'Dead' role is a family affair for Arquette

The role of a young woman whose father is stricken hit close to home for Patricia Arquette.

In the Martin Scorsese-directed "Bringing Out the Dead,'' now in movie theaters, Arquette plays Mary Burke, whose father goes into cardiac arrest and is rescued by an EMS paramedic played by Nicolas Cage, Arquette's husband. It's the first film the couple have made together.

Arquette says she couldn't shake the character of Mary. "I didn't want to shake my character, really, because my dad was in the hospital while we were making this movie and my mom passed away, like, six months before.''

Courtesy of Paramount Patricia Arquette stars as Mary in 'Dead.'

Arquette's father Lewis was hospitalized for a liver transplant when he developed pancreatitis. "So, I had to express something, you know. And the character (Mary) was expressive and nonexpressive enough in that way frustrated and internal. That was something I needed to do. So, I couldn't have gotten rid of this character if I wanted to. That was hard not to have a break from it. "I'd go there (to the hospital) and my dad would be tied up and he'd try to pull his tubes out. And then I'd go to work and I'd have to shoot that scene. And it was just so weird, this paralleling in my life.

"My father's character in the movie starts to die and my dad started getting better. So, it split off there.''

Arquette says "Bringing Out the Dead'' has a "rebellious, raw punk kind of energy _ troublemaker energy,'' conveyed through dark humor, fast-paced editing, swirls of color, and a rock 'n' rap soundtrack.

"The acting is really pure in this movie and it's so subtle and convincing, even though what he (Cage) is going through is not subtle at all. I was just so moved by his performance,'' says Arquette.

The film's depiction of an edgy EMS squad is not that far from what Arquette has observed. "It's a hard business to be in. They get paid very little. I really thank God for those guys. Those guys want to be heroes. And that's a good thing. They're like superheroes.''

Chicago native Arquette identified with her character Mary in other ways. "I grew up in a Los Angeles neighborhood like this neighborhood (New York's Hell's Kitchen).

"Half my friends are dead you know, strung-out, killed, shot or in jail. My life, I was never a junkie or anything, but my life was not all that different, either, when I was younger. (But) I didn't have that kind of argumentative relationship with my parents.''

After her mother's death, Arquette says there were matters she would've wanted to have handled differently with her.

"As close as we were, there's always going to be regret about things you might have done differently. Just having to come to terms with that.''

Arquette has been active in the cause for the prevention and awareness of women's breast cancer, which claimed her mother's life.

"Every year it's more and more cases. It's becoming epidemic. You really have to look at what's happening in our world,'' says Arquette.

Arquette, 31, who has a son, Enzo, 7, attributes the fact that she and her four siblings are actors to the family's acting gene. Rosanna ("Sugar Town,'' "Desperately Seeking Susan''), David ("Never Been Kissed,'' "Scream''), Alexis and Richmond are actors. "I really believe it's a gene,'' she says.

11-03-99