CROATIAN ACTOR MAKES GOOD IN HOLLYWOOD

ZAGREB, Oct 25 (Hina) - Great success of "Practical Magic", a movie that reached the first place on the US most-watched-movie list last weekend, granted a young Croatian actor, Goran Visnjic, a fame he could not even dream of. In the movie, starring two, according to some, of the biggest female actors in Hollywood, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, Visnjic plays the second male part - a villain. In the premiere weekend the "Practical Magic" earned US$13,6 million across 2,652 movie-theatres. The movie was produced by the powerful Warner Bros and directed by Griffin Dunne. Visnjic was offered a part in this drama, contrived from the novel by Alice Hoffman, last fall. In January, only a few days after the Croatian Radio Television premiered the first episode of "Olujne Tisine", Visnjic flew to Los Angeles to prepare himself for the shooting of his first Hollywood movie. Even though a Croatian actor has never entered Hollywood with such big and glamorous entrance, only his closes family and friends new about his success. For almost a month, Visnjic kept the movie a secret from reporters and the rest of the world, instead of being proud of it. He himself did not believe he had gotten this amazing opportunity to play in the movie of a well-respected director and with great cast. The fear that his Hollywood dream is going to vanish before it became a reality was unnecessary. The movie's Los Angeles crew sent a tutor to Zagreb to help Visnjic learn and perfect a Southern accent. After he won the audition for the second male part in "Practical Magic", Visnjic have been receiving many offers. One of the offers came from Madonna. Promoting her new, more sophisticated look, Madonna thought Visnjic would be a perfect co- star for her new, romantic video "The Power of Goodbye". (hina) it/jn