Mendes hails from Miami, but was discovered
in Los Angeles by a photographer who asked to shoot a session
with her. The resulting photos began a chain reaction of
success, landing her a manager, commercial and film roles,
and agency representation. Eva left college and is studying
with acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, the mentor to such actors
as Elisabeth Shue and Halle Berry.
Mendes was previously seen in the feature All About the
Benjamins, starring opposite Ice Cube.
JOHN SINGLETON
Producer, director and screenwriter JOHN SINGLETON (Director)
exploded onto the scene in 1991 with his first film, Boyz
N the Hood, a tough, intelligent, plain-speaking look at
a group of friends in gang-ridden South Central Los Angeles.
Boyz N the Hood earned Singleton
Academy Award® nominations
for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director and the honor
of being the first African-American (and the youngest filmmaker
ever) to receive these simultaneous nominations.
The filmmaker also garnered a long list of additional awards
for his debut motion picture, including: LAFCA New Generation
Award, the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker (1992),
the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best New Director
(1991), and the ShoWest Award for Screenwriter of the Year
and a Special Award for Directorial Debut of the Year (1992).
The filmmaker next wrote, directed and produced the Janet
Jackson starrer Poetic Justice, a sensitive film about a
young poet; it also stars Tupac Shakur and Regina King.
The university-set educational drama Higher Learning followed
(with Singleton again wearing three hats as producer/director/writer),
which stars a large ensemble cast featuring Omar Epps, Laurence
Fishburne, Ice Cube, Jennifer Connelly, Michael Rappaport,
Cole Hauser and Kristy Swanson, among others.
In 1997, Singleton directed the hard-hitting historical
drama Rosewood, telling the story of the extinguishing, in
1923, of the predominantly Black town of Rosewood, Florida,
because of racial hatred and lies.
The film, scripted by Gregory Poirier, stars Ving Rhames,
Jon Voight, Don Cheadle and Esther Rolle. In 2000, Singleton
re-envisioned a classic hero for the new Millennium, returning
Shaft to the screen. Samuel L. Jackson stars as the title
character, in a project again produced (with Scott Rudin
and Mark Roybal), written (along with Richard Price and Shane
Salerno) and directed by Singleton; it also stars Vanessa
Williams, Busta Rhymes, Christian Bale and Richard Roundtree.
A decade after his searing filmic
exploration of South Central Los Angeles, Singleton returned
there as the setting for
his most recent film, Baby Boy, on which he served as producer,
writer and director. The film stars R&B singer/actor
Tyrese, Ving Rhames, Snoop Dogg and newcomer Taraji P. Henson
and received four NAACP nominations.
The filmmaker’s career began
while attending the Filmic Writing Program at USC, where
he won three writing awards
(the Jack Nicholson Award in 1989 and 1990 and the Robert
Riskin Award in 1989) from the university; this led to representation
with Creative Artists Agency during his senior year and the
sale of his script, Boyz N the Hood.
Singleton has also directed high-profile
television commercials (Coca-Cola, AT&T and Burger
King) and music videos (Michael Jackson).
Release Date: 20th June
Certificate: TBC
Running Time: 100 mins
Distributor: UIP |
