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In 1988, Whitaker was named Best Actor at
The Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of jazz legend
Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwoods Bird,
a role for which he also received a Golden-Globe nomination.
Whitaker earned widespread recognition for his performance
as Judy, the hostage British soldier in Neil Jordans
Academy-Award winning film The Crying Game. On
television, Whitaker garnered a CableAce Award nomination
for his performance in the Showtime original film Last
Light, directed by Kiefer Sutherland. He also starred
in the HB0 presentation Criminal Justice, for
which he earned a CableAce Award nomination, and The
Enemy Within, for which Whitaker received a Screen Actors
Guild nomination. Whitaker also executive produced Anne Rices
Feast of All Saints for Showtime. His other credits
include Witness Protection for HBO, Light
It Up, Phenomenon, opposite John Travolta,
Species, Smoke, Robert Altmans
Ready to Wear, Jasons Lyric, Platoon,
Good Morning Vietnam, Consenting Adults,
Stakeout, The Color of Money, Johnny
Handsome, Downtown, Diary of a Hit
Man, Body Snatchers, Vision Quest
and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Whitaker made
his feature film directing debut with the critically acclaimed,
box-office hit Waiting to Exhale for Twentieth
Century Fox, starring Angela Bassett, Whitney Houston, Lela
Rochon and Loretta Devine. He first gained recognition as
a director for his debut film, the 1993 HBO original Strapped,
for which he received Best New Director honors
at the Toronto Film Festival. His last film was the Twentieth
Century Fox film Hope Floats, starring Sandra
Bullock.
Whitakers multimedia company, Spirit
Dance Entertainment, includes film, television and music production.
Spirit Dance Entertainment is both US based and UK based.
Spirit Dance in London, SD4UK, works with FilmFour mentoring
black and Asian filmmakers. Whitaker will direct and produce
feature films under the companys first-look deal with
Twentieth Century Fox. They also have a first look deal with
HBO for television films. Whitaker works closely with a number
of charitable organizations. He serves as an Honorary Board
Member for Penny Lane, an organization that provides assistance
to abused teenagers. He is also involved with 4-D All-Stars,
a motivational mentor program for teenagers as well as The
Watts Cinema Project.
KATIE HOLMES ( Pamela McFadden) was
born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. She began acting in high
school theater productions but didn't believe she had a chance
at a professional acting career living in the Midwest. Fate
intervened, and while attending a national modeling and talent
convention in New York City, she met a manager who encouraged
her to come to Los Angeles for television's pilot season.
Holmes landed the part of "Joey" on the current
WB hit "Dawson's Creek. Co- starring with James
Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams, the show
gained much attention in its first season and was the highest
rated show on the network. Shot on location in Wilmington,
North Carolina, the show just began production on its fifth
season.
Holmes recently wrapped production for the
independent film Pieces of April starring opposite
Sean Patrick Thomas, and on the film Singing Detectives
opposite Mel Gibson and Ronert Downey Jr. She was recently
seen in Sam Raimis The Gift opposite Cate
Blanchet, Keanu Reeves, Greg Kinnear and Hillary Swank, and
in Curtis Hansons Wonder Boys opposite Michael
Douglas, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire.
Holmes other feature films include Ang Lee's The
Ice Storm, Doug Liman's Go, Kevin Williamson's
Teaching Miss Tingle and the thriller Disturbing
Behavior. Holmes will next be seen in the thriller Abandon
in which she stars opposite Benjamin Bratt.
RADHA MITCHELL ( Kelly Shepard) is
best known for her performances in "Pitch Black,"
"High Art," "Love & Other Catastrophes"
as well as the Independent Spirit Award-winning film "Everything
Put Together." Mitchell is currently filming Miramax's
"Neverland," directed by Marc Forster ("Monster's
Ball"), in which she plays Johnny Depp's wife. The film
is the true story of author James M. Barrie's creation of
"Peter Pan." FilmColony and Key Light Entertainment
will produce. Mitchell recently completed production in Australia
on director Richard Franklin's ("Brilliant Lies")
"Visitors." In that film, Mitchell stars as Georgia
Perry, the first woman to sail around the world by herself
and due to her solitude, slowly lost her mind and believed
she encountered "visitors" during her voyage. The
film is being made by Bayside Pictures.
Her additional upcoming films include: Screen
Gems' "Shearer's Breakfast" with Barry Watson, Josh
Lukas and Kevin Anderson; the independent feature "I
Fought the Law" opposite Kiefer Sutherland and Anthony
LaPaglia; and "Nobody's Baby" with Gary Oldman and
Skeet Ulrich, which premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.
Last year, Mitchell had a starring role alongside Hank Azaria,
Leelee Sobieski and Donald Sutherland in director Jon Avnet's
four-hour miniseries about Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto,
"Uprising. Mitchell starred in the box-office hit
"Pitch Black, opposite Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser.
Her performance in "Everything Put Together," which
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000, garnered
her rave reviews. The film, which, Mitchell also produced
along with Sean Furst for director Marc Forster, was nominated
for a 2001 Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature Under
$500,000. Mitchell gave a memorable performance as Syd, the
young editorial assistant who falls in love with Ally Sheedy's
heroine addicted photographer character, in Lisa Choldenko's
critically acclaimed drama "High Art. Her role
in Emma-Kate Croghan's romantic comedy "Love and Other
Catastrophes" was highly praised at both Cannes and Sundance
Film Festivals. She can also be seen in "Cowboys and
Angels," which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival,
opposite Mia Kirshner and Adam Trese.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia,
Mitchell began her acting career while still in high school.
She began her career working in Australian television, then
films. Her first film to appear at the Sundance Film Festival
was "The Sleeping Beauties." She currently resides
in Los Angeles.
KIEFER SUTHERLAND (The Caller) currently
stars in the critically acclaimed Fox drama, "24,"
for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a
Drama Series and garnered an Emmy nomination for Best Actor
in a Drama Series. The show will premiere its second season
in October. Last year, Sutherland completed production on
the Showtime film "Red Door," directed by Matia
Karrell, and Paradise Found, directed by Mario
Andreazcchio, in which he portrays the world famous post-impressionist
artist Paul Gauguin.
Upcoming, Sutherland appears in the World
War II drama To End All Wars, based on the best-selling
book, Through the Valley of the Kwai, which is an account
of life as a POW in a Southeast Asian prison camp. The film
also stars Robert Carlyle, Ciaran McMenarrin and Mark Strong
and successfully screened at both the Toronto and Telluride
Film Festivals this year. He will also be seen in Dead
Heat, directed by Mark Malone. In 1998, Sutherland starred
in Showtimes critically-acclaimed original picture,
"A Soldier's Sweetheart" with Skeet Ulrich and Georgina
Cates, which premiered at the 1998 Toronto Film Festivals
Gala Screening. In 1997, Sutherland co-starred with William
Hurt and Rufus Sewell in "Dark City." Directed by
Alex Proyas, "Dark City" was a special presentation
at the Cannes Film Festival. Sutherland also added his second
directorial credit and starred in "Truth or Consequences"
alongside Kevin Pollak, Mykelti Williamson, Rod Steiger and
Martin Sheen. In the 1996 thriller "Eye for an Eye,"
directed by John Schlesinger, Sutherland portrayed an unremorseful,
brutal murderer opposite Sally Field and Ed Harris. Later
that summer, he co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra
Bullock and Matthew McConaughey in the screen adaptation of
John Grisham's novel, "A Time to Kill."
In 1993, Sutherland starred in "The
Three Musketeers," based on the classic tale by Alexandre
Dumas. The same year, he made his directorial debut in the
critically acclaimed Showtime film "Last Light,"
in which he also starred opposite Forest Whitaker. "Last
Light" garnered some of the most glowing reviews that
any cable production has received in a long time, especially
for Sutherland's directing. Sutherland's first major role
was in the Canadian drama "Bad Boy," which earned
Sutherland and director Daniel Petrie, Genie award nominations
for best actor and best director, respectively. Following
his success in "The Bad Boy," Sutherland eventually
moved to Los Angeles and landed television appearances in
"The Mission," an episode of "Amazing Stories"
and in the telefilm "Trapped in Silence" with Marsha
Mason. In 1992, Sutherland starred opposite Ray Liotta and
Forest Whitaker in "Article 99," and in the military
drama "A Few Good Men," also starring Jack Nicholson
and Tom Cruise. Later, in 1994, he starred with Jeff Bridges
and Nancy Travis in the American version of "The Vanishing"
for Twentieth Century Fox.
Sutherland's other film credits include
"Flatliners," "Chicago Joe and the Showgirl,"
"1969," "Flashback," "Young Guns,"
"Young Guns 2," "Bright Lights, Big City,"
"The Lost Boys," "Promised Land," "At
Close Range," and "Stand By Me."
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Director JOEL SCHUMACHERs most
recent feature was the critically acclaimed Tigerland,
the story of an army boot camp where young men were systematically
turned into killers and shipped off to the Vietnam conflict.
The film starred Phone Booths Colin Farrell,
who received best actor honors from the Boston Film Critics
for his portrayal of a rebellious soldier who struggled against
the system in an attempt to hold on to his humanity.
Schumachers features have displayed
the filmmakers versatility and close attention to performance,
nuance and atmosphere. St. Elmos Fire was
an ensemble drama that made stars of such young players as
Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy and
Demi Moore; Lost Boys, starring Jason Patric and
Kiefer Sutherland, successfully combined fantastical imagery,
comedy and very contemporary horror; Cousins was
a tender romantic comedy starring Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini
and Sean Young; Flatliners, toplining Kiefer Sutherland,
Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon and Oliver Platt, was a stylish,
surrealistic story of science and spirituality; Dying
Young reunited Schumacher and Julia Roberts in an unflinching
love story; and Falling Down, starring Michael
Douglas, was a gritty controversial and timely story of social
disorder.
Schumachers two hit adaptations of
John Grishams best-sellers have been hailed as the best
of the authors work to be translated to film: The Client,
starring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones, and 1996s
summer smash, A Time to Kill, which introduced
Matthew McConaughey in a star-making role alongside such accomplished
players as Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey,
Oliver Platt, Kiefer Sutherland, Brenda Fricker, Charles S.
Dutton, Ashley Judd, Patrick McGoohan and Donald Sutherland.
Schumachers four films The
Client, A Time to Kill, Batman Forever,
and Batman and Robin each grossed in excess
of $100 million with domestic audiences alone, and Batman
Forever achieved the distinction of being the highest
grossing film of 1995.
Schumacher was born and raised in New York
City, where he studied design and display at the Parsons School
of Design. He began his career in the entertainment industry
as an art director for television commercials before becoming
costume designer for such notable films as Woody Allens
Sleepers and Interiors, Herbert Ross
The Last of Sheila and Paul Mazurskys Blume
in Love. He then wrote the screenplays for the Motown-inflected
musical Sparkle and the funk-driven comedy Car
Wash. Schumacher made his directing debut with the television
movie The Virginia Hill Story, followed by his
award-winning telefilm Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar
and Grill. The Incredible Shrinking Woman,
starring Lily Tomlin, marked his feature-film directing debut,
followed by D.C. Cab, for which he also wrote
the screenplay. Schumacher also wrote the script for St.
Elmos Fire with Carl Kurlander. In 1988, Schumacher
directed the successful Chicago theatrical run of David Mamets
scorching Hollywood satire, Speed-the-Plow.
Schumacher has also directed a number of
public service announcements for MTV's Emmy Award-winning
Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence
campaign and two series for their Protect Yourself
safe-sex campaign with the Kaiser Family Foundation
one urging young people to get tested, the other targeting
at-risk minority youth.
LARRY COHEN (Writer) is well known
in the motion picture industry in two complementary though
diverse categories. He is one of the most accomplished auteurs
of the contemporary independent film genre having written,
directed and produced twenty movies, and has also had an enormously
successful career as a mainstream screenwriter of major motion
pictures and television.
A film aficionado since his elementary school
days, Cohen rocketed to fame as a television writer while
still in his late teens. While attending City College of New
York, he wrote a classic episode, False Face of
the horror anthology, Way Out, hosted by Roald
Dahl. Later his talent was discovered by award winning writer
Reginald Rose and he became a regular contributor to the prestigious
award winning TV series, The Defenders, writing
13 episodes for which he was honored twice by the Television
Academy. Cohen went on to write for such television series
as The Fugitive, before creating the series The
Invaders and Branded. He then became a sought
after screenwriter, penning the sequel to the highly successful
Magnificent Seven. In the early 70s, he
enjoyed enormous success as a screenwriter of such films as
Return of the Seven, which starred Yul Brynner,
Daddys Gone A-Hunting, directed by Mark
Robson, and El Condor, directed by John Guillermin
and produced by Andre De Toth.
Cohen began to get restless, wanting to
direct his own material, and he made his directorial debut
with Bone. Following that he directed and produced
a string of films he had also written, including the controversial
political drama The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover,
with an all star cast including Oscar winners Broderick, Crawford,
Dan Dailey and Jose Ferrer, God Told Me To, It
Lives Again, The American Success Company
(starring Jeff Bridges), Full Moon High (starring Alan
and Adam Arkin), the satiric The Stuff, Its
Alive, A Return To Salems Lot (which
starred cult director Samuel Fuller and introduced a young
Tara Reid), Wicked Stepmother (starring Bette
Davis), and Ambulance (starring Eric Roberts,
James Earl Jones and Oscar winner Red Buttons). His most recent
directorial effort was Original Gangstas with
Pam Grier. In the 70s and 80s, in addition to
his film work, he also wrote the Broadway play Trick,
starring Tammy Grimes, produced by Joshua Logan. Other stage
plays include the British production of Motive,
(with Honor Blackman) and the off-Broadway play, Nature
of The Crime, with Tony LoBianco. Most recently he wrote
and directed the stage play Fallen Eagle, for
The Sandford Meisner Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
After almost twenty years of writing/directing
and producing and becoming a well known cult figure
in the world of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Cohen returned to his
first love of screenwriting for both major television and
films. During this period he penned some of the most acclaimed
and provocative TV episodes of Columbo and more
recently The New Defenders, Ed McBains 87th
Precinct, NYPD Blue, the TV miniseries The
Invaders and a remake of Body Snatchers.
For the big screen, his credits include the acclaimed mystery/thriller
Best Seller, starring Brian Dennehy and James
Woods and Guilty As Sin, starring Rebecca De Mornay
and directed by Sidney Lumet, a Touchstone release.
Over the years Cohen has amassed numerous
awards and honors and retrospectives of his films throughout
the world. He received the coveted Avoriaz Film Festival Jury
Prize twice from juries headed by Polanski and Spielberg and
last year was honored with a showing of ten films at the Stockholm
Film Festival and with a similar tribute held at the Brisbane
Film Festival in Australia. Joseph Papps New York Shakespeare
Festival, billed its tribute to Cohen, Gods And Demons
A Tribute To The Maverick Independent Filmmaker,
honoring his films with a month-long retrospective, which
followed a previous month-long tribute at the Chicago Art
Institute entitled "Its a Bird, Its a Plane,
Its Larry Cohen!"
DAVID ZUCKER (Producer) is a prominent
filmmaker whose credits include such hits as Airplane,
Ruthless People, Top Secret, and the
Naked Gun movies, acting as writer/director/producer
on some of the most successful and memorable films of recent
years. After graduation form the University of Wisconsin in
Madison, Zucker, his brother Jerry and school friend Jim Abrahams
rented the back of a Madison bookstore and created their own
comedy troupe, Kentucky Fried Theater, a multi-media show
that combined live improvisations with videotaped and filmed
sketches. In 1972, they moved to Los Angeles and opened a
new Kentucky Fried Theater, which soon attracted critical
acclaim and a devoted following. In five years, they performed
to more than 150,000 patrons and became the most successful
small theater group in Los Angeles history.
In 1977, the team of ZAZ released
their first movie. Inspired by their stage show, Kentucky
Fried Movie soon became a hit independent release. Their
next project, Airplane! became the surprise hit
of 1980, and launched the trio on a streak of successful movies
and TV shows, including the Emmy-nominated Police Squad
(1982), Top Secret (1984), and Ruthless
People, one of the top grossing films of 1986. Zucker
ventured out on his own with The Naked Gun (1988),
his first directorial solo. Based on the ZAZ television
series, Police Squad, with Leslie Nielsen reprising
his role as Lt. Frank Drebin, The Naked Gun was
a runaway hit. The l991 follow-up, The Naked Gun 2 ½
: The Smell of Fear, contained an environmental storyline
and surpassed the original at the box office. Naked
Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult remains one of the top
ten box office hits of 1994. Zucker also found time to co-produce
A Walk in the Clouds in 1995 starring Keanu Reeves,
and High School High in 1997. After the completion
of Phone Booth, Zucker is set to direct Ashton
(Dude, Wheres My Car?) Kutcher in The
Guest for Dimension and his recently completed script,
F.B.I. Man 2001, for Fox 2000.
He is preparing a feature film biography
on Davy Crockett, a subject hes held an avid interest
in for many years, and which has spawned one of the largest
collections of Davy Crockett memorabilia in the country.
GIL NETTER (Producer) is partnered
with filmmaker David Zucker in Zucker-Netter Productions on
Phone Booth. In a partnership with Wayne Rice,
Netter produced the recently released Twentieth Century Fox
comedy Dude, Wheres My Car? Directed by
Danny Leiner, the film starred Ashton Kutcher and Seann William
Scott. Netter was president of Zucker Brothers Productions
for seven years, where he executive produced such films as
My Best Friends Wedding, First Knight,
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Naked
Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear, and Foxs A
Walk in the Clouds. Netter began his career as a talent/literary
agent for The Agency and later vice president of Imagine Entertainment.
TED KURDYLA (Executive Producer) also served in this capacity
on Joel Schumachers Tigerland, starring
Colin Farrell. His credits as producer include Fallen,
starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland,
and directed by Gregory Hoblit; The Confession,
starring Alec Baldwin, Ben Kingsely and Amy Irving, directed
by David Jones; Final Analysis starring Richard
Gere and Kim Basinger, directed by Phil Joanou; Cadillac
Man starring Robin Williams and Tim Robbins, directed
by Roger Donaldson; and Johnny Handsome starring
Mickey Rourke and Ellen Barkin, directed by Walter Hill. For
television, Kurdyla co-produced The Cosby Mysteries,
and produced the telefilm Trapped starring Kris
Kristofferson, Birds II: Lands End and Twilight
Man starring Tim Matheson and Dean Stockwell. He also
has worked as a production manager on films such as Once
Upon a Time in America, Blow Out, Year
of the Dragon and Batteries Not Included.
MATTHEW LIBATIQUE (Director of Photography)
previously collaborated with director Joel Schumacher on the
acclaimed New Regency drama Tigerland, released
by Twentieth Century Fox. Libatique worked with independent
filmmaker Darren Aronofsky on four shorts and two feature
films. Their most recent effort is the provocative drama Requiem
for a Dream, based on the novel by Hubert Selby, Jr.
Their award-winning feature debut, Pi, was noted
for, among other things, Libatiques severe back-and-white
imagery. Libatique also shot Rob Schmidts dark, elegiac
drama Saturn, as well as numerous music videos
for artists such as Incubus, Snoop Dog, Moby and Barenaked
Ladies. He most recently served as director of photography
on Josie and the Pussycats for Universal Studios
and directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. #
ANDREW LAWS (Production Designer) has worked as a production
designer and art director since leaving the field of architecture
in 1995. Phone Booth is Laws third film
and his second with director Joel Schumacher. Their last collaboration
was New Regency Films Tigerland, released
by Twentieth Century Fox. Previously, Laws designed the production
for director Hampton Fanchers noir thriller The
Minus Man. Laws credits as art director include
Gone in 60 Seconds, directed by Dominic Sena and
production designed by Jeff Mann; Simpatico, directed
by Matthew Warchus and production designed by Amy B. Ancona;
and Rushmore, directed by Wes Anderson and production
designed by David Wasco. As assistant art director, Laws collaborated
with production designer David Wasco on Jackie Brown,
Shes So Lovely and Touch, directed
by Paul Schrader.
MARK STEVENS (Editor) previously
worked with director Joel Schumacher as the editor of Tigerland,
8mm and Flawless, and working alongside
Dennis Virkler on both Batman Forever and Batman
& Robin. Stevens also had a shared credit as editor
on the thriller Chain Reaction. Stevens served
as first assistant editor on such feature films as Hard
to Kill, If Looks Could Kill, The
Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Under Siege,
The Fugitive, and On Deadly Ground.
His television credits include the movies-of-the-week My
Wicked, Wicked Ways, First Steps, Picking
Up the Pieces, One Police Plaza, Secret
Witness, and Who Will Get the Friends? as
well as the mini-series If Tomorrow Comes.
HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS (Composer)
began his motion picture career as an orchestrator, arranger,
and writer on many of composer Stanley Myers' films, with
whom he rapidly learned the techniques of film scoring and
formed relationships with other top composers, including Hans
Zimmer. It was through his association with Myers that Gregson-Williams
became friends with legendary filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, composing
his first major scores for Roeg's Full Body Massage
and Hotel Paradise. In 1995 Gregson-Williams moved
to Los Angeles and quickly launched his career as a Hollywood
composer by composing the score for Billie Augusts Smillas
Sense of Snow. Gregson-Williams next took on The
Whole Wide World, and in 1996, he composed music for
The Rock, forming a relationship with producer
Jerry Bruckheimer, which has continued to this day. The following
year found Gregson-Williams busy with a total of eight feature
film projects, including Deceiver, The Replacement
Killers and The Borrowers. Gregson-Williams
went on to team up with legendary rock guitarist Trevor Rabin
for the scores to Armageddon and Enemy of
the State for Jerry Bruckheimer, followed by Antz,
a computer animated movie. Gregson-Williams work continued
to be diverse as he continued to score big studio films interspersed
with smaller independent movies. In 1999 after completing
the score for King of the Jungle, Gregson-Williams
scored the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced TV movie Swing
Vote, as well as Foxs urban drama Light
it Up. In 2000, Gregson-Williams scored two of the years
most successful family films: The Tigger Movie
and Chicken Run. He also composed the music for
a British independent film Whatever Happened to Harold
Smith? Gregson-Williams scored the Oscar winning blockbuster
animated feature Shrek for which he received a
BAFTA nomination and won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Score.
In 2001, he scored the Tony Scott feature Spy Game,
starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt and received a Golden
Satellite Award nomination for his score. He also completed
an album that was co-written with guitarist Peter Distefano
(Porno for Pyros). His upcoming projects include Veronica
Guerin starring Cate Blanchett from director Joel Schumacher,
and an animated feature Sinbad.
Released: 18 April 2003
Distributer: Fox
Running Time: 80 mins
Cert: TBC
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