dal 01 Giugno Margaret TUTTE LE CURIOSITA’ UFFICIALI (In inglese)

 

MARGARET centers on Lisa, a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman’s life. In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step.  Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself.  She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth:  that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world.

 

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Camelot Pictures present, a Gilbert Films / Mirage Enterprises / Scott Rudin Production, MARGARET.  Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, the film is produced by Sydney Pollack, Gary Gilbert and Scott Rudin and executive produced by Anthony Minghella with Blair Breard as co-producer.  The ensemble cast, headed by Anna Paquin, includes J. Smith-Cameron, Jean Reno, Jeannie Berlin, Allison Janney, Matthew Broderick, Kieran Culkin with Mark Ruffalo and Matt Damon.

 

The creative team includes director of photography Ryszard Lenczewski (INTERMISSION), production designer Dan Leigh (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND), editors Anne McCabe (ADVENTURELAND) and Michael Fay (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED), costume designer Melissa Toth (WIN WIN) and music by Nico Muhly (THE READER).

 

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

 

“I’ve wanted to tell this story for a long time,” says Kenneth Lonergan, writer-director of the acclaimed YOU CAN COUNT ON ME.    “It’s meant to be a kind of a teen epic—a documentary urban opera built on the everyday details, frustrations and obstacles that make real life so challenging, so funny and so painful.  It’s a very close look at somebody who learns the hard way that you can’t get the world to do what you want because there are millions of others right next to you trying to do the exact same thing, and that once you’ve run through your idealism, all you’ve got is your character and your capacity for love.” 

After having a great experience working with Fox Searchlight on GARDENSTATE, producer Gary Gilbert sat down with Fox Searchlight to try and find another picture they could work on together. “We were big fans of Kenny’s work and his script was incredible.  Soon after meeting with Searchlight, I met Kenny along with the other producers. The project had all the right ingredients and together we decided to move forward,” says Gilbert.

MARGARET tells the story of 17-year-old Manhattan high school student Lisa Cohen who finds herself at a moral and ethical crossroads.  Feeling responsible for playing a part in a fatal traffic accident, she tries to reconcile the situation and her guilt but becomes increasingly outraged at society’s inability to meet her moralistic ideals.

The idea for MARGARET was one that had been percolating inside Lonergan’s mind for years. “I had heard about an incident like this when I was in high school, and thought it was both very interesting and very horrible.” says Lonergan.

 “When hit with this crisis, Lisa asks many adults in her life what to do, and they all have advice for her, but none of it is what she wants to hear. And that’s one of the things the story is about:  the simultaneous idealism and naiveté of teenagers, and how savagely hard they are on adults for having compromised ideals.”  says Lonergan.

            Young but accomplished Anna Paquin was instantly drawn to the character of Lisa.  “I mean, it’s an entire film about a seventeen-year-old girl who actually gets to do more things than just be somebody’s girlfriend! Lisa is so intelligent, and has such a strong moral compass. She has a sense of what the right thing is to do, and though she stumbles along the way, she has a persistent instinct for the greater good.  When we first see her, she’s bright, but not extraordinarily mature for her age.  She’s pretty much your average seventeen-year-old who’s coming into her own in terms of sexuality and her own womanhood. Then a trauma occurs for which she is partly responsible. She doesn’t do the right thing at first, and it takes her a while to realize that she actually can’t live with that. I think ultimately that’s sort of what makes her real and human as even good people don’t necessarily always do the right thing. But she is basically a deeply good person, and she just can’t sit and let that go by.”

            Paquin starred in the London production of Lonergan’s hit play This Is Our Youth, and has been a longtime admirer of his work. “He’s so phenomenally talented, if he’d asked me to be a plant standing in the corner on this movie I would have done it,” she laughs. “So I really felt lucky to be asked to play the lead.  Even the small characters in this film are just so real and so complex, and Kenny has the whole backstory on everything and everyone.  It’s right there in the writing. I’ve been fortunate to work with several writer/directors like Kenny, including Jane Campion and Noah Baumbach, and there is always such precision to their work because they’ve agonized over every word, every comma.”

           

THE SUPPORTING CAST

 

            For the ensemble that makes up the cast of MARGARET, Lonergan brought together an impressive array of actors including Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, J. Smith-Cameron, and Jean Reno among others.

Matt Damon plays Lisa’s geometry teacher, Mr. Aaron.  “He is very idealistic.  He came from Indiana to the big city thinking he can have a big impact on the students’ lives.  He believes in the power of teaching and when he meets Lisa, he forms a very unique relationship with her,” says Damon. 

Also starring in This Is Our Youth in London, Damon was eager to join the cast. “I did a play in London for Kenneth a couple of years ago and loved working with him.  He is very good at giving very specific direction about what specifically a line means because nothing is random or simplified or reductive.  It is all very complex and very well thought out.”

Lonergan also had the pleasure of creating a major role for his wife J. Smith-Cameron, who plays Lisa’s mother. The award-winning actress has long been a favorite of New York theatre critics and audiences alike and was directed by her husband once before in a smaller, more comic role in YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. “She’s a great actress,” says Lonergan, “and I wrote the part for her, which I don’t normally do.  I think she’s fantastic and everyone in New York does too, so maybe this will be a chance for other people to see how amazing she is too.”

            Smith-Cameron herself takes a more sanguine view. “I don’t think Kenny had me in mind from the very beginning,” she insists. “But I think that as he went along, the role began to be right for me.”  In her character, she caught a glimpse of what might lie in store for her years in the future. “In MARGARET, when the movie starts, the mother and daughter are quite close.  My character is divorced and Lisa lives with her, they’re used to doing everything together, talking almost like girlfriends; it’s that kind of teenage daughter-and-mom relationship that’s really tight.  I can see them borrowing each other’s clothes and being able to talk about everything together, and then the circumstances of the movie happen.  I think Joan is really trying to do the right thing with Lisa by trying to guess what would feel good, and she just misses the mark.  She thinks, ‘Gosh, I’ve heard that teenagers suddenly turn on their parents, but I didn’t see this coming.’ She can’t figure it out.”

To play the romantic love interest for Joan, Lonergan cast international star Jean Reno as Ramon.  “When you start reading the script all of a sudden you surprise yourself because you feel you already know some of the lines.  To me that means a script is very well written.  It is a portrait of a young girl today and how she’s fighting with herself to find a light somehow,” says Reno.  “It is difficult being a teenager, we’ve all been in similar situations once or twice in our life, so anyone can relate to the story.”

            Lonergan’s old high-school friend Matthew Broderick appears as Lisa’s Humanities teacher. “Kenny is really my closest friend, and getting to work with him was strange and fun,” says Broderick. “Especially because a lot of this was based on our own high-school experience together.”  Broderick and Lonergan attendedThe Walden School, a progressive private school on New York’s Upper West Side. “Walden was a very liberally-oriented high school where they encouraged us to think for ourselves, and we did a lot of discussing of current events,” says Lonergan. “I especially enjoyed filming those classroom scenes, because the kids have these violent opinions about events overseas which they’re only half-informed on—which I don’t feel is all that different from many of the adult conversations I’ve participated in. So often, teenagers are depicted as idealized, beautiful, perfectly hip, MTV creatures.  Nothing wrong with MTV, but it’s not real life. And teenagers are also depicted as disaffected, bored, uninterested–and every teenager I know is very interested in what’s going on in the world.”

            For Anna Paquin, the scene in which she has an impassioned classroom confrontation with another student over the Middle East crisis was one of the high points of the filming. “That’s an angry scene,” says Paquin, “but it was fun because it’s so rare that you get to hear young people speaking intelligently but still sounding like young people–where neither side is necessarily a hundred percent accurate with their facts yet pursuing their point with absolute ferocity and passion.  It’s not your average high-school movie scene. It was very arduous trying to get all of the overlapping dialogue in place.  The scene is written with the dialogue in two columns, for the most part, and it took forever to get it timed correctly, but it was so worth it, and so much fun.”

 

ABOUT THE FILM’S DESIGN

 

            Although much of MARGARETtakes place on Manhattan’s Upper West side, and most of the locations were real ones rather than studio sets, the scenes of Lisa at home were actually filmed at the FortTotten army base across the East River on College Point in Queens.   FortTotten’s spacious grounds are filled with Victorian-era homes that once housed officers and their families. As these were built at approximately the same time as the townhouses of the Upper West Side, their interiors were remarkably similar to the apartment where Lisa, her mother, and her brother would have lived. “The interior details are very much the same—the ceiling heights, room sizes, moldings and hardware,” says production designer Dan Leigh. “That worked very much in our favor. FortTotten turned out to be a perfect solution for us. If we had filmed in a real apartment, it would have been a month of getting it ready, then three weeks of shooting, then a month or more to restore it once the shooting was completed.”

“I think the most challenging part of the shoot was the bus accident itself.  It took 6 days to shoot on location right at the corner of 75th and Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Keeping a very curious neighborhood away from the set at such a busy intersection was quite a challenge,” says producer Gary Gilbert.  

            Costume designer Melissa Toth also stressed a realistic wardrobe for the cast, particularly Anna Paquin. “Anna had 50-odd costume changes in the film,” says Toth.  “A girl of Lisa’s age doesn’t really have a uniform that she sticks to; she changes what she wears to suit her mood. Lisa is not too fashion-forward; she’s not overly concerned about her clothes, but she does want to be in the flashpoint of what her friends are doing. For the scenes where she visits the lawyers or where she visits Emily, Lisa dresses more conservatively. And because that’s something Lisa doesn’t normally do, we wanted those choices to look a little awkward—almost overly conservative. That also helped Anna, because in those scenes her character is supposed to be more on her guard, and having to fit uneasily into a more serious adult environment.”  Toth found working with Paquin to be a particularly satisfying experience.  “Anna is such an interesting lookingyoung woman,” she says.  “She’s not your normal bubblegum blonde, that Hollywood cliché, she’s actually a seasoned-looking girl. I’ve always said that fifty percent of costume design is casting. It made it easy to dress her. And I always appreciated her input, it was never a struggle. We were very much on the same page from the beginning. That doesn’t happen very often.”

            There are two sequences in MARGARET set at the Metropolitan Opera, and, in a precedent-setting move, the cast and crew were allowed to film there. No feature film had been shot at the Met since MOONSTRUCK some 20 years before. The filming took place over two separate Sundays and covered the entire magnificent house—from the lobby to the Grand Staircase to the auditorium to the stage. Months of negotiations were required before the Met granted this access. For those two Sundays, the crewhad free rein of the theatre.  Hundreds of extras were brought in, as were cherry-picker cranes, lighting grids, and enormous helium balloons containing floodlights that gave the entire auditorium a luminescent soft glow.  The film’s final sequence also takes place at the Met, with scenes in the auditorium, lobby, and outside on the huge balcony overlooking LincolnCenterPlaza.

“It was an incredible experience shooting at the Met, it’s such a beautiful setting and so emblematic of New York.  It was such an honor,” says Gilbert.

            Also keeping the scene up to Met standards was the luxury casting of operatic superstars, soprano Renée Fleming, soprano Christine Goerke and mezzo Susan Graham. They were in New York singing at the Met that season and were available to take part in the day’s filming.  They previously worked together on the famed Hoffmann Barcarolle duet with conductor Daniel Beckwith.  The entire sequence was pre-lit and blocked on a Saturday, and the following day was spent doing the actual filming. Every element had been put so firmly into place that the day of shooting unfolded without a snag.

            MARGARETis a New York story. Its writer-director is a New Yorker. And it was filmed entirely within the limits of New York City.  “The details in Kenny’s script are completely based in the world he grew up in,” says Anna Paquin. “This is the world he’s written about with such love and detail, so it was great that we all got to work where we were supposed to.”

 

ABOUT THE CAST

 

With her work in film, television and theater, Academy® and Golden Globe® Award winning actress ANNA PAQUIN (Lisa Cohen) has displayed a range of emotions and a wealth of talent well beyond her years.  Paquin just finished her fourth season of the HBO drama, “True Blood”, a series which has marked her first foray into series television. “True Blood” is based on the Southern Vampire book series by Charlaine Harris. Anna received a Golden Globe Award in 2009 and a Golden Globe and SAG Awards™ nomination in 2010 for her portrayal of Sookie Stackhouse.

Most recently, Paquin was featured in the film THE ROMANTICS in which she starred opposite Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel. The film premiered in the fall of 2010. Anna was recently seen in the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler” for which she received a 2010 Golden Globe Nomination for “Best Performance in a Mini-Series”.  The film is a touching story of a social worker, played by Paquin, who saved the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto in World War II. In 2007, Anna starred in HBO’s original movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee“, opposite Adam Beach and Aidan Quinn.   Directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by Dick Wolf, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” received a record 17 Emmy® nominations, including a nomination for Anna in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie.

Paquin starred in and co-produced BLUE STATE with her brother Andrew, under their banner Paquin Films.  BLUESTATE is a political romantic comedy about a Democratic campaigner who follows through on his promise to move to Canada if George “Dubya” Bush is re-elected. BLUESTATE premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

Additional film credits include the X-MEN trilogy, which combined grossed over $600 million domestically, Noah Baumbach’s THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, Spike Lee’s 25^TH HOUR, Gus Van Sant’s FINDING FORRESTER, Cameron Crowe’s Academy Award winning ALMOST FAMOUS, Steven Spielberg’s AMISTAD, Carroll Ballard’s FLY AWAY HOME, and Franco Zeffirelli’s JANE EYRE.

On stage, Paquin received a Drama Desk nomination as Best Lead Actress for her stage debut in Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living for director Phillip Seymour Hoffman.  She followed that performance with the first West End production of Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hayden Christensen.  Other stage credits include After Ashley directed by Terry Kinney and Neil Labute’s dark drama The Distance from Here, which won the Drama Desk Award for Best Play Best Cast Ensemble. 

Paquin stunned the world in 1993 with her film debut as the daughter of the bride of an arranged marriage in Jane Campion’s THE PIANO.  Paquin’s performance opposite cast members Holly Hunter, Sam Neill, and Harvey Keitel led to her winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of eleven. 

 

J. SMITH-CAMERON (Joan) is appearing in Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson this fall at The Public Theater, the sequel to Nelson’s That Hopey Changey Thing from The Public Theatre’s 2010 season.  Before that she performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Jolla Playhouse and appeared opposite Matthew Broderick in Kenneth Lonergan’s play The Starry Messenger.  Her other off-Broadway credits include Sarah, Sarah, by Daniel Goldfarb, which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress, Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire, which she received an Outer Critics Award nomination for Best Actress, The God of Hell by Sam Shepard, As Bees in Honey Drown, which she received the Obie® award, and Drama Desk and Outer Critics Awards nominations,and Music from a Sparkling Planet, both by Douglas Carter Beane, and Paul Rudnick’s The Naked Eye, which she also received a Drama Desk nomination for.  Her Broadway credits include Crimes of the Heart, Wild Honey, Lend Me a Tenor, The Play’s the Thing, The Real Inspector Hound, Night Must Fall, Our Country’s Good, which she received a Tony® nomination for, Tartuffe, and After the Night and the Music by Elaine May.  Cameron plays Melinda Mickens in the award winning HBO Drama “True Blood.”  She also appeared in Mr. Lonergan’s first film YOU CAN COUNT ON ME.

 

JEAN RENO (Ramon) is the renowned French actor who rapidly gained recognition among American audiences with pivotal roles in box-office blockbusters such as Brian DePalma’s MISSION IMPOSSIBLE opposite Tom Cruise, Roland Emmerich’s GODZILLA, Luc Besson’s LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL with Natalie Portman and John Frankenheimer’s RONIN opposite Robert DeNiro.   Reno starred opposite Steve Martin in THE PINK PANTHER and opposite Tom Hanks, Paul Bettany and Audrey Tatou in Sony Pictures’ THE DA VINCI CODE, directed by Ron Howard. Most recently, he starred in COUPLES RETREAT alongside Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, and Jason Bateman. Peter Billingsley directed this romantic comedy set in Bora Bora. All three films opened number one at the box office. 

In January 2008, Reno starred in ARMORED, with Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne. Nimrod Antal directed the suspense thriller for Sony Screen Gems.  In November of 2007, Reno wrapped principal photography on Sony’s PINK PANTHER 2, reprising his role, Ponton, opposite Steve Martin, Emily Mortimer, John Cleese, Andy Garcia and Alfred Molina. PINK PANTHER 2 was released in February 2009.

In the winter of 2006, Reno directed his first opera, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut for the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy.  Reno also completed work starring in the French production CASH, directed by Eric Besnard and co-starring Valeria Golina.  Reno was seen on the big screen with James Franco in Tony Bill’s World War I epic FLYBOYS for MGM, and in DreamWorks’ animated feature FLUSHED AWAY.  Reno provided the voice of Le Frog alongside Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen. 

Reno is one of France’s most revered and respected actors, having starred opposite Gerard Depardieu in the blockbuster comedy TAIS TOI and LES VISITEURS, which became the highest grossing film in French box office history when it was released.  Its sequel, LES VISITEURS II, also broke box office records. More recently, Reno touched American audiences with his romantic portrayal of a love-struck gourmet chef who sweeps Juliette Binoche off her feet in JET LAG.  He also starred in L’EMIRE DE LOUPS, based on a best-selling French novel by Jean-Christophe Grange who also wrote Crimson Rivers, a novel, which was also made into a blockbuster feature film starring Reno. He was also featured in Roberto Benigni’s THE TIGER AND THE SNOW.  

He has also enjoyed a tremendously successful collaboration with the acclaimed French director Luc Besson. In addition to LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, he has co-starred in Besson’s LE DERNIER COMBAT, SUBWAY opposite Christopher Lambert and Isabelle Adjani, THE BIG BLUE opposite Roseanna Arquette and the acclaimed thriller LA FEMME NIKITA opposite Anne Parillaud. The duo also collaborated on the making of WASABI, in which Reno also starred.
            Born in Casablanca to Spanish parents, Reno pursued his dream of acting in France after serving his military service in Germany. Settling in Paris, Reno joined stage director Didier Flamand in a traveling theater company that took him around the country.  His screen debut was in the French film CLAIR DE FEMME directed by Costa Gavras. Other international film credits include Francis Verber’s LA JAGUAR, Christian Le Jale’s LOULOU GRAFFITI, Jean-Marie Poire’s L’OPERATION CORNED BEEF, Eric Duret’s L’HOMME AU MASQUE D’OR, Marco Ferreri’s I LOVE YOU, Betrand Blier’s NOTRE HISTOIRE, and Jacques Monnet’s SIGNES EXTERIEURS DE RICHESSE. Other American film credits include Paul Weiland’s FOR ROSEANNA in which he co-starred opposite Mercedes Ruehl, Lawrence Kasdan’s FRENCH KISS with Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan, and John McTiernan’s ROLLERBALL.
            Reno, who spoke only his native Spanish for the first eleven years of his life, also speaks fluent French, Italian, English, and a fair amount of Japanese.  He splits his time between Paris, New York, and Los Angeles.

 

JEANNIE BERLIN (Emily), a third generation actor-writer-director, began her career on stage at the age of 13 in an off-Broadway production of Rumpelstiltskin.   She’s best known for her Oscar nominated performance in Elaine May’s THE HEARTBREAK KID.   Other film credits include SHEILA LEVINE, PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT, GETTING STRAIGHT, THE BABY MAKER, ON A CLEAR DAY, BONE, and IN THE SPIRIT, which she co-wrote with Laurie Jones.  

She appeared on several television shows most notably, “Columbo.”   Then returned to the stage to star in Power Plays with Alan Arkin and Elaine May, After the Night and the Music, which was directed by Dan Sullivan, and Adult Entertainment in which her performance was reviewed by Ben Brantley as, “A master class in the delicate art of acting.” 

Recently, she has finished an original screenplay with Mark Hampton, “Criminally Insane,” and adapted Anton Chekov’s, The Boor, as a short movie, which she will direct.  She is soon to appear in Julian Schlossberg’s production of Rotten Apples.

Ms. Berlin’s other awards include a Golden Globe Nomination, New York Film Critics Award and National Society of Film Critics Award. 

                                                                                               

Displaying astonishing versatility with a wide range of roles in film, television and theater, ALLISON JANNEY (Monica Patterson) has taken her place among a select group of actors who combine a leading lady’s profile with a character actor’s art of performance.

Janney has completed production on the much anticipated feature film adaptation of THE HELP, based on the best-selling book of the same name. The film was released in August 2011. She also made a return to television in the new ABC comedy “Mr. Sunshine” alongside Matthew Perry. She is renowned for her starring role in the acclaimed NBC series “The West Wing”, where Janney won a remarkable four Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild® awards for her portrayal of White House Press Secretary CJ Cregg.

Janney starred in Todd Solondz’s film LIFE DURING WARTIME, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and garnered her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards.  She has completed another independent project called THE ORANGES with Hugh Laurie and Oliver Platt.

Previously Janney delighted audiences with outstanding performances in the Oscar®-winning ensemble hit JUNO and in the movie version of the Tony Award winning play Hairspray, which became only the 3rd musical in recent years to cross the $100 million mark at the box office. Additionally, she appeared in Sam Mendes’ AWAY WE GO, the comedy STRANGERS WITH CANDY, and was heard as the voice of Gladys in DreamWorks’ animated film OVER THE HEDGE, as well as Peach in FINDING NEMO.  Janney received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her work in OUR VERY OWN, and starred opposite Meryl Streep in THE HOURS, which received a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture.  Other feature credits include the Academy Award winning film AMERICAN BEAUTY, for whichshe won a SAG Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture as well as NURSE BETTY, HOW TO DEAL, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, PRIMARY COLORS, THE ICE STORM, SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS, THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, and BIG NIGHT.

While a freshman studying acting at KenyonCollege in Ohio, Janney auditioned for Paul Newman and got the part.  Soon after, Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward suggested she study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. She followed their advice and went on to make her Broadway debut in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, for which she earned the Outer Critics Circle Award and Clarence Derwent Award.  For her Broadway performance in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, she received her first Tony Award nomination, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award, as well as the Drama Desk Award for Best Supporting Actress. In addition, she has starred in the New York Public Theater’s production of Taming of the Shrew, and in the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s production of Lillian Hellman’s The Autumn Garden. Janney was last seen on Broadway wowing critics and audiences alike with her portrayal of Violet Newstead in the musical 9 to 5, for which she earned a Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award.

 

A two-time Tony award-winning stage actor and instantly recognizable film presence, MATTHEW BRODERICK (John) was most recently seen in the feature films WONDERFUL WORLD, opposite Sanaa Lathan, Universal’s animated adventure THE TALE OF DESPEREAUXin which he voices the title character, and DIMINISHED CAPACITY, opposite Alan Alda and Virginia Madsen.  In the spring of 2008, he was also on the big screen in Helen Hunt’s directorial debut THEN SHE FOUND ME.  He next stars alongside Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Casey Affleck in TOWER HEIST. 

This past year Broderick returned to Broadway, starring in Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist and in Kenneth Lonergan’s off-Broadway production of Starry Messenger, opposite Catalina Sandino Moreno.  Previously, he starred in the blockbuster Broadway production of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. He also starred in the hit off-Broadway play, The Foreigner, at the Roundabout Theatre. In 2005, he starred in the feature film version of The Producers, reprising the Tony-nominated performance he gave on Broadway in this smash hit musical. 

Broderick starred in the critically acclaimed YOU CAN COUNT ON ME opposite Laura Linney.  He also earned considerable acclaim starring opposite Reese Witherspoon in the critically lauded and Independent Spirit Award winning political satire ELECTION, directed by Alexander Payne. 

A New York native, he made his professional stage debut opposite his father, James Broderick, at age 17 in the production of On Valentine’s Day.  His performance in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, won him the Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. Broderick won his first Tony Award for Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, and starred in the play’s sequel, Biloxi Blues.  He won his second Tony for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch, in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Broderick has also starred in such blockbuster movies as FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, GLORY, WAR GAMES, and Disney’s THE LION KING as the adult voice of Simba.  Additional credits include BEE MOVIE, ADDICTED TO LOVE, THE CABLE GUY, INSPECTOR GADGET, DECK THE HALLS, MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE, MAX DUGAN RETURNS, PROJECT X, FAMILY BUSINESS, THE FRESHMAN, THE NIGHT WE NEVER MET, THE LAST SHOT and THE STEPFORD WIVES.

In addition to his stage, screen and Broadway credits, he has also appeared in the Showtime film “Master Harold…and the Boys,” and received an Emmy nomination for the TNT production of David Mamet’s “A Life in the Theater,” which he starred opposite Jack Lemmon.

Broderick resides in New York with his wife Sarah Jessica Parker and their three children.

 

KIERAN CULKIN (Paul) has already made a formidable impression on audiences around the world as one of the most talented actors of his generation. 

Culkin most recently garnered acclaim for his turn as Wallace Wells, the title character’s roommate in Universal Pictures’ SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD,directed by Edgar Wright.  In Derick Martini’s LYMELIFE, Culkin played Jimmy Bartlett, the older brother who escapes familial and suburban malaise by shipping off to war.  LYMELIFE also starred Rory Culkin, Alec Baldwin, Emma Roberts, Cynthia Nixon and Timothy Hutton.

In 2002, Culkin received a Critics Choice Award for Best Young Actor and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance as a 17 year-old intellectual who copes with his mother’s cancer and his father’s insanity by pursuing older women in Burr Steers’ IGBY GOES DOWN.  The MGM/United Artists release also featured Claire Danes, Bill Pullman and Susan Sarandon. In THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTER BOYS, Culkin starred with Emile Hirsch as a rebellious teenager who takes on an alter-ego in a comic book drawn by his friend.  Jodie Foster produced and made a cameo appearance in the film directed by Peter Care.

Culkin’s feature credits also include Peter Chelsom’s THE MIGHTY, in which he played a bullied young genius with a degenerative growth disorder, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (ensemble SAG Award nomination), directed by Lasse Hallstrom, MUSIC OF THE HEART, directed by Wes Craven and starring Meryl Streep and PAPER MAN with Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone. 

Culkin made his motion picture debut as cousin Fuller McAllister in John Hughes’ international blockbuster HOME ALONE.  His early credits also include HOME ALONE 2:  LOST IN NEW YORK, FATHER OF THE BRIDE, FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II, SHE’S ALL THAT, NOWHERE TO RUN and IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY.

 

MARK RUFFALO (Maretti) is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors, easily moving between stage and screen and working with directors including Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Fernando Meirelles and Michele Gondry.

Ruffalo earned nominations in 2011 for an Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award and Independent Spirit Award for his performance as Paul in Focus Features’ THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.  He also received the Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010 and opened to rave reviews in July. It was directed by Lisa Cholodenko and centers on a female couple whose two children, who were conceived by artificial insemination, invite their birth father into their family life.

Ruffalo’s directorial debut, SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS, also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2010 and went on to win the Special Jury Prize for dramatic film. The film stars Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis and Ruffalo in a story about a Los Angeles DJ who finds that he has the power to heal.  SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS was released in New York and Los Angeles by Maya Entertainment on April 29^th, 2011.

Ruffalo recently signed on to play Bruce Banner, or The Incredible Hulk, in Marvel Enterprises’ THE AVENGERS, scheduled for release in 2012. The film will also star Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans and will be directed by Joss Whedon.

In 2010, he was seen starring in Paramount Pictures’ thriller SHUTTERISLAND, directed by Martin Scorsese. Ruffalo starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the film which follows two cops who are sent to ShutterIsland to investigate a missing patient at a mental institution. 

Ruffalo starred in 2009’s THE BROTHERS BLOOM, an international conman adventure directed by Rian Johnson.  The cast includes Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi.  Ruffalo also made an appearance in the big-screen adaptation of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, directed by Spike Jonze.

In 2007, Ruffalo appeared in the Phoenix Pictures film ZODIAC opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr.  Ruffalo portrayed the infamous Detective Dave Toschi, who devoted his career to tracking down the Zodiac killer. 

In 2006, Ruffalo made his Tony Award-nominated Broadway debut in the Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing! The original cast included Ben Gazzara, Zoe Wanamaker and Lauren Ambrose.

He appeared in 2004 in the Michael Mann directed COLLATERAL opposite Tom Cruise.  He was also seen in Warner Independents’ WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE opposite Naomi Watts, Peter Krause and Laura Dern.  Ruffalo served as an Executive Producer on the film which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.  Also in 2004 Ruffalo starred in the romantic comedy 13 GOING ON 30, opposite Jennifer Garner, and he appeared in Charlie Kaufman’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND opposite Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.  In 2003, Ruffalo was seen opposite Meg Ryan in Jane Campion’s film IN THE CUT.

Ruffalo earned critical recognition in 2000 for his role in Kenneth Lonergan’s YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, opposite Laura Linney and Matthew Broderick.  The Martin Scorsese-produced film won coveted Grand Jury Prize for best film in dramatic competition and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.

Ruffalo’s other credits include BLINDNESS, JUST LIKE HEAVEN, RESERVATION ROAD, ALL THE KING’S MEN, WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU, MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, THE LAST CASTLE, opposite Robert Redford and James Gandolfini, WINDTALKERS, XX/XY, COMMITTED, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, STUDIO 54, SAFE MEN, THE LAST BIG THING, FISH IN THE BATHTUB, and LIFE/DRAWING. 

Ruffalo’s acting roots lie in the theater, where he first gained attention starring in the off-Broadway production of ­This is Our Youth; written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, for which he won a Lucille Award for Best Actor.   Ruffalo has won several awards for other performances, including a Dramalogue Award and the Theater World Award.  In 2000, Ruffalo was seen in the off-Broadway production The Moment When, a play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner James Lapine.            

Having trained with Joanne Linville at the distinguished Stella Adler Conservatory, Ruffalo made his theater debut in Avenue A at The Cast Theater.  A writer, director and producer, Ruffalo co-wrote the screenplay for the independent film THE DESTINY OF MARTY FINE, which was the first runner-up in the 1995 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  Additionally, he has directed several plays and one-acts. In 2000, he directed Timothy McNeil’s original play Margaret at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles. 

Ruffalo resides in New York.

 

MATT DAMON (Mr. Aaron) has been honored for his work on both sides of the camera, most recently earning Academy Award and SAG Award  nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of South African rugby hero Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood’s true-life drama INVICTUS.  In addition, he garnered dual Golden Globe Award nominations in 2010 for Best Supporting Actor for INVICTUS and for Best Actor for his performance in Steven Soderbergh’s THE INFORMANT!  Earlier in his career, Damon won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay and received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, both for his breakthrough feature GOOD WILL HUNTING.

This year, Damon stars in Cameron Crowe’s true-life comedy/drama WE BOUGHT A ZOO, opposite Scarlett Johansson. He also reunited with director Steven Soderbergh for the thriller CONTAGION, joining an all-star ensemble cast also including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law; and starred in George Nolfi’s thriller THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU.  In 2010, he starred in the Coen brothers’ Oscar-nominated remake of the classic Western TRUE GRIT, Clint Eastwood’s drama HEREAFTER, and the action thriller GREEN ZONE for director Paul Greengrass.

He had previously starred under Greengrass’s direction in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.  Damon originated the title role of Jason Bourne in Doug Liman’s 2002 action blockbuster THE BOURNE IDENTITY.

His other recent film credits include Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Best Picture THE DEPARTED, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg; Robert De Niro’s dramatic thriller THE GOOD SHEPHARD, with De Niro and Angelina Jolie; and Stephen Gaghan’s geopolitical thriller SYRIANA, with George Clooney.  Damon also teamed with Clooney and Brad Pitt as part of the all-star casts of Soderbergh’s heist comedy hit OCEAN’S ELEVEN, and its sequels, OCEAN’S TWELVE and OCEAN’S THIRTEEN.

For the small screen, Damon both executive produced and appeared in the History Channel project “The People Speak,” based on a book co-written by historian Howard Zinn and featuring dramatic readings and performances from some of the most famous names in the entertainment industry.

Hailing from Boston, Damon attended HarvardUniversity and gained his first acting experience with the American Repertory Theatre.  He made his feature film debut in MYSTIC PIZZA, followed by roles in SCHOOL TIES, Walter Hill’s GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND, and the cable projects “Rising Son,” and Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Good Old Boys.”  He first gained attention with his portrayal of a guilt-ridden Gulf War veteran in 1996’s COURAGE UNDER FIRE.

Together with his lifelong friend Ben Affleck, Damon co-wrote the acclaimed 1997 drama GOOD WILL HUNTING, for which they won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award, as well as several critics groups awards for Best Original Screenplay.  Damon also garnered Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations, in addition to his Oscar nomination for Best Actor.  Additionally in 1997, Damon starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s THE RAINMAKER and appeared in Kevin Smith’s CHASING AMY.

The following year, Damon played the title role in Steven Spielberg’s award-winning World War II drama SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and also starred in John Dahl’s drama ROUNDERS, with Edward Norton.  Damon earned his third Golden Globe nomination for his performance in 1999’s THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, directed by Anthony Minghella.  Damon’s subsequent film credits include Kevin Smith’s DOGMA, with Affleck; Robert Redford’s THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE; Billy Bob Thornton’s ALL THE PRETTY HORSES; the Farrelly brothers’ comedy STUCK ON YOU; Terry Gilliam’s THE BROTHERS GRIMM; and George Clooney’s CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND.

Damon and Affleck formed the production company LivePlanet, which produced three Emmy-nominated seasons of “Project Greenlight,” chronicling the making of independent films by first-time writers and directors.  The “Project Greenlight” films produced include STOLEN SUMMER, THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS and FEAST.  LivePlanet also produced the documentary RUNNING THE SAHARA, directed by Oscar winner James Moll.

In addition, Damon is the co-founder of Water.org and a founder of Not On Our Watch.

 

 

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

 

KENNETH LONERGAN (Written and Directed By) has been represented in New York by Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk Best Play Nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting Nominee, included in the 2000-2001 Best Plays Annual), The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize Runner-UP), and This Is Our Youth (Drama Desk Best Play Nominee).  Lobby Hero (Olivier Award Nominee for Best Play) and This Is Our Youth have also received productions on London’s West End.  He co-wrote the film GANGS OF NEW YORK, which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.  His film YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Films Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review Awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI Awards for Best Film and Best New Writer, as well as the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival.  He is a member of Naked Angels.  He is married to actress J. Smith-Cameron. 

 

            The late SYDNEY POLLACK’S (Produced By) twenty films have received 46 Academy Award nominations including two for Best Picture.  His film OUT OF AFRICA won seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Pollack.
            He won the New York Film Critics’ Award for his 1982 film TOOTSIE, and the David di Donatello Award for THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR.
            He’s received the Golden Globe for Best Picture twice, the National Society of Film Critics’ Award, the NATO Director of the Year Award, and prizes from the Brussels, Belgrade, San Sebastian, Moscow, and Taormina Film Festivals.
            In 1986 The French Government awarded him the medal of Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
            Pollack served twice as a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival and once as the jury’s President.
            The American Film Institute voted TOOTSIE the #2 Comedy of all time, and THE WAY WE WERE and OUT OF AFRICA are in the AFI’s top 100 Romantic Films of all time.
            In 2000 he was awarded the Directors Guild of America John Huston Award by the Artists Rights Foundation.
            As an actor, he has appeared in Woody Allen’s HUSBANDS AND WIVES, Robert Altman’s THE PLAYER, Robert Zemeckis’s DEATH BECOMES HER, Steve Zaillian’s CIVIL ACTION, Stanley Kubrick’s EYES WIDE SHUT, and Roger Mitchell’s CHANGING LANES.  On television he has appeared on “Mad About You” and “Will & Grace.”
            In 1985 he formed Mirage Productions.  Under that banner he has produced the films; PRESUMED INNOCENT, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, WHITE PALACE, MAJOR LEAGUE, DEAD AGAIN, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, THE QUIET AMERICAN and COLD MOUNTAIN.  In 2000, writer/director Anthony Minghella became a partner in Mirage Productions.
            Pollack was a founding member of The Sundance Institute, The Chairman Emeritus of The American Cinematheque, a founding member of The Film Foundation, and on the Board of Directors for The Motion Picture and Television Fund.

 

GARY GILBERT (Produced By) is founder and CEO of Gilbert Films, a Los Angeles-based production company dedicated to producing and financing both independent and studio films.  With an eye for character-driven independent stories, Gilbert Films remains filmmaker-focused, ensuring unique films for mainstream audiences.
            Most recently, Gilbert produced the Oscar- nominated film, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, the third feature from Lisa Cholodenko (HIGH ART, LAURELCANYON), starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and since release, has landed on numerous Top Ten Lists for 2010, earning recognition from the PGA, Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Awards with nominations for Best Picture.  The film won the Golden Globe for Best Picture Comedy or Musical and Best Actress, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
            Gilbert’s first feature, writer/director Zach Braff’s GARDEN STATE,  premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and opened to critical acclaim and box-office success.  Gilbert, along with the film’s other producers, was honored with the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
            Gilbert Films also produced and financed MEET MONICA VELOUR, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.  The film marks the feature directorial debut from award-winning commercial director Keith Bearden and stars Kim Cattrall, newcomer Dustin Ingram, Brian Dennehy, and Keith David.  AnchorBay Films released the film theatrically in April 2011.
            Also upcoming for Gilbert is CRIPPLE, which just wrapped principal photography, starring Aaron Paul, Lena Olin, Tom Berenger, Tom Sizemore, Celia Weston, and Jeff Daniels. Based on Cripple: The Diaries of Adam Niskar, the film was directed by long time “Mad Men” director Mike Uppendahl and written by Emmy-nominated “Mad Men” writer Robin Veith, Michael Burke, and comedian Mike Young.
            Along with Odd Lot Entertainment, Gilbert produced FROM PRADA TO NADA, the first film released by Pantelion Films, Lionsgate’s co-venture with Mexican media giant Televisa.  With Lakeshore Entertainment, Gilbert financed and produced Mark Pellington’s HENRY POOLE IS HERE, starring Luke Wilson and Radha Mitchell, which was released by Overture in 2008.
            Gilbert comes to filmmaking from the world of mortgage banking. In 1985, he and his brother, Dan, founded Rock Financial, a residential mortgage banking company. In May of 1998, Rock Financial became a publicly traded company which was then acquired by Intuit (Quicken) in December of 1999. While his brother remained with the company, the sale enabled Gilbert to strike out and explore filmmaking.  Additionally, Gilbert and his brother are co-owners of the NBA franchise the Cleveland Cavaliers.

 

ANTHONY MINGHELLA (Executive Producer) was born in 1954 on the Isle of Wight to Italian parents and died in March 2008 at the age of  54. He was married to Carolyn Choa.  Until 1981, he lectured in Drama at the University of Hull.  His stage plays are Child’s Play, Whale Music, A Little like Drowing, Two Planks and a Passion, Made in Bangkok and Love Bites. He was voted Most Promising Playwright in 1984 by the London Theatre Critics, who then gave Made in Bangkok the Best New Play award for 1986.

His television trilogy, “What If It’s Raining?” was highly acclaimed throughout Europe.  He began and regularly contributed to ITV’s award winning series “Inspector Morse.”  He wrote all nine of the short television films in “The Storyteller” series for Jim Henson and NBC, which subsequently won awards all over the world including an EMMY, the BAFTA award and the Gold Medal at the New York International Film & Television Festival.  He also wrote a single film with the same team, “Living With Dinosaures,” which won an International Emmy in 1991.

His BBC radio play, “Hang Up,” won the Prix Italia in 1988 and “Cigarettes and Chocolate,” which he wrote and directed for BBC Radio’s Globe Theatre Season, won the 1989 Giles Cooper Award and the 1989 Sony Award.

In 2005, he directed Madam Butterfly for English National Opera at the London Coliseum. It received an Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production and Outstanding Achievement in Opera for Anthony Minghella’s direction and Carolyn Choa’s co-direction and choreography.

His first film as writer/director, TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY, was a great success both in Britain and in America and won him several prizes including a BAFTA award and a Writers’ Guild Award.

THE ENGLISH PATIENT, which he wrote and directed, opened in London in March 1997. THE ENGLISH PATIENT, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, has won over thirty awards: 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, 2 Golden Globe awards, 6 BAFTA Awards, The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay and The Scripters Award for Best Screenplay. Anthony was also awarded the Director’s Guild of America award for Best Director.

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, which he adapted for the screen and directed, opened in February 2000. It was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and for 7 BAFTA Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. For THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, Anthony Minghella won the Best Director Award from America’s National Board of Review and was named by America’s Cinema Owners, ShoWest’s Director of the Year 2000.

COLD MOUNTAIN, which he wrote and directed, opened in America and the UK in December 2003.   The screenplay is based on the novel by Charles Frazier.   The film was nominated for 8 Golden Globe Awards, 13 BAFTA Awards, and 7 Academy Awards.

BREAKING AND ENTERING was Minghella’s first original screenplay in 15 years. The film, which Minghella also directed, stars longtime collaborators Jude Law and Juliette Binoche.

Minghella was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Hull in 1998, the University of Southampton in 2000 and the University of Bournemouth in 2001. He is the first Freeman of the Isle of Wight. In June 2001, Minghella was awarded a CBE.  Anthony was Chairman of the BFI.

Minghella and the late Sydney Pollack were joint owners of Mirage Enterprises, the production company behind films such as SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, IRIS, BIRTHDAY GIRL, HEAVEN, THE QUIET AMERICAN, COLDMOUNTAIN, THE INTERPRETER and TO CATCH A FIRE.

 

RYSZARD LENCZEWSKI (Director of Photography) studied at the world-renowned PolishFilmSchool in Lodz and received his Diploma in 1975.  He is a member of the Polish Society of Cinematographers and speaks English, Russian and a little German.

He has worked in the United States in Europe on films such as MY SUMMER OF LOVE, INTERMISSION, TABLOID TV, LAST RESORT, TWOCKERS, BRIDE OF WAR, THE SHOOTING OF THOMAS HURNDALL, MALICE AFORETHOUGHT, TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS, THE LAST KING, BODILY HARM, STRANDED, ANNA KARENINA, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH, SPRING 1941, ANGELICA, TWO MOONS, THE CASE OF BRONEK PEKOSINSKI, RIVER,  IN A MOMENT OF A PASSION, SO NAH WIE FERN, BLUE MOON, LETZTE NACHIRICHTEN, THE CURSE OF SNAKE VALLEY, WHITE DRAGON, WOMAN FROM PROVINCE, BLACK SWANS, THE GREAT RACE, SMALLEST SKY, PALACE, THE BEAST, and PENTATHLON MODERN.

In addition to his work in Film and Television drama, Ryszard has also shot many commercials and pop promos, predominantly for the European market. 

 

DAN LEIGH (Production Designer) recently completed Amy Heckerling’s VAMPS starring Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, and Sigourney Weaver. Also being released this year, Gavin O’Connor’s much anticipated mixed martial arts feature WARRIOR with Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton, and Tom Hardy. This is Leigh’s second film with O’Connor, following PRIDE & GLORY. Leigh received an Emmy nomination for his work on TAKING CHANCE for HBO directed by Ross Katz. Among his credits are the Kate Hudson starrer BRIDE WARS; both ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and BE KIND REWIND for Michel Gondry; and three films for director Tony Goldwyn: THE LAST KISS, SOMEONE LIKE YOU, and A WALK ON THE MOON starring Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen.

Other film credits include Moisés Kaufman’s “The Laramie Project” for HBO; Julian Schnabel’s BASQUIAT; two films for Boaz Yakin: A PRICE ABOVE RUBIES, starring Renée Zellweger, and FRESH, starring Samuel L. Jackson; two films for Joan Micklin Silver: LOVERBOY with Patrick Dempsey and CROSSING DELANCEY with Amy Irving and Peter Reigert. Leigh has also designed for network television, including the pilot episode of ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money.” Leigh began his design career working on and off Broadway, in regional theatre, the LincolnCenter, and the KennedyCenter for the Performing Arts.

 

 ANNE MCCABE (Edited By) has worked in the film business in England and the United States for the last twenty years. After graduating from Barnard College, ColumbiaUniversity, she apprenticed in the cutting rooms of Woody Allen, Brian de Palma and Sidney Lumet.

Her editing credits include Slamdance feature winner THE DAYTRIPPERS, the Academy Award-nominated film YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, Academy award-nominated film MARIA FULL OF GRACE, Greg Mottola’s ADVENTURELAND, and Tim Robbins’ POSSIBLE SIDE FX.

Her documentary credits include Peter Jennings’ two hour special, “A Family Business,” and his last ABC documentary, “Breakdown – The Health Insurance Crisis in America.”

Recently, she cut Matthew Chapman’s feature, THE LEDGE and Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” starring Edie Falco.

 

MICHAEL FAY (Edited By) is a New York-based assistant editor and editor. After graduating from the University of Rochester in 1996 with a degree in film studies, Fay moved to New York to pursue a career in film. His first jobs in the industry were as an apprentice sound editor on the films THE SUBSTITUTE 2: SCHOOL’S OUT and FROGS FOR SNAKES, produced by New York-based The Shooting Gallery. A year later, he supervised the sound editing of the short film A GLANCE AWAY for director Brin Hill. In 1999, Fay met editor Anne McCabe, who invited him to be her assistant picture editor on the film YOU CAN COUNT ON ME for writer/director Kenneth Lonergan. After completing the film, he continued working as a first assistant editor on projects spanning both film and television. In 2002 and again in 2006, he worked for HBO on the acclaimed Baltimore crime drama, “The Wire” and again in 2010 on “Boardwalk Empire.” In 2007, Fay met editor Tim Squyres and went on to work with him on several projects, including the films RACHEL GETTING MARRIED for Jonathan Demme and TAKING WOODSTOCK and LIFE OF PI for Ang Lee. Most recently, he edited the short film LORIMER written and directed by Michael Lannan.

 

BLAIR BREARD (Co-Producer) is a New York based Producer and DGA Production Manager. Her work in film began with John Sayles’ PASSION FISH. Since then, she has co-produced and served as the Production Manager on a number of films with a variety of directors. Notable amongst them were I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, written and directed by Mary Harron, starring Lili Taylor, nominated for Sundance and Independent Spirit Awards; the Indie cult favorite POOTIE TANG, written and directed by award winning comedian Louis C.K., starring Chris Rock; and the critically acclaimed MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jack Black, nominated for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. Breard was the Supervising Producer on Mitch Alboms’ FOR ONE MORE DAY, directed by Lloyd Kramer, starring Michael Imperioli and Ellen Burstyn, nominated for a DGA award.

 Most recently, Breard co-produced the feature film JUST WRIGHT, for Fox Searchlight Pictures, starring Queen Latifah, Common, and Paula Patton. Currently, she is the Executive Producer on a new comedy series for FX, entitled “Louie,” written, directed by, and starring Louis C.K. She has just begun production on Season 2.

 In addition, Breard has handled additional photography on many projects including Universal Pictures’ film WANTED, 20^th Cenutry Fox’s THE BIG YEAR, Fox Searchlight Pictures’ NOTORIOUS, and Paramount Pictures’ GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ and LOVE GURU.

 

MELISSA TOTH (Costume Design) has been designing costumes for 20 years.  Notable credits include ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, for which she was nominated for a Costume Design Guild Award.

She also designed the costumes for Charlie Kaufman’s SYNECHDOCHE, NY, Kenneth Lonergan’s YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Tom McCarthy’s THE VISITOR and WIN WIN, Woody Allen’s HOLLYWOOD ENDING and Todd Solondz’s WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.  She lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.

 

Born in Vermont in 1981 and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, NICO MUHLY (Music By) graduated from ColumbiaUniversity in 2003 with a degree in English Literature.  In 2004 he received a Masters in Music from the JuilliardSchool, where he studied composition under Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano.

Muhly’s orchestral works have been premiered by the American Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra (It Remains to Be Seen , a commission celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2006), the Boston Pops (Wish You Were Here, 2007), and the Chicago Symphony (Step Team, in 2007).

In 2005, the Clare College Choir broadcast Muhly’s evensong canticles live on BBC3, and New York‘s Saint ThomasChurch commissioned and performed his Bright Mass with Canons, a work that has entered their regular repertoire.  With designer/illustrator Maira Kalman, he created the “finely wrought” (New YorkTimes) cantata on Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style that premiered in the New York Public Library, landing him on 2005 year’s-best list of New York magazine.

Film credits include his scores for the Oscar winning THE READER (2008) starring Kate Winslet, CHOKING MAN (2006), JOSHUA (2007), FELICITAS (2009) and the upcoming THE DARK FIELDS starring Robert De Niro. He has worked extensively with Philip Glass as editor, keyboardist, and conductor for numerous film and stage projects including THE HOURS and NOTES ON A SCANDAL.  Recently, he conducted excerpts from Einstein on the Beach for a new ballet by Benjamin Millepied at the Opéra de Paris.  In October, 2007, the American Ballet Theater premiered Muhly and Millepied’s collaboration From Here On Out, a commission for their 2007-2008 season, and in October of 2008, the Paris Opéra ballet will premiere a newly commissioned collaboration between Muhly and Millepied.

He has also lent his skills as performer, arranger and conductor to other musicians, including Björk, Grizzly Bear, Jonsi from Sigur Ros, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Antony of Antony and the Johnsons.  His work with Antony has included performances in Arnhem, Leeds, and New York City, and in February 2007, they worked together on a new Shakespeare setting for The Sonnet Project, a program curated by Gavin Bryars for Opera North and the Royal Shakespeare Company.  2008 saw the release of such collaborations as “Ekvílibríum,” the solo debut of Icelandic musician Valgeir Sigurðsson, and “All Is Well” by American folk singer Sam Amidon.

Sigurðsson released both discs on his own Bedroom Community records, a label he inaugurated by producing Muhly’s first album, “Speaks Volumes” (2007).  In the months leading up to the “Speaks Volumes” American release, Muhly was invited to present concerts of his chamber music at both Carnegie Hall and the WhitneyMuseum.  Muhly’s second record, “Mothertongue,” was released in July of 2008.

Mulhy is currently working with the Metropolitan Opera and the English National Opera on the new opera Two Boys (libretto by Craig Lucas) which will premiere in 2012.