Paul Campbell
Balford Henry, Staff Reporter
PAUL CAMPBELL who has been employed over the years on Chris Blackwell's various local projects, has been spending most of his time recently in New York City, hoping for that big break, that would send him straight into Hollywood, leaving behind Palm Pictures low-budget flicks like Dancehall Queen and Third World Cop.
Well, it looks like there is a chance that Campbell's flight might have arrived, finally.
The Gleaner caught up with him last week in New York filming, Fire, a new production from Jamaican producer Danny McTaggart, which observers are predicting could be the biggest ever movie from a Jamaican source.
McTaggart broke into North American film circles last year, with the success of his debut, Comeback, described as "a Bronx reggae western," about first generation Jamaican-American caught between a dark past and a hopeful future.
The film won for McTaggart the "Spirit of Independents" award at the recent Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Fire, in which Campbell stars is about a man who having taken the fall for mob money laundering, spending five years in prison, returns to settle some scores.
"This one is going to be a big thing," said Campbell, who is supported by a very important cast including Federico Castelluccio from HBO's Emmy winning series The Sopranos, Nick Ashford, famed R&B songwriter and one-half of the duo Ashford & Simpson, Tony Award winner Guellermo Escalona, comedian actor Robert Kline and Rosa Evangelina from City Hall.
"I am trying to make a transition now and there is another script that I am reading for this summer, but I think that Fire is the big one. I expect it to do fantastically well," Campbell explained.
