On the movie front, Paul did Back of Beyond, a serviceable ghost story that received a lukewarm reception. Afraid of being typecast so early in his film career, he turned down a part in Stephan Elliot's smash, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He then accepted an offer that left him "scared shitless": a $30 million dollar venture helmed by Garry Marshall, who had just come from the stunning success of Pretty Woman. Paul would co-star with Dana Delaney, Rosie O'Donnell, and Dan Akroyd. It must have seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Poor plotting and badly mismatched marketing led to a box-office flop. Despite very good performances by the main cast, the failure of Exit to Eden became a stone around the careers of the two young leads, Mercurio and Delaney.

While he did land the title role in the cable movie Joseph, for the most part the movies that followed were low-profile, becoming moreso toward the end of the nineties. In 1997, Paul took the first of several television roles, playing a regular character in the series Medivac.



<<  prev  <<      >> next >>