ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Production on "Exit to Eden" began last September on the Hawaiian island of L'anai at the exclusive Manele Bay Hotel resort, which was selected "because it's very beautiful and its exotic architecture has an eastern flavor that isn't typically Hawaiian," says producer Alexandra Rose.

Marshall posits that author Anne Rice's Club Eden might actually exist. So, adds Rose, "We were looking for a luxurious, inviting atmosphere that could be in any beautiful part of the world."

The Manele Bay resort has six different gardens on the premises with their own fountains, waterfalls and ponds, which provided a great deal of variety for shooting purposes.

"L'anai was a dream come true," says production designer Peter Jamison who scouted locations all through the Hawaiian islands before settling on the Manele Bay. "It was important that the place have a dignity and a serenity, that it wasn't grass huts and primitive. "

Jamison was careftil to give Club Eden a pleasant hedonistic look. He wanted to avoid the stereotype of dark, eerie interiors that is usually associated with sexual bondage. "We went for pastels - especially in Mistress Lisa's

With the help of his Mackintosh Quadra, Jamison designed 60 interior sets, including a sexual pleasure carousel based on an 18th century model -- but with a crucial difference. "We replaced the horses with people, which transformed it literally into a human carousel. Garry Marshall dubbed it "The Famous P. Jamison Exotic Ride."

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick coordinated her color palette with Jamison's. As she sees it, the film is a "sensual hot ftidge sundae with all the works. It goes from chocolate ice cream to vanilla to every color in between."

Since she was presenting sexual fantasies "so they weren't frightening, so they didn't fit into the audience's preconceived notions," Mirojnick designed the costumes to be luxurious and inviting, using softer fabrics, multiple colors (emphasizing earthen tones as well as sea and sky hues) and lots of jewelry.

For a film that started with 52 characters and grew to 362 speaking parts, Mirojnick was faced with continual challenges. And for Rose, keeping it all together, on time and on budget, while still allowing her director the creative freedom to realize his vision, was also daunting. Especially since the production moved from Hawaii to Los Angeles to New Orleans.

She was fortunate in having Marshall as her director. They've worked together on four films and Marshall has been a TV and movie producer himself. So he's adept at coming up with creative solutions. "Garry's very adaptable. He's always able to wing it. Not every director can do that," says Rose.

Since Rice's novel had to be made accessible to general audiences, Marshall and screenwriters Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner worked throughout the production on molding the story so that it was true to Rice's essence but "suitable for an R-rated movie," says Rose.

"That's the way Garry works. He transforms his scripts as he goes along. That's his style and his most fertile way of creating."

"But what's a film shoot without at least one near-disaster," Rose laughs. This one came not in Hawaii or on location in New Orleans, but in Hollywood's backyard just north of Malibu.

The production was on its way out to the beach one morning last October, when Rose noticed a small canyon fire. By late morning "the smoke was coming up behind us and the sun had turned into an orange ball," says Rose. "The Fire Department let us continue shooting but they told us to be prepared to leave so they could use the beach as a helicopter landing pad."

By mid-afternoon the production was forced to evacuate. It was the first night of the disastrous Malibu fires.

The final location, New Orleans, where the film's climax takes place, "is true to Rice's book and represents a spiritual 'coming home' for Delany's character, Lisa," savs Rose.

Accordingly, Jamison sought to make New Orleans look as attractive and inviting as Club Eden, albeit in a more realistic (rather than fantasy) romantic way. That was accomplished by altering the color scheme to burnt oranges, reds and dark greens.

At the New Orleans location, the cast and crew were treated to a visit from the Nobel Prize winning author Anne Rice who makes her home there. Rice appeared one night to watch the progress of Mercurio and Delany's romance in the city's French Quarter.

"It's exciting to see your work brought to the screen," Rice effused to her friend Alexandra Rose, the film's producer. "I'm very confident in Garry's vision for the film."