"I felt that all of Hugh Wilson's talents in playwriting and filmmaking were manifested in this project. It was a comic fable about how being a gentleman can still be noble and it had a very different quality to it from any of my previous endeavors." He was also drawn to Adam who is an utter stranger in our modern times ­ yet an irresistible reminder of innocence lost. "Adam is the odd man out, thrust into a new and chaotic world," he explains, "and then to top it off, he falls in love."

RESTORING A PARADISE LOST
according to screenwriter BILL KELLY

Adam's story was conceived by screenwriter Bill Kelly, who wondered what a man might be like if he was raised without any of the hyper-modern influences that changed life so radically in the '60s, '70s and '80s. Thus, he came up with the idea of a family literally "sheltered" since 1962. Explains Kelly: "I was fascinated by the idea of someone frozen in time, like the isolated Japanese who didn't know the war was over. With no other influence than the principles of his parents -- no friends, no current events, no MTV -- Adam is raised in a bubble, but not a vacuum."
     In fact, Adam is raised to be something that has almost been lost in today's society: a gentleman. Devoid of any input other than his loving parents, Perry Como and '50s sit-coms, Adam grows up truly believing a man should have manners, speak politely, and seduce with subtle charm and panache. When Hugh Wilson first read Kelly's script, he was drawn to the idea of a perfect '60s gentleman colliding headlong with the manic and cynical '90s dating world. He explains: "Adam is the true definition of a gentleman: someone who endeavors to make the people around him as comfortable and charmed as possible. And that's the most important thing in the world in romance. All the houses and cars and clothes in the world make no difference if you don't have that."

PARADISE VISION EAST OF EDEN
according to director HUGH WILSON

For Hugh Wilson, Los Angeles was the perfect backdrop for this story of old school values-meets-cutting edge culture. "Los Angeles is the place where culture goes to the farthest edge," he notes. "And of course it's also a place where people look at the world with very jaded eyes. There aren't very many people out here who look up in wonder at the sky everyday. Or who appreciate the rain. Or who can get a hip L.A. chic like Eve who's seen it all to react with her heart. But that's Adam. He might be wearing his mother's bedspread for a sport coat but he's full of extraordinary surprises."