Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis) comes to Nashville from New York City and discovers that success in the recording industry - like love - is an exciting yet unpredictable thing in "The Thing Called Love." The Paramount film was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and produced by John Davis. The screenplay was written by Carol Heikkinen. George Folsey, Jr. is the executive producer and Darlene K. Chan is the co-producer.

"How can you explain why someone wants to be with one person more than another?" asks Samantha Mathis. Her character, Miranda, develops relationships with James and Kyle that take different courses in the film. "Kyle is a sweet guy who is a great friend to Miranda, but her relationship with James is much more intense."

The actress was aware of her character's fragile emotional state when she arrives in Nashville: "After her mother split when she was quite young, Miranda grew up with her father -- and he has recently passed away. Not having gotten over his loss, she's getting out of New York City and going after her dream of songwriting. Miranda--like James, Kyle and Linda Lue--is searching for something. They each go through a creative change and gain realizations about themselves."

"This is a love story that really keeps you guessing," says Dermot Mulroney ("Point of No Return," "Where The Day Takes You"). "The connection between Kyle and Miranda is that they're both struggling to make something of themselves and achieve goals where other people have set a high standard. The interesting thing about Kyle is that he's trying to be countrified, so he's putting on a persona that doesn't really go with his own style."

Mulroney's musical talents include playing the cello, mandolin and guitar; while co-star Sandra Bullock ("The Vanishing," "Love Potion #9") comes from a musically talented family. Her mother is an opera singer and her father is a vocal coach. Bullock wrote the lyrics to "Heaven Knocking on My Door," the song performed by her character, Linda Lue Linden, in the film.

Bullock describes Linda Lue as the least talented among the film's primary characters: "Most of those who are looking for their niche in this film have the talent to back it up--maybe not the confidence, the love life or the success they want--but Linda Lue is at a loss with everything. It's a little sad. She thinks she's the least talented in just about everything that she has attempted to do in life. She wants everybody else to be happy and successful, yet she can't do anything to help herself no matter how hard she tries. So she spends a lot of time and energy making everybody else happy when she should be working for herself."

Linda Lue's boyfriend, Billy, is played by actor/comedian Anthony Clark, who says, "They are in love, but it's probably a little more on his part than hers. The first time Billy is seen in the movie with her he is sleeping outside of her motel room because she feels that after ten P.M. all humans of the male persuasion should be sleeping on the sidewalk instead of in a comforter."

Making their dramatic film debuts in "The Thing Called Love" are country music greats K.T. Oslin as Lucy, owner/manager of The Bluebird Cafe, and Trisha Yearwood, who plays herself. The film also features cameo appearances, as themselves, by Deborah Allen, Katy Moffatt, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Pam Tillis, and Kevin Welch.

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