A Massachusetts-raised writer behind the best-selling memoir "Running with Scissors" has made it's way to Hollywood and the silver screen. 7's Romeo has more from the film's young lead actor.
Joseph Cross, "Running With Scissors"
"It's an electro-shock therapy machine. My dad used on patients all the time, till the police came."
It's a quirky, at times unbelievable journey through Burroughs' adolescence in 1970s New England.
Joseph Cross, "Running With Scissors"
"It's shocking and it's disturbing, but you're laughing through it the whole time, which is amazing."
Joseph Cross, 20, who plays Augusten, splits his time between the movie set and college in Connecticut.
Joseph Cross, "Running With Scissors"
"I got the script when I was up at Trinity College, where I go to school. [I] really loved it, thought it was a great script and a great part for someone my age."
When Augustin's parents divorce, his alcoholic father (Alex Baldwin) and unstable mother (Annette Bening) give him up for adoption to her wildly unorthodox therapist and the general insanity of that family.
Joseph Cross, "Running With Scissors"
"I didn't understand how it could be funny at all. I didn't understand how anyone could laugh at their own life like this."
Although the movie has a theme of humor, it's still a painful look at Burrough's troubled childhood.
Joseph Cross, "Running With Scissors"
"I think its definitely a emotional roller coaster the movie. It takes you very, very high, and then it drops you very low very quickly. By the end of the movie, it's really uplifting, because you know he goes on to do great things."
Joseph Cross can be seen next in Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers."
"Running with Scissors" opens nationwide tomorrow.
(Copyright (c) 2006 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
