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

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Where The Day Takes You