovering that Helena forgot her purse during her hasty exit, Nick uses it to lure her back to his place for some attempted courtship. When she storms out, furious, she's the victim of a hit-and-run. Rather than simply call 911, Nick performs an emergency amputation of her legs and lets her convalesce in his house. When the hobbled Helena tries to leave, he makes her his prisoner, eventually removing her arms to prevent her escape. But when Ray O'Malley (Bill Paxton), her leather-trousered former lover, starts sniffing around to discover her whereabouts, Nick's fragile little fantasy world threatens to pop like a bubble. After Madonna and Kim Basinger both dropped out of the title role, Lynch settled on Fenn, who had risen to prominence working with the writer/director's father, David Lynch. After a lengthy breach-of-contract lawsuit, Basinger was eventually ordered to pay the film's producers eight million dollars in damages. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, (more)
The sequel to Warlock, this film features the return of the evil warlock (Julian Sands) who is on a quest to search out and obtain a set of six magical runestones needed to summon the Devil to Earth. However, a group of powerful druids have become aware of the sinister plans afoot, and it is up to them to defeat the warlock and prevent Armageddon. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Chris Young, (more)
- 1992
Set in 19th-century Louisiana, the made-for-cable film The Grand Isle is about a wealthy woman (Kelly McGillis) who discovers that she no longer believes in her pampered life as a socialite when she falls in love with a Creole artist (Adrian Pasdar). After she falls in love, she tragically tries to break away from her husband and his society. The Grand Isle is adapted from Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Jon de Vries, (more)
- 1992
- R
This film offers yet another film version of Henry James classic supernatural thriller. It all begins when an aristocratic uncle hires a nanny to watch over his innocent niece and nephew who are living in a large country manse. Soon she discovers that the poor children have been possessed. She also finds herself victimized by her own obsession. Tragedy follows when she tries to free the children from evil. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Kensit, Stéphane Audran, (more)
- 1992
Set amidst the glorious greens and blues of one of the many islands of Washington's Puget Sound, this made-for-cable television family drama centers on three generations of women and their lovers. The main story centers on one insecure bride who though madly in love with her spouse, still cannot quite trust him. She berates herself because she can see no obvious reason for her distrust. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
Set in South London, this surreal and atmospheric low-budget film takes an interesting approach to the vampire genre by focusing almost exclusively on the emotions of its tormented central character: reclusive, intellectual vampire Alex (Julian Sands). Alex chooses to prey only on criminals and street derelicts, devoting more of his time to pursue a greater hunger for books on the occult, a passion surpassed only by his tragic love for a beautiful woman whom he lost to his ancient rival, the vampire-hunting Edgar (Kenneth Cranham). Alex's past returns to haunt him in more ways than one: as he enters a tenuous relationship with a quiet, morose librarian (Suzanna Hamilton) whose sad-eyed beauty reminds him of his lost love, the still-vindictive Edgar -- now a vampire himself -- returns to settle the score by abducting her. Though leisurely paced, this seldom-seen sleeper is driven by excellent performances, gorgeous photography, and a simple but compelling script that artfully combines subtle chills with bittersweet romance (including fitting excerpts from Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee"), all draped in a fog-bound Gothic ambience of dripping candles, billowing curtains, and crumbling stone pillars. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Suzanna Hamilton, (more)
- 1991
This 1991 Italian period drama is not to be confused with the 1990 Australian vampire film with the same English-language title, Wicked. The entire story, a genuine psychological detective tale, concerns the attempt by a young doctor (Julian Sands) working early in the 20th century in a Swiss clinic to uncover the root cause for the persistent mental breakdown of a young woman (Giuliana De Sio) who has recently suffered the death of her daughter. Despite the resistance of the clinic's administration to his use of Freudian methods, the doctor begins his analysis at the clinic but finds that he must travel to Italy to interview the woman's family and friends in order to get at the ultimate cause. A version of this film capably dubbed into English was released at the same time as its Italian-language version. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Giuliana de Sio, (more)
- 1991
In this futuristic sci-fi political drama, the minerals of the moon are being exploited by both Russian and American mining companies. When a terrorist threatens an American mining company, a KGB agent teams up with a NASA investigator to stop them. The two agents are attracted to each other and this nearly derails their assignment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
Based on the Alberto Moravia novel, Husbands and Lovers examines a modern couple's untraditional open marriage. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Joanna Pacula, (more)
This cinematic/literary hybrid fuses motifs from Beat writer William S. Burroughs's novel of the same name with elements of the author's biography and plenty of the cerebral alienation and biomorphic special effects fans of creepy cult director David Cronenberg have come to expect. Bill Lee (Peter Weller) wants to write, but he exterminates bugs to pay the bills. His wife, Joan (Judy Davis), becomes addicted to Bill's bug powder dust, and soon he joins her in a world of unorthodox hallucinogens; he visits the kindly yet sinister Dr. Benway (Roy Scheider) and walks away with his first dose of the black meat -- a narcotic made from the flesh of the giant aquatic Brazilian centipede. Soon, monstrous beetles are whispering conspiracy theories in Bill's ears and his nebbish writer friends Hank (Nicholas Campbell) and Martin (Michael Zelniker) are sleeping with Joan under his nose. When a party trick involving a liquor glass and a gun goes awry, killing Joan, Bill flees to Interzone, a Mediterranean city full of talking insectoid typewriters, double agents, offbeat aesthetes, and plots within plots. As he navigates this paranoid landscape, Bill begins ingesting another drug called mugwump jism and writes fragments that Hank and Martin soon assemble into a novel under the title Naked Lunch. As beat literature aficionados know, Interzone is based on Tangiers -- the city where Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch. The incident in the film in which Hank and Martin appropriate Bill's writing and have it published closely approximates the real-life circumstances of the novel's publication, although it was Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac who helped out the real-life Burroughs. The William Tell incident that kills Bill's wife is also drawn from the author's real life. "William Lee" is both Burroughs' literary stand-in and the name under which he published his first autobiographical novel Junky. Ian Holm, who plays Joan Frost's husband, Tom, would appear in Cronenberg's similarly experimental eXistenZ several years later. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Judy Davis, (more)
Referring to the fear of spiders, Arachnophobia features a particularly deadly species of spider that manages to make its way from the Venezuelan rain forest to a small California town, thanks to the many oversights of entomologist Julian Sands. Yuppie doctor Jeff Daniels, fed up with the dangers inherent in big-city living, has resettled in this town on the assumption that nothing untoward could ever happen here to himself and his family. Before long, however, Daniels is trying to make sense of a series of sudden deaths-and to figure out why each of the corpses has been drained of blood. The audience, of course, knows that the culprits are those pesky South American spiders, which grow larger with each kill. To make matters worse, Jeff Daniels suffers from a profound case of arachnophobia. John Goodman supports the cast as a slovenly exterminator, and Frank Marshall, longtime producer of Steven Spielberg's films, makes his directorial debut in Arachnophobia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, (more)
In this film, Tolsoy's classic story Father Sergius is translated from 19th century Russia to 19th century Italy. As in the original story, Sergio (Julian Sands) is a nobleman and a military cadet who is posted in a position close to the (in this case Neapolitan) throne. He is about go through with an arranged marriage linking him with a higher-ranking noblewoman (Natassja Kinski) when he discovers that she has been the King's mistress. Disgusted, he renounces the world and becomes a churchman and a hermit. At his hermitage, he encounters a woman who considers any priest, especially an ascetic one, fair game. She attempts to seduce him and he nearly succumbs, narrowly avoiding that fate by chopping off a finger, in a scene harking back directly to the 1918 Russian silent classic Otets Sergey. Soon after that, he begins to acquire a reputation as a miracle worker. However, by now he has succumbed to his ever-present demon of sexual temptation in the form of a conniving young girl, and he knows he is not worthy of the adulation he is receiving. Devastated by his lapse, he leaves the hermitage and wanders around Italy as a homeless beggar. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, better known in the literary world as George Sand, not only took a man's name, but trotted around wearing pants and smoking cigars in public. No great shakes today, but in the 1800s she was perhaps the most famous (or infamous) woman in the world. One of the first original celebrities, aside from her garb and literary output, she was known to inspire many duels and broken hearts among other famous hedonist artists. One character describes her in Impromptu, as "that graveyard." The film engages in a sexual roundelay among Sand's (Judy Davis) many friends -- Eugene Delacroix (Ralph Brown), Alfred DeMusset (Mandy Patinkin), Franz Liszt (Julian Sands), and Frederick Chopin (Hugh Grant). The entire crew heads off to the summer estate of the Duke and Duchess d'Antan (Anton Rodgers and Emma Thompson), invited there by the culture-vulture hosts. Sand takes a bead on the sickly Chopin and spends her time throwing herself at him. Also on hand is Liszt's mistress Marie d'Agoult (Bernadette Peters) and Felicien Mallefille (Georges Corraface), Sand's recently jilted lover. Mallefille is jealous of any of the other guests who glance in Sand's direction and continually challenges them to duels. Marie, on the other hand, is enlisted by Sand to deliver a note to Chopin. But Marie, jealous of Sand, delivers the note substituting her name for Sand's. And as the weekend continues, the sexual merry-go-round continues at full tilt. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, (more)
- 1990
In this film, Australian rodeo men Bronco and Rick pick up hitchhiker Lucy on their way to a rodeo. However, after taking a wrong turn, their car breaks down in a spooky town and they are forced to ask for help at the decrepit Terminus Manor. When they discover that the manor residents are actually a group of hungry vampires, the trio must struggle to fight off the bloodsuckers and get out of town. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
