His films have been about the surprises of fate. So having two films come out in the same month after a dry spell of three years must seem like business as usual for Brad Anderson. After the release of Next Stop, Wonderland (1998) - a locally shot romantic comedy that picked up a $6 million advance from Miramax - Anderson seemed to vanish from sight. In fact, he made two movies, Session 9 and Happy Accidents, that will open here August 10 and 24, respectively. All according to script, right?

"Not particularly," says Anderson. "Serendipity, really. I mean, Happy Accidents was made several years ago, sitting in the wings waiting to come out. And while that process was going on, I wanted to jump into another film and made Session 9. The two of them coming out at the same time [Session 9 from USA Films, Happy Accidents from IFC] is a coincidence. They demonstrate two totally different movies coming from the same twisted mind."

Different from anyone else's movies too. Happy Accidents is a kind of cross between Annie Hall and The Terminator: a romantic comedy in which hapless Marisa Tomei falls for Vincent D'Onofrio, who thinks he's from the future.

"It's described as a sci-fi romance," says Anderson. "It's kind of like all films I've made to this point - they can't easily fit into any category. It's a romantic comedy ostensibly, but also it flirts with the ideas of time travel. When I'm writing scripts, I get interested in a bunch of different things and I find ways to tie them all together. But I also consciously try to break down some of the conventions of the genre. Accidents initially started as a kitchen-sink drama about a couple struggling with their relationship. I had the idea of making this guy suddenly have some awful, crazy secret. Would he come out of the closet, does he tell her that he's murdered someone? The idea of having someone claim that they're a time traveler from the future - how would a woman digest that?"

It would probably drive her to the nuthouse, which was Anderson's next stop. Set in the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital, Session 9 stars David Caruso as a member of a crew removing asbestos from that century-old facility and finding that the place is having an odd effect on them.

"I wanted to work in a different genre. To get out of the romantic comedy. Working with horror had always been a dream of mine. Session 9 harkens back to the Val Lewton films of the '40s like Cat People that operate more on creating a creepy atmosphere and are very character-driven. We didn't want to do a movie along the lines of today's teen thrillers that don't really scare me, but something that was more about dread and menace than it was about shocking the audience."

Anderson's career has included elements of both the romantic comedy and the horror film. His happy marriage with Miramax turned into a nightmare when mogul Harvey Weinstein decided to "improve" Next Stop, Wonderland.

"Yeah, they did tamper with the movie," he acknowledges. "That certainly made me a bit more cynical about how the business works. It was an eye-opening experience but at the same time a worthwhile one. I'm aware now of how to negotiate through the power plays that go on with studios. I don't want to jump into becoming some studio hack. I would rather develop a body of movies that are distinctly my own. No matter if they're horror or comedies, they'll say, that's a Brad Anderson film."

Issue Date: August 9-16, 2001