SETH GREEN (Ezekial)

SETH GREEN (Ezekial) most recently co-starred with John Travolta and Robin Williams in the comedy Old Dogs. Green has also garnered rave reviews for his starring roles in the feature films Without a Paddle, The Italian Job and Party Monster.

Green’s previous film credits include the blockbuster Austin Powers in Goldmember, in which Green reprised his role as Scott Evil, Dr. Evil’s son from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Green also co-starred in American’s Sweethearts and had starring roles in Rat Race and Knockaround Guys. He began this nonstop work streak with Can’t Hardly Wait in the attention-grabbing role of Kenny Fisher, a white homeboy. Earlier, Green played a key role as a young Woody Allen in Radio Days.

On television, Green most recently began the fourth season of “Robot Chicken,” the Emmy-nominated stop-motion animated show that he and Matthew Senreich created for Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” block. The duo exec produce, direct and write (with Green doing 35-to-60 voices each week). Debuting in February 2005, “Robot Chicken” earned critical acclaim and high ratings. In fact, the show garnered the all-time highest ratings for any “Adult Swim” program in the month of September. The DVD for Season One ranked No. 1 in sales in its first week among all TV shows released on DVD during that period. The sketch parody show, which regularly tops all other ad-supported cable and many network shows in the ratings [IS THIS TRUE?], lampoons pop culture and current events.

Green directed George Lucas in the hit “Robot Chicken: Star Wars” special that aired in 2007, for which Green won the Annie Award. The DVD was released this summer.

Green is also working on new episodes of “Family Guy,” the hit animated Fox comedy series in which Green plays the son, Chris Griffin.

Other TV credits include “Four Kings” and “Greg the Bunny.”

Green and his “Robot Chicken” partner Matthew Senreich are also currently producing two feature films, one live action and the other stop-motion animation.

Green, who has starred in films for 25 years and remains quick-witted, low-key and a known scene-stealer, mocked this image in two “Entourage” guest spots on HBO.

JAMES MARSDEN (Rex)

JAMES MARSDEN (Rex) has enjoyed success in a wide range of films that have swiftly earned him a distinctive place in Hollywood. Most recently, Marsden starred in the box-office hit 27 Dresses, a romantic comedy in which he played opposite Katherine Heigl.

Previously, Marsden received rave reviews for his starring role in the blockbuster Enchanted, alongside Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and Susan Sarandon. A romantic fable mixing live action with CGI animation, the Kevin Lima-directed film earned a Best Family Film nomination at the 13th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards.

Marsden also had a starring role in Adam Shankman’s box office hit Hairspray, which featured John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken. Marsden played Corny Collins, the host of the TV dance show. Hairspray earned multiple award nominations, including Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Acting Ensemble, Best Comedy Movie and Best Family Film, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Ensemble.

Marsden recently wrapped production on Richard Kelly’s psychological thriller, The Box, in which he stars opposite Cameron Diaz. The film is based on a classic Richard Matheson short story, “Button, Button.”

Marsden also appeared in Superman Returns, opposite Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Frank Langella, for director Bryan Singer.

Marsden’s film resume also includes playing Cyclops in the X-Men trilogy, The Notebook, The Alibi, Disturbing Behavior, 10th and Wolf, The 24th Day, Sugar and Spice and Interstate 60.

Among his notable television roles as the character Glen Floy on the final season of the Emmy-winning series “Ally McBeal,” created by David E. Kelley.

CLARK DUKE (Lance)

CLARK DUKE (Lance) makes his feature film debut in Sex Drive but he quickly followed it with a starring role in the upcoming A Thousand Words, opposite Eddie Murphy.

Duke is best known as the co-creator of the web comedy series “Clark and Michael,” which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in alongside his friend and comedy partner Michael Cera, star of Superbad. This landmark series, which lampooned their characters’ efforts to write and sell a television show, made many “Best Of” lists in 2007, including those of Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. “Clark and Michael” continues to enjoy massive popularity all over the world and has established Clark Duke as a creative force to be reckoned with.

Duke has also made his mark in television with the role of Dale in “Greek,” the hit ABC Family comedy series. Duke has also done multiple voices on Seth Green’s hit “Adult Swim” program on Cartoon Network, “Robot Chicken.”

A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Duke is also a talented musician who has launched an L.A. band with Michael Cera. Duke has a diverse slate of upcoming projects as a writer, actor, director and producer.

AMANDA CREW (Felicia)

AMANDA CREW (Felicia) recently had a starring role in The Haunting in Connecticut opposite Virginia Madsen and Elias Koteas, directed by Peter Cornwall. Her previous film credits include Final Destination 3 and She’s the Man, which starred Amanda Bynes.

On television, Crew has spent the last two years starring as Carrie Miller in The N network’s hit series, “Whistler.” Recently, Crew won the 2007 Leo Award for Best Lead Female in a Dramatic Series for her role in the show, which is set in the high society winter playgrounds of North America.

Born and reared in Langley, British Columbia, Crew began her career in acting when she was cast as a regular for two seasons on the teen series “15/Love.” Her other work on television includes recurring roles on the ABC series “Life as We Know It” and the WB/CW institution “Smallville.”

JOSH ZUCKERMAN (Ian)

JOSH ZUCKERMAN (Ian) likes to keep his resume diverse., Prior to the comedy Sex Drive, Zuckerman co-starred in the drama Lions for Lambs, which starred Robert Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, with Redford directing. Previously, Zuckerman had a role as Mark Webber’s hard-partying friend in Ethan Hawke’s film The Hottest State and co-starred as the wheelchair-bound brother of Balthazar Getty in Dimension’s cult classic, Feast.

Zuckerman’s other film credits include Surviving Christmas, in which he appeared opposite Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini; Pretty Persuasion, which starred Evan Rachel Wood; and the box office smash Austin Powers in Goldmember.

His diversity extends to television as well, with a recurring role in the hit ABC Family drama “Kyle XY” and a previous recurring role in the television series “CSI: Miami.” Other TV credits include “Boston Legal,” “Close to Home,” “Stand Off” and “House.”

On stage, Zuckerman starred in the one-act play “Women and Wallace” at the Actor’s Lab Theater in Los Angeles, with his performance garnering rave reviews.

After making his professional debut in an ABC movie-of-the-week, “Geppetto,” starring Drew Carey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Zuckerman then went on to recurring roles in ABC’s acclaimed dramas “Once and Again” and ”NYPD Blue” as well as a memorable role in an emotional post-September 11th episode of NBC’s “The West Wing.”

The youngest of five children, Zuckerman began acting at the age of 10 at the Los Altos Youth Theater in Los Altos, California. In addition to pursuing his acting career, Zuckerman has been attending Princeton University.

Sex Drive Synopsis

SEX DRIVE

Starring JOSH ZUCKERMAN(LIONS FOR LAMBS), AMANDA CREW (THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT), CLARK DUKE (“GEEK”), JAMES MARSDEN (ENCHANTED) and SETH GREEN (AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER), and featuring a special performance by FALL OUT BOY.

Produced by JOHN MORRIS (SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE), LESLIE MORGENSTEIN (THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS) and BOB LEVY (“GOSSIP GIRL”). Executive produced by MIKE NELSON.

Directed by SEAN ANDERS (NEVER BEEN THAWED)

Written by SEAN ANDERS and JOHN MORRIS,
based on the novel ALL THE WAY by ANDY BEHRENS.

Eighteen-year-old Ian Lafferty sets out on a cross country drive with his best friends Lance and Felicia in order to lose his virginity to a red-hot babe he met on the Internet. But the journey, filled with hilarious misadventures and raunchy escapades, teaches all three more than they expected about life and love. Randy, raucous and unexpectedly romantic, Sex Drive follows three friends on the road trip of a lifetime!

Ian Lafferty (Josh Zuckerman) can’t seem to catch a break. He’s taunted by his cocksure older brother Rex, shown up in the romance department by his 14-year-old younger brother and humiliated by his job at a mall donut shop. But Ian’s biggest problem is that he’s about to start college as a virgin!

Getting nowhere with the girl of his dreams and longtime “best friend” Felicia (Amanda Crew), Ian resorts to the Internet for dates. He soon hooks up with Ms. Tasty, a flaming hot blonde who can’t wait to get busy. The only catch: Ian has to drive 500 miles from Chicago to Knoxville to consummate the deal.

Egged on by his devil-may-care pal Lance (Clark Duke), Ian risks life and limb by appropriating “The Judge,” Rex’s prized vintage Pontiac GTO. With Lance and Felicia in tow, he hits the road for a one-time rendezvous that will rock his world!

Car trouble, a stint in the pokey, a buggy tow with an Amish farmer (Seth Green) and an afternoon at a roadside carnival all complicate Ian’s journey. As he presses on to get to Knoxville before Ms. Tasty gives up and goes home, the trio’s trail of mayhem closes in on them with hilarious consequences. Will Rex find Ian before he reaches Nirvana? Will a cuckolded husband exact revenge on Lance just as he seems to have found true love? Will Ms. Tasty live up to her Internet profile? Will Ian realize what he really wants? And most importantly, Will Ian, Felicia and Lance survive the bumpy road to adulthood with all its unexpected twists and turns?

My Best Friend's Girl Synopsis

Smart, beautiful and headstrong, Alexis is the girl of Dustin’s dreams. But after only five weeks of dating, the love-struck Dustin is coming on so strong that Alexis is forced to slow things down – permanently. Devastated and desperate to get her back, Dustin turns to his best friend, Tank, the rebound specialist. A master at seducing – and offending – women, Tank gets hired by freshly dumped guys to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst date of their lives – an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus.

But when Tank works his magic on Alexis, he ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime. Alexis is the first girl who knows how to call his bluff, and Tank soon finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and a strange new attraction to his best friend’s girl.

An outrageous, sexy, no-holds-barred romantic comedy, Lionsgate’s MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL stars Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, Jason Biggs and Alec Baldwin. MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL is directed by Howard Deutch and written by Jordan Cahan.

Bolt Synopsis

BOLT

Release Date: November 26, 2008
Genre: Animation, Comedy-Adventure
Rating: TBD

Voice Cast: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton
Directors: Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Producer: Clark Spencer
Executive Producer: John Lasseter
Genre: Animation/Comedy-Adventure

For super-dog BOLT (voice of JOHN TRAVOLTA), every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue—at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet—a cross-country journey through the real world to get back to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of MILEY CYRUS). Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and the help of two unlikely traveling companions—a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voice of SUSIE ESSMAN) and a TV-obsessed hamster named Rhino (voice of MARK WALTON) -- Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero.

Notes:

Chris Williams and Byron Howard worked on Disney’s 36th animated feature “Mulan”—Williams was a member of the story team, and Howard was an animator.

The film marks Miley Cyrus’ feature-film debut as an animated character.

Before bringing any pet into your family be sure to learn about the breed and always consider adoption from a reputable shelter or rescue program.

Morning Light Synopsis

MORNING LIGHT
Release Date: October 17, 2008
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG

Conceived and produced by: Roy E. Disney, Leslie DeMeuse
Writer/Director: Mark Monroe
Based on an original idea by: Thomas J. Pollack
Producer: Morgan Sackett
Co-produced and edited by: Paul Crowder
Team: Chris Branning, Graham Brant-Zawadzki, Chris Clark, Charlie Enright, Jesse Fielding, Robbie Kane, Steve Manson, Chris Schubert, Kate Theisen, Mark Towill, Genny Tulloch, Piet van Os, Chris Welch, Kit Will, Jeremy Wilmot

Fifteen young sailors… six months of intense training… one chance at the brass ring. This exciting true-life documentary tells the inspiring story of a group of intrepid and determined young men and women, on the cusp of adulthood, as they embark on life’s first great adventure. Racing a high-performance 52-foot sloop in the TRANSPAC, the most revered of open-ocean sailing competitions, the crew of “Morning Light” matches wits and skills in a dramatic 2,300-mile showdown against top professionals.

From their earliest training sessions in Hawaii conducted by world-class teachers through their test of endurance on the high seas, they form an unbreakable bond in the process of becoming a singular team that is greater than the sum of its parts. Directed and edited by two of the key filmmakers responsible for the acclaimed 2004 surfing documentary, “Riding Giants,” and the recent rock documentary “Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who,” MORNING LIGHT will appeal to the sense of adventure in everyone.

Notes:

The team includes several college students, a Harvard graduate, a trainee at the U.S. Naval Academy, and a member of the Merchant Marine Academy—all under the age of 23 at the time of the race.

Roy E. Disney sailed the Transpac 16 times. His best finish was first place in 1999. His worst? 27th place in 1977 following a harrowing 17-day trek.

When in Rome Synopsis

WHEN IN ROME

Release Date: Summer 2009
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TBD

Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Alexis Dziena, Kate Micucci, with Danny DeVito and Anjelica Huston
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Executive Producer: Mindy Farrell and Steven Roffer, Ezra Swerdlow
Producers: Gary Foster, Mark Steven Johnson, Andrew Panay
Co-Producer: Rikki Lea Bestall
Written by: David Diamond & David Weissman

An ambitious young New Yorker (KRISTEN BELL), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (DANNY DEVITO), a street magician (JON HEDER), an adoring painter (WILL ARNETT) and a self-admiring model (DAX SHEPARD). But when a charming reporter (JOSH DUHAMEL) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR
Release Date: October 24, 2008
Genre: Musical
Rating: TBD

Cast: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed, Olesya Rulin, Chris Warren,Jr., Ryne Sanborn, KayCee Stroh, Matt Prokop, Justin Martin, Jemma McKenzie-Brown
Director: Kenny Ortega
Written By: Peter Barsocchini
Producer: Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush
Co-Producer: Don Schain

Disney’s “High School Musical” phenomenon leaps onto the big screen in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR, in which America’s favorite high school students (ZAC EFRON, VANESSA HUDGENS, ASHLEY TISDALE, LUCAS GRABEEL, CORBIN BLEU and MONIQUE COLEMAN) hit senior year. Amidst a basketball championship, prom and a big spring musical featuring all of the Wildcats, Troy and Gabriella vow to make every moment last as their lifelong college dreams put the future of their relationship in question. A crew of sophomore Wildcats (MATT PROKOP, JUSTIN MARTIN, JEMMA MCKENZIE-BROWN) joins in the fun as the film’s incredible new music and exciting dance numbers take maximum advantage of the big screen.

Notes:

An international casting search involving more than 1000 teen actors across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom led to the casting of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year’s” three new Wildcats: Matt Prokop, Justin Martin and Jemma McKenzie-Brown.

The original “High School Musical” made its debut in January 2006 on Disney Channel and posted the highest ever ratings for a Disney Channel Original Movie at the time. It went on to become a smash hit internationally. It has reached more than 250 million viewers in more than 20 languages across 100 countries.

“High School Musical” won two Emmy Awards®, a DGA Award, an Imagen Award and a Director's Guild of America Award, among other honors. It received a Billboard Music Award (Soundtrack of the Year) and was nominated for an American Music Award. "High School Musical 2" was ranked the #1 basic cable telecast of all time following its August 17, 2007, premiere (18.6 million viewers) and thus far has been seen by 187 million total worldwide viewers in 24 languages.

Twilight moves into Potter's place

Twilight moves into Potter's place

Summit shifts vampire romance to Nov. 21

Summit Entertainment has pushed up the release date of its hotly anticipated vampire romance "Twilight" to Nov. 21, taking advantage of the B.O. opening left by Warner Bros.' surprise decision to move "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to July.

The vampire romance, based on the first of four bestselling vampire novels by Stephenie Meyer, had been skedded to open Dec. 12 opposite Twentieth Century Fox's sci-fi remake "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves. After WB confirmed its "Harry Potter" shift on Thursday, Summit rushed to move "Twilight" into holiday prime time.

"With a giant franchise like 'Harry Potter' in the market, we had to stay clear of it," said Summit Entertainment co-chairman and CEO Rob Friedman. "Their move created an opportunity to bring the movie to fans three weeks earlier, who have continued to show their enthusiasm, from Comic-Con to the giant 'Breaking Dawn' book sales. We felt we had to take that opportunity."

While the "Twilight" books have not sold on the level of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, many observers have made the comparison between the two fantasy series and their passionate devotees. The "Twilight" books fall in the young adult realm and boast a strong femme following. Pic adaptation has been generating strong Internet buzz for months. At Comic-Con in July, young British actor Robert Pattinson was taken aback when women screamed at him in the San Diego Convention Center. He co-stars with Kristen Stewart in the romantic thriller directed by Catherine Hardwicke ("thirteen") from a script by Melissa Rosenberg ("Step Up"). Karen Rosenfelt, Greg Mooradian and Wyck Godfrey produce along with Mark Morgan via his Maverick Films banner. "Twilight" is the first film in Summit's thriller romance franchise.

Summit plans a wide release of "Twilight" in more 3,000 theaters, Friedman said. "Twilight" will face competition from Walt Disney Pictures' animated film "Bolt," which moved from Nov. 26 onto the Nov. 21 date.

The Princess and the Frog Synopsis

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

(Domestic Release Date: Christmas 2009)

Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directors: John Musker, Ron Clements
Producer: Peter Del Vecho
Composer: Randy Newman
Voice Talent: Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, Jenifer Lewis, John Goodman

A musical set in the greatest city of them all, New Orleans, “The Princess and the Frog” marks Disney’s return to the timeless art form of traditional animation. The film teams Ron Clements and John Musker, creators of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin,” with Oscar®-winning composer Randy Newman to tell the most beautiful love story ever told…with frogs, voodoo, and a singing alligator.

Michael Steinberg (Producer)

Michael Steinberg (Producer):

Michael Steinberg, a UCLA Film School graduate, has directed 3 features that premiered at The Sundance Film Festival and has written and/or produced 4 other features that have won numerous awards and generated hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, he has written, directed and/or produced numerous television projects for top production companies such as DreamWorks, Brillstein Grey, Touchstone, and Paramount Television. Michael is known for his detailed work with actors and for combining his love of the freshness and freedom of indie films with the reach and professionalism of big studio features. Michael made his professional directing debut with THE WATERDANCE which starred Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, and Academy Award winner, Helen Hunt. It was released by Goldwyn in 1992 and won the I.F.P. Spirit Award for "Best First Feature" and the "Audience Award" at Sundance along with many other awards from festivals around the world. The film was recently picked as one of the "Best 1000 Films of All Time" by the New York Times.

In 2005, Michael conceived and co-wrote the Sci-Fi Action Horror film, THE CAVE. The film was produced by Academy Award winner Tom Rosenberg, Andrew Mason (The Matrix trilogy) and Gary Luchesi. It stared Cole Hauser, was released wide from Sony/Screen Gems and has made over 70 million in world-wide revenues to date.

In 1998 Michael produced the smash THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, directed by The Farrelly Brothers, starring Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, and Matt Dillon. It was released by Twentieth Century Fox and has made over 600 million worldwide to date. Michael was nominated for a Golden Globe as a producer and won an MTV Award for "Best Movie" of the year. In 2001, Michael made his first foray into television by writing, directing, and producing THE CASEYS, a 1-hour pilot for Fox Television. It was picked by Entertainment Weekly as the best pilot of the season. Since THE CASEYS, Michael has focused on writing and developing television shows and has sold 11 one hour pilots while working with top production companies such as DreamWorks, Brillstein Grey, Touchstone, and Paramount Television. Michael's second feature as a director was BODIES, REST & MOTION, starring Bridget Fonda, Eric Stoltz, and, Academy Award nominee, Tim Roth. This film was runner-up for the Audience Award at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and was selected for the Un Certain Regard section at The Cannes Film Festival. It was released by Fine Line to glowing reviews and has become a touchstone, cult-classic of the Gen-X genre.

Michael's third feature directing effort, WICKED, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. The black comedy thriller won his discovery, Julia Stiles, a "Best Actress" nod at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival where it was nominated for a Crystal Globe in the Main Competition. It was released by Sony Screen Gems in 2000.

In 1994, Michael co-wrote and produced the edgy romantic comedy SLEEP WITH ME. This film starred Academy Award nominee Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz, Craig Sheffer, Quentin Tarantino, and Parker Posey. It was released by MGM and was selected as the "Opening Night Gala Premiere" for the Toronto Film Festival and the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994.

Michael is represented by Anonymous Content and Paradigm.

Larry Bishop (Director/Writer/Producer/Pistolero)

Larry Bishop (Director/Writer/Producer/Pistolero):

Bishop wrote, directed, co-produced, and starred in MAD DOG TIME. United Artists distributed the film which also starred Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Gabriel Byrne, and Ellen Barkin.
Bishop wrote and starred in UNDERWORLD, a film which Trimark released. The film also starred Denis Leary and Joe Mantegna.

Larry Bishop appeared as sadistic strip club owner in KILL BILL, Vol.2 and starred in WILD IN THE STREETS while under contract to AIP where he starred in many motorcycle movies, including ANGEL UNCHAINED, THE SAVAGE SEVEN, CHROME AND HOT LEATHER. After working with Richard Dreyfuss in THE BIG FIX, Universal Pictures put Bishop under contract.

Some of Bishop's other acting credits include THE CHICAGO CONSPIRACY TRIAL, CONDOMINIUM, HOW COME NOBODY'S ON OUR SIDE (he was also a co-producer), STING II and many television shows.

CHARLOTTE HUGGINS (Producer)

CHARLOTTE HUGGINS (Producer) was one of the early proponents of 3D's resurgence and fully embraces her passion for special venue productions. She has worked on a number of highly successful large-format films, including Disney's 3D theme park attraction, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, Sony Pictures Classics' 3D film, Wings of Courage and LG Group's 35mm 3D attraction film, Ahead of Time.

Huggins served as Executive in Charge of Production for the "King Kong" sequence in Public Broadcasting WGBH/NOVA's program, "Special Effects: Anything Can Happen."
Producer credits include Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun, 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, Alien Adventure, Haunted Castle, S.O.S. Planet, Misadventures in 3D and Wild Safari 3D.

nWave Pictures (Producers) is a multinational company specializing in 3D digital production and dedicated to special venue production and distribution. nWave Pictures is known for utilizing innovative technologies to maximize intellectual properties throughout multiple media platforms, including 2D and 3D giant-screen (IMAX), motion simulation and attraction films in all film formats and electronic media. As the most prolific producers of 3D films in the world, nWave's titles have generated over $175 million in box office revenues in special format theaters worldwide.
Founded in 1994 by Ben Stassen and Brussels-based D&D Media Group, nWave Pictures quickly established itself as the world's leading producer and distributor of ride films for the motion simulator market. In fact, the company's current library of titles makes up 60-70% of all ride simulation films being shown worldwide.
The quick financial and production maturity of the company afforded nWave the production tools necessary to expand into new areas. One year later, the company released its first film for the giant screen, Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun. Upon its release, Thrill Ride quickly gained momentum with audiences. The film was one of the top 50 highest-grossing films at the box office for over 70 consecutive weeks (as reported by Variety), and remains in distribution through Sony Pictures Classics.
To complement its rapid production growth and further establish itself in the expanding 3D giant-screen market, nWave launched its own film distribution company, nWave Pictures Distribution. The division began with the distribution of the 3D film, 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, and continued its growth by distributing nWave's third giant-screen film, Alien Adventure 3D. The company has since distributed BBC/Discovery Pictures' award-winning production, The Human Body, H5B5's Ocean Men: Extreme Dive and the nWave-produced 3D films Haunted Castle, S.O.S. Planet (featuring Walter Cronkite), Misadventures in 3D and Wild Safari 3D.

With visionary style and confidence, nWave Pictures plans to continue setting new standards for digital and film distribution by creating a special brand of feature-length 3D entertainment.

GINA GALLO PARIS (Co-Creator, Producer, Voice Director and Casting Director)

GINA GALLO PARIS (Co-Creator, Producer, Voice Director and Casting Director) started as a live-action film editor on such features as The Rapture, The Sleepless and the docu-drama Blackbird Fly.

Gallo soon found herself working on high-profile animated features such as Tarzan for Disney Feature Animation and The Road to El Dorado, Sinbad and Over the Hedge for DreamWorks.

Her love of animation was the impetus behind Fly Me to the Moon.

MIMI MAYNARD (Producer, Voice Director and Casting Director)

MIMI MAYNARD (Producer, Voice Director and Casting Director) is founder of Loopys, a post production and voice casting company.

She has also served as Vice President of Development for Carlyle Productions. Previously, Maynard was President and Partner of Polestar Group, where she oversaw development of various projects and produced the made-for-television movie, "Gundum," based on the hugely popular Japanese series.

She was also associated with Sleeping Giant Productions, where she oversaw a partnership with Mandalay Television for reality and drama programming.

DOMONIC PARIS (Co-Creator, Writer and Executive Producer)

DOMONIC PARIS (Co-Creator, Writer and Executive Producer) worked for over ten years as a cinematographer and editor before moving on to directing, writing and producing. Among the independent films Paris has directed is the feature The Sleepless, which he also wrote.

He has written, directed and/or produced a number of one-hour specialty DVD shows. Paris served as producer on the USA Network series, "Reel Wild Cinema," and "Oh! No! The Mister Bill Show" for Fox Kids Network.

He was also a producer of "Exploitica," a comedy show for Canal Plus, and has had extensive experience in numerous capacities in the reality TV world for networks and cable.

BEN STASSEN (Director)

BEN STASSEN (Director) has enjoyed a remarkable career as a special venue filmmaker. Stassen produced one of the first high-resolution computer graphics films for the large-format screen, the short Devil's Mine. He went on to co-found nWave Pictures, which has since become the world's largest producer and distributor of ride and attraction films.

As Chief Executive Officer of nWave, Stassen expanded the company's operations into the large-format arena. His directorial debut, Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun (1997), was hugely successful for Sony Pictures Classics. Stassen followed this success with two 3D giant-screen spectaculars distributed by nWave Pictures, 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension (1998) and Alien Adventure (1999).

Stassen's talents were then employed to create and direct a series of other provocative and successful film titles for nWave. Haunted Castle (2001) blended computer-generated digital imagery and live action photography in 3D. S.O.S. Planet (2002) was the sequel to 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, and Wild Safari 3D (2005) was filmed entirely on location in South Africa. Stassen's Fly Me to the Moon is the company's first true feature film conceived and created for the 3D environment.

A world leader in multi-platform digital filmmaking, Stassen is quoted extensively in industry and mainstream press for his strategies and opinions about the future of 3D cinema and how to utilize digital technologies to maximize intellectual properties across multiple media platforms.
Stassen graduated from USC's School of Cinema and Television.

ADRIENNE BARBEAU (Scooter's Mom)

ADRIENNE BARBEAU (Scooter's Mom) is beloved by genre film fans for her enduring performances in The Fog, Escape from New York, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, Back to School and The Cannonball Run. The feature film Reach for Me, in which she stars with Seymour Cassell, Alfre Woodard and LeVar Burton, is awaiting release. Her most recent telefilm, "WarWolves," premieres on the Sci Fi Channel in October.

Barbeau began performing in 1963 with the San Jose Civic Light Opera and by 1965 had already entertained our servicemen on Army bases throughout Southeast Asia and was on her way to New York, where she made her Broadway debut as Tevye's second daughter, Hodel, in "Fiddler on the Roof." A Tony nomination for her creation of Rizzo in the original Broadway production of "Grease" led her back to California and the role of Bea Arthur's daughter, Carol, in the hit series "Maude."

Since then, Barbeau has become a bestselling author, a recording artist and the star of numerous features, films for television, concert performances, musicals and plays. Her many telefilm credits include the Ace Award-winning "Double Crossed: The Barry Seal Story," opposite Dennis Hopper, and "Scott Turow's Burden of Proof," with Hector Elizondo. Lifetime Network audiences see her in the oft-repeated "Shattered Hearts" and "The Drew Carey Show" fans know her as Oswald's mom. Barbeau also starred as Ruthie the snake dancer on HBO's fascinating drama series, "Carnivale."

The actress has starred in over 25 musicals and plays, among them "Pump Boys & Dinettes," "Women Behind Bars," Kander and Ebb's "And the World Goes Round," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Love Letters." She appeared in the West Coast premieres of "A Walk on the Wild Side" and "Drop Dead," the Canadian premiere of Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers" and the world premiere of "What the Rabbi Saw," by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore. Most recently, she returned to Off-Broadway and standing ovations as Judy Garland in "The Property Known as Garland."

As a voice actress for animation, Barbeau previously played Catwoman in "Batman: The Animated Series" and Ms. Simone in the feature Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.

She is also the author of two books, her best-selling memoir "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" and her first vampire novel, "Vampyres of Hollywood" which was published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press. Barbeau is currently writing the sequel.

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD (Grandpa) in Fly Me to the Moon

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD (Grandpa) began his long and illustrious acting career in the theatre. He has appeared in over 200 plays, including on-and-off Broadway, regional and summer stock productions. For his title role in "Kaspar," Lloyd took home an Obie and Drama Desk Award. Other theatre credits include the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of "Mornings at Seven," directed by Dan Sullivan; "Twelfth Night," in N.Y. Festival's Shakespeare in the Park; Center Stage's "Waiting for Godot" and the New York production of "Trumbo," in which Lloyd played blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

In 1975, Lloyd began his film career in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This was soon followed by a two-year run as Jim Ignatowski on the TV series "Taxi," for which Lloyd won two of his three Emmys. In 1992, he made Emmy history when he won Best Dramatic Actor for Disney's "Road to Avonlea." In a category dominated by series regulars, Lloyd was the first actor to win for a guest appearance. (The following year, the rules were changed to include a guest appearance category.)

Lloyd has appeared in over 90 film and television productions, including the Back to the Future trilogy, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Eight Men Out, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, BBC's "Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster," The Pagemaster, Dennis the Menace, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Track 29, Clue, The Dream Team, Angels in the Outfield, Star Trek III, Goin' South, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, My Favorite Martian and Mike Nichols' HBO adaptation of "Wit," starring Emma Thompson.

In 1993, Lloyd won an Independent Spirit Award for his chilly depiction of a soulless murderer in Twenty Bucks.

DAVID GORE (Scooter) in Fly Me to the Moon

DAVID GORE (Scooter) lists math, science, piano, chess, video games and WWII history as just a sampling of his interests and talents. Even at the age of nine, the multitalented actor has been around the entertainment industry for several years and calls it "another world." In the upcoming feature Opposite Day, Gore plays a very young Italian mob boss.

Gore regularly performs stand-up comedy at the World Famous Hollywood Improv. Continuously incorporating current events into his hilarious routines, Gore has also kept audiences laughing at the Ha Ha Comedy Club and B.B. King's Blues Club. He has appeared on the KTLA Morning Show and lent his comedic voice to "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Gore has appeared on many television series, including "This Might Hurt," "Wizards of Waverly Place" and "Tim and Eric's Awesome Show: Great Job!" He was a featured player on "Jeopardy! Kids Week." Gore also appeared in the documentary film The Secret Life of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Discovery Channel's "Mob Scene." He has been in many music videos and commercials for products such as Sudafed, Coca Cola and Home Depot, to name a few.

Among his many projects, the short films Pubert and Girth feature Gore in the leading role. Both films will be touring film festivals this year. Other credits include Panicked, Within Reason and What the Shadows Hide.

A stage enthusiast who enjoys the energy of live audiences, David has appeared in theatre productions such as "Faces of War" at the Lyric Theatre, "Genie (Aladdin)" at the El Portal Theatre and "Charlie Chaplin" at the L.A. Connection Comedy Theatre.

ED BEGLEY, JR. (Poopchev) in Fly Me to the Moon

ED BEGLEY, JR. (Poopchev) co-stars with his real life wife, Rachelle Carson, on the hit HGTV series, "Living with Ed." He was recently seen in the latest Christopher Guest movie, For Your Consideration. Begley also appeared in A Mighty Wind, Guest's follow-up to the American Comedy Award-winning film, Best in Show, in which Begley starred alongside Catherine O' Hara and Eugene Levy. Other feature film credits include Batman Forever, The Accidental Tourist and The In-Laws.

Inspired by the work of his Academy Award-winning father, Begley decided to become an actor as well. He first came to audiences' attention for his portrayal of Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the long-running hit television series, "St. Elsewhere," for which Begley received six Emmy nominations. Since then, the actor has moved easily between feature, television and theatre projects.

On television, Begley had recurring roles on "Veronica Mars," "Six Feet Under," "Seventh Heaven" and "Arrested Development." He has guest starred on such series as "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "The West Wing" and "The Practice," as well as David E. Kelley's latest show, "Boston Legal."

Begley starred in the West Coast premiere of David Mamet's "Cryptogram" at the Geffen Playhouse, in the role that he first performed in Boston and then in New York. Begley also starred in Mamet's production of "Romance" at the Mark Taper Forum.

This talented actor has also directed several episodes of ABC's hit drama series "NYPD Blue" and the stage play he wrote, "Cesar and Ruben," which won a Nos Otros Award and four Valley Theater League Awards.

NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN (Nadia) in Fly Me to the Moon

NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN (Nadia) first won a worldwide audience with her starring role on the long-running CBS drama "Knots Landing," but the actress exploded to small-screen success once again in her Golden Globe-nominated role as Edie Britt, the serial divorcee whose romantic conquests keep the neighborhood buzzing on ABC's smash hit "Desperate Housewives." Sheridan was recently honored in her native England with a Glamour Women of the Year Award for Best U.S. Television Actress, adding to her back-to-back 2005-2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Born and raised in England, Sheridan discovered a passion for ballet as a small child and studied furiously, broadening her love of the arts as a student at the Arts Educational School in London. In addition to the theatre, she nurtured her talents as an avid equestrienne as well as a thirst for reading and love of Shakespeare.

Moving to Los Angeles and being courted to explore her acting talents was a natural progression for Sheridan. She first became a household name portraying the beautiful, powerful and manipulative Paige Matheson on "Knots Landing." This led to myriad other roles, including parts in the telefilms "The People Next Door," with Faye Dunaway; "A Time To Heal," opposite Gary Cole; "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," with James Woods; and "Dead Husbands," with John Ritter. She also made a special guest appearance on the season finale of "Will & Grace."

Sheridan was first introduced to film audiences in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing, opposite John Cusack, before going on to appear in other film comedies such as Noises Off, opposite Michael Caine; Spy Hard, opposite Leslie Nielsen; and Beverly Hills Ninja, starring Chris Farley and Chris Rock. With an affinity for the animated world, Sheridan brought her English accent to the animated series "Tarzan and Jane" and recently completed voicing the role of Zenna in the animated film Noah's Arc: The New Beginning, which co-stars Michael Keaton, Jason Lee, Eliza Dushku, Rob Schneider, Marcia Gay Harden and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Having found much success in front of the camera, Sheridan has more recently turned her attention behind the scenes and is developing several projects for film and television.

Generous with her time, the actress has lent her devotion and star presence to philanthropic causes focused on cancer, women and children at risk and natural disaster relief (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), as well as such entities as the Red Cross, Humane Society, Wildlife Waystation, Starkey Hearing Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Walter Reed Hospital.

PHILIP DANIEL BOLDEN (I.Q.) in Fly Me to the Moon

PHILIP DANIEL BOLDEN (I.Q.) has, despite his young age, amassed an impressive list of film and television credits. He is most often recognized for his role as Kevin Persons opposite Ice Cube and Nia Long in the films Are We There Yet? and its sequel Are We Done Yet? In between these projects, Bolden appeared as Bradley in the Walden Media feature How to Eat Fried Worms, based on the classic children's book.

In addition to his film work, Bolden earned recurring roles on series such as "The King of Queens" and "My Wife and Kids." His numerous other television credits include "The Bernie Mac Show," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "According to Jim."

While not busy with work, Bolden enjoys reading, traveling, going to the movies and spending time with his family and friends.

TREVOR GAGNON (Nat) in Fly Me to the Moon

TREVOR GAGNON (Nat) always gave the same answer when he was asked, at six years old, what he wanted to be when he grew up. "I want to be a famous actor...I want to be on TV."
In the last six years, Gagnon has indeed been involved in almost every type of acting. He has appeared in commercials and magazine ads, performed side-by-side with incredible actors in several films, lent his voice to animated characters in projects for both film and TV, and starred in a hit comedy series for CBS opposite one of the industry's funniest ladies. He is a regular on "The New Adventures of Old Christine," starring the Emmy-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Gagnon plays her son, Ritchie. He is also a series regular on Cartoon Network's "Happy Monster Band," in which he voices the character L.O., one of the silly monsters who teach preschoolers about the many wonderful countries around the world.

Currently, Gagnon is in Austin, Texas filming the Warner Bros. feature Shorts, a new family adventure/comedy written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, creator of the Spy Kids trilogy. Gagnon stars opposite William H. Macy, Jon Cryer, James Spader and Leslie Mann.

Gagnon made his acting debut in "Iron Jawed Angels," a television drama about women's struggles to achieve equality and their triumph with the Women's Suffrage Movement in the early 1900's. The telefilm starred Hilary Swank, Angelica Huston and Patrick Dempsey.
Director Tim Burton's feature Big Fish was the next big opportunity to come Gagnon's way. After a long and involved audition process, he landed a part alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Danny DeVito and Ewan McGregor in this magical film.

Gagnon has appeared in several television commercials, including a Mederma scar-cream ad in which his image appeared on the pages of numerous parenting magazines. Two more movies followed, Loggerheads and Southern Belles. Both were filmed near his hometown in North Carolina.

As a way to give back to the community, Gagnon has spent time on the "Dr. Phil" show as a celebrity guest and donated his time to various charitable organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

BUZZ ALDRIN (appearing as himself) in Fly Me to the Moon

BUZZ ALDRIN (appearing as himself) was selected by NASA as one of the early astronauts in October 1963. In November 1966, he established a new record for Extra-Vehicular Activity in space on the Gemini XII orbital flight mission. Aldrin has logged 4500 hours of flying time, 290 of which were in space, including eight hours of EVA. As Backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo VIII, mankind's first flight around the moon, Aldrin significantly improved operational techniques for astronautical navigation star display. Then, on July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo XI moon walk, thus becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. This unprecedented heroic endeavor was witnessed by the largest worldwide television audience in history.

Upon returning from the moon, Aldrin embarked on an international goodwill tour. He was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, only the highest honor among more than 50 other distinguished awards and medals he has received from the United States and numerous other countries.

Aldrin was born in Montclair, New Jersey on January 20, 1930. His mother, Marion Moon, was the daughter of an Army chaplain. His father, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, was an aviation pioneer, a student of rocket developer Robert Goddard and an aide to the immortal General Billy Mitchell. Buzz Aldrin was educated at West Point, graduating with honors in 1951, third in his class. After receiving his wings, he flew Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions in the Korean Conflict, shooting down two MIG-15's. Returning to his education, he earned a Doctorate in Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The manned space-rendezvous techniques he devised were used on all NASA missions, including the first space docking with the Russian Cosmonauts.

Since retiring from NASA, the Air Force, and his position as Commander of the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Aldrin has remained at the forefront of efforts to ensure a continued leading role for America in manned space exploration. To advance his lifelong commitment to venturing outward in space, he created a master plan of evolving missions for sustained exploration through his concept, "The Cycler," a spacecraft system making perpetual orbits between Earth and Mars.

In 1993, Aldrin received a U.S. patent for a permanent space station he designed. More recently, he founded his own rocket design company, Starcraft Boosters, Inc., as well as the ShareSpace Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to opening the doors to space tourism for all people.

Aldrin has shared his vision for the future of space travel by authoring two novels that dramatically portray humanity's discovery of the ultimate frontier: The Return (Forge Books, 2000) and Encounter with Tiber (Warner Books, 1996). He has also authored an autobiography, Return to Earth, and a historical documentary, Men from Earth, which describes his trip to the moon and his unique perspective on America's space program.

Aldrin continues lecturing and traveling throughout the world to pursue and discuss the latest concepts and ideas for exploring the universe. He is a leading voice in charting the course of future space efforts from planet Earth.

On Valentine's Day 1988, Aldrin married Lois Driggs Cannon of Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Stanford graduate, an active community leader in Southern California and personal manager of all her husband's endeavors. Their combined family is comprised of six grown children and one grandson. The family spends their leisure time exploring the deep-sea world of scuba diving and skiing the mountaintops of Sun Valley, Idaho.

ROBERT PATRICK (Louie) in Fly Me to the Moon

ROBERT PATRICK (Louie) is a steely-eyed master of his craft who commands the screen with his powerful, confident presence. The veteran actor is best known for his performance as the T-1000 assassin in James Cameron's box-office smash, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He can currently be seen starring as Colonel Tom Ryan in CBS' hit action-drama "The Unit," produced by David Mamet and Shawn Ryan. The show follows a team of American covert operatives and explores the ways their dangerous job affects their lives. Patrick was recently seen in Paramount's comedy Strange Wilderness, about a television nature show that goes in search of Bigfoot in a desperate attempt to boost ratings.

Patrick was recently seen in Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood's Golden Globe-nominated WWII epic focusing on the battle for Iwo Jima and the iconic photograph of the U.S. flag raisers. He also appeared alongside an all-star cast headed by Matthew McConaughey in We Are Marshall.

Born in Marietta, Georgia, Patrick was an avid athlete growing up but became taken with acting after sitting in on drama classes in high school. He moved to Hollywood in 1984 and was cast in the beatnik play "Go." Patrick got his break during this performance when he was discovered by legendary producer and director Roger Corman.

Other film credits include The Marine, alongside John Cena; Firewall, with Harrison Ford; and the Golden Globe-winner Walk the Line, in which Patrick played Johnny Cash's father for director James Mangold. He starred as a heroic firefighter alongside John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix in Ladder 49.

Patrick also appeared in Spy Kids, opposite Antonio Banderas; All the Pretty Horses, starring Matt Damon and directed by Billy Bob Thornton; Copland, alongside Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro; Eye See You, also with Stallone; Striptease, with Demi Moore; and the independent film The Only Thrill, opposite Diane Keaton, Diane Lane, and Sam Shepard. Other films include Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle, The Faculty, From Dusk Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, A Texas Funeral, Fire In the Sky, Double Dragon: The Movie, Decoy, The Last Gasp and Hong Kong '97. Patrick also made an impression with his chilling appearance in Rosewood, appearing as a personal favor to filmmaker John Singleton.

Television audiences may best remember the actor's turn as Agent John Doggett from the last two seasons of the cult-classic series "The X-Files," but Patrick has an extensive small-screen resume. He received critical acclaim for his high-profile performance in the second season of "The Sopranos." He was also featured in an episode of "The Outer Limits," the TNT original "Bad Apple" and the CBS mini-series "Elvis," in which Patrick played Elvis's father.

Always involved in all aspects of his trade, Patrick enjoys producing films when he is not performing. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Barbara and their two children.

TIM CURRY (Yegor) in Fly Me to the Moon

TIM CURRY (Yegor) is an acclaimed British actor and two-time Tony Award nominee who first came to the attention of American audiences in his motion picture debut, the cult phenomenon The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He has gone on to a diverse career with film credits that include Kinsey, Charlie's Angels, Scary Movie 2, The Scoundrel's Wife, Addams Family Reunion, McHale's Navy, The Muppets' Treasure Island, Congo, The Shadow, The Three Musketeers, Loaded Weapon 1, Home Alone 2, Passed Away, Oscar, The Hunt for Red October, Pass the Ammo, Clue, Legend, The Ploughman's Lunch, Annie, Times Square and The Shout.

On television, Curry has been seen in numerous mini-series and telefilms, including the starring role as William Shakespeare in "Life of Shakespeare" and as Theodosius in "Attila" for USA Network. Other television credits include "Jackie's Back!" for Lifetime, "Titanic" for CBS, "It" for ABC, "The Worst Witch" for HBO and "Oliver Twist" for CBS. He also starred in several telefilms for the BBC, including "Three Men in a Boat," directed by Stephen Frears, "Napoleon and Love" and "Schmoedipus." Curry was a member of the initial cast of "Family Affair" and "Over the Top" as well as a series regular on "Wiseguy." He has had recurring roles on the series "Rude Awakening" and "Earth 2." Curry has also been a guest host of "Saturday Night Live."

As a stage actor, Curry earned Tony Award nominations for his Broadway roles in "Amadeus," in which he played Mozart, and "My Favorite Year." He also starred in Broadway's "Travesties." On the London stage, Curry starred in the Royal National Theater productions "Pirates of Penzance," "The Rivals," "Love for Love" and "The Threepenny Opera." Curry also starred in both the London and Broadway productions of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Fly Me to the Moon 3D filmmaking

Fly Me to the Moon 3D filmmaking

A trailblazer in the now red-hot field of 3D filmmaking, director Ben Stassen has been making movies in three dimensions for 14 years, building his nWave Pictures into the leading supplier of 3D films in the world. Fly Me to the Moon is the culmination of a long-held dream for Stassen-the first feature length animated film conceived and created as a 3D experience.

Stassen and nWave, the production company he co-founded in 1994, have produced nearly a quarter of all films ever made in 3D IMAX, including 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, Wild Safari 3D and Haunted Castle. It is estimated that 250,000 people watch an nWave film every day, despite the fact that most of these films can only be seen in limited venues such as science centers, museums and other specialized sites. Fly Me to the Moon is the very first animated feature film created and designed in 3D, produced in 3D for a 3D-only release.

"Without taking ourselves too seriously, it's like we're pioneers," says Stassen. "Some people treat 3D as a mere evolution, like going from black and white to color. But I believe that 3D is a revolution in the history of cinema. There has been only one previous revolution, when movies went from silent to talkies. After that transition, everything was different-scripts, casting, editing and pacing-and cinema became a new language. 3D cinema is another brand new language."

Filmmakers have been experimenting with 3D technology almost as long as films have been made. The legendary Lumière brothers experimented with it in their early 20th century forays into moviemaking, and the first confirmed public showing of a movie in 3D to a paying audience was in Los Angeles in 1922. During the early 1950s, and again in the 1980s, major Hollywood studios turned out a spate of films in 3D, but they were largely viewed as novelties.
A turning point for recent interest in the technology was the 2003 release of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, says Stassen, which was followed by the 3D IMAX version of Polar Express. "That was a milestone. It grossed $45 million in just four theaters. Hollywood woke up to the fact that people will flock to 3D cinema, and that got the ball rolling again."

Even though neither film was originally shot in 3D, their successes were enough to capture the imagination of the entertainment industry. With almost 15 years of creating documentaries and motion simulation ride films under his belt, Stassen decided it was time to find a feature film script that he could translate into this new cinematic language.

"I wanted to tell a story that would be told very differently than it would in 2D," says the director. "The 3D technique turns something that is predictable into something that's really magical."

While Stassen strongly believes 3D cinema is on the verge of becoming a major force in the out-of-home entertainment market, he's keenly aware that not every story lends itself to 3D. nWave spent two years in search of just the right script before discovering Domonic Paris' screenplay Fly Me to the Moon.

"It was perfect in terms of both its content and its form," says the director. "It has a cute take on a landmark event-mankind's first steps on the moon-and it's one we could tell in a fresh and new way in 3D."

Charlotte Huggins, nWave president and producer of Fly Me to the Moon, concurs: "It had everything we were looking for. Unlike scripts that are written with an in-your-face 3D 'punch line' every few pages, Fly Me to the Moon has elements and environments that lend themselves well to a compelling use of 3D space throughout the story. It takes place in three different worlds: the human world, the macro world of outer space and the world from the flies' perspective, which is incredibly cool visually for 3D. And on a practical level, there was simplicity in terms of the number of characters, so we could produce it with our 50 or so animators instead of needing over 200."

Paris and his production company, Illuminata, originally planned to make the story of three thrill-seeking insects into a traditional 2D animated film. Once he teamed up with nWave, Paris got a crash course in 3D and learned there were certain guidelines to writing an effective 3D script that required him to make a few key revisions to his screenplay. "Because this is truly the first animated movie fully conceived for a 3D environment, I had to be aware of things that a writer doesn't normally deal with, like camera moves," says Paris. "Everything has to be organic to the storytelling. If you treat 3D as a gimmick, people will see it as one."

For the screenwriter, learning to factor in the physical element of 3D was crucial. "People will lean left and right to try to see around objects floating in front of them, which of course, they can't really do," he adds. "So you don't have dialogue exchanges as quickly as you would in a 2D landscape. And you have to be very careful you are not dispensing important dialogue as characters are really popping off the screen. Otherwise, the audience may miss what's being said because of the impact of the visuals."

Although it is important to keep the 3D presentation in mind during the writing process, Stassen says, a script should never be written specifically for 3D. "If a writer writes for 3D, he will just write effects," he says. "We rewrote the script more for storytelling reasons. We focused on dialogue and also enhanced sequences that would be really great in 3D, not in terms of effects, but in terms of the audience's sense of really being there.

"For instance, we created a very long sequence when the astronauts take their first steps on the moon, and it has paid off. In preliminary screenings, audiences have been mesmerized. They feel like they're physically present on the lunar surface with the astronauts."

Another highlight is what the filmmakers refer to as "the 'Blue Danube' scene," in which the flies experience weightlessness for the first time and perform a ballet to Johann Strauss' famous waltz, echoing the famed scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. "It was just two lines in the script," says the director. "It ended up being a three-minute sequence without any dialogue and no cuts."

In order to create the kind of immersive experience he strives for, Stassen says he had to "break the frame around the picture." "Basically, 2D filmmakers have been using the screen as a window through which they show the story. Most 3D films released to date also used the screen as a window. The filmmaker creates perspective behind the window and throws things at the audience in front of the window. They're just adding a 3D layer to a 2D movie. People see it as a gimmick and get tired of it very quickly.

"When I'm making a 3D film, I don't want to use the screen as a window, but rather as a cinematic space into which we transport the audience," says Stassen. "This is a major distinction in the way you position the viewer. You're not just adding depth and perspective to a 2D image. Instead of telling a story through a window, you're giving the audience a very strong immersive experience."

The filmmakers go one step further by filming certain scenes as if the audience is seeing them from the flies' point of view. "In 'fly-vision' 3D, the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary," explains the director. "We use not just a normal perspective, but also 'macro vision,' where you see things from a fly's perspective. To the flies in this film, the human environment around them appears gigantic. If a fly lands in a cup of coffee, it becomes a giant swimming pool. A head of hair is a dense forest."

This also gave the filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their expertise in motion simulation. "We tried to build the feeling of a ride into the movie," says Paris. "For example, early in the movie, when we fly over a junkyard, it has almost a roller coaster feel. And again later, after the malfunction on the ship, they open a little door and zip through the wires and electronics. It helps to create the feeling of complete immersion."

The fact that the film's central characters are flies turned out to have a number of advantages for 3D. "One of the most challenging things about 3D is that when an object breaks frame-that is, when an actor or object touches the edge of the screen-the 3D effect is destroyed," Stassen explains. "A human is always standing on something. Whether it's a road, or a ladder, whatever they're standing on will touch the edge of the screen. That's why theme park attractions use arrows and other things that can come at you and are not attached to the environment. It's also why space and underwater are settings that lend themselves so well to 3D.

Paris explains the basics of 3D filmmaking this way: "In simple terms, to create 3D, you need two cameras. It's like a left eye and right eye. In our case, because it's animation, they are virtual cameras within the computer software. How you place those cameras in relationship to actors or objects creates 3D."

The secret to eliminating what Stassen calls "the window effect" is to shoot with the two cameras in parallel rather than the more commonly used converging cameras. "When cameras converge, both will see the same image at the screen plane level," says Stassen. "Whatever is behind the plane will be in perspective and whatever is in front will be coming off the screen. When you project this, the right eye and left eye have the same image of the screen plane.

"If you put cameras parallel, you don't have a window anymore," he goes on. "You create a space. It's really a drastic difference. You can take the audience and transport them into the middle of the scene. By using this approach, we've tried to create a film where we're taking the audience along on a trip to the moon."

The result, says Paris, is a unique cinematic experience. "Everything is coming off the screen," he says. "The perceived border of the screen moves to a position behind the audience so they are completely immersed in the 3D environment."

nWave Pictures' entry into feature filmmaking comes at a time when the industry is recognizing the value of 3D digital projection to attract audiences to theaters, says Stassen. "To me, there is as much difference between a standard feature film and a 3D film as there is between a film and a video game. You can relate to a 2D film intellectually and emotionally. With 3D, you add a physical level. Not just big, in-your-face effects, but the feeling that you've been transported into the movie.

"3D is truly a different type of cinema," says Stassen. "You feel like you are literally in the environment-almost a part of the story. I'm not suggesting that every feature film released in the future will or should be in 3D," he says. "But I think once audiences get a taste of good 3D presentations in their local multiplex, there's going to be pressure to create more event movies in stereo."

Fly Me to the Moon Synopsis

Fly Me to the Moon 3-D
(A 1969 Space Story)

The year is 1969. Nat the fly loves listening to his grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) tell stories of adventures from his youth. Desperate to experience some derring-do of his own, Nat convinces two of his friends to stow away on Apollo 11. The high-flying trio have the adventure of a lifetime when they must prevent a Russian bug (Tim Curry) from sabotaging the mission.

Production notes

FLY ME TO THE MOON SYNOPSIS

"It took a monkey to get man into space, but it will take three flies to get them back!"
Three tiny explorers make history in the action-packed outer space adventure Fly Me to the Moon, the first-ever animated feature film designed, created and produced entirely in 3D. Fly Me to the Moon takes the historic Apollo 11 moon mission and turns it into a launch pad for a family comedy that introduces a new generation to NASA's ultimate achievement as a trio of tween-aged houseflies stow away aboard the first manned flight to the moon.

A funny, heartwarming journey that bucks the conventional wisdom that "dreamers get swatted," Fly Me to the Moon features an all-star voice cast including Kelly Ripa ("Live with Regis and Kelly"), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Nicollette Sheridan ("Desperate Housewives"), Tim Curry ("The Wild Thornberrys"), Ed Begley Jr. (For Your Consideration), Adrienne Barbeau ("Carnivàle), Trevor Gagnon ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"), Philip Daniel Bolden (Are We There Yet?), David Gore (Nomad), Robert Patrick (Bridge to Terabithia) and real-life Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Directed by Ben Stassen and written by Domonic Paris, Fly Me to the Moon is produced by Charlotte Huggins, Gina Gallo Paris, Mimi Maynard and Caroline Van Iseghem.

Every American school child knows the story of the summer of 1969, when Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins made the first manned moon landing in the Apollo 11 lunar module. But lost to history until now is the story of the mission's unsung heroes, Nat (Trevor Gagnon), IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden) and Scooter (David Gore), three young flies whose quick thinking and courage saved the mission from sure disaster.

Young Nat grew up listening to his Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) relive his audacious rescue of Amelia Earhart as she crossed the Atlantic on her historic flight. Inspired by Grandpa's derring-do and eager for an unforgettable adventure of his own, Nat convinces his two best friends to join him as stowaways aboard NASA's historic moon mission.

Thinking the trip will be over in a matter of minutes, the fly boys-and their earthbound families-are shocked to learn they will be in space for a week. When a Ground Control official catches sight of the three winged stowaways, he instructs the astronauts to store them in a test tube for later study. But after an electrical short causes the ship's engine to malfunction, the three intrepid insects manage to escape from their glass mini-brig just in time to discover the wiring problem and fix it.

After a difficult lunar landing, Nat tags along with Neil Armstrong on his legendary moon walk. The mission appears to be a success, until Grandpa's old flame Nadia (Nicollette Sheridan) arrives from Russia to warn him that her government, angry over losing the space race, has dispatched fly-spy Yegor (Tim Curry) to Cape Canaveral to sabotage the computer flight plans. With the Apollo 11 hurtling toward Earth, it's up to Nat's family to save the mission-and the trio of brave flies-from disaster.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA - Writer-Director Woody Allen

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Writer-Director Woody Allen

What's New Pussycat? 1965/screenwriter, actor
What's Up, Tiger Lily? 1966/co-screenwriter, actor
Casino Royale 1967/actor
Take the Money and Run 1969/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Don't Drink the Water 1969/co-screenwriter
Bananas 1971/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask 1972/director, screenwriter, actor
Play It Again, Sam 1972/screenwriter, actor
Sleeper 1973/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Love and Death 1975/director, screenwriter, actor
The Front 1976/actor
Annie Hall 1977/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee (& winner), Best Director
Academy Award nominee (& winner), Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award nominee, Best Actor
Interiors 1978/director, screenwriter
Academy Award nominee, Best Director
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Manhattan 1979/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Stardust Memories 1980/director, screenwriter, actor
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy 1982/director, screenwriter, actor
Zelig 1983/director, screenwriter, actor
Broadway Danny Rose 1984/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Director
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
The Purple Rose of Cairo 1985/director, screenwriter
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Hannah and Her Sisters 1986/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Director
Academy Award nominee (& winner), Best Original Screenplay
Radio Days 1987/director, screenwriter, narrator
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
September 1987/director, screenwriter
Another Woman 1988/director, screenwriter
New York Stories
("Oedipus Wrecks") 1989/director, screenwriter, actor
Crimes and Misdemeanors 1989/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Director
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Alice 1990/director, screenwriter
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Scenes from a Mall 1991/actor
Shadows and Fog 1992/director, screenwriter, actor
Husbands and Wives 1992/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Manhattan Murder Mystery 1993/director, co-screenwriter, actor
Bullets Over Broadway 1994/director, co-screenwriter
Academy Award nominee, Best Director
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Don't Drink the Water 1994/director, screenwriter, actor
(made-for-television movie)
Mighty Aphrodite 1995/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Everyone Says I Love You 1996/director, screenwriter, actor
Deconstructing Harry 1997/director, screenwriter, actor
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
The Sunshine Boys 1997/actor
(made-for-television movie)
Antz 1998/actor (voice)
The Impostors 1998/actor (cameo)
Celebrity 1998/director, screenwriter
Sweet and Lowdown 1999/director, screenwriter, on-camera interviewee
Small Time Crooks 2000/director, screenwriter, actor
Picking Up the Pieces 2000/actor
Company Man 2001/actor (cameo)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion 2001/director, screenwriter, actor
Hollywood Ending 2002/director, screenwriter, actor
Anything Else 2003/director, screenwriter, actor
Melinda and Melinda 2004/director, screenwriter
Match Point 2005/director, screenwriter
Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay
Scoop 2006/director, screenwriter, actor
Cassandra's Dream 2007 director, screenwriter
Academy Awards summary
Nominated six times for Best Director; won for Annie Hall
Nominated fourteen times for Best Original Screenplay; won for Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters
Nominated one time for Best Actor
Two films nominated for Best Picture; won for Annie Hall

CHRIS MESSINA as Doug

Chris Messina is currently shooting the Nora Ephron film, JULIE AND JULIA, in which he stars opposite Amy Adams. The film also stars Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci based on Julia Child's memoir "My Life in France."

Messina has just signed on to star in the upcoming untitled Sam Mendes comedy film about a couple who decide to travel around the US trying to find the perfect place to start their family. The film features comedic stars Toni Collette, John Krasinski, Cherly Hines, Allison Janney and Maya Rudolph.

Messina can also be seen in the romantic comedy MADE OF HONOR opposite Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan. Comedy arises when a man falls in love his best friend who is engaged and tries to win her over after she asks him to be her maid of honor. Messina will soon be seen in Alan Ball's feature film directorial debut TOWELHEAD, in which he co-stars as the boyfriend to Maria Bello's character, a man with a limited sense of propriety and responsibility.

TOWELHEAD premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews.

He previously shot J.J. Abrams' HOPE AGAINST HOPE for HBO, based on the book "The Anatomy of Hope" by Jerome Groopman. In this extraordinary new pilot set in the oncology ward of a hospital, Messina plays an experienced oncologist whose life is affected by the fates of his patients. He was seen in 2007 starring as Ira in the "divorce comedy" IRA & ABBY opposite Jennifer Westfeldt, Fred Willard, Robert Klein, Judith Light, and Frances Conroy. The film won the audience award at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 2006.

Other upcoming films include HUMBOLDT COUNTY, in which he stars opposite Brad Dourif and Fairuza Balk, set in the world of pot growers in Northern California, and a cameo appearance opposite Julianne Nicholson in BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN, John Krasinski's directorial debut based on the acclaimed David Foster Wallace novel.

Messina first came to national attention for his performance in HBO's hit series SIX FEET UNDER's final season as Ted, the love interest to Claire played by Lauren Ambrose. Among his many stage appearances, he starred opposite Frances McDormand in Caryl Churchhill's "Far Away" at New York Theatre Workshop, directed by Stephen Daldry, and on Broadway appeared in "Salome" opposite Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei. Other notable plays include Adam Rapp's "Faster, This Thing of Darkness" for Craig Lucas at the Atlantic Theatre Company, "Blur" at Manhattan Theatre Club, and "Good Thing" for director Jo Bonney at The New Group, and Frank Pugliese's "Late Night, Early Morning," which premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Theatre Festival and won the Jury Award for Best Theater at the 2005 Aspen Comedy Festival.
Messina currently resides in New York City.

SCARLETT JOHNASSON as Cristina

With more than a decade of work under her belt, four-time Golden Globe nominee and BAFTA winner, Scarlett Johansson has proven to be one of Hollywood's most talented young actresses. Johansson received rave reviews and a Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival for her starring role opposite Bill Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION, the critically-acclaimed second film by director Sofia Coppola.

In May 2008 she will debut her album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head," a collection of Tom Waits covers featuring one original song. She recently wrapped production on her directorial debut, a short film called, NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU. She also wrapped production on two films; HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU and THE SPIRIT. HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU is slated for an October 2008 release, and THE SPIRIT is scheduled to be released in January 2009. She was last seen playing Mary Boleyn opposite Natalie Portman in THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL.

At the age of 12, Johansson attained worldwide recognition for her performance as Grace Maclean, the teen traumatized by a riding accident in Robert Redford's THE HORSE WHISPERER. She went on to star in Terry Zwigoff's GHOST WORLD, garnering a Best Supporting Actress Award from the Toronto Film Critics Circle. Johansson was also featured in the Coen Brothers' dark drama THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand.

Her other film credits include the critically acclaimed Weitz brothers' film IN GOOD COMPANY, as well as opposite John Travolta in A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG, which garnered her a Golden Globe nomination (her third in two years.) and Woody Allen's MATCH POINT, which garnered her 4th consecutive Golden Globe nominee in three years. Other film credits include GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING opposite Colin Firth, THE ISLAND opposite Ewan McGregor, Brian DePalma's THE BLACK DAHLIA, Christopher Nolan's THE PRESTIGE and THE NANNY DIARIES.

Her additional credits include Rob Reiner's comedy NORTH; the thriller JUST CAUSE, with Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne; and a breakthrough role at the age of 10 in the critically-praised MANNY & LO, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead.

A New York native, Johansson made her professional acting debut at the age of eight in the off-Broadway production of "Sophistry," with Ethan Hawke, at New York's Playwright's Horizons.
Johansson currently divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.

REBECCA HALL as Vicky

Rebecca Hall is one of the world's most intriguing young talents.

Hall will soon be seen as Caroline Cushing in Ron Howard's FROST/NIXON, based on Peter Morgan's screenplay about the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. She is currently working on Nicole Holofcener's untitled new dramatic comedy, starring alongside Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet.

Last year, Hall starred opposite Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Hugh Jackman in Christopher Nolan's THE PRESTIGE, a tale of two turn-of-the-century London magicians whose rivalry jeopardizes the lives of everyone around them. In Tom Vaughn's STARTER FOR TEN, a coming-of-age comedy about university students struggling to find themselves while learning the differences between knowledge and wisdom, Hall starred opposite James McAvoy.

Hall received wide acclaim for her performance as Rosalind, Shakespeare's love conflicted heroine in Peter Hall's production of "As You Like It," which began at The Theatre Royal Bath in 2003 and was followed by an international tour. It was revived in 2005 at the Rose Theatre in Kingston and subsequently ran at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theater and the Curran Theater in San Francisco. In summer 2004, she starred in three productions at the Theatre Royal, Bath: as the title role in Timberlake Wertenbaker's "Galileo's Daughter," (d: Peter Hall), Elvira in Simon Nye's version of the Moliere comedy "Don Juan" (d: Thea Sharrock) and as Ann Whitfield in Shaw's epic "Man and Superman" (d: Peter Hall). In summer 2003, she starred as Barbara in D.H. Lawrence's "Fight for Barbara" (d: Thea Sharrock) at the Theatre Royal, Bath. For her West End debut as Vivie, the tough minded daughter in "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (Strand Theatre, premiered October 2002), Hall garnered the Ian Charleson Award. In 2003, she was again nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for "As You Like It."

Hall's television credits include Brendan Maher's WIDE SARGASSO SEA (BBC 4), EINSTEIN AND EDDINGTON (HBO/BBC Films) with David Tennant and Andy Serkis, JOE'S PLACE (HBO/BBC Films) with Michael Gambon, Peter Hall's acclaimed adaptation of Mary Wesley's novel THE CAMOMILE LAWN for Channel 4 and DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY, directed by Stuart Orme.

KEVIN DUNN as Mark Nash

Kevin is a very busy actor in both television and film. He most recently starred in the highly successful 2007 summer blockbuster, TRANSFORMERS. Kevin plays Shia Labeouf's quirky, house-tinkering, do it yourself dad, Ron Witwicky (opposite Julie White). He will reprise his role in the sequel, which starts shooting this summer (2008).

Kevin is currently starring on the wildly lauded ABC sitcom, SAMANTHA WHO? where he plays Christina Applegate's father. The show has received incredibly high ratings and has really pushed Kevin's presence into the spotlight. The show is coming into its second season strong, as it has amassed quite an audience. People have really fallen in love with Kevin's character on the show.

Kevin had a very memorable cameo appearance as a news station director opposite Meryl Streep in LIONS FOR LAMBS. Kevin also starred in THE GRIDIRON GANG directed by Phil Joanou and produced by Neil Moritz. He played alongside The Rock as the director for a recreation center.

Kevin's previous work includes such classics as DAVE, where he co-starred with Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. Kevin also starred in such films as NIXON, CHAPLIN, and BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES.

PENÉLOPE CRUZ as Maria Elena

Academy Award nominee Penélope Cruz has proven herself to be one of the most versatile, young actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters, and most recently becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated for an Academy Award.

First introduced to American audiences in the Spanish films JAMON, JAMON and BELLE EPOQUE, in 1998 she starred in her first English language film, HI-LO COUNTRY for director Stephen Frears opposite Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette and Billy Crudup. In 1999, Cruz won the Best Actress award at the 13th Annual Goya Awards given by the Spanish Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for her role in Fernando Trueba's THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS.

Confirming her status as Spain's hottest international actress, Cruz landed the coveted role opposite Matt Damon in the film adaptation of ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, directed by Billy Bob Thornton. Next, she portrayed Isabella, in WOMAN ON TOP for Fox Searchlight. The film was a whimsical tale of a gifted gourmand who journeys across the world in search of success, but ultimately finds herself.

Other featured credits include her starring role in the thriller OPEN YOUR EYES, TWICE UPON A YESTERDAY, Pedro Almovodar's LIVE FLESH and TALK OF ANGELS. Additionally, Cruz co-starred in Pedro Almovodar's critically acclaimed ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER which was awarded the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

Up next for Penélope was BLOW for director Ted Demme. The film portrayed the true story of how cocaine became the designer drug in the U.S. in the early 70's seen through the eyes of an American, played by Johnny Depp, who became one of the biggest traffickers for reputed drug kingpin Carlos Escobar. Cruz portrayed Depp's wife. She next starred opposite Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale in CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN. The film, directed by John Madden, was shot in Greece and is based on Louis de Bernieres' bestselling novel set during WWII.

Penélope starred opposite Tom Cruise in the erotic thriller VANILLA SKY. The film also starred Cameron Diaz and Jason Lee and was directed by Cameron Crowe. She then tackled MASKED & ANONYMOUS, FAN FAN LA TUIPE, which opened the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and DON'T TEMPT ME. She received rave reviews for her eagerly awaited performance in DON'T MOVE ("Non ti Muovere") in which she was honored with a David Di Donatello Award (Italian Oscar) and European Film Award for Best Actress.

Penélope's next films only added to her already brilliant and diverse choice of film credits. Recent films include GOTHIKA, in which she co-stared with Halle Berry and Robert Downy Jr; director John Duigan's romantic drama HEAD IN THE CLOUDS opposite Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend; NOEL opposite Susan Sarandon; and CHROMOPHOBIA with Ralph Fiennes. Penélope also co-stared with Matthew McConaughey and William H. Macy as Dr. Eva Rojas in the action packed film SAHARA.

In 2006, Penélope starred in VOLVER, which again teamed her with director and friend Pedro Almodovar. Critically acclaimed for her role as Raimunda, she won the "Best Actress" awards at the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Penélope's next film, THE GOOD NIGHT, written and directed by Jake Paltrow, opened in select theaters this past fall. Cruz next appears in ELEGY opposite Sir Ben Kingsley.

PATRICIA CLARKSON as Judy Nash

Academy Award nominated and Emmy winning actress, Patricia Clarkson has taken on roles as varied as the platform in which she plays them. Her comfort in taking on roles from motion pictures, television and the theatre has earned her great accolades and success, and has become one of today's most respected actresses in the entertainment industry.

Clarkson recently starred in Ira Sachs' MARRIED LIFE starring Clarkson, Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan. MARRIED LIFE is a romantic drama set in the 1940s about and adulterous man (Cooper) who plots his wife's (Clarkson) death instead of putting her through the humiliation of a divorce.

Prior to that, Clarkson was last seen in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL opposite Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer. LARS is the story of a timid man (Gosling) whose life changes dramatically when an Internet friend comes to visit. The beautiful, religious missionary is in fact an inanimate replica of a woman. Clarkson plays the doctor who is trying to help him.

This past January, Clarkson attended the Sundance Film Festival on behalf of Stanley Tucci's BLIND DATE and Daniel Banz's directorial debut PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND.

BLIND DATE centers around a couple (Tucci and Clarkson) who has suffers a tragedy and tries to rebuild their relationship by pretending to be other people by meeting on blind dates.
In PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND she stars opposite Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman and Elle Fanning. Clarkson plays the role of an unconventional drama teacher who tries to guide a rebellious little girl (Fanning).

Next, Clarkson will be seen in ELEGY opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper premiering at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Isabel Coixet, the film is based on the novel by Philip Roth about a cultural critic, played by Kingsley, who's life is thrown into disarray after an encounter with a student.

Additional credits include: ALL THE KING'S MEN, GOODNIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, THE DYING GAUL and THE WOODS, FAR FROM HEAVEN, PIECES OF APRIL, THE STATION AGENT, MIRACLE, HIGH ART, DOGVILLE, WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD, THE PLEDGE, THE GREEN MILE, EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN, THE DEAD POOL, ROCKET GIBRALTAR, TUNE IN TOMORROW, JOE GOULD'S SECRET, WENDIGO and Brian De Palma's THE UNTOUCHABLES, her film debut.

In 2003, Clarkson's work in two independent films earned her unparalleled recognition. She was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG Award, Broadcast Film Critics Award and an independent Spirit Award for her role in PIECES OF APRIL. In addition, the Sundance Film Festival awarded her the Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance in PIECES OF APRIL, THE STATION AGENT and ALL THE REAL GIRLS. Her performance in THE STATION AGENT earned her a SAG Award nomination for Best Actress and Best Ensemble Cast. The National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics named her Best Supporting Actress of the Year for her work in PIECES OF APRIL and THE STATION AGENT.

She also won best-supporting-actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics for her performance in Todd Haynes' FAR FROM HEAVEN. That role also earned her a nomination from the Chicago Film Critics Her performance as Greta in Lisa Cholodenko's HIGH ART earned her a nomination for an IFP Independent Spirit Award.
On television, Clarkson won an Emmy in 2002 and 2006 for her guest-starring role on HBO's acclaimed drama, SIX FEET UNDER.

Clarkson made her professional acting debut on the New York stage. Her theatre credits include "Eastern Standard" (on and off-Broadway), "Maidens Prayer" (for which she received Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award Nominations), "Raised in Captivity," "Oliver Oliver," "The House of Blue Leaves" and "Three Days of Rain." Her regional credits include performances at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, South Coast Repertory, and Yale Repertory.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Clarkson began acting in school plays in her early teens. After studying speech at Louisiana State University for two years, she transferred to Fordham University in New York, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in theatre arts. She earned her MFA at the prestigious Yale School of Drama, where she appeared in "Electra," "Pacific Overtures," "Pericles," "La Ronde," "The Lower Depths" and "The Misanthrope."
She currently lives in New York.

JAVIER BARDEM as Juan Antonio

Javier Bardem is the first Spaniard to have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, an honor he received for his portrayal of the Cuban poet and dissident Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel's BEFORE NIGHT FALLS. He was also named Best actor at the Venice Film festival for this role, which also won him Best Actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics, the Independent Spirit Award and the National Board of Review, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Javier has received a total of seven nominations and four wins for the Goya Award, which is the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar.

Most recently, Javier starred in the critically acclaimed film NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. For his role as the chilling Anton Chigurh, Bardem won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and NY Film Critics Award. The film won an Oscar for Best Picture, as did the Coen brothers for Best Director. The cast, which also includes Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson won a Screen Actors Guild for Best Ensemble as well as a National Board of Review Award.

In 2004 he went on to win another Best Actor Award from the Venice Film Festival (only one other actor has won the Best Actor Award twice in Venice) for his performance in Alejandro Amenabar's film THE SEA INSIDE. For this role, he also won a Goya Award and received a Golden Globe nomination. Bardem's other film credits include Luna's GOLDEN BALLS, THE TIT AND THE MOON, BETWEEN YOUR LEGS, DIAS CONTADOS (Best Actor, San Sebastian), MOUTH TO MOUTH, ECSTACY, Almodovar's LIVE FLESH, DANCE WITH THE DEVIL, WASHINGTON WOLVES and SECOND SKIN.

Javier Bardem was born March 1, 1969 in Las Palmas Gran Canarias (Canary Islands, Spain). His mother is Pilar Bardem, a respected actress who has worked continuously from the mid-60s to the present day, and his uncle was Juan Antonio Bardem, one of Spain's most celebrated directors, jailed by the Franco regime when his DEATH OF A CYCLIST won the critics prize in Cannes. Many other members of the Bardem family are also well-known actors, including his grandfather Rafael Bardem and grandmother Matilde Muñoz Sampedro.

Javier was four when his mother secured him a minor role in the Spanish mini-series EL PICASSO. As a youth, Bardem studied painting in the Escuela de Arte Y Officios Art School while playing small roles on TV. It was in the early 1990s when the Spanish director Bigas Luna offered him a role in THE AGES OF LULU that his acting career got seriously underway.
After a small role in Pedro Almodovar's HIGH HEELS, Bardem made his name in 1992 with a lead role in the film JAMON, JAMON. Bardem was nominated for the Best Actor Award at the San Sebastian film festival and won several other awards for his performance.

Recent works include in John Malkovich's directorial debut THE DANCER UPSTAIRS, Fernando Leon de Aranoa's MONDAYS IN THE SUN, which was named best film at the San Sebastian film festival, Michael Mann's COLLATERAL; GOYA'S GHOSTS opposite Natalie Portman and in LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.

In 2008, Javier was honored with the Montecito Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The jaunty tone of Vicky Cristina Barcelona

The jaunty tone of VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA is set by Giulia y Los Tellarini's catchy song "Barcelona," which plays often in the film. The tune found its way to Allen serendipitously. "People send me music all the time, but I rarely get a chance to listen to anything. One morning, as I was running out to go to the set, I grabbed it without even opening it and listened to it in the car on the way to the location. And I said, 'Hey, this is great! This is exactly what I want for the movie!' And it worked out well for everyone. They were grateful we were using their music, and my producer was happy that we weren't using something that would cost a lot of money like a George Gershwin song!"

All the shooting took place in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia and Spain's second largest city, on the Spanish east coast of the Mediterranean, as well as in Oviedo and Avilés, two cities in the Principality of Asturius on the north coast (approximately 400 miles away). The Barcelona locations are a virtual postcard of the city, notably the fantastically intricate architecture of Antoni Gaudí, including his famous Sagrada Familía, Parc Güell, and La Pedrera. One particularly memorable moment in the film is when Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall play out an entire scene from opposite sides of a mosaic lizard fountain in the Parc Güell. "We had to tamp down the amount of water flowing out of the lizard's mouth," says Allen. "You couldn't hear the dialogue!"

Other notable Barcelona sites include the Tibidabo Amusement Park, Hospital de Saint Pau, Fundació Joan Míro (The Míro Museum), Museu Nacional d'Art Catalunya, Port Olímpic, the Barcelona Airport (with its Míro wall mural), and La Rambla. "Barcelona has all the elements of a great European city in terms of beautiful architecture, but there's also something underneath the surface that is quite anarchic," says Hall. "The moment I got there I was staying up much later and going out and partying much more than I ever do anywhere else (on weekends, not work days, let it be known!). It's got a really strong spirit as a city and the people there are very proud of it-they like to define themselves as outside of Spain. It stands on its own with its unique culture and identity."

Gaudí's fervid architecture is a constant touchstone for the movie. His life's work, the spellbinding Sagrada Familía church, is one of the most celebrated unfinished works in art, and as such, is a supremely romantic building. It echoes Maria Elena's belief that only unfulfilled love is truly romantic.

"Denis de Rougemont wrote that once love is fulfilled, it's never romantic again," says Allen. "I think it can then have other qualities that lead one to a wonderful life, but it never has that romance." "I think there are many different kinds of 'romantic,'" says Johansson. "There's a romance that's very seductive and part of the kind of mating game, and then there's a deep romance of people who have been together for thirty years and still surprise one another, and are still learning about each other. I think that's terribly romantic."

"I think the film shows many kinds of love," says Johansson, "whether it's Maria Elena and Juan Antonio having this interminable, impossible sort of love or whether it's the love that Cristina has for Maria Elena and Juan Antonio, a sort of infatuation and an artistic expression of love. And Vicky's feelings for Juan Antonio are a very obsessive, fanatical kind of love. I think the film shows that all kinds of love are valid." "I think there are different aspects of love," says Bardem. "Love is as different as the people who feel it. I'd say I guess the movie wants to show some of those relationships with love in different people, different minds."

Allen thinks that VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA may say things about love that even he isn't aware of. "I have no profound things to say about love but by creating live characters, and having them interact, inferences can be made by people" he says. He continues, "there are probably things in the final film that are in spite of what I hoped to say-they may even contradict what I had on my mind, which is not that deep. On the other hand, I did have some points to make. Some things work for some people in some situations. One can't preconceive these things and one has to be more flexible when it comes to love."

Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem

In this film, as he has done since ANNIE HALL, Allen explores the success and failure of relationships through the psychology of the characters, rather than through the external devices of formulaic Hollywood love stories. "People are very complicated and relationships are very hard to sustain because people have incredibly detailed needs," says Allen. "And if these needs are not met, you get annoyed. It's exactly like Juan Antonio says in the movie, if there's one element missing, it can be like salt or something from your diet-you've got your Vitamin A and C and Niacin and Iron-but if you don't have some tiny little element, it can kill you. It could also be an added element that changes the chemistry, like the presence of a sibling, a mother, a best friend, a boss, a shrink, or a change of occupation. In the case of Juan Antonio and Maria Elena, the two of them fight like cats and dogs all the time even though they are passionately crazy about each other. But the presence of Cristina in the chemical equation somehow makes it possible for their relationship to work. They channel enough of their affection to Cristina and Cristina to them, and Cristina drains off some of the anger and irritation or makes it less heated."
Of the trio, Scarlett offers "I think they see in one another what they don't like to see in themselves, and Cristina provides a buffer for them. When they love her together it allows them to appreciate one another without having their relationship combusting." "For Maria Elena it's totally natural and normal to live with two people at the same time," says Cruz. "And inside a situation that is not common, she feels safe. Because she's so full of contradictions, it makes sense for her. It's a very peculiar way of thinking: she doesn't see Cristina as a threat for her relationship with Juan Antonio, she thinks Cristina brings balance into their relationship."
Allen teams for the third time with Scarlett Johansson, after MATCH POINT and SCOOP. "Every now and then in my professional life, I find an actress with the kind of gift that inspires me to create parts for," says Allen. "She's very smart, sexy, very gifted, and with a big range. And she's lightning fast with her sense of humor and is a phrase-maker which always impresses me." "I think Woody and I have a very similar sensibility and sense of humor certainly, and when I read his scripts I feel very connected to them," says Johansson. "I think we just appreciate each other as artists and we enjoy working together because we're always laughing and having a good time. It's wonderful to be able to work with your friends, and I think that's why we keep doing it."

Allen had never seen Penélope Cruz in a film until he saw her Oscar-nominated performance in Pedro Almodovar's VOLVER. "I just thought she was amazing," he says. "And of course I couldn't wait to get her for my movie. And then her agent called and said Penelope knew I was doing a movie in Spain and she called and said she knew I was doing a movie in Spain and wanted very much to be a part of it. To me, that was the greatest thing I could hear. Maria Elena is a force of nature, and that's what Penélope is. She's beautiful and amazingly sexy in a way that no other woman in the world is-a very special kind of beauty. And she's a tremendous actress and she conveys it. Of course it's overwhelming."

Javier Bardem, a recent Academy Award-winner for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, joined the cast as the flamboyant Juan Antonio. "He was maybe the only actor in the world who could have done this role for me," says Allen. "I needed a Spaniard who was sexy without being movie actor conventional pretty, but deeper than that. I've seen him in movies, and I thought he was just the greatest. I was thrilled to work with him-I didn't know that that would ever happen in my life."
For the role of Vicky, Allen looked for someone who had a contrasting personality to Johansson and Cruz. "[Casting Director] Juliet Taylor said you've got to meet Rebecca Hall," says Allen. "And as soon as I saw her I thought she was right. Rebecca has got a real beauty and dignity to her, and of course she's a wonderful actress."

Patricia Clarkson, another Academy Award nominee, plays Judy, Vicky and Cristina's host in Barcelona. "She is again another example of where I got the chance to work with an actress that I've loved for a long time," says Allen. "Judy represents the direction that Vicky could go eventually, when you get married to a safe guy and don't take the risk. If she had to do it over again, she would not have made that choice, or would she?"
While the actors (aside from Allen regular Johansson) felt a bit nervous about working with a filmmaker they admire, he soon set them at ease. "He is such a nice man," says Bardem. "Every time I needed him, he gave me the right answer, a very helpful answer for me to really understand what I had to do. And working with Woody Allen is like having jewels in your mouth. The dialogue is so brilliant and so very helpful for any actor to move ahead and find the reason of the scene through the words."

"With somebody else I would have been scared to play a character that approaches every situation with the same level of energy," says Cruz. "When you have a character that is so extroverted and so loud and brings so much chaos, I think, maybe because of fear, I wanted to do some of the scenes a little bit quieter. And I tried a couple of times to make things smaller and he said, 'No, she lives in that state permanently.' He gave me a clear direction-'Be brave!'-and I think he was completely right about that."

Allen decided to enlist a narrator (Christopher Evan Welch) to comment throughout the action of VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA as it unfolds. "The story has the quality of a tale," he says. "It's the story of what happens to these two girls in the summer. And I thought somebody should just relate it, and it would work that way. And it would save me a lot of boring expositional scenes, and the story could be moved quickly forward or in any way I wanted, by the narrator effortlessly."

Vicky Cristina Barcelona About the Production

About the Production

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA is a film that is indelibly linked to its location. "When I began writing the script, I wasn't thinking of anything other than creating a story that had Barcelona as a character," says Allen. "I wanted to honor Barcelona, because I love the city very much, and I love Spain in general," he says. "It's a city full of visual beauty and the sensibility of the city is quite romantic. A story like this could only happen in a place like Paris or Barcelona."

When the film's title characters Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) arrive for their summer in Barcelona, they are at very different stages in their lives. "Vicky has a plan ahead of her," says Hall. "She's getting married, she's getting her Master's, she's moving out of the city and she's going to have babies. She feels that everything is falling into place as expected." Cristina, on the other hand, is completely at loose ends: she just broke up with her boyfriend and has walked away from a short film she worked on for six months (and now hates). "Cristina is kind of a wandering lost soul," says Johansson. "She's aimless and doesn't really know what she wants. She's exploring her youth with no responsibility and coasting wherever the road takes her."

Allen sees contrasting advantages and trade-offs for the life choices the two women make. "A person who's more conventionally middle-class like Vicky, stands to have what most people would consider a happier life," says Allen. "It's a more structured, a more stable, and a more well-functioning life. It may not achieve any goals she has that are beyond it, but she'll have a good life with her husband, who's a nice guy, and it will be fine. Whereas a character like Cristina has less of a chance of satisfying herself, because she's always looking, and she only knows what she doesn't want. But she'll have a more varied menu, until maybe someday she'll get lucky and something will drop into her lap."

In Spain, Vicky and Cristina are drawn into a series of romantic entanglements involving two intense and passionate Spaniards, the painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) and his fiery ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz). Despite being head over heels in love, the two of them are always in bitter conflict for reasons neither one of them fully understand. "They tried many times to be together," says Cruz. "It always ended in a very bad way, but they keep trying." The pain from the failure of their relationship hangs heavily over Juan Antonio. "He's a man with a wound to be healed," says Bardem, "as a person, as an artist and in his relationship with Maria Elena. It's like there's a sign that is flashing over his body all the time. But his way of dealing with his fears is to face them." Juan Antonio's most conspicuous quality is his ability to speak with complete candor at all times. "He's not an ambivalent person," says Bardem. "That's why he's so direct. He needs to tell the truth and that creates some funny and also hard moments for other people."

While Juan Antonio is a no-nonsense and relatively easy-going person, Maria Elena is a whirling emotional tornado, endangering everyone in her path. "Maria Elena is great at everything-playing the piano, painting-but she can't really do anything with her life because she's too nuts," says Allen. "She's too full of passion, too full of feeling, and it ruins her from really accomplishing things in a certain sense. He continues, "She's too full of jealousy and willing to stick a knife in somebody because she feels so deeply about everything." Penélope Cruz thinks Maria Elena's problem is that she's unhappy: "She suffers tremendously. It's not easy for her to deal with her mind. All the chaos that she brings-I think she can't help herself. I don't think it's something she does just to get attention. It comes from being totally confused in many ways and very scared-and at the same time very brave."

The two worlds of the film collide when Juan Antonio approaches Vicky and Cristina in a restaurant with a proposal in his signature direct style: accompany him to the small Asturian town of Oviedo, where they will take in the local sights, eat and drink well, and all make love. "Vicky's thinking, 'Who is this horrid European artist sleazeball cliché?'" says Hall. "She wants to get Cristina away from him as quickly as possible." But as the story reveals, Vicky is mistaken in her judgment of Juan Antonio. He is a very unusual man and his offer is not the crude come-on it first appears to be.

"Juan Antonio is truly overwhelmed by their beauty and their personalities," says Bardem, "and he tries to create a different kind of relationship between the three of them. Sexuality is a very important experience for him, but it's not the end-it's the beginning of something much more important. He really has a different way of perceiving life. I guess from an ethical point of view that's not fair to everybody, but Juan Antonio's ethics are different from what some people might expect, and that's one of the keys to this story." Bardem and Allen agree. "He's thinking with no guile," says Allen. "He's a very decent guy and to him, lovemaking is just one part of life. A nice part of life."

While in Oviedo, Juan Antonio intuits that Vicky may not be clear-headed as she presents herself. "Vicky is seemingly together," says Hall, "but she's a little too vehemently 'together,' a little bit 'the lady doth protest too much.' She's capable of wanting all sorts of things which are much more romantic and wild, but it's hard for her to take risks because she has always been very in control and she doesn't trust herself when things are outside her control. She doesn't know how crazy she might go."

Allen believes that Vicky has difficulty with too much freedom. "She might flirt now and then with doing something more adventurous, but what she really wants is the safety of a less risky formula existence." Hall thinks Vicky's plight expresses one of the larger questions the film is posing about love. "I think Woody's looking into the tension between the fantasy-land of love and the real world," she says. "The things you live with as opposed to the things you dream about. And then what happens when your fantasies intrude on your 'real world.'"

Vicky Cristina Barcelona Synopsis

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Americans Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) arrive in Spain for a summer vacation at a friend's (Patricia Clarkson) Barcelona home. Visiting an art gallery, they meet seductive painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who invites them for a weekend of food, art and sex. Sparks really ignite when his fiery former lover (Penélope Cruz) arrives on the scene, making for a very crowded house.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Synopsis

Woody Allen's breezy new romantic comedy is about two young American women and their amorous escapades in Barcelona, one of the most romantic cities in the world.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are best friends, but have completely different attitudes towards love. Vicky is sensible and engaged to a respectable young man. Cristina is sexually and emotionally uninhibited, perpetually searching for a passion that will sweep her off her feet.

When Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and Mark (Kevin Dunn), distant relatives of Vicky, offer to host them for a summer in Barcelona, the two of them eagerly accept: Vicky wants to spend her last months as a single woman doing research for her Masters, and Cristina is looking for a change of scenery to flee the psychic wreckage of her last breakup.

One night at an art gallery, Cristina, true to form, instantly locks eyes on the most intense and provocative man in the room, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a handsome painter. Cristina is only more intrigued when Judy whispers that Juan Antonio had such an explosive relationship with his ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) that one of them tried to kill the other. Later that night, when Vicky and Cristina are having dinner, Juan Antonio approaches their table with a brazen proposition: fly with him for a weekend trip to the provincial town of Oviedo, where he suggests they explore the cultural wonders, drink fine wine, and make love together. Vicky finds his proposal obnoxious, but Cristina is enchanted by his directness and charisma, and persuades Vicky to accompany her.

During a day of sightseeing and fine dining in Oviedo, Juan Antonio speaks in reverential terms about the magnificent Maria Elena, the great love of his life. Despite their profound connection, their passions ran too high for them to be together. Once, things got so cataclysmic that Maria Elena stabbed him in a mad fit of jealousy.

That night, Juan Antonio invites the girls to his room-an offer Vicky adamantly refuses and Cristina willingly consents to. But just as Cristina and Juan Antonio are about to fall into bed, Cristina becomes ill, and it's Vicky who spends the remainder of the weekend alone with him. Juan Antonio takes Vicky to meet his father and opens his heart about his childhood hopes and his turbulent relationship with Maria Elena. Perceiving a deeper side to him, Vicky gradually sheds her misgivings, and during the romantic night before they leave Oviedo, Vicky and Juan Antonio make love.

After returning to Barcelona, Vicky can't stop thinking about Juan Antonio. Meanwhile he directs his romantic attentions to the available and willing Cristina, who soon moves in with him. When Vicky expresses her disappointment, he points out that as she's engaged, it would cause needless pain for everyone if they continued.

Indeed, Vicky's fiancé Doug (Chris Messina) arrives in Barcelona early, and the two are soon married. As Cristina and Juan Antonio settle into a dreamy life together, one night he is awakened by an alarming phone call-Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena is at the hospital after a suicide attempt. Returning home with the dazzlingly beautiful and tempestuous Maria Elena, Juan Antonio explains to a stunned Cristina that his she will have to stay with them for a few months, as she has nowhere else to go.

Jealous and suspicious, and subject to wild mood swings, Maria Elena misses no opportunity to bicker with Juan Antonio and put Cristina down. In time, she becomes more relaxed and settles into a warmer relationship with Juan Antonio and even mentors Cristina's pursuit of photography. Maria Elena tells Cristina that she is the "missing ingredient" that allows her to live happily with Juan Antonio. In a transition that is tranquil and natural, the three of them become lovers.

By chance at a party sometime later, Vicky sees Judy kissing Mark's business partner. After Judy tells Vicky that she hasn't been in love with Mark for years, Vicky reveals her feelings for Juan Antonio. Determined to rescue Vicky from her own fate, Judy tries to bring Vicky and Juan Antonio together. Meanwhile, Cristina, as always, is starting to get restless. As the summer draws to a close, Vicky and Cristina learn some hard lessons about love-and about themselves.
Set against the luscious Mediterranean sensuality of Barcelona, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA is Woody Allen's funny and wise meditation on love, in all its romance, exhilaration, heartache, and elusive mystery.

Production on HELL RIDE began in May of 2007

Production on HELL RIDE began in May of 2007. True to Bishop's AIP ventures, the HELL RIDE was filmed in the scorching California desert heat over a very brief twenty days. Tarantino felt that the film's budget should mirror what was available in the early days of the motorcycle film. He believed that monetary limitations would only enhance its biker movie authenticity. "It was Quentin's idea," Steinberg explains. "He wanted to make it for a price that it was a good financial deal. He wanted to keep it as authentic as possible. If you adjust for inflation, we probably had about the same amount as producers of the first wave of biker films."

"We could have done Larry's script for twice the budget. Being a fan of low budget movies, Quentin wanted us to do it super low budget, the way they used to do them. We were shooting an unbelievable amount of footage every day," Stein says.

Unfortunately, the high desert greeted the production with a wind storm that severely hampered their first week of filming. Nevertheless, the producers managed to keep the production on time and on budget, despite some obstacles imposed by Mother Nature.

"There were sixty mile per hour gusts," Steinberg recalls. "It was about 105 degrees. We were exposed to the elements. It was absolutely brutal, but nobody complained. When you're only shooting for twenty days, you get through the first week and you're a quarter done. It was also a nice bonding experience."

"We had one crew member say he worked in worse conditions, and that was in a mine in Illinois in February," Stein adds.

Justin Kell, who runs a vintage motorcycle shop called Glory, was approached by Steinberg early in the process to be a technical advisor on the film. He supplied many of the bikes in the movie, and trained Balfour. "He specializes in vintage motorcycles. He built the motorcycles and taught Eric Balfour how to ride."

Balfour, for one, had no prior experience riding a motorcycle. He also had the task of riding the most complicated vehicle, a 40s-era "Indian." When he wasn't taking a crash course in the biker cinema of the 60s and 70s, Balfour was learning how to ride his motorcycle in Griffith Park and on the streets of Los Angeles neighborhoods. "The bike had complicated mechanisms.

Fortunately for me I didn't know any better. I was just kind of dumb. It took some getting used to. Eventually I just really got comfortable on the bike."

Balfour's dedication impressed Madsen: "An Indian is a goofy bike because everything is on the wrong side. The throttle is on the left, and it has a foot clutch. It's tricky to ride one of those damn things. And you know what? He did it, and he's riding it, and that's not an easy thing to do. I'm really proud of him. I'm really happy that he's in the picture."

Madsen notes that the experience of acting on a bike made his usual trepidations subside: "Being an actor is a very neurotic thing to do for a living. Trying to sit at a table and do dialogue scenes is not fun. But if you can get on a Harley and ride around behind a camera truck, that's when my job is fun."

Bikes aside, the cast is quick to praise their director's sensitivity to the actor's process. He's an actor so he knows how to talk to actors," Jones says of Bishop. "He takes an emotional path into what's going on. He thinks in metaphors and images."

The production brought in veteran bikers to portray the "extras" in the film. "We got some great background guys," Madsen enthuses. "A couple of those guys ran with some pretty good gangs. They're not bogus background people--they're bikers. It's really good to have them in the movie. They've done a heck of a job."

The production was pleased that all of the actors involved in HELL RIDE

The production was pleased that all of the actors involved in HELL RIDE responded to the script and creative team above all else. "Because we had such a low budget, we weren't cast-contingent," Steinberg says. "I think there's a lot of affection for Quentin and for the genre itself. Dennis is famous for EASY RIDER. GLORY STOMPERS is a big favorite of everyone on the movie."

Casting Comanche, a role that Bishop intended to give to Tarantino, "was tricky, until Eric Balfour walked in the door." Bishop recalls. "I knew the second Eric Balfour walked in that exactly the guy I wanted for the part."

Balfour, who appeared on "24" and "Six Feet Under" was attracted to the rebel world of Bishop's screenplay. "HELL RIDE falls under this strange umbrella of a movie that takes place in the present time, but has its own reality, and its own space. None of the rules of our society, or our laws, or governing bodies apply to it. HELL RIDE is this story of revenge, and reconciliation. And it's a badass biker movie."

Vinnie Jones, a former soccer player in the English Football League, plays Billy Wings. "Vinnie Jones is hilarious," Stein says. "First of all, his enthusiasm and energy are fantastic. Secondly, he let us light him on fire twice. He wanted to do his own stunts. He wanted to go for it and he kept people in stitches the entire time."

"I guess you'd call 'The Deuce' the president of a club called 'The 666,'" David Carradine says of his character. "I'm the only guy in this whole movie that wears a suit, because I become a business man. I'm running a whole lot of games. I possess part of a secret that everybody wants to know."

"There are no good guys in this movie," Carradine adds. "There isn't anybody who's any better than anybody else. Bad guys have some meat to them. This has a certain amount of qualities of a Tarantino film in that they're all bad guys, but they all have a certain honorable streak about them."

"Larry and I worked together on KILL BILL, and I really got to like the guy," Carradine says of his writer-director. "He fashioned this little part for me which is really cool. The character's really cool, but it's also cool that for the first two-thirds of the picture, they're talking about me in almost every scene and you never see me. And then finally I show up, a little like in KILL BILL."

"Leonor Varela was someone we were always very interested in," Steinberg says of the actor who plays Nada. "We just thought that there weren't many actresses who could pull it off. It's very sexually aggressive, but not in a campy way. She is a mature woman, and we thought she could handle it. She by far surpassed any hopes we had for the role."

The role of Goody Two-Shoes is played by Michael Beach: "I'm the good cat. I'm the reliable cat. I'm the guy you can count on," Beach says of his character.

Julia Jones plays Cherokee Chism. Jones describes her character: "She is one of Pistolero's many loves. Much of the action of the movie takes place twenty-something years after she's died. She's very complicated. It's not a huge role but there are a lot of important pieces to her." A portion of Jones's involvement is as the film's seemingly omniscient narrator.

Jones found her way into HELL RIDE quickly, after co-star Eric Balfour recommended her for the role. "Eric called in the middle of the afternoon and said 'Where are you? What are you doing? Are you working on something? Are you in L.A.? Can you come down to set tomorrow?' I got on the phone with the producer, and I went into set the next day and read for Larry and the producers, and showed up on set three days later or four days later."

Finally, there's the role that went to the actress that brought Tarantino and Bishop together. "I've known Laura Coyouette for about ten or twelve years. I wrote the part of Dani for her. It kind of mirrors what the reality of our life is -- the way it intersects. She does a number of things for me, and that's what Dani does for Pistolero."

HELL RIDE star David Carradine

"There's a lot of consenting sex in this movie," HELL RIDE star David Carradine jokes. "When I first read the script I said to Larry, 'Where are you going to release this?'"

Michael Madsen was the first actor other than Bishop to be cast in HELL RIDE. The role of The Gent was designed specifically for Madsen.

"The Gent is supposedly famous for getting really, really nice right before he does something bad," Madsen explains of his character. "And that's how he got named 'The Gent,' because just when you think he's going to be your pal, he's going to put a bullet in your head."

His gentlemanly nature extends into his wardrobe-a black tuxedo. Madsen explains the character choice: "I thought it would be funny if I was wearing a tuxedo. First of all I've never seen anybody riding a motorcycle in a tuxedo before. I thought it would be funny-trying to add a little bit of a touch of humor to the movie in a crazy kind of way."

HELL RIDE marks Dennis Hopper's return to a genre that helped launch an estimable career. Hopper, who plays Eddie "Scratch" Zero, appeared in THE GLORY STOMPERS and co-wrote, directed and starred in EASY RIDER. "He was the perfect guy," Bishop says. "I actually told Dennis that I had met him in 1967 or 1968, and we were both hanging around Barney's Beanery. Dennis Hopper was in Barney's Beanery the night I was 86'd for life from Barney's Beanery. I was like eighteen or nineteen years old at the time, and I was trying to impress a couple of girls, so I was talking very loudly, and with a lot of profanity. I felt Barney's hand on my shoulder, and he said, 'Son, we don't allow language like that in here.' And he said, 'You're 86'd for life,' and I remember seeing Dennis Hopper's face. His was the last face that I actually saw as Barney was escorting me out." It was fitting for this project that Hopper's face would be embedded in Bishop's memory during a characteristic moment of rebellion.

"It was fun for us when we got the call that he wanted to do the movie," Stein says. "He's a great guy, and he's quite the raconteur. You know you've got a great set when Dennis Hopper is the sanest man on set. He was the square of the bunch."

Hell Ride's long, dusty road to the screen

HELL RIDE's long, dusty road to the screen began when one of the film's stars had a serendipitous encounter with her future executive producer.

"Five and a half years ago I get a call from Laura Cayouette, who plays Dani in HELL RIDE, at around midnight," Larry Bishop, HELL RIDE's writer, director, producer and star remembers. "She says she's standing next to Quentin Tarantino, and that he says he's my biggest fan. She says: 'He loves those motorcycle movies that you did decades ago.'"

Cayouette handed the phone over to Tarantino, and a friendship and working relationship were born. (Tarantino later wrote a memorable role for Bishop as Michael Madsen's employer in KILL BILL.) After their initial conversation, Tarantino organized a screening of THE SAVAGE SEVEN, one of Bishop's most notable biker films. The get-together led Tarantino to suggest that Bishop write his own ultimate motorcycle movie. The title of the movie, the involvement of HELL RIDE star Michael Madsen and even character names were discussed in that first meeting, long before Bishop wrote a single word: "Quentin gave me my name," Bishop recalls. "He said, 'You should be called Pistolero in this.' So I am Pistolero."

The films that enticed Tarantino were part of a wave of independently financed and distributed motorcycle sub-genre that brought the rebellious counter-cultural antics of bikers to b-movie enthusiasts. These low-budget, quickly-produced films helped launch the careers of many actors, including Larry Bishop, Bruce Dern, who toplined CYCLE SAVAGES, Dennis Hopper of THE GLORY STOMPERS and EASY RIDER, and even Tyne Daly, who starred with Bishop in ANGELS UNCHAINED.

"I was under contract to AIP -- American International Pictures," Bishop says of the roots of his impressive career. "I did about twelve movies for AIP, and about half of them were motorcycles movies. Relatives stop talking to you when they heard that you were doing these movies. Your parents stopped talking to you. They didn't want to know anything about these motorcycle movies."

Though a biker role might cause an actor to be ostracized, there were advantages to the extensive publicity tours that accompanied motorcycle fare: "I actually used to tour with these movies. AIP used to shoot these things in four weeks, and then you would tour for about six months, going to all the drive-in theaters. And it was a big kick to do that because I was only about eighteen or nineteen years-old. It was a ball."

The few details discussed at the fateful screening of THE SAVAGE SEVEN became the beginnings of Bishop's intense, dedicated screenwriting process. With the help of producers Michael Steinberg and Shana Stein, Bishop developed and wrote his script over the course of several years, long before and long after his role in KILL BILL had been filmed and released. "I've known Larry for about twelve years," Steinberg says. "We've stayed in touch over the years. I ran into him at a party that Quentin had thrown. He mentioned that he was interested in doing a biker movie. I told him that's one that I would definitely come on board for. I thought the idea of bringing the biker genre back was too good of an idea to pass up." Steinberg later brought in Stein to produce HELL RIDE with him.

Bishop's process even involved writing this story as a novel before turning it into a screenplay. "I decided to write a four hundred page novel," Bishop says. "It pleased me while I was writing it, but when we got into the actuality of the movie, I had to turn a lot of the wordplay into visual action."

"It was kind of a design piece. It was really cool," Steinberg says of HELL RIDE's first incarnation. "I went through the book and circled the stuff that would be good for the screenplay. We worked on developing a screenplay from this book."

"The first script we had was a massive epic with big battle scenes with 600 guys on bikes pulling up on bikes. We got our budget and said, 'OK, it'll be six guys," Stein jokes. "Larry measured every word and every description, almost like a poet. You have to be careful because if you take one line out of one place, the whole thing can fall apart. He understands every element, almost like an architect. His writing is definitely informed from the place of being an actor first."

Inspired by the work of his executive producer, Bishop blended influences and genres when crafting his script for HELL RIDE. "I love Sergio Leone's trilogy. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST influenced me quite a bit," Bishop says. "In fact, when I started writing HELL RIDE, I wanted to make an amalgamation of a biker movie and spaghetti western. It was an odd thing to hear but Quentin's take on it was that he saw me as kind of the John Wayne of motorcycle movie people."

Bishop also placed an emphasis on sexuality in his film, largely in part because of the limitations placed on the motorcycle sub-genre in the late 60s: "I definitely wanted to up the ante with the sexual quotient. When I made these films in 1967 through 1972, there was only a hint of sexiness. I thought that this was one of the things I always felt like could be improved upon given the nature of the movies that have been made since like 1972, prior to LAST TANGO IN PARIS."

Hell Ride: Michael Madsen, Larry Bishop

Hell Ride Movie

The leader (Larry Bishop) of a biker gang takes his most-trusted lieutenant (Michael Madsen) and a new recruit on a mission to avenge the murder of a comrade by rival bikers.

Production notes

- Notes provided by Weinstein Co. -

HELL RIDE is a raucous throwback to the days of the Sergio Leone spaghetti western, with a heaping helping of testosterone-fueled chopper action thrown into the mix. Writer/director Larry Bishop takes on a third role as Pistolero, head honcho of the Victors, a group of badass bikers who are out to avenge the murder of one of their members at the hands of the 666ers, a rival gang whose actions live up to their hellish moniker. Along with his cohorts, the Gent (deviously portrayed by Michael Madsen) and the mysterious Comanche (Eric Balfour), Pistolero aims to take down the Deuce and Billy Wings, menacing leaders of the 666ers, but a mutiny looms on the horizon when his commitment to profit is questioned by a few of his fellow Victors. An even larger story unravels when previously unknown information about Comanche resurrects ghosts from Pistolero's past.

Although there is enough sex, violence, and all-out machismo to keep grind-house fans firmly plastered to their seats, Bishop's take on the genre strays far from exploitation as he weaves a twisting, multilayered tale of revenge, loyalty, and brotherhood that is brought to life by a superb ensemble cast, with memorable performances by Dennis Hopper, Vinnie Jones, and David Carradine. In the words of Comanche, "The road to hell is paved with anything but good intentions."

MIRRORS was filmed almost entirely in Bucharest, Romania

Rife with suspense and rich with disquieting atmosphere, MIRRORS is fortified by an evocative production design that portends the horrific journey that awaits Ben Carson and his family.

MIRRORS was filmed almost entirely in Bucharest, Romania, with the exception of key exteriors, which were shot in New York. Bucharest was selected by the filmmakers because of its formidable Academy of Sciences building, a massive structure commissioned by oppressive Communist leader Nikolae Ceausescu, which was left unfinished following his death in 1989.
Writer-director Alexandre Aja envisioned the Academy as the setting for the ominous, fire-ravaged Mayflower department store. "This building is so phenomenal, it could not be recreated on a stage," says Aja, who had visited the location several years ago while scouting for another film. "The atmosphere here is so filled with fear and tension, we knew we could capture something really unique."

"Ceausescu frightened and traumatized more people than we'll probably scare with this movie," notes producer Alexandra Milchan. "You can feel the tension in this building. It still has his imprints on it."

While the site easily lent its imposing scale and sinister history to the creation of the Mayflower set, production designer Joseph Nemec III ("The Hills Have Eyes," "T2: Judgment Day") and his art department faced major challenges in transforming 20,000 square feet of raw institutional architecture into the ruined opulence of a world-class department store.
From the grand staircase to the display cases, every aspect of the sprawling floor plan had to be designed, sculpted, fabricated and dressed in a mere 12 weeks - on the 6th floor of the abandoned Academy, which has no elevators.

This process included fire-torching every inch of the store that the fictitious blaze would have devoured. Two teams of torchers burned everything from walls, floors, furniture and draperies to a full compliment of the store's "stock" - including clothing, watches, jewelry, housewares and cosmetics.

Particular attention was paid to the posing and decomposing of the mannequins, as a way of evoking the Mayflower's former vitality and stature, as well as representing the evil that lurks within the store. "The mannequins give you a sense that there is some life left in this burned-out place," Nemec explains. "We dressed them and put them in very lifelike positions, and then tried to burn and distress them in a way that underscores the tragedy of the lives that have been trapped behind the mirrors. One we called our David, because he held a very regal pose despite all the fabric around him being burned away. Another was called Freckles, because we torched its coating until it bubbled up, which symbolizes the emotions inside completely burning out."

The strategic burning of the set was followed by a thorough dousing, courtesy of the "water team." Painters then added layers of water "staining" to achieve the authentic look of a scorched structure that has been left to ruin by rain and neglect for five years. Additionally, wood shavings were burned and then blanketed throughout the set, creating a thick carpet of soot. The results were disturbingly realistic, both visually and aurally.

"There is a company in New York that supplies scents, everything from dirty socks to fresh roses," says Nemec, who typically infuses his sets with aromas appropriate to each locale. "But in this case, I didn't need to use them because we created a 'burnt building smell' ourselves!"
The dank, heavy odor and highly detailed authenticity of Nemec's rotted-out set brought a unique texture and intensity to the production, according to Aja. "Shooting for weeks in the broken glass and dust, with the smell of smoke and fire hanging in the air, created an atmosphere for the actors and crew that made everyone feel how scary it would be to find yourself alone in this place, with only a flashlight to guide you through the darkness."

"As an actor, when you come onto a set that is as real and pliable as this one is, there is an incredible amount of freedom," says Kiefer Sutherland, who is accustomed to working within the confines of smaller scale environs on his hit television series "24." "This set is 360 degrees, so if I want to do a full circle, if I want to move in this direction or that direction, I can. I don't have to worry about a wall missing over here. It's just fantastic."

The scope of the set and the murky darkness that cloaks it presented a career challenge for cinematographer Maxime Alexandre ("The Hills Have Eyes"). "It's definitely the biggest location I've ever lit, and it's brimming with black walls," he says, noting that the only sources of realistic natural light in the environment are the large windows at the store's main entrance and the holes punched into the shattered panes of the dome roof by weather and time. "We used really high, strong lights to 'un-stick' silhouettes and objects from each other, and to create some depth of field and distance between the actors, the mirrors and their reflections."

The ornate, 30-foot mirrors that adorn the Mayflower walls were positioned to amplify the magnitude of the space and reflect the horror, loss and desolation that pervade it. But from a practical standpoint, shooting a movie that revolves around mirrors is a filmmaker's nightmare.
"When you're a DP and you receive a script titled 'Mirrors,' it's like a huge taboo," Alexandre says. "Each frame is a gamble when you put the camera in front of a mirror. You're always at the edge of your reflection."

This was especially true of this production, as Aja and Alexandre went well beyond mirrors in crafting shots that capture reflections off an array of ordinary surfaces
- windows, TV screens, stainless steel fixtures, picture frames, floors, water - each more complicated to film than the next.

"We knew from the beginning that it was going to be very difficult," Aja acknowledges, "but I think we managed to use mirrors and reflective surfaces in a way that no one has ever done before."

"Watching Alex pick up reflections off of everything was fascinating," Sutherland enthuses. "He has incredible imagination. Every day I came to work, I saw something new. The story was revealing itself to me in a really fresh way."

To facilitate the filming of scenes that involved flooding the Carson residence and picking up reflections in the water's surface, Nemec's team built the set for the modest home on a water tank, using double-curved fiberglass walls and sealed flooring that could be filled and drained as needed. (Nemec chose dark colors for the floors to intensify the reflective effect.) Removable sections of flooring were installed for a climactic sequence in which young Michael Carson is yanked through his reflection and disappears into a thin layer of water coating the floor.

As complex as it was to design a functional water set like the Carson house, Nemec found it equally taxing to make it look like a typical New Jersey family home. "Finding furniture and household objects in Bucharest, Romania that we could adapt to look like typical American décor was quite a challenge," the designer reports.

Sutherland was impressed by his stay in the nascent country's capital. "Romania may be a young country from our perspective, but you're talking about one of the most well-educated societies in the world, with a 97% literacy rate," he notes. "There are five year-olds running around who can kick my ass in chess. You have incredible writers and filmmakers here. Romania just won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and joined the European Union. Yet it's struggling to find its new identity. It's going through a massive transition, politically and economically. It's a very exciting time here. Did that affect the process of making the film? Absolutely."

Like their efforts to capture reflections in a new and exciting way, the filmmakers strived to render as many visual and special effects as possible through practical means, rather than rely heavily on digital VFX in post production.

One of the film's most gruesome visuals - when the reflection of Ben's sister Angela forces her to rip her jaw off of her face - was achieved through an elaborate prosthetic makeup created by Mike McCarty and Jaremy Aiello of K&B Effects ("The Hills Have Eyes," "24").

"We were tossing and turning for weeks over how to make it look like this character doesn't have a jaw anymore," McCarty admits. "For reference, I found a Civil war photo of a soldier who got hit in the mouth with a cannonball, but it looked really fake. We also looked at newspapers that don't censor gory photos, but the real stuff tends to look fake."

"If we actually did it the way it looks in real life," adds Aiello, "people would say 'That looks stupid!'"

Staging the fiery implosion of the secret "Mirror Room" involved blasting apart an intricate puzzle of mirrors 10 feet by 6 feet wide with controlled explosives, and choreographing a tunnel collapse around Ben Carson as he races to escape the wrath of Anna, a powerful demon unleashed by the explosion.

Safety was of utmost concern, as Sutherland insisted on doing many of his own stunts, including Carson's battle with Anna and his treacherous escape through fire, raging water, multiple explosions and debris crashing all around him. "Timing was of the essence," says special effects supervisor Jason Troughton. "Kiefer wanted to be right in there with the flames almost licking his ears. His timing was precise from rehearsals through each take, and my team's timing was impeccable as well."

"Kiefer is such a hardworking actor," says Paula Patton, who stars opposite Sutherland as Ben Carson's estranged wife Amy. "He believes in what he's doing to the Nth degree. When you're working with a partner who is that committed, it makes your job so much easier and more fulfilling."

"Kiefer is amazing," Aja marvels. "He has so much talent and experience. The subtle changes he brought to each take made the evolution of his character even more organic and compelling. Working with Kiefer was the best experience I've had with an actor."

That so many of the film's intricate visual and special effects were achieved with minimal digital augmentation is a testament to the creativity and craftsmanship of Aja and his MIRRORS production team. "Alex is a stylistic genius, and he has a such beautiful rhythm for suspense," Sutherland says. "When most people stay in the middle of the road, he's always to the left or the right. We believe in the same ideals in terms of storytelling, and I have such confidence in him. This has been one of the great collaborations of my career and I'm thrilled about this experience."

BEHIND THE WORLD OF "MIRRORS"

A NEW FEAR UNLEASHED: BEHIND THE WORLD OF "MIRRORS"

From folklore to fairy tales, superstition to religious tradition - the mythology surrounding mirrors has always tended toward the dark.

The Romans imbued mirrors with the power to reflect one's soul and affect his or her well-being. This, coupled with their belief that life renews itself every seven years, led to the centuries-old legend that seven years of bad luck will follow anyone who breaks a mirror. ` In film and literature, mirrors serve as symbols of vanity and dangerous portals of truth or transport to another time and place. The Jewish faith calls for all mirrors to be shrouded in one's home while mourning the passing of a loved one, lest the living be distracted by the trappings of beauty and the physical world.

But these cautionary tales of narcissism and bad luck pale in comparison to the most common phenomenon associated with mirrors: death.

Steeped in cultures from Rome to the Far East is a common lore casting mirrors as malevolent entities that trap the souls of the living - thereby causing death - or imprison the souls of the departed before they can reach the afterlife, cursing their spirits to eternal captivity. (It is also said that a vampire cannot cast a reflection, because it is a creature of the undead and has already lost its soul.)

That the association between mirrors and death has endured through generations and permeated societies around the globe speaks not only to man's complex relationship with the Great Unknown, but also with his reflection.

"Mirrors inherently challenge us to look inside ourselves," observes Kiefer Sutherland. "It's difficult to look at yourself. It doesn't matter how good-looking you may be. On a physical level and a spiritual one as well, it's hard to face yourself in a mirror. Depending on what you see, they can be very frightening."

The darkest elements of this collective mythology are re-imagined for the 21st century in "Mirrors," the terrifying story of a troubled ex-cop who must defend his family from a savage evil that uses reflective surfaces as gateways to terrorize them.

In developing the film, a remake of the 2003 South Korean horror movie "Into the Mirror," for New Regency, producer Alexandra Milchan saw the potential for a multi¬layered psychological thriller in the tradition of "The Shining."

"Beyond the horror aspect of the original film, there is something very universal and interesting about the cultural mystique of mirrors that provided the basis for a great dramatic piece," says Milchan, the producer of such films as "Goodbye Lover" and "Righteous Kill."

She approached writer-director Alexandre Aja ("The Hills Have Eyes," "High Tension") about bringing his bold style and visceral storytelling to the project.

"I was looking for a project that would allow me to explore fear in a new way," says Aja, who established himself as a potent new voice in the horror genre with the hit French slasher film "High Tension" and "The Hills Have Eyes," his grisly remake of the 1977 thriller about a family's struggle to survive a brutal massacre by mutant cannibals.

At the core of "Into the Mirror," the story of a detective who investigates a series of gruesome murders revolving around mirrors, Aja found what he was looking for. "Everyone has relationship with their reflection," he muses. "It's something we don't really think about, but it's there. Some people love to look at themselves in the mirror; others hate it. Mirrors can show us the traumas and truths that exist in our subconscious, and are just waiting to be revealed."

Having previously explored the sadistic extremes of human nature, Aja relished the opportunity to delve into the supernatural. "The concept was really original, and I wanted to create a story around it that would make audiences confront themselves and their fears in a way they've never imagined," he says.

Together with Gregory Levasseur, his co-writer on "High Tension" and "The Hills Have Eyes," Aja crafted a chilling new narrative for "Mirrors," rooting the story in a man's struggle for redemption that begins as a quest to reunite his estranged family, and quickly escalates into a ferocious battle for their lives.

"Everything is collapsing around him," Aja says of Ben Carson, an NYPD detective who has been suspended for the fatal accidental shooting of another undercover officer. "He's lost his job. He's lost his family. He's lost his soul."

Consumed by guilt and anger, Carson has further alienated his wife and young children with his alcoholism and volatile temper. "He's at the lowest point of his life," Sutherland says of the troubled cop, who has been separated from his family for months, crashing on his sister's couch and clinging to sobriety by a thread.

"He's been avoiding the past, avoiding facing himself and his failures - not just as a cop, but as a husband and father," adds Milchan.

It was the film's hybrid of well-crafted horror and genuine family drama that spoke to Sutherland. "Alex told me a beautiful story," recalls the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, who first met with Aja to discuss the project after wrapping a long night of shooting his hit FOX TV series "24." "Horror is a genre that has always intrigued me, but what attracted me to this story is that it deals with a family that is desperately trying to figure out how to come back together. It's about second chances. In this incredibly drastic situation, a man finds his true self and reconnects with his family. When things are at their worst, he becomes his best. And that really appealed to me."

Based on that brief meeting with Aja - and before even screening "The Hills Have Eyes" - Sutherland agreed to do the film. "I'm a gambler," he says. "I like to play cards, I'll bet on which dog will hit the corner first, and I had a real strong sense in that meeting with Alex that we were going to do something special together. I had faith and I feel very lucky that I was right."
There may have been another reason why Sutherland committed to MIRRORS without first having seen Aja's celebrated remake of "Hills." "Scary films are very hard for me to watch," he admits. "I took my daughter to see 'Finding Nemo' and when the shark comes in the boat, my popcorn went in the air. My daughter was ten at the time and she laughed at me for it."

"I knew Alex and Kiefer would get along unbelievably well, because they're both very direct and intense," Milchan observes. "If you look at the body of Kiefer's work, he always gives 150 percent. He's very focused and authentic, and audiences love that about him."

Sutherland brings his trademark intensity to the role of Ben Carson, a man on the brink of losing everything that matters to him. Broke and desperate to rebuild his life, Carson takes a job as the night watchman at the Mayflower Department Store...or what's left of it.

Looming against the night sky like a tattered ghost ship run aground in a thriving city, the Mayflower was once a symbol of luxury and grandeur, until a fire ravaged the store and claimed many innocent lives in the process. Five years have passed since the blaze, with the Mayflower mired in a morass of legal battles that has left it to decay in the darkness, suspended in time like an eerie snapshot of life tragically interrupted.

As he patrols the burned-out ruins of the store, Carson catches fleeting glimpses of distorted images reflected in the enormous, ornate mirrors that line its walls. What he thinks are merely bizarre hallucinations soon intensify as the mirrors reveal shocking and grotesque visions of profound suffering.

The images are so powerful and explicit - people burning alive, incinerating flesh melting to the bone - Carson feels their effects as if he were being consumed by fire himself.

But Aja and Levasseur's screenplay takes the original concept way beyond mirrors. What if a malicious force trapped within our reflections - any reflection, anywhere - could use them as conduits to terrorize the living? "The idea that a whole other world can be living on a different plane, stuck watching our world in reverse, is a very scary idea," says Sutherland.

The fear factor is amplified exponentially as ordinary reflective surfaces like windows, water, TV screens, stainless steel façades and picture frames are transformed into deadly channels of evil. Suddenly, Ben finds himself not only battling his own demons - but the ones that have hijacked his reflection.

"The reflections represent what we could be capable of," Sutherland says of their thematic duality. "Good or bad, they reflect ourselves at various extremes. And they can make us do things that we wish we couldn't."

MIRRORS uses the power we give to our own self-image as a springboard to explore our subconscious fears. "You can jail yourself in your own idea of who you are, and see things in your reflection that others don't see - things that don't really exist," observes Paula Patton ("Hitch," "Déjà Vu"), who plays Ben's estranged wife Amy. "Like an anorexic who sees a fat person in the mirror, when in fact their reflection shows a very skinny person looking back at them. It speaks to our brains' ability to create whatever image we want to see, so that mirrors are never really an accurate reflection of ourselves."

Milchan sees apt social commentary in Aja and Levasseur's exploration of the myriad reflective surfaces that exist in everyday life. "If you look at the architecture of Dubai, New York or Las Vegas, it's all about glass, mirrors, shiny surfaces," she says. "The mirrors and reflective surfaces in the film represent our culture, and its emphasis on narcissism and money. 'I'm here, I'm in your face. Watch me.'"

"If what you're running from is your own self-image, it's impossible to avoid it in our society," Sutherland concludes. "There are too many reflective surfaces. Just try it. Walk two blocks and try not to see yourself in a reflection off a window, or in a puddle of water. It's impossible to do. That creates a sense of paranoia for Ben, which was fantastic to play as an actor."

In real life, Sutherland does not like mirrors. "I have one in my bathroom and I think I have one in my closet just to make sure I've got the right socks on, but outside of that, I don't like looking at myself very much," he says. "It's very odd to be looking at yourself all the time while you're working. That was a very interesting aspect of making this film."

When Carson investigates the mysterious death of a Mayflower security guard and its potential connection to the store's menacing mirrors, the evil that has targeted him expands its focus to his family - and their modest New Jersey home becomes a virtual playground for the possessed reflection of his son Michael. "A lot of what happens in the store, he thinks is coming from his imagination," says Sutherland. "When people get that depressed and they feel that low, they question their own sanity. Ben does that to a point, but the second his family is threatened, he becomes very clear."

Carson's sister Angela, played by Amy Smart ("Starsky & Hutch"), dismisses his waking nightmares as a consequence of his guilt and stress over the accidental shooting. But his increasingly erratic behavior alarms his wife, a no-nonsense NYPD medical examiner.

"She thinks he's gone off his rocker," says Patton, who started reading the MIRRORS script one evening...and had to wait until morning to finish it. ("That was a good sign," she cracks.) "Amy is very logical, very left-brained and scientific-minded, so the idea of ghosts or otherworldly forces is not something she believes in. She has also seen a lot of gruesome and horrible things in her line of work, so she doesn't scare easily."

At the same time, she notices that something is "off" with their son Michael, who seems preoccupied with his reflection. "Their family is crumbling," Patton says, "and Ben feels more alone than ever because no one believes him."

"There is a great balance between their two storylines," notes Aja. "At the beginning of the film, Amy is the strong one, keeping what's left of their family together while Ben is at rock bottom. As Ben finds the strength to confront himself and the evil force that's terrorizing them, he and Amy must fight on separate fronts for the same purpose - saving the kids, themselves, and most important, their family."

Ultimately, Aja strived to make MIRRORS as provocative as it is entertaining. "I hope this film has a huge psychological effect on the audience," Aja says. "I want them to wonder, 'Am I going to ever look in the mirror again, or will I be too scared?' The next time they see their reflection, they may have a strange feeling that they're not alone."

Will Sutherland be able to watch MIRRORS? "Hopefully, I'll be smart enough not to take popcorn with me, but if I do, it's gonna go in the air," he jokes. "We've created something truly frightening that will stay with you, that will touch a fear inside you that is real, and we've blended it with this family drama that is so important to me - the story of a man who is looking for a second chance. By bringing these two genres together, I think we've given this film a depth that not many horror films have."

From the director of "The Hills Have Eyes" comes "MIRRORS"

MIRRORS

In a bid to pull his shattered life back together, troubled ex-cop Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) takes a job as a security guard at the burned out ruins of a once-prosperous department store. As Ben patrols the charred hallways, he begins to see horrifying images in the ornate mirrors that still adorn the walls. Ben soon realizes that a malevolent force is using the mirrors to gain entrance into this world, threatening the lives of his wife (Paula Patton) and children.

Production notes
- Notes provided by 20th Century Fox. -

From the director of "The Hills Have Eyes" comes "MIRRORS," the terrifying story of troubled ex-cop who must save his family from an unspeakable evil that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

Ben Carson (KIEFER SUTHERLAND) has seen better days. It's been nearly a year since the volatile detective was suspended from the NYPD for fatally shooting another undercover officer, an accident that not only cost him his job, but fueled the alcoholism and anger that has alienated his wife and kids and left him crashing on his sister's couch in Queens.

Desperate to pull his life together and reconnect with his family, Carson takes a job as a night watchman at the burned-out ruins of the Mayflower department store. What once was a symbol of prosperity and grandeur now sits decaying in the darkness like a rotting ghost ship, destroyed by a massive fire that devoured numerous innocent lives.

As Carson patrols the eerie, charred remains of the store, he begins to notice something sinister about the ornate mirrors that adorn the Mayflower walls. Reflected in the gigantic shimmering glass are horrific images that stun Carson.

Beyond projecting gruesome images of the past, the mirrors appear to be manipulating reality as well. When Carson sees his own reflection being tortured, he suffers the physical effects of his fractured visions. Suddenly the troubled ex-cop finds himself battling his personal demons and the ones that have hijacked his reflection, tormenting him with convulsions, spontaneous bleeding and near suffocation.

His sympathetic but skeptical sister Angela (AMY SMART) dismisses these bizarre "nightmares" as a consequence of his stress and guilt over the accidental shooting, but Carson's estranged wife Amy (PAULA PATTON), a no-nonsense NYPD medical examiner, is less forgiving. Her husband's increasingly erratic behavior frightens her, pushing his family farther away - and, she fears, it's putting their children in danger.

But a much deadlier threat looms, trapped within the mirrors and reflective surfaces that pervade their everyday life. As Carson investigates the mysterious disappearance of a Mayflower security guard and its possible connection to his ghastly visions, he realizes that a malevolent, otherworldly force is using reflections as a gateway to terrorize him and his family.

If he has any hope of saving his wife and children from a horrifying death, Carson must somehow uncover the truth behind the mirrors - and convince Amy to help him battle the greatest evil he has ever faced.

The look of THE CLONE WARS

EXPLORING THE GALAXY

CLONE WARS Director Dave Filoni and Executive Producer George Lucas Discuss the Latest STAR WARS Adventure

On Aug. 15, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Warner Bros. Pictures will release the first-ever animated STAR WARS feature film - STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS. This expansive space adventure explores the galaxy-changing Clone Wars, a period of intense battle and grand adventure that takes place between STAR WARS: Episode II Attack of the Clones and STAR WARS: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. In this interview, STAR WARS creator George Lucas and CLONE WARS director Dave Filoni discuss this groundbreaking new movie from Lucasfilm Animation.
How did the idea of an animated STAR WARS movie come about?

GEORGE LUCAS: The interesting thing about the Clone Wars is that in the normal course of the six STAR WARS films that tell the Skywalker saga, that whole story of what happened during this time is not told - it's skipped over. We have a little bit of the beginning in Episode II and a little bit of the end in Episode III. But, obviously, during a war there are lots and lots of stories - very exciting action, drama, heartbreak, even humor. The idea of doing an animated version of THE CLONE WARS was intriguing to me because it really allows us to tell other stories, show other Jedi, introduce new characters and even tell stories about the clones themselves. Some of them have very interesting stories. It allows us to broaden the canvas of what STAR WARS is about.

DAVE FILONI: One of the things that has always surprised me is how many stories there are to tell in what seems like a small amount of time. The period between Episodes II and III was only about three years. But we can tell so many new stories and meet new characters and go new places - places I never imagined we could.

What does animation bring to the STAR WARS Saga?

GEORGE LUCAS: Right from the very beginning, we knew we wanted to use CG animation in a way that hasn't been seen before. We think we've ended up with something that is very new and different. Stylistically, a CG-animated film is quite different from a live-action movie. Animation opens up the possibilities of what you can accomplish. Animation is like a sketchpad.

DAVE FILONI: There is infinite flexibility when we do a scene. We don't have to go dig for original props or call actors back to reshoot. With animation, we can look at a scene in editorial, then go back and redo it completely differently the next day. That would be impossible in live-action. We have all of our sets, all of our actors at our disposal at all times. We can make things the way we'd like to see them, which is really exciting.

What can you tell us about the newest STAR WARS heroine, Ahsoka?

GEORGE LUCAS: Anakin and Obi-Wan have a great relationship, but we've seen their dynamic in the movies.

DAVE FILONI: We always felt it was important to have a character whose temperament is somewhere between Anakin's and Obi-Wan's. Anakin will just jump in anywhere, while Obi-Wan wants to think things through before taking action. Ahsoka appreciates Anakin's brashness but admires Obi-Wan's patience and thoughtfulness. She has a lot to learn from both of them, but is strong and capable in her own right, so she sometimes surprises Anakin with her approach to the kinds of situations they find themselves in. She makes a great counterpoint to Anakin - visually, in her personality, her attitude. She sort of drives him crazy, but he grows very attached to her, as you'll see in the movie.

GEORGE LUCAS: In the STAR WARS films, there's a tradition of someone being taken on an amazing journey and learning to become a Jedi - Luke was a farm boy swept up in the Rebel Alliance. Anakin was a little boy on Tatooine. In THE CLONE WARS, Anakin is no longer a Padawan. He's a Jedi. So Ahsoka takes on that role of the younger person who is being taught, who adds the dynamic that a "student" brings to the story. We bounced back and forth on a lot of ideas about her - would she be human or alien, male or female? We thought a girl would be just more fun to have in the story.

THE CLONE WARS gives you a great chance to explore characters outside of the Skywalker saga. Who are some of your favorites?

GEORGE LUCAS: I've always liked Duros - the blue aliens from the cantina scene in A New Hope. They're a derivation of Neimoidians - Neimoidians are greener. Wrinklier.

DAVE FILONI: For me, it's the Jedi Council. I love the opportunity to explore these characters we saw so briefly, but who are in their time legendary - Kit Fisto, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Luminara, Plo Koon ...

GEORGE LUCAS: If it were up to Dave, Plo Koon would be in every scene! It's great that Dave's got characters he really cares about, and who don't have to just be in battles or short scenes or in the background somewhere.

DAVE FILONI: That's what's really important. I care about these characters, and what happens to them, how they evolve in the film - that's an adventure we're really excited to show in the movie.

How would you describe the look of THE CLONE WARS?

GEORGE LUCAS: In THE CLONE WARS, all of the characters and the environments look almost like they're painted, which gives the movie a very distinctive look. We also drew some influences from manga and anime in our filmmaking style, which have very dramatic lighting and very aggressive framing.

DAVE FILONI: STAR WARS is already so brilliantly designed, if you look at the art direction of the feature films. It was important to maintain that integrity but give the audience something they haven't seen before. The look is more stylized. It's not concerned with photorealism; it's more concerned with establishing its own visual reality, kind of in the same way a painter might use different techniques to create different looks. We're using CG as a tool to create a stylized reality.

GEORGE LUCAS: I think we've created some unusual, cinematic-style storytelling, something completely different from anything else in animation.

The STAR WARS Saga - DESIGNING A NEW GALAXY

DESIGNING A NEW GALAXY

It's Still Long Ago and Far, Far Away, But the World of THE CLONE WARS Is Unlike Anything That's Come Before

The STAR WARS Saga introduced a galaxy that has become one of the most distinctive and instantly identifiable in movie history. Its iconic lightsabers, spaceships, costumes, droids and planets created a singular look that has endured through three decades and generations of fans. To translate the star wars aesthetic to an all-new format for THE CLONE WARS, the crews at Lucasfilm Animation faced a rare challenge.

"Our goal was to produce a movie unlike anything else in animation," says STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS director Dave Filoni. "But we also had to stay true to star wars, to honor everything that George Lucas has created. That's easier said than done, and it took us a long time to figure out exactly how to develop the look, style and feel of an animated star wars."
It was Lucas himself who urged that THE CLONE WARS should forge its own distinctive visual style, separating itself from what had come before. Setting the story before Anakin's descent into darkness, Lucas and Filoni felt animation could inject THE CLONE WARS with a rousing spirit of fun, highlighting the young Jedi's heroism rather than his forbidding destiny. By visually distinguishing everything in its universe - from the battles to the characters themselves - THE CLONE WARS establishes itself as both a bold departure and a return to form for the Saga.

"George wanted the characters to live on their own, separate from the recognizable actors who portrayed them in the previous films," says Filoni. "To do that, we really had to find the essence of the characters, and to bring them to life in a way that wasn't just a reproduction of their live-action counterparts. We wanted to break free of any preconceived notions of what star wars should be."

This meant eschewing photo-realism and embracing an entirely new look, different than almost anything else in cinematic animation. Of course, there were precedents for bringing the "galaxy far, far away" to the animated arena, including a 2004-2005 Cartoon Network "micro-series" about the Clone Wars period.

"We loved the look of the micro-series, and when we began to see the maquettes that were licensed on its behalf, it was a neat glimpse into what those designs might look like in a 3-D space," says Catherine Winder, the film's producer. "But we wanted to take it much further, to do something dramatically different with star wars and animation. Working in computer graphics, we incorporated those stylistic aspects into a world with an entirely different depth, physicality and scope. From there, it really began to grow and evolve into what's on screen."
The radical redesign involved a reinvention of the visual dynamic that fans have traditionally associated with the series. Drawing from a myriad of influences, Lucasfilm Animation experimented with an extreme shooting style, using aggressive lighting and framing to set the stage for the stylized new look of the characters themselves.

"I've always been a big fan of the anime look; Japanese animation and manga tend to push the envelope with really innovative composition, so we followed that lead," says Filoni. "That said, animation is a vast field, and it's too filled with possibilities for us to limit ourselves to one style. We also took inspiration from Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, which was shot in the 1960s using marionettes. So we really took these disparate influences and fused them into something pretty unique."

Filoni believes the creative risks that Lucasfilm Animation has taken, encouraged by executive producer Lucas, will please longtime fans and excite new ones. "In STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, we've got new characters, new planets, new vehicles, new battles and a new story, and it's animated with a completely new style," he says. "It really is Star Wars like you've never seen it before - in every way possible."

What are the Clone Wars

WHAT ARE THE CLONE WARS

"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars."

- Princess Leia, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope

For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights. But as often happens when wealth and power grow too fast and too far, greed-fueled evil soon took root. Commercial interests became over-valued, the Senate became corrupt, and an ambitious politician named Palpatine was voted Supreme Chancellor. Most disturbingly, after a thousand years of seeming absence, a dangerous legion reappeared: the Dark Lords of the Sith.

Amid this turmoil, a Separatist movement was formed by Count Dooku, a charismatic former Jedi. He promised an alternative to the corruption and greed that were running rampant - and he persuaded thousands of worlds to secede from the Republic.

Unbeknownst to most of his followers, Dooku was himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, acting in collusion with his mysterious master, Darth Sidious. Over the years, Sidious had struck an unholy alliance with the greater forces of commerce and their private droid armies, which were unstoppable simply due to their sheer numbers.

Eventually, Count Dooku lured the unsuspecting Jedi into a trap on the desolate planet Geonosis. Little did the Separatists know, the Jedi had discovered their own secret weapon: a massive army of clones that the Republic had secretly commissioned years earlier. The Jedi won the battle of Geonosis - but the victory was short-lived.

Instead of ensuring the Jedi's power, Geonosis became the first battle in a massive war that spread like wildfire across the galaxy, engulfing thousands of different star systems.
It was the start of the Clone Wars.

Now, the Jedi fight to maintain freedom and restore peace to the galaxy, using their army of clones against the massive droid army. Across hundreds of planets, the Jedi and Separatists fight for the future of the galaxy. As this terrible conflict grows ever wider, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano and Padmé Amidala are swept into the turmoil of war ... while Count Dooku, Darth Sidious and Asajj Ventress stop at nothing to ensure the fall of the Republic.

This is STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

Star Wars returns to the big screen

STAR WARS RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN

All New, CG-Animated Feature Film Event, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, Debuts Aug. 15
In 2005, STAR WARS: EPISODE III Revenge of the Sith brought the live-action, cinematic STAR WARS Saga to a close. But creator George Lucas and the storytellers at Lucasfilm Animation had more stories to tell about the "galaxy far, far away."

On-screen, the expansive, galaxy-changing Clone Wars was only fleetingly glimpsed in Revenge of the Sith and at the end of Episode II Attack of the Clones. But its importance to the STAR WARS galaxy is enormous - causing the Republic to become an Empire, leading to the "period of civil war" famously mentioned at the opening of Episode IV A New Hope.

Since its first reference in a passing remark by Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi more than 30 years ago in the very first STAR WARS movie, the subject has ignited the imaginations of moviegoers:

LUKE
You fought in the Clone Wars?

OBI-WAN
Yes. I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father.

LUKE
I wish I'd known him.

OBI-WAN
He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior. I understand that you've become quite a good pilot yourself. And he was a good friend.

"For years and years, people have wondered what the Clone Wars were, based solely on this quick mention," says Clone Wars director Dave Filoni. "The live-action movies were really centered on the Skywalker family, and we've never gotten to see the full breadth of the conflict."

Now, with the new animated feature, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, audiences will at last experience the galaxy-changing conflict, which simultaneously expands the scope of STAR WARS beyond anything that had been seen in the previous films, and also introduces new characters, new dramas and new adventures.

The backdrop of the Clone Wars, Filoni says, offers a chance to tell the tale of a struggle that turned a Republic into an Empire and paved the way for a civil war that ultimately resulted in freedom for the galaxy. "We may be dealing with a small window of time, but the scope of war - particularly a galactic war - is pretty expansive," he says. "There's a lot going on - heroes, villains, intrigue, adventure. It's all part of the story we know, but it's always been in the background. Until now."

One of the first steps in bringing STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS to the screen was finding the right entry point. The previous films had been confined to the Skywalker saga, but THE CLONE WARS offered nearly limitless options.

"A war, by nature, is a patchwork of untold stories," says STAR WARS creator George Lucas. "What's fascinating to me is that there are people motivating these far-reaching events, and that those individuals are so often overshadowed by the big picture, by the events themselves. We know what happens to the galaxy, but we don't know exactly how it all came to pass. These are the stories behind the story."

Taking an entirely fresh approach to a film series that is forever imprinted on the minds of generations of fans, Lucas sought to create a distinct visual style that would evoke the spirit of the films, while at the same time bring a unique, distinctive look to the first animated STAR WARS movie.

"We didn't want it to look photo-realistic," Lucas explains. "We were working with animation, and we wanted to really utilize the format. That meant shifting our thinking a bit. It's a whole different way of telling stories, and it gives us the freedom to do things that just aren't possible in live-action."

While overseeing the project as executive producer, Lucas brought in Dave Filoni - a veteran of Avatar: The Last Airbender and numerous animation projects - to serve as director. With a deep-rooted fandom and a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the STAR WARS universe, Filoni proved the perfect choice to take the reins.

"I've been dreaming about STAR WARS since I was a kid, playing with the toys in the backyard with my brother," Filoni notes. "Actually working on a STAR WARS movie is beyond anything I could have imagined. It's great to work in this world that I love so much, and to do it with George Lucas. Coming from a fan perspective, I also realize how important it is to do it right."

With an entirely new story and a cast of characters that grows in significant ways, Filoni says STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS holds true to the films that came before it, while bringing a new sense of adventure and excitement to the STAR WARS galaxy. "There's one thing we knew we had to deliver above all else - a STAR WARS movie," Filoni says. "The characters are distinctly stylized, while their environments come to life in a much more realistic way, very much creating the kind of immersive worlds people expect to see in a STAR WARS movie."

Star Wars takes on a dazzling new look

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

As more star systems become swept up in the Clone Wars, the valiant Jedi Knights struggle to maintain order. Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, embark on a fateful mission that brings them face-to-face with Jabba the Hutt. Plotting against them is the evil Count Dooku and his sinister agent, Asajj Ventress, who will stop at nothing to ensure the Jedis fail. Meanwhile, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi lead the clone army against the forces of the Dark Side.

Production notes

STAR WARS takes on a dazzling new look in the first-ever animated feature from Lucasfilm Animation - STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, the heroic Jedi Knights struggle to maintain order and restore peace. More and more systems are falling prey to the forces of the dark side as the Galactic Republic slips further and further under the sway of the Separatists and their never-ending droid army.

Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano find themselves on a mission with far-reaching consequences, one that brings them face-to-face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. But Count Dooku and his sinister agents, including the nefarious Asajj Ventress, will stop at nothing to ensure that Anakin and Ahsoka fail at their quest. Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side...

The voice cast features Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker; Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano; James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi; Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the Clone Troopers; Tom Kane as Yoda; Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress; Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine; Anthony Daniels as C-3PO; Christopher Lee as Count Dooku; and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu.

The Lucasfilm Ltd. production of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS is directed by Dave Filoni; written by Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching and Scott Murphy; and produced by Catherine Winder. George Lucas serves as executive producer.

The movie features a score by Kevin Kiner, with original STAR WARS themes and scores by John Williams. The creative team for STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS also includes editor Jason W.A. Tucker; supervising sound editor Matthew Wood; and animation directors Jesse Yeh and Kevin Jong. Gail Currey is the Lucasfilm Animation executive in charge of production.

Disaster Movie Production Details

With their own inimitable and imaginative satirical style, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer – the filmmaking team behind Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans - take on one of the biggest and most bloated movie genres of all time: disaster films.

Slyly named DISASTER MOVIE, the comedy/drama/adventure/romance/action film not in 3D centers on a group of ridiculously attractive twenty-somethings who are trying to make their way to safety as every known natural disaster - asteroids, twisters, earthquakes, the works - hits the city on one fateful night. The story follows these friends on their comic misadventures as they face catastrophic events while they simultaneously try to bring an end to the destruction by solving a series of mysteries. DISASTER MOVIE takes aim at everything and everyone, from Sex and the City and Iron Man to Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, lampooning movies, pop culture icons and public figures along the way.

“Every possible disaster you can think of – both of natural causes and man made – that can occur in a twenty-four hour period are included in the film,” says Friedberg. “There is nothing too outlandish to have some fun with, be it a weather catastrophe or an individual with an oversized persona. Everything is fair game.”

DISASTER MOVIE spoofs some of the biggest hits and names-in-the-news of the year. With the jokes coming fast and furiously, the film opens with a parody of 10,000 BC by depicting a dim-witted prehistoric man running for his life from a dinosaur. While trying to escape, he runs into both Wolf from American Gladiators, who challenges him to a fight, and Amy Winehouse, who he mistakes for a saber tooth tiger. She drunkenly removes a lap top from her beehive hairdo to check her Facebook profile.

Two of the leading characters - Juney and Enchanted Princess - are also parodies in themselves. Juney has an uncanny similarity to the pregnant teenager Juno, with her witty and clever quips. The Enchanted Princess is a spoof on Enchanted. Even with her vulgarity and promiscuity, she is straight from a fairy tale. Other outrageous spoofs include the cast breaking into a High School Musical like performance and Hannah Montana being killed by a falling asteroid.

To bring these over-the-top situations and personalities to life, the film needed confident, no-holds-barred actors and crew. The stars of the movie, in particular, were a truly creative force with their own individual wit and charm.

Leading the cast is Matt Lanter (“Heroes,” STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS) as “Will Jones,” whose romantic troubles propel the story forward. Lanter, who has been seen on television, in film and even on the theater stage, make his first foray into the genre with DISASTER MOVIE.

Says the actor, “I've never done a spoof movie so it's my first experience working with the guys and this kind of story. I've always wanted to do this sort of film, having grown up on movies like Hot Shots and the Naked Guns. They're my favorite movies of all time. This is a dream come true.”

In traditional spoof style, the film pokes fun at many of the icons of the day. “When my character Will’s girlfriend gets lost, the film takes the rest of the group on this wacky journey through a bunch of other stuff. I can't even list it all! I also play the guy from 10,000 BC which is the opening of the movie. I’ve got the beard and the dreads. It's gonna be huge! I even play Zac Efron from High School Musical. I've got the High School Musical songs in my head and I can't get them out.”

Returning to the spoof fold is siren Carmen Electra, who rejoins Friedberg and Seltzer in yet another of their movies. Vanessa Minnillo and Kim Kardashian both make their motion picture acting debuts with DISASTER MOVIE. Rounding out the cast Tad Hilgenbrink and a cavalcade of improvisational comedians, including Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan and Ike Barinholtz, all of “Mad TV” fame, and Gary “G-Thang” Johnson.

“I feel so lucky because I’ve been able to work with Aaron and Jason a bunch of times,” says Electra, who previously teamed up with them for Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans. “I just love them – both the guys and their movies. I just feel really comfortable. Honestly, where else can you work with such great guys, with a funny script, and all the fun stuff they put in them?”

For instance, in a wrestling match, spoofing World Wrestling Entertainment, Electra faces off Kim Kardashian with a gleam in their eyes – and practically no wardrobe.

“She is just the sweetest thing ever,” says Kardashian of Electra, “but with this huge wrestling scene between us, it was so intimidating. I’m wearing leotards and basically nothing else and we’re just all over each other. I was nervous because she’s like half my size, but she was amazing, and she really helped me through it. That scene was probably my favorite out of the whole movie.”

Added Electra, “It was just so much fun to shoot. When you watch the movie, you can tell the cast is really having a good time. I think the audience will have as much fun watching it as we did making it. Movies like this…it’s all about having a good time.”

Minnillo is also making her motion picture debut with the film, though she already has a great deal of experience in front of the cameras. “This is my first movie, and I’m super excited it’s with Jason and Aaron,” she says. “I’m a huge spoof movie fan. Actually, it’s funny because I think the girls from ‘Mad TV’ pseudo-spoofed me, and now they are all on the set with me. As long as you have a good sense of humor and a good head on your shoulders, then it’s flattering. So go ahead: spoof away!”

Though Kardashian has become a big reality television star, she had never been in a feature film prior to DISASTER MOVIE. “I definitely want to pursue acting,” she says, “and this was the perfect film to start with. The directors and producer have been so amazing with me and with everybody. Just helping us every step of the way. I’m really fortunate.”

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. At one point, there was real tension on the set when Flanagan, who did a “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” sketch on her show “Mad TV,” was going to meet Kardashian for the first time.

“I was really nervous about meeting her given the sketch I did of her family,” said Flanagan. “I held my breath when I first saw her and thought, ‘Oh, please don't bring it up.’ But Kim walked right up and said ‘I thought that was really funny and cool.’ Ah, crisis averted.”

For Flanagan, the story even gets better. On set, Kardashian had a spider web on her butt, and she yelled, ‘Get it off! Get it off!’ Said Flanagan, “The next thing you know I'm touching Kim's ass! That's so cool, sort of, but weird. The crew couldn’t get over it. Everyone was like, ‘you touched her ass!’ It was a very proud moment.”

The cast and filmmakers are particularly excited about DISASTER MOVIE because, as G-Thang says, “it takes the genre to a whole new level. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the movie. Stuff is falling. Cars are on fire. Buildings are blowing up. There’s never been a spoof movie where there’s been so much action and spectacle but that’s why it’s our job to save the world.”

It was indeed “lunacy on the set,” says Peter Safran, the producer of DISASTER MOVIE with Friedberg and Seltzer. “Pretty much on a daily basis, everybody was weeping with laughter. We had very, very funny people all around us, and the improvs and comic riffs they all did were amazing and ingenious. One of the greatest things about a Jason-and-Aaron production is the relaxed but efficient manner of their sets. They are inherently good guys. They tend to use many of the same actors and crew so there is a short hand of sorts involved. People enjoy working with and for them.”

The filmmakers, per their custom, tend not to like to talk about themselves or their projects. “What are we supposed to say – that we are clever and witty guys?,” says Seltzer who notes that core demographic for their films are teenagers and twenty-somethings – a generation once or even twice removed from their own ages. “What we and our audience have in common is that we are very aware of and interested in pop culture and our love of social and cultural satirization. It’s a very particular type of humor, but one that hopefully resonates with moviegoers.”

Disaster Movie - The Cast - The Filmmakers

Disaster Movie - The Cast

Matt Lanter Will
Vanessa Minnillo Amy
Gary “G-Thang” Johnson Calvin
Nicole Parker Enchanted Princess
Crista Flanagan Juney
Kim Kardashian Lisa
Ike Barinholtz Wolf
Carmen Electra Beautiful Assassin

Disaster Movie - The Filmmakers

Directed, written, produced by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer
Produced by Peter Safran
Executive Producer Hal Olofsson
Co-Producer Jerry P. Jacobs
Associate Producer Kenny Yates
Director of Photography Shawn Maurer
Production Designer William Elliott
Edited by Peck Prior
Costume Designer Frank Helmer
Music Supervisor Dave Jordan Jojo Villanueva
Music by Christopher Lennertz
Casting by Amanda Koblin

Disaster Movie Synopsis

SYNOPSIS

In DISASTER MOVIE, the filmmaking team behind the hits Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans this time puts its unique, inimitable stamp on one of the biggest and most bloated movie genres of all time – the disaster film.

DISASTER MOVIE follows the comic misadventures of a group of ridiculously attractive twenty-somethings during one fateful night as they try to make their way to safety while every known natural disaster and catastrophic event - asteroids, twisters, earthquakes, the works – hits the city and their path as they try to solve a series of mysteries to end the rampant destruction.

Taking aim at everything and everyone, from "Indiana Jones" and "Iron Man" to Amy Winehouse and High School Musical, DISASTER MOVIE lampoons the blockbuster movie, pop culture icons and public figures along the way as Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer satirize everything as only they can.

Lionsgate and Grosvenor Park present a 3 in the Box Production DISASTER MOVIE starring the dynamic cast of Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Kim Kardashian, G Thang and Carmen Electra. The film is written, directed and produced by Friedberg and Seltzer and produced by Peter Safran.

In Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, present day Toronto stands in for Kit’s hometown of Cincinnati

Recreating Depression Era Cincinnati

In Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, present day Toronto stands in for Kit’s hometown of Cincinnati more than 70 years ago. Production designer Peter Cosco was responsible for faithfully replicating the era for the film.

The first step for Cosco was finding the Kittredge home. He was looking for a house built in the mid 1920s, but it also had to be in a neighborhood where everything around it was appropriate. “So much of the story takes place in the backyard and side yard. Sometimes we’d see a house that looked perfect from the street, but when you went into the back yard, there was a big addition, or the neighbors had a big addition.” The filmmakers eventually chose a house that backs out onto a ravine, which eliminated the problem of having an apartment building or a modern house across the way.

The interior of the Kittredge home was built from scratch on a soundstage. “You can control everything, you could lay it out for your needs when you build it,” he says. “It gives you the advantage of making it a little bit bigger or just reconfiguring the insides.”

For the homes furnishings, Cosco got help from the American Girl books and accessories. “Often the best thing is to go to actual source material from the period, like magazines or catalogs of the day, like Sears,” he says. “In this case, American Girl already had a wealth of material. For instance, we knew that in Kit’s attic she’s got a little roll-top desk, a little chair that goes with it and this metal-frame bed that’s got flower stencils on it, so we found the bed and then created the stencils. It was really helpful to have this very specific, and very accurate, source information to work from.”

A serendipitous find at the house translated into an overall decorating scheme. “We found a coach light on a post, a little leaded glass thing that was original and I decided that it would inform all our decisions,” Cosco says. “The house already had some Arts and Crafts details, so we used that as our starting point and really ran with it, creating an Arts and Crafts theme that was a popular decorative style in the ‘20s.”

For Kit’s hideaway, Cosco needed to fabricate not just the perfect tree house, but the perfect tree, as well. “It’s a refuge for Kit, where she goes to write, and Patricia wanted it to be a very magical space,” the designer says. “We constructed a tree with a steel armature, and welded on the branches. The bark is cast plaster and burlap. The actual tree house was placed onto this structure, and then a canopy of leaves was put on top of that.”

One of the most complex and visually rich settings in the film is the Hobo Jungle, which Kit first visits in search of a story for the newspaper. Cosco found the perfect location under an old bridge by a river. “It’s an open bridge, so it’s got many of the qualities railway bridges of the time would have had,” he says. “We did a lot of research to recreate what a hobo settlement would have looked like.”

The set included an open fire pit, a cooking area, a laundry area and many tents and sheds. A path that snaked through the woods gave the effect that the hobos had their own individual spaces, which also helped to give the location a real sense of dimension and scope.

The evening before shooting began at the Hobo Jungle, flash flood warnings were issued in Toronto. “A section of the set literally washed away,” remembers Cosco. “I stood there watching bits of our set dressing floating by in baskets or washtubs. Odetta, our set decorator, jumped in and I followed her. I’ve said to her since that if I didn’t see her jump in, I probably wouldn’t have. The two of us were almost waist-deep in water fishing out these things as they were floating by.”

Kit’s father is a car dealer, so naturally automobiles figure prominently in the film. Beau Boyd, the picture car captain of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, was responsible for finding and maintaining a fleet of about 70 vintage cars. “We had to find pre-1934 cars that run semi-decent and look new,” says Boyd. “Some of them had to seem brand new, because there was a dealership scene with eight brand new cars.”

Finding the vehicles involved a lot of legwork. While there are companies that rent vintage cars to movie shoots, Boyd prefers to work with collectors. “Collectors generally put more money and time into their car. We go to car shows and meet people, give them a card, and say, ‘I'd like to rent your car for a movie.’ That's the best way to find them.”

The fleet includes Ford Model As, Grahams, a Maxwell, a Peter Witt streetcar, some trucks and a trio of extremely rare cars. “The prize is the 1934 Chrysler Airflow,” says Boyd. “The Air Flow is important to the story because Kit's dad is one of the few people with a very upscale car. When he loses his dealership and loses the car, it changes the whole tone of the film.

“They only made it one year,” explains Boyd. “And we have three of them. It's a very pretty car, in addition to being very rare. At the time, most of the cars were square-bodied and this was a departure because it was very art-deco and way ahead of its time. It only lasted one year because it didn’t sell well. It was too radical.”

For costume designer Trysha Bakker, the film was a return to familiar territory since she also had served as costume designer on two of the made-for-television American Girl movies. Among the challenges for each film has been replicating the main doll’s signature outfit. “We have to find the fabric that looks like it, and if we can’t find the fabric then we have it printed.”

One of the problems the costumer faced during the film of Kit Kittredge was the difficulty of finding authentic Depression-era clothing for the shoot’s more than 100 costumes. She ended up creating many of them from scratch using old catalogs like Sears Roebuck and vintage photographs by Dorothea Lange to find the right designs.

As the film progresses, Kit and her family have less money to spend on clothing and the costumes reflect that. “The characters start to wear the same clothes over and over again and they started to get a little more threadbare,” says Bakker. “We used sandpaper and rasps and we put the clothes in TSP and washed them over and over again to take the color out and age the garments down.”

One of the most heartwarming days of filming for Bakker and the entire cast and crew was July 4, 2007, when the production was honored to host a vivacious 6-year-old girl from eastern North Carolina named Eliza Bourg, who has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Through the work of the Make A Wish Foundation, the production learned that Bourg is a huge fan of American Girl and Kit Kittredge in particular. She also loves movies and television. Bourg was invited to visit the sound stage in Toronto and was immediately whisked into her own “star” trailer. She was put through the hair and makeup process and then costume designer Trysha Bakker brought in a special little hobo dress just for her. Without telling Bourg or her parents, the filmmakers had decided to include her in the Thanksgiving dinner scene at the Kittredge house. Eliza has now completed chemotherapy treatment and is doing well.

“Having Eliza visit the set was the purest example of what making this movie was all about,” says producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. “On the most important American holiday, this sweet little American girl courageously battling an illness stepped on set and opened all of our eyes to what adversity and hardship is really like. It was as if a modern-day Kit had joined us all for the Thanksgiving feast.”

Director Rozema adds, “Words really can’t describe the impact Eliza had on all of us that day. Her spirit seemed to mirror Kit’s. It was a reminder of the sense of community human beings can share when faced with crisis. Her story inspired all of us that day and we certainly hope that Kit’s story will inspire people as well.”

Abigail Breslin and Zach Mills in Kit Kittredge

Davenport was decidedly unenthusiastic about the changes the filmmakers had planned for her hair, however. “I dyed my hair brown, and it is normally blond. I was kind of weirded out. But, I mean, I feel exactly the same until I look in the mirror.” Davenport quickly struck up a friendship with costars Abigail Breslin and Zach Mills. “We made up nicknames for each other and played games, ran around and hung out with each other off set. So even though much of the story is about people losing their money and their homes and stuff, we all managed to have a really good time because everyone was so nice and the set was a lot of fun.”

Mills, who appeared opposite Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, plays Stirling, a boy who comes to live at Kit’s house as a boarder after his parents lose their house. “My mom and I end up renting a room while my father goes off to look for work. The sad part is he doesn’t write to us like he said he would,” says Mills. “Something I learned about doing this role was that the Great Depression wasn’t all that great and people lost everything they had and sometimes they lost each other, too. Kit’s story is all about overcoming things like that.”

At the center of the mystery is a young hobo named Will, played by actor Max Thieriot, familiar to many young movie fans from his appearances in family films including The Pacifier and Nancy Drew. Seventeen-year-old Thieriot, however, admits he had never heard of the American Girl dolls or books. “As a teenaged guy, American Girl was never really on my personal radar,” says Thieriot. “Once I knew that I might be cast in this movie, I went to the American Girl store in Los Angeles just to check it out and I could not believe how popular the place was. It just blew my mind watching these little girls and how they act and react with all the dolls and clothes and books. I realized I was going to be a part of something very, very big and, if the crowds at the store were any indication, a lot of people will be seeing this movie.”

British-born actress Julia Ormand, who plays Kit’s mother, was fascinated by the amount of research that comes with each American girl doll. “It’s really a journey of discovery about what people in America went through in the Depression in the ‘30s—how people as a population faced hardship and social stigma. “This is a family that starts off pretty sound economically,” she adds, “and a child who has no real awareness of social issues. She’s introduced to people from a social class that she wouldn’t normally have encountered, and instead of coming at it with prejudice she comes at it with a lot of heart.”

Ormond has appeared opposite some of Hollywood’s premier leading men, including Brad Pitt (Legends of the Fall), Harrison Ford (Sabrina) and Richard Gere (First Knight). Even so, she found Breslin to be a formidable acting partner. “Abigail is really remarkable,” she says. “She’s in virtually every single scene. For anyone, but especially a child actor, it’s an incredible amount of pressure. She has an openness that’s completely right for Kit and an easy access to an emotional range that is really quite extraordinary. She also has an incredible comprehension of how things work: camera needs, marks, all those sorts of things.”

Ormond’s leading man in Kit Kittredge is Chris O’Donnell, who plays her husband. He is, she says, “the quintessential American male. Not just in looks, but also in his stoic determination. He has these very moving scenes where he’s struggling to hold it together, to protect the family from what he’s really going through. It’s kind of a tricky balance of a 1930s male who perhaps would have a different approach to somebody today, but nevertheless really a touching moment for anybody who feels a responsibility of providing for their family.”

For O’Donnell, who is probably best known for playing Robin to Val Kilmer’s Caped Crusader in Batman Forever and for his starring role opposite Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was a special project. “I really wanted to do something for my daughter and it’s a great script. It’s a great American tale of a time that was really tough in our country, the Depression, and you get a chance to see how families stuck together. Today we’re just super-consumers, and people are buying, buying, buying. But it wasn’t always like this. It really puts things in perspective.”

The actor acknowledges that the quality of the cast says a lot about the script, as well people’s familiarity with American Girl dolls. “Talent attracts talent. When a cast like this gets put together, people start to say, ‘I want to be a part of that, too.’”

“Abigail’s as mature as any adult actor I’ve ever worked with, so that’s been fantastic,” says the actor. “And Patricia Rozema, the director, stays real focused. She keeps people in good spirits and she really listens. I think it’s real easy as a director to sit back and watch the monitor, but she’s always listening. She pays attention and makes sure you hit all the right beats in a scene.”
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl’s supporting cast is rich with actors known for their commitment and talent. Stanley Tucci, recently seen in The Devil Wears Prada plays Mr. Berk, a boarder in the Kittredge household who is a magician by profession.

“Kids will instantly love the mystery of it,” says Tucci, a two-time Emmy winner. “It’s a wonderful story to be told through a child’s eyes. The story is always pertinent, because there’s always poverty no matter how wealthy a country we are. The moral is everybody pitches in together and does what they have to do to help each other as a community to get through the tough times.”

Tucci came to the set immediately after finishing another film and had little time to prepare. He credits the director and the script with making it easier for him to jump onto the fast moving train that was the Kit Kittredge production. “It’s a good script and very clearly written,” he says. “Patricia thinks very quickly and she’s not afraid to change things instantly and be spontaneous. Only a director who thinks that way and takes everything in stride—and also has a great sense of humor, which she does—could make a movie this way.”

Magician David Ben was brought on to teach Tucci the tricks of his character’s trade. Ben says he taught the actor a broad range of things he can do around the dinner table with everyday objects for the people who are living there. “Part of my own career is reconstructing magic from different time periods, particularly from the ‘20s and the ‘30s,” says Ben. “The filmmakers wanted a period levitation. Magicians have been floating people since around 1900 and you see still Criss Angel and David Blaine do it, but there was a particular style to how people floated in the ‘30s. And that's what the filmmakers wanted to recreate.”

Academy Award® nominee Joan Cusack turns in a memorable performance as Miss Bond, the dizzy mobile librarian who is levitated by Mr. Berk. An admirer of Patricia Rozema since she saw the director’s interpretation of the Jane Austen novel “Mansfield Park,” she was thrilled to work on the project. “It’s a very empowering movie about little girls and about confidence,” says the actress. “If I was a little girl and there was a little typewriter and a little bed and the little glasses and all the little things they have that go with the doll, I would love it.”

For the role of Miss Dooley, the man-hungry dance instructor who also boards with the Kittredges, the filmmakers brought in Jane Krakowski, who won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical “Nine.” “They had assembled an amazing cast of people, so I said yes immediately,” she says. “I get to dance a little bit in the movie and it’s been fun to sort of learn all the dances of 1934, like the Shorty George and the Lindy Hop and the Shim-Sham. It’s a little blast back into that time period.”

Dylan Smith, who plays Frederick Burke, calls his role in Kit Kittredge “a dream part.” “Playing a bad guy is always lots of fun, plus it’s a children’s movie, so there’s room for real colorful imagination. Then there’s the monkey, whose name in the movie is Curtis. I had to work very closely with the monkey.”

Curtis proved to be a temperamental co-star “There was a memo to the cast and crew, outlining all the dos and don’ts with monkeys,” remembers Smith. “Don’t wear a hat around the monkey. Don’t find yourself in a confined space with the monkey. Don’t stare the monkey in the eyes, and no sudden movements around the monkey.” The first day of shooting with the monkey, Curtis, Stanley Tucci and Smith were in a car backing up, remembers the actor. “The monkey’s in a confined space. Stanley’s wearing a hat. He had to turn the car around to back the car out, and when he turned around, he was facing the monkey, wearing a hat, staring at him in the eyes. He panicked slightly, hit the horn and the car sort of jilted back. So it was smooth sailing after that; nothing else really could go wrong.”

Wallace Shawn, who plays the editor of the Cincinnati Register, brings some first hand knowledge to the role. The well-known character actor is the son of William Shawn, legendary editor of The New Yorker. “I think being a journalist is a great thing to do. If you want to be a reporter, and you want to be a good reporter, you have to be willing face the reality of the world, which can sometimes be upsetting. But it is a great deal of fun to be a reporter because you get to meet all kinds of people and ask them things you would never dare to ask them if you just met them in the street or on an airplane or at dinner. You get to ask them whatever you like really, until they throw you out.”

In addition to the distinguished cast of professional actors, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl marks the film debut of four very lucky and talented young girls. Jordan Rackley, Elisabeth Perez, Erin Hilgartner and Brieanne Jansen were selected from more than 2,400 fans during a nationwide talent hunt for four “real American girls” to play Kit’s next-door neighbors and classmates.

“We held the open auditions at our three American Girl Place stores,” says producer Ellen L. Brothers. “Two days each in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. We received thousands of emails and letters from girls saying they would love to be in an American Girl movie. The number of girls who showed up exceeded our expectations. They waited hours and hours just for the opportunity to audition.”

Jordan Rackley, who plays Lillian, came to Chicago with her best friend Haley for the audition. She had previously appeared in community theater productions of “Peter Pan,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Annie” in her hometown of St. Louis. “One of my aunts was born during the Great Depression,” says Rackley. “So it’s kind of neat because I feel like this is probably what she felt like in these clothes and stuff. And I feel really different when I’m in them.” Normally poised, Jordan admits that when she got the call to be in the movie, her scream of excitement was so loud her dog barked in celebration, too.

Elisabeth Perez, who plays Eleanor, another one of Kit’s classmates, is ten years old and lives in Napa Valley, California. Even before being cast in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, she had written and staged her first play, which was based on the life of Helen Keller. Perez had plans to be a professional actress and was thrilled to launch her career with such a special project. “It has been a dream to be in a movie and even more of a dream to be in an American Girl movie,” says the youngster. “When I was five, my Aunt Mary gave me my first American Girl doll and when I was even younger, my older sister Madeleine read me the books.”

Just eight years old when she was cast as Kit’s next-door neighbor Florence Stone, Erin Hilgartner lives in Ithaca, New York. When she saw the lines at the open call in New York, she was afraid that she wouldn’t get a chance to audition. “But they saw every single girl who was in line,” she says. Hilgartner says she enjoyed “absolutely everything” about being in the movie—travelling to Canada, all the special treatment she received from the hair, makeup and wardrobe departments and meeting all the famous Hollywood stars. Now, she can’t wait to see herself on the big screen.

Eleven-year-old Brieanne Jansen surprised everyone in her family when she decided to audition for the movie. After being caught in a frightening hostage situation with her family seven years ago, Jansen had been understandably reluctant to put herself in new situations. This experience has renewed her self-confidence. “I’ve learned that being myself is the best way to be,” she says. “I was picked for this role because I didn’t try to be something that I’m not. I learned that I can dream as big as possible because dreams do come true.”

“With kids who haven’t acted, you sometimes get something remarkable,” says director Rozema. “Something way better than kids who already have these expectations of how to present themselves. They all brought a passion for American Girl and they took the work very seriously. It was an absolute joy for the entire cast and crew and I think they will all be very happy when they see themselves in the movie.”

Abiagal Breslin, Julia Ormond and Chris O'Donnell in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

The filmmakers knew that finding the right actress to play Kit was essential to the success of the film. Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin, who won over audiences, critics and Academy members as the plucky Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine, was everyone’s first choice to play Kit. But she had a very short window of availability before starting another film. This meant the filmmakers had to finalize the script and cast, prep the movie and shoot it all in the course of about four months.

“We did this feature on a very, very, very tight little schedule with a lot of limitations,” says Rozema. “Every shot had to be completely constructed. You couldn’t just shoot from any angle, because, oh my goodness, there was a satellite dish or something else that would be out of the period.”

To help speed the process, Rozema decided to use three cameras shooting simultaneously. “If we got that magic moment, it was covered on every side, and we didn’t have to repeat it and repeat it to get it each time,” she says.

This approach gave the director and her cast additional creative freedom. “The kids didn’t have to think about continuity as much, they didn’t have to remember ‘Oh, I had the fork up to my mouth on this line.’ If the moment was fresh and free, and we caught the spark, we had it on camera at different angles instantaneously.”

Although the expedited production schedule was a challenge at times, the director says it ended up being an extraordinary experience, “The whole enterprise has been so full of unabashed goodwill. It’s very hard to be really bitter or angry or blaming with little kids around. Their faces teach you things. They teach you things. We think we bring them up; they bring us up.”

Breslin lived up to the filmmakers’ expectations as the perfect Kit, says producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. “We couldn’t have been more thrilled with Abby,” she says. “She brought humor, warmth and intelligence to the role, and an enthusiasm and passion for the project that was simply infectious. “Abby handled the material like such a pro,” she continues. “Right from the beginning she understood the arc of the story. She recognized that Kit’s life was not all on ‘the sunny side of the street’ and that life can be very tough, but making it through the tough times makes everything that comes after even more valuable. Abby understood that within the story, Kit’s whole perspective on life changes, and with that change in perspective comes a change in values.”

Breslin learned some of the history of the Great Depression from her grandmother, who grew up during that era. “I showed my grandma the doll and the outfit that I wore and she told me that it was kind of like the clothes she used to wear when she was younger,” says the actress. “The Great Depression was when people were buying a lot of things on credit and then they didn’t have enough money to pay it back. And so they stopped buying things, which made the stores and the factories close, until everybody was basically out of work.”

In the movie, Kit is trying to convince the editor of the Cincinnati Register to publish her story so she can begin her journalism career. “She just wants more than anything else to become a reporter,” says Breslin. “That helps when she tries to solve the mystery, because she writes down everything that could maybe be a clue, like somebody had a tattoo or they were wearing boots or they had dark hair.”

Explaining why Breslin was perfect for the title role, Rozema says, “She is a very keen observer and a feeling person, like Kit. And quite daring, in her own quiet way. There is something admirable about Abigail Breslin that’s a lot like the character of Kit Kittredge.”

Madison Davenport, whose young acting career has included television and feature film roles, plays Ruthie Smithens, Kit’s best friend and daughter of the local banker. A self-acknowledged girl’s girl, Davenport says she adored the period costumes. “It's so cool to wear some clothes you don't normally wear. These clothes are so sweet! Why can't girls wear these clothes now? You never find cute dresses like these in normal stores.”

Abigail Breslin as Kit Kittredge in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

About The Production

Mention American Girl to any female aged three to 12 and the reaction may range from a sweet, ear-to-ear grin to a jumping-up-and-down ‘omigod omigod omigod’ frenzy. One of the top 15 children’s publishers in the nation, American Girl blends historical fact and inspirational fiction in stories that encourage girls to embrace their dreams. The company has sold more than 123 million American Girl books and 14 million American Girl dolls since 1986, and its award-winning American Girl magazine has a circulation of more than 620,000, making it the largest publication dedicated exclusively to girls ages eight and up.

But it was more than just that phenomenal success that inspired producers Elaine Goldsmith- Thomas, Lisa Gillan and Julia Roberts to approach American Girl more than six years ago with the idea of bringing the series to the screen. Roberts and Gillan, who are sisters, had learned about the unique appeal of American Girl from an expert: "Our mom—AKA ‘Grandma Betty’— was a regular supplier of American Girl dolls to our niece Emma, who really loved them,” say Roberts and Gillan. “Emma would introduce them to us as the real girls they are, sharing their background stories." "They really are girls, not just dolls,” adds Gillan. “They each have a history, a family, and a point of view. I think girls can relate and learn from each one's story."

For Goldsmith-Thomas, it was the combination of contemporary life lessons and history—and the unique way both are presented—that made the American Girl series such an appealing film project. “They never sugarcoat the girls’ stories,” she says. “Seeing the Depression or slavery or the loss of a parent through the eyes of a nine-year-old makes these stories unique. Comparing and contrasting life in different points of American history helps girls today understand that they are a part of history, too. The stories don’t make people from the past seem old-fashioned. They help create a connection between the past and the present. American Girl uses some great tools to teach kids to find the relevancy between their doll’s life and their own. As a filmmaker, that concept makes for compelling and interesting ways to approach bringing these stories to the audience.”

“We take girls seriously,” says Ellen L. Brothers, president of American Girl and producer of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. “All of our stories are told through the eyes of our heroine—a nine-year-old girl who turns ten in the story. In this film, you’re seeing the Great Depression through the eyes of a very confident nine-year-old girl. And that’s what makes this story so special.”
Brothers says the idea of a movie had been percolating at American Girl for several years. “From the very beginning, we thought it was completely natural to make a feature film, but it was all brand new to us. We felt we had to get our feet wet first. When Elaine, Julia and Lisa came to us, we talked about made-for-television movies as a great first step in exploring whether our audience would like seeing their favorite American Girls in a live action format. When the success of those three movies proved to us that our audience loved seeing the characters come to life, moving to the big screen was a logical next step.”

The first American Girl movie, “Samantha: An American Girl Holiday,” aired in 2004, followed by two more made-for-television films based on the series. Gillan was an executive producer of all three. “The success of ‘Samantha,’ ‘Felicity’ and ‘Molly’ made it clear how much girls loved seeing "their girls’" stories come to life and made the transition to the big screen inevitable.”
“Without much in terms of marketing dollars, we did exceptionally well,” says Goldsmith- Thomas. “So after the third one, we started exploring a lot of options and pondering how to make the transition to theatrical releases.

“We all fell in love with Bob Berney at Picturehouse and Colin Callender at HBO because they were committed to maintaining the same high standards,” continues Goldsmith-Thomas. “They both totally got it. Like us, they realized that American Girl is not simply about selling books and dolls. It is about exposing young kids to beautiful, sincere characters with beautiful, sincere stories to tell.”

Berney was equally enthusiastic about the project. “We all agreed that Kit Kittredge was the perfect choice for the first theatrical release,” says the president of Picturehouse. “Kit is a wonderful character, a spirited, ambitious young girl living in very difficult times. Her story is inspirational in the way it teaches the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate.”
“It was my two daughters who introduced me to American Girl books, and I was struck by what wonderful stories they were – they were celebrations of different times in our history yet they dealt with real challenges of every day life that young people today can relate to. ” says Callender, president of HBO Films. “When you combine these great characters and stories with the remarkable marketing machine behind American Girl it seemed like a natural theatrical franchise.”

Once the partnership solidified in February 2007, things began to happen very quickly. “We were fortunate to have Ann Peacock write a truly heartwarming screenplay that attracted a great group of creative people from the start,” says producer Lisa Gillan. “Once Abigail Breslin signed on, director Patricia Rozema came on board as did the rest of our amazing ensemble of actors. It all came together unusually fast.”

Director Rozema, best known for her acclaimed 1999 film Mansfield Park, has two young daughters, so she was already very familiar with the American Girl books and dolls. “I loved Kit, this little reporter who wants to write, who wants to express herself, who wants to do good. So many kids’ movies are about, ‘Oh, I can have love, I am a princess, I own the world now.’ There aren’t many that show kids and adults trying to hang on when material goods aren’t flowing their way, and showing that what’s valuable is not material.”

Gillan believes that Kit’s story has a very timely message for modern girls. “It is a wonderful lesson for young girls who are seeing women doing more and more amazing things, like running for president,” she says. “I think Kit has an almost Churchillian point of view about life. He said ‘Never, Never, Never Quit’, and Kit doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word. Giving up doesn't seem to be at all part of her character.”

For Rozema, the first priority was getting all the characters right. “American Girl isn’t just dolls,” she points out. “It’s characters. The dolls are one representation of those characters. The books are a representation of those characters. I don’t think kids who know the character already from the books are going to be disappointed at all. There are new elements that you haven’t seen in the books, but this won’t be a situation where people say ‘Hey, the text said this and the movie says that, what’s going on?’ It’ll be more like, ‘Oh, here are all these lovely characters I know and recognize in this new adventure.’” According to Goldsmith-Thomas, the audience for American Girl films “isn’t just little girls and their mothers, as we found out with the three TV movies we made. Every American Girl character has some sort of family element, whether it’s parents or siblings or grandparents or aunts and uncles. An entire family can go to the theater and enjoy tagging along with Kit and her friends as they embark on an adventure.”