`ANIMALS' A DREAM COME TRUE FOR THOMAS.

Byline: - Marla Matzer

At last year's Cannes Film Festival, ``All the Little Animals'' director Jeremy Thomas was nominated for the Camera d'Or award, honoring first-time directors. It was a proud moment, but Thomas admits he felt a little funny: ``When they took a picture of us together, every single other (nominated) director could have been my child,'' he says with amusement.

The film is the culmination of a two-decades-long dream for Thomas, who comes from a British filmmaking family and had planned to follow his father, Ralph, and uncle, Gerald, into directing. Instead, he found his strength in producing. His stellar list of credits as an independent producer includes David Cronenberg's ``Naked Lunch,'' Nicholas Roeg's ``Insignificance'' and Bernardo Bertolucci's ``The Last Emperor.'' In all, he's produced nearly 30 ``mainstream/crossover'' independent films, as he terms them.

If he's now being referred to as a ``veteran'' or ``vintage'' producer, he says, that's fine. Directing a movie based on a favorite book of his youth ``makes me feel boyish, in a way,'' says Thomas in his thick London accent. The film, he says, ``is a fable for grown-ups.'' It's the sometimes harrowing but ultimately uplifting story of a young man who escapes his cruel stepfather and gains confidence and a deep appreciation of nature under the tutelage of a kind stranger.

Thomas' first choice 20 years ago to play the young man, Bobby, was John Hurt. But Thomas couldn't get the rights and moved on. In the movie that was finally made, Hurt plays the kind, older stranger to the young man, played by hot up-and-comer Christian Bale (``Velvet Goldmine''). Both the actors share the environmental concerns dealt with in the film, which Thomas also holds dear.

Thomas admits that many of the impassioned speeches of Hurt as the film's Mr. Summers reflect his own strong pro-animal and pro-environment sentiments. ``I didn't want to preach, but I wanted to say some things that I feel are important,'' says Thomas. ``I love animals. We eat animals that never see the light of day, that are raised in pits. We're genetically altering vegetables. The rain forests are burning. We've messed up our environment tremendously. I hope my little fable can make people a bit (more) aware of all this.''

He says his only regret is that the Motion Picture Association of America has given ``Animals'' an ``R'' rating (for ``some violence,'' the MPAA says).

``It's sad,'' says Thomas. ``I really wanted younger children to be able to see it and talk about it with their parents.''

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Photo

Photo: Actor Daniel Benzali, left, and director Jeremy Thomas of ``All the Little Animals.'' The film is Thomas' 20-year-old dream project.