Andy Garcia on TV? It's strange, but true

April 20, 1999
Web posted at: 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT)

From Jim Moret
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- With more than 20 feature films to his credit, Andy Garcia isn't an actor who ordinarily appears in a made-for-TV movie. But the ABC film "Swing Vote" offered him a script he says he couldn't refuse, on a subject whose controversy has never really dwindled.

With a cast of veteran actors including Harry Belafonte, Kate Nelligan and James Whitmore, "Swing Vote" -- which aired Monday night -- tackles the thorny issue of abortion rights. And it's likely to draw criticism because its script doesn't stay on the fence: Garcia's character introduces a novel, if fictional, Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

Harry Belafonte co-stars in the made-for-TV movie

"It's probably one of the best scripts I've ever read in the 20 years that I've been here" in Hollywood, Garcia says.

Set in the near future, the movie revolves around the premise that the constitutional amendment protecting abortion -- called Roe versus Wade for the famous case that decided the issue -- has been overturned. Each state is allowed to make its own abortion laws. And the Supreme Court of the United States has to decide the case of an Alabama woman charged with murder for having an abortion. It's up to Garcia's character, the newest of the high court's nine justices, to cast the swing vote.

"The dialogue and what goes on between all of the characters, the justices, really does a remarkable job at getting into the essences and the issues on both sides of the question," says Belafonte.

Garcia, who's also one of the film's executive producers, says he doesn't mind if the film is controversial -- as long as it's fair.

"I think everyone who's actually been privy to the material and read the screenplay has been attracted to it because of the fairness of the end result, and the humanity of the end result," he says.

The stars involved in the project wonder whether the movie will sway public opinion on the abortion issue.

"I think any movie changes somebody's mind about something at some time," Belafonte says. "Every picture does that. Certainly this picture is created for the purpose of impacting upon people's minds so they'll give some serious thought to a very serious subject."

Garcia agrees. "The movie will be very controversial and the decision will be controversial, but it's good," he says. "Dialogue is good. To keep focusing on the issues in a positive way kind of enlightens you."