Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"

Movie : Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Notes provided by Columbia Pictures They're beautiful, they kick ass and they work for Charlie. On June 27, 2003, America's greatest secret weapon will be unleashed again as Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore) and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) reunite for a challenging new adventure in Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle, a sequel to the blockbuster action comedy, directed by McG and inspired by the phenomenally popular television series. The Angels prepare to strike without warning as they go undercover to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveals the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program. When witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts, can stop the perpetrator, a mysterious 'fallen' Angel (Demi Moore). Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac), the Angels' adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and ends only after Dylan (Barrymore) is forced to face a dark secret from her past -- a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends in danger. Columbia Pictures Presents Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. Also starring Bernie Mac, Crispin Glover, Justin Theroux, Robert Patrick and Demi Moore. John Forsythe returns as the voice of Charlie. Rounding out the cast are Luke Wilson, Matt LeBlanc, Rodrigo Santoro, Shia LaBeouf, Robert Forster, John Cleese, Eric Bogosian and Carrie Fisher. Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle is directed by McG. The screenplay is by John August and Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley from a story by John August. The producers are Leonard Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen. Jenno Topping and Patrick Crowley are the executive producers. The distinguished production team includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Russell Carpenter, ASC and production designer J. Michael Riva. The film is edited by Wayne Wahrman A.C.E. The special visual effects are by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. The Academy Award®-winning visual effects supervisor is Mark Stetson. The music is composed by Edward Shearmur. The music supervision is by John Houlihan. The costume designer is Joseph G. Aulisi. Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle is based on the Television Series "Charlie's Angels" created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts. Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle is rated PG-13 for Action Violence, Sensuality and Language/Innuendo GETTING STARTED When Charlie's Angels was released in November 2000, its resounding success exceeded anything the filmmakers had anticipated. The film's $40 million opening weekend still holds the record for the best debut by a first-time director. Just as unanticipated was the breadth of the audience. As producer Leonard Goldberg acknowledges, "we were surprised because, even though we wanted to be respectful of the series for the generation of fans who grew up with it, we also wanted to take the Angels into a new millennium. So we were feeling our way, trying to blend the old with the new. Thanks to McG, we were able to bring in both the audience that remembered the series and an entire new generation." The decision to make a sequel was decided informally by McG and his three co-stars some time after the first film was completed. But, says 'Angel' Drew Barrymore, one of the films' producers, "we also made a pact that we wouldn't do it if it meant repeating ourselves. Now the question was how to balance that responsibility and still have a lot of fun." "It all starts with the writing, of course," Barrymore continues. "In this film we learn more about the Angels, delving deeper into their backstory. We've also sharpened the comedy and notched up the action." Nancy Juvonen, Barrymore's partner in Flower Films, and producer of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, explains that in the first film time was devoted to setting up the concept and the characters. "Even though it had been a popular TV show, there was an entire generation that wasn't familiar with it," says Juvonen, "which left us less time to develop the characters. So this was a great opportunity to have all three Angels come back and pick up where we left off." In the new film, the Angels' histories are revealed through a series of vignettes. Barrymore's character was "the scrappy little orphan," says director McG, "all over the place, always falling for the wrong guy. We see her wrestling in a sort of backyard circuit as 'Lady Insane.' We also see her as a 'monster' trucker on the county fair circuit not the classiest game in town though she gives it her all." Since Lucy Liu's character, Alex, has been raised in the finest schools, "we see her as a young gymnast being coached by Bela Karolyi. Later, we see her beating a Bobby Fischer-type chess genius in a world championship match in Switzerland," says McG. "We allude to her being an astronaut in the first film and now we discover she's also a neurosurgeon." As for Diaz's character, "I always envisioned her coming from a happy, idealized Midwestern family with seven older brothers -- which is how she learned to be so wild. She has such a great sense of self and she's so compassionate and caring and optimistic. She sees the world through the bright eyes of the bushy-tailed newborn fawn that she is. Then she proceeds to beat the living daylights out of everybody." In Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the Angels deal with personal problems while fighting crime. "They put themselves together with these incredible costumes, then go undercover and kick butt," says Juvonen, "but their private lives are not exactly perfect." Producer Goldberg feels the trick to rekindling the concept was understanding what worked in the original and building on that. "At the same time, we needed to have a few tricks up our sleeve to surprise the audience. This is a movie that has glamour, that has sex appeal, that has dancing, that has really great action all mixed together in one big confection. The audience knows going in that they're really going to be entertained." THE RINGLEADER "For a whirlwind of creative energy, McG is an extremely articulate man," declares Goldberg, "which is how he got the job of directing the first movie, even though he hadn't directed a feature film before. When he came in and did a presentation, he went through the entire movie scene by scene, doing line readings, changing scenes that he didn't think worked and coming up with new ones. He brought a new look to the material. And he captured the style, tone and kinetic feel, which was the whole trick." McG confesses that he was overwhelmed at landing the assignment, but also thrilled. "I was so excited to be there that I didn't want to waste a second being nervous or uncertain. I remember showing up the first day of filming and there was a flotilla of trucks and gear and people. It was kind of like being a young tennis player who somehow manages to get into the finals at Wimbledon his first time out. You don't fully appreciate what a big deal it is and how frightened you should have been until you look back on it." Having quelled his trepidations and made it through the first film fueled by sheer determination this time around the director exudes even greater ease and confidence, according to Goldberg. "And he's helped by the fact that the drama is right there and the comedy is sharper, more finely honed. McG knows what he wants from the cast and how to get it. It's our good fortune that he has the enviable ability to communicate to his actors the emotional content of a scene and get them to respond appropriately. That's impressive and a talent some directors never acquire." "I'm just a huge fan of movies," admits McG. "But I also have an MTV upbringing as well as my involvement in commercials and music videos. The films that have influenced me the most seem to have an architectural composition everything from the movies of Hitchcock, who storyboarded every single frame, to Mike Nichols' The Graduate, a portraiture-style film, to David Lean's epics like Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago. Those are my biggest influences." Like such other current directors as David Fincher, Mark Romanek and Spike Jonze, McG is proud to have emerged from an advertising and music video background. "It's a great place to cut your teeth and find out what it's like to shoot on the mountaintop, shoot at night, get caught in the rain. You learn what you need and figure out what it takes to get the day's work done and evoke emotions from your actors. It's a hands-on place to train and I'm delighted to be a part of that community." Virtually everyone on the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle team was infected by McG's infectious optimism and intensity. Among his most ardent fans are the three women who portray Charlie's crack team of super sleuths. For Barrymore, it was crucial to have a high level of energy and enthusiasm from a director "because at six o'clock in the morning when you're supposed to be kicking butt, it's the director who has to put you into that insane place. McG not only feels that arousing everyone's energy is his job, he really does want to make everyone happy and feel great." Barrymore was impressed by the breadth of McG's knowledge about film, television and music. "At any given time he's liable to reference The Matrix or West Side Story or Foul Play. And he knows how to marry all those influences and gracefully make them flow together." What amazes Lucy Liu is McG's tenacity and drive. "From the beginning to the end of the first movie and through this one, he never once lost his energy or his spirit," she says. "He's always trying to elevate scenes, to make them more colorful, artful and energetic. Making something vibrant on film is not easy but he has that ability. McG wants to be inspired all the time and when you're around that, you can't help but get caught up and inspired. It's like a hit of fresh oxygen." The director also has a knack for dramatic balance, Liu continues. "There's a very fine line between comedy and drama. You can't have one without the other -- that's what makes it work. It's a very difficult balance. But he knows that the audience is smart and he refuses to dumb things down." ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS (AGAIN) Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was not a foregone conclusion, even after the enormous success of the first film, according to Cameron Diaz. "I never saw myself coming back to do a sequel. I like to work with different people, different directors, different stories. Then Drew called with a new twist on the storyline and said 'let's do it again!' and Drew doesn't stop until she gets what she wants. She is so enthusiastic and gives you so many good reasons to participate in her adventure that there's no way to go against it." But what really convinced Diaz to sign on again, she confesses, was the camaraderie she experienced with Barrymore, Liu and director McG. "It's a great partnership. Each day is an adventure. You're never sure exactly what you're going to be called on to do. In this film, among other things, I learned to weld, I surfed, I was in a roller derby, and performed a number with this amazing group of beautiful, sexy dancers called the Pussycat Dolls." Synchronicity was also an irresistible draw for Barrymore. "We are constantly looking out for one another. It's rare to find that kind of consistent support and encouragement." Another reason her ardor never flagged was the kinship she feels with the character of Dylan, Barrymore adds. "She's such a concrete character. I relate to her on so many levels: Her need for stability, for family, her need to go out there and protect the ones she loves and be the best that she can be. She's so strong and fearless that I find my life dramatically changing when I'm playing her. Plus, I love what a court jester she can be." Liu's motivation for returning was to demonstrate to the audience that, as much as they enjoyed the first film, "this time we're really going to show them something new." With the three principals on board, producer Goldberg discovered that actors were actively clamoring to be part of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. "With the first movie, people were interested, but they were a little unsure," he recalls. "They wanted to know if it was a spoof or just an extended episode of the TV series. When they saw it, the reaction was so positive that when we called them for the new film, they immediately signed up. In some cases we didn't even have to ask. They called us." A welcome addition to the Angels team is Bernie Mac who plays Jimmy Bosley, the liaison between the Angels and their mysterious billionaire employer Charlie. Explains McG, "Bernie has an amazing energy, a unique voice and brand of comedy. He brings a fresh dimension to the movie." When he first received the script for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Mac says he was a bit concerned about following in the footsteps of one of his comedic idols, Bill Murray, as a member of the Bosley family. "I knew that I was not going to succeed in this movie if I simply tried to fill Bill's shoes," Mac confesses. "No one could ever do that." So he constructed a backstory for himself in which Murray's character had related his adventures with the Angels and about his secret-agent experiences. "When I first get the opportunity to join the Angels, I'm a bit overwhelmed. It's like when you get something you really want but aren't prepared for what it's really going to be like." Mac also decided to take the character of Bosley in a more paternalistic direction than his predecessor. "I wanted to show a warm side of Bosley, almost a father figure to the Angels. They take him under their wing and make him family. What I liked about the character was that he didn't come off as a superhero. He started as someone who was in over his head, but worked hard and made real progress. You see him becoming part of the program and how he builds his relationship with the Angels and how it gets better day by day." In Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the Angels also meet one of their heroes -- the retired Angel they aspire to be. Madison Lee was the Angel in the 90's. She could do everything and anything. And she still has surprises up her sleeve. "When we started thinking about a worthy adversary," explains Juvonen, "we wondered about where had all the past Angels gone. What happened to them? And that also became one of the themes of the movie. The Angels wonder: 'Should I stay on? What will happen if I leave?'" The character of Madison Lee was written specifically with one actress in mind -- Demi Moore. "She just feels like an Angel," says McG. "But she wasn't in a big rush to return to movie-making so we brought out our secret weapon, Drew." Since Moore was the template for Madison, Barrymore was definitely not going to take "no" for an answer when she approached the actress. "If she had turned us down -- which I wasn't going to let happen I was going to camp out on her doorstep until she said 'yes'," laughs Barrymore. McG suspected that when Moore read the part of Madison Lee, she would realize how well it suited her and how much fun she could have playing it. "Madison is not only beautiful, but physical as well. Happily, Demi took to that and we developed the character even further from there." Moore recalls that when McG first contacted her. "McG might call Drew his 'secret weapon,' but the truth is, they were a one-two punch. Their mutual enthusiasm and passion was very persuasive." RETURNING HEROES & A VILLAIN Aficionados of Charlie's Angels will be delighted to know that along with Luke Wilson and Matt LeBlanc, another major character reappears in the film, the 'Thin Man.' One of the first film's more dastardly villains is back to do battle with the Angels. After the original movie was released, the filmmakers discovered that one of the more popular characters in the story was one who never spoke a word. "But the public spoke," says McG. "Everybody wanted the Thin Man back. He's our Jaws. He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin.' I just love the balance Crispin Glover brings to the franchise." But the Thin Man didn't start off as the strong silent type. Glover remembers when he read the script for the first film, his character had dialogue. "When they asked me to come in to talk about the role, I told McG I thought it would be better if the Thin Man didn't say a word and he immediately responded to that idea." "I had never done a sequel before, but I really like this character," Glover admits. "There's this sense that the Thin Man is trapped in a different time. The fact that he doesn't speak gives him a 'silent movie era' feel. I think audiences responded because they had to use their imagination more, and there's nothing richer than a person's imagination." With all the action in the film, McG was careful to not lose sight of the human side of the story. "Dylan is drawn to the family element of being an Angel. Natalie's a truly joyful person and Alex is always trying to please her parents. We take time to breathe life into those areas of their personalities." McG also made sure that another prominent facet of the Angels -- their love lives -- be used to divulge different aspects of their personalities. For instance, "Jason's not even sure what Alex does for a living," says Matt LeBlanc who again plays Alex's boyfriend Jason Gibbons. "And things are further complicated when she insists on a time-out in their relationship. What made it all so appealing was the continuing role-reversal aspect. Here's this macho action hero who is not at all that way in real life. And he gets beaten down a few times by Alex, who is the real thing." Also returning is Luke Wilson as Natalie's boyfriend Pete Komisky. The couple has finally made the commitment to live together. And there's the suggestion that Pete wants to take the relationship even further. "I think the fact that Natalie, the basic all-American girl, is with a decent, hardworking guy like Pete, tells us a lot about them," says Wilson. "She might be an Angel with all that entails, but at heart she's just a normal woman who likes this stable guy." NEW TO THE ANGELS FAMILY Joining the cast for the first time is Justin Theroux, whose character, Seamus O'Grady, played an important part in Dylan's past. Her first meeting with him after many years is intense, according to McG, who told Barrymore, "Seamus is a part of your dark past that you thought had gone away. When you see him, the oxygen just goes out of the atmosphere." Barrymore first met Theroux on Duplex, a film she recently starred in with Ben Stiller, and was eager to work with him again. To prepare for the role, Theroux worked with a trainer to reshape his body and consulted with the film's makeup artist Kimberly Greene on an elaborate series of tattoos, which were topped off with a Mohawk haircut. "Justin and I connected our teenage memories about the sort of punk-mod guys who wore oxblood Doc Marten boots with steel toes, super peg-tight pants, thin little suspenders and no shirt," says McG. "They always had the traditional sailor tattoos. They were the kind of guys that I, being the suburban lightweight that I am, would see and think 'wow, what a scary guy.'" For Theroux, it was the first time he'd so fully committed to a complete physical makeover for a film role. "When I was told I would have my shirt off for many of my scenes, I decided to buff up and trim down," he laughs. "I get to play the classic unstoppable, unkillable villain, and that's a blast," he adds. "It's great to have those super-human moments where you should be dead, but you just keep on coming. It's totally in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek comic opera tone of the movie." Though Theroux didn't always relish fighting the "sweet and wonderful Drew," he quickly discovered that she gave as good as she got. "The truth is, in the acting of these fights, Drew can really throw down," Theroux recalls. "I had some injuries and so did she. The poor makeup people had to cover up some of the nastiest, most gorgeous purple-and-yellow heinous bruises." Another new arrival is Brazilian superstar Rodrigo Santoro, who plays the strikingly handsome but deadly -- assassin Randy Emmers. "We wanted somebody for this role who was really sexy and fun," says Juvonen. "We saw Rodrigo's tape and met with him. He was so gorgeous, and there was something unique and original about him. The Brazilian accent added to his appeal. Also, he really knows how to surf and ride a motocross bike, which make him perfect for the role." Another reason for casting Santoro, according to McG, is that "heroes are only as good as the villains. When you have great villains, the film becomes even more engaging. Rodrigo has the toughest, most incredible screen presence. He's like the male composite of all three Angels." Infusing the Angels family with another comedic layer is John Cleese, who plays Alex's father. "We needed someone spectacular for that role," says McG. "Since we never discuss Alex's mother, we had to see this incredibly intelligent, sophisticated gentleman as her father. It makes perfect sense that Alex would be the fruit of his loins." According to Cleese, the role presented an interesting challenge. "It was explained to me that I was playing the part of a woman called 'Mrs. Munday,' who was a very high-powered Jewish socialite from New York. But they said the part was going to be rewritten -- which I thought was a frightfully good idea. I thought it was wonderfully eccentric casting to have me be Alex's father," Cleese adds. "And there is so much humor in the fact that he doesn't really have any idea of what she does for a living. And every time she tries to explain it to him, he becomes more befuddled." JUST HOW HIGH IS HIGH? "When the first film was released, audiences were enthralled by seeing three female movie stars in these huge action sequences," producer Goldberg recalls. "Since that time, several movies have imitated that. So McG and I talked about elevating the action to a higher level. In this film, the Angels aren't just flying across the room doing triple kicks. There are also some good old-fashioned punch-outs." Adds McG, "We all wanted to make this film decidedly more muscular and show that these girls can hang with the guys. We ramped it up to include wrestling, motocross, car crashes and leaps off tall buildings. The Angels hold their own in arenas normally reserved for idealized male action heroes. We wanted to put them in those environments and still have them be beautiful and comfortable in their own skin." While there is some of the spectacular wire work from the first film, says McG, the fight sequences in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle "are more grueling and the girls insisted on doing many of their own stunts so you would feel the impact of every blow and the real peril they're facing." According to Barrymore, "McG and I like many different types of fighting styles from different films and time-periods and we brought all those elements together. This film used more than one genre, one flavor. There were some scenes where I thought, this is really intense, but it felt good." Who better to train the Angels than 'The Master,' Cheung-Yan Yuen, the Hong Kong fight choreographer who instructed the three actresses in martial arts and wire action for the first film. "Cheung-Yan brings a code of honor and a way of conducting yourself that is very angelic," states McG. "He's the ultimate example of 'speaking softly and carrying a big stick.' Months before we started principal photography, the girls were working out with him and his 'team Hong Kong'. He brought out the best in the Angels and has been a huge inspiration to me." When asked to heighten the fight scenes, Yuen was confident he could deliver. "Cameron, Drew and Lucy trained so hard for the first film, they were in much better condition this time. They already had a foundation, which really paid off." This time around, Yuen says the Angels' fighting abilities "reflect their personalities. Having confidence in yourself and your ability is as important as learning the correct moves. Each of them has an individual strength. Cameron has amazing explosive power and reflexes, and she is very focused. Lucy is strong and professional. Drew has very good flexibility and great willpower." In addition to the Angels, Yuen also trained Glover and Moore. Though Glover had previously worked with 'The Master,' his training was equally intense this time around. "We'd begin with stretches, then practice kicking, punching and various fight combinations. At the end of the day, we'd work with swords. The style of fighting is influenced by Wu-Shu, a derivative of Kung Fu. It's the most dance-oriented martial art and has a lot to do with form. Cheung-Yan had a specific way of moving. He and his team were very clear about how you're supposed to hold your poses. There is no difference in the fighting style between good and evil. What is interesting is that his choreography is psychologically based. There are different styles for the different characters." For Moore, who had never studied martial arts before, part of the fun of filmmaking is learning new skills. "There is a particular stylistic element to the way Cheung-Yan choreographs," she reveals. "In some ways, it's like a dance. Some of it is very challenging because it's extremely intricate and has to be well timed. Learning the different sequences was very empowering and exciting. Still, you really count on getting 'The Master's' approval because you want to do your best for him. Cheung-Yan looks for a certain commitment, so we were all working towards maintaining a level of integrity to what we were doing." Diaz explains that part of the training effort was to avoid repeating actions from the first film. Yuen moved her and Liu's characters more toward kung-fu training and Barrymore's towards street fighting stances. "We really get thrown around in this one, but I think Cheung-Yan and McG have married the two different styles of fighting very gracefully, so you have the best of both worlds," says Diaz. "This time the bar was raised in a very organic way. It's charged with even greater energy. The fight scenes are more exciting, more dynamic." And Diaz says she has the bruises to prove it. "There is just no way a human body can collide with another body over and over again, a hundred times a day and not get bruised," she asserts. "It's part of the job. Eventually the bruises go away. What remains is the great feeling you get when you know that, after all that rehearsal, you got it right and that the take is perfect." Of all the action sequences, the one that Theroux remembers best was also the most harrowing. It was filmed at night on the docks of the port city of San Pedro, south of Los Angeles, with Theroux's character in a rage pursuing the Angels. On the run, Dylan trips and falls just as Alex and Natalie find a gas line and hose and turn the dockside alley into a wall of fire. "McG really likes to see what the actor is going to bring to the stunts," says Theroux. "He usually has several cameras rolling and it's very safe because he's surrounded you with experts. Obviously, I didn't really walk through that wall of flame. It was cheated, but I did come very close to the intense flames. It was so hot, it just sucked the oxygen out of the air and there was a kick to it. I come stalking through the fire without a shirt on so the stunt coordinator put this incredibly cold jelly on me that they use for fire stunts. By the time I got through the fire, it had evaporated because the temperature was so intense." Like Barrymore, Diaz and Liu, Theroux had the option of using a stunt double, but declined. "I wasn't forced to do the stunt. But I felt that if the Angels can do their stunts, then I can too." The true joy of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, promises McG, "is that the Angels get blown up, they get shot at, they break their ribs and then just pick themselves up and go on. That's why we root for them. It's like Rocky Balboa. You don't want to see him just win the fight from start to finish. You want to see him get beat up by Apollo Creed, and then you want to see him just barely pick himself up and make it happen in the final moments of the final round. That's what makes the Angels so endearing. They're so tough, so willing to go for it." Motocross Velocity In addition to the mano-a-mano and martial arts fighting in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the action is accelerated with the use of some of the top motocross racers in the world. "Early on, McG discussed things that no one has ever seen three girls do in a film," says Diaz. "He said motorcycles and surfing had never been shown in a way that was truly dynamic. So that became part of the movie and he made sure that we did it better than anyone." Of particular interest to McG was motocross because "when you go into a supercross stadium, you feel like you're walking into a video game come to life," he enthuses. "The things these guys manage to do while they're flying a hundred feet out and 40 feet above the ground, separating themselves from their bikes and executing these fantastic maneuvers is so exciting and so 'right in the wheel house' of Charlie's Angels. There aren't many women in the world of motocross and I wanted to say, 'women can do that too. So I knew we had to get it into the movie." When McG introduced her to the sport, Barrymore quickly caught the motocross bug. "He took us to a supercross in Anaheim to see what it was all about. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Of course, one wrong move, and I could be decapitated," Barrymore laughs. "But watching them ride was mesmerizing. McG wanted to take that energy and honor it. Turns out he knew all these amazing, radical, champion motocross athletes and got them to be in the movie." Motocross is "basically taking danger and bottling it," notes Liu. "In the film you see these competitors on their bikes flying up in the air doing these incredible jumps and leaps. Then they're free-falling, letting go of the bikes with their legs and arms." The motocross scenes were coordinated by McG and veteran stunt coordinator/2nd unit director Mic Rodgers. "We were able to get professional riders who knew what they were doing," recalls Rodgers, who also designed the track the riders were zooming around and over and under. The riders he used were a combination of those who ride free-style and those who compete for speed. "Every jump is serious," explains Rodgers, "because you have to attack it perfectly. Before I designed them, I talked with the guys and roughed out the way we wanted the jumps to be on the track. They went over the jumps and made adjustments. Every single shot was prepared months in advance. It's pretty failsafe, but we were sweating bullets anyway, because at any given time a bike could quit and you could have a major wreck." Melding the motocross action and the demands of the film's storyline, was a challenge director of photography Russell Carpenter relished. "It wasn't just a matter of taking several cameras out and shooting a group of riders," Carpenter explains. "Every beat of the race had to be choreographed and thought out because there are quite a few visual effects shots tied in as well. And, because you're telling a story, we had to weave the narrative in and out. What made it even more difficult was the fact that everyone's wearing helmets, so it's hard to tell who's who or doing what." To the novice, the names of the maneuvers can be as exciting as the jumps themselves. Among the more well-known are the Superman, the Cliffhanger, Knack-Knack, Indian Air and Mike Metzger's famed Back-Flip No-Footer, which means that at the apex of his jump, when he's 50-feet in the air and both he and his bike are completely upside down he throws his feet off the "pegs" (pedals) in a "Flying W," and then lands upright on his motorcycle as it roars on down the track. In addition to the professional motocross riders who appear in the film's competition, the production employed Richard C. Taylor, a well-known but retired competitor, to help figure out a way to mount a camera on a motorbike. Says Rodgers, "I don't know of anyone who has put a 35mm camera on a motocross bike and actually jumped it 50-feet in the air across 75-foot gaps during a supercross. It was a weight and safety issue, so we had to boil it down to its nth degree." "Normally," explains Rodgers, "if your bike quits in the middle of a jump, you can probably get away from it. But with a camera and mount on the front or back, the extra weight would mean you wouldn't get clear of it, no matter what you did." One of the highlights in the motocross sequence is the 360-degree back flip performed by Mike Metzger. Considered to be the holy grail of freestyle motocross, there are probably only three events at which Metzger would execute this particular flip, so on the day that he performed the stunt, the Coal Bowl was filled with fans who had heard the news and had come out to watch. The atmosphere was more like a carnival than a movie set. The motocross crowd also visited on two other occasions. The first was when seven-time world champion Jeremy McGrath and current world champion Ricky Carmichael, who was named the 2002 AMA Pro Athlete of the Year, made an appearance in the film. The second was the day popular rock star Pink and her boyfriend, motocross superstar Carey Hart, appeared in a scene with Cameron Diaz. Among the other recognizable motocross and supercross stars who perform in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle are Ronnie Renner, the 2002 World Freeride Association Step-Up Champion, Nick Wey, a consistent top-ten finisher in supercross known for his "Smooth & Fluid" riding style; Johnny O'Mara, a champion from the 1980s who recently retired; Trevor Vines, who during the year 2000, performed in front of more than 10 million viewers in over 60 different cities; Ryan Hughes, who suffered a serious crash at the end of the 2001 season and is currently planning a return to racing, and Chris Gosselaar, who has been racing motocross since he was nine years old. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION THE SETS It is a tribute to the director that the key production staff from Charlie's Angels returned for the second installment, including production designer J. Michael Riva, director of photography Russell Carpenter, costume designer Joseph G. Aulisi and editor Wayne Wahrman, among others. "These people are an intimate part of the fabric of Charlie's Angels," says McG. "Each had a part in creating the voice of the first film and the new one as well." That's not idle talk either, says Academy Award®-winning director of photography Carpenter (Titanic), "McG makes every person feel they have a contribution to make. He knows he can look in any direction and toss out a challenge 'how can we make this better?' It's that attitude that made me want to work with him again that sense that everybody is included." According to Riva "we had all developed a shorthand that was even shorter than on the first film. In the chaos of pre-production, the creative enthusiasm managed to prevail on all levels. It's an unusual group of people and McG is responsible for letting everybody expand quite a bit. His enthusiasm is palpable and it's infectious. His sensibility is very much reflected in the people he hires. We're all supreme optimists." As production designer, Riva's job is basically to translate the written word into a fabricated set or a practical location. In Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, one of Riva's main objectives was to animate the personal drama in the Angels' lives. "In this story Natalie is about to commit herself to a serious relationship. Dylan is leaving because she doesn't want to jeopardize her fellow Angels. And Alex is constantly lying to her parents and her boyfriend about what she does for a living. Then there is the appearance of Madison Lee, a past Angel." Riva's job, he says, was to bring texture to the story beats. He envisioned Natalie's home as a small, simple beach house a modest first step at cohabitation. Alex's residence is shown to be extremely neat and perhaps just a bit lonely except that it sometimes gets messy despite Alex's passion for order. Dylan lives in a hotel room and Riva attempts to give the sense that she has lived in this transient environment for years, which highlights her problems with commitment. "You try to suggest character traits by where you put the actors, what props they use, the clothes they wear," says Riva. "It's something we all talk about and collaborate on." Getting the right take on Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was a bit more challenging than the first film, Riva admits. "This film is a little bit more dangerous," he says. "More than anything else, it's about identity and individual personality. What is an Angel? Who are they really? What is going to happen to them in time?" Though the original Charles Townsend Agency was blown up in the first film, Riva redesigned it for the sequel. He describes the location as "essentially a womb, the one place where the Angels share the same space. It's where they receive their directives from Charlie, a man who's never physically there but who is this benevolent father figure. I wanted it to be kind of Old World and clubby, with wood paneling, less contemporary and cozy than the first one, more august in a kind of 'rumpled royalty' way. McG and I both made a conscious decision that it should feel appropriate for Charlie, but the girls should look and feel slightly out of place there." The Charles Townsend Agency set was constructed to appear "disproportionately large so that you could get lost in it," Riva continues, "because in the film there are constant questions of identity and it elaborates on that thematic thread." The film opens in a bar in Mongolia to which the Angels have been dispatched to rescue a kidnapped U.S. Marshal being held hostage. "The Mongolian Bar was a way to start out with a big surprise, to give the audience a caper that threatens to go bad," says Riva. "When McG and I discussed this scene, I suggested it should take place somewhere very far away, a hostile environment filled with jeopardy, yet wild and eccentric. We created a fictitious place where these crazed brigands get together and have a good time like land pirates. There were many extras and a great deal of noise and texture. And in the middle of it all are the Angels, working outrageously together. You immediately sense they're going to come up with a cool solution." The set required extensive research for Riva and his crew. Mongolian textiles, giant gas lighting fixtures and heavy furniture were created for the bar as well as the addition of a mechanical bull that Natalie rides, which is covered in faux yak fur, giant horns and bells, to give it an exotic touch. With his longtime passion for still photography, McG says he took great pride in composing each shot, working alongside Carpenter. "If every frame isn't special, then why do it?" he asked Carpenter rhetorically. "So we'd reconfigure it and find a way to make it more special, more fun." Carpenter particularly enjoyed lighting the Mongolian bar "because it was so far from where we had gone in the first film and it set the tone for the new movie from the get go. We introduce Cameron in a snow-bunny costume atop the yak, Drew in a drinking contest in the background and Lucy downstairs in the basement rescuing Robert Patrick. Suddenly we realize we're in this weird, comedic place. It's now officially a Charlie's Angels movie." One of the more lavish sets designed by Riva was for Madison Lee's hideout, known affectionately as 'Madison's Lair.' In order to find a space large enough for what he and McG envisioned, Riva and his art department went to downtown Los Angeles where they transformed Union Station's former ticket area into the place from which Madison directs her evil empire. "Because it was Madison's Lair, I thought it should be really big and grand," recalls Riva. "The room has 50-foot ceilings. We put in a fireplace that was so big you could stand two people one on top of the other and walk them into it. It was very extreme. Lauri Gaffin, our set decorator, filled the place with telescopes and black forest oversized furniture, and naked statues everywherewith Demi walking around half-dressed. It was very sexy. We had a giant bed built that was practically as big as the Titanic. It had a huge canopy and a headboard with a golden sunray radiating out of it. Very stylized. It was crazy! We all loved it." One of the largest sets to be completely constructed on a stage was of a Hollywood rooftop, for one of the film's major fight sequences. The rooftop is supposed to overlook Mann's Chinese Theatre where the premiere of a new film by Alex's boyfriend, Jason, is taking place and Madison Lee is trying to wreak havoc on the Angels' loved ones. Rather than take the chance of being exposed to the elements and noise, Riva decided to build the set on a soundstage. "It was a major undertaking," he recalls. "It's extremely difficult to make a huge set like that look real but Russell made it come alive. Without his interpretation, it would have been nothing." Carpenter is amused by Riva's compliment. "One of the great things about being part of the Charlie's Angels team is that everybody gets credit for what someone else did. Half the time, good cinematography is actually good production design and vice versa. The Hollywood rooftop set was one that required total collaboration. We had a 360-degree site that literally represented the entire Hollywood area at night. Our job was to light it in a way that made sense for the Angels' world. Things have to be real, but also fantastic, somewhere between fun and reality. And it all had to be tied in with a sequence shot on the real Hollywood Blvd. You always hope that it's a seamless transition from the real world to the world we create on stage." The Treasure Chest interior where the Angels have another adventure was also constructed on a soundstage at Sony Studios. "McG and I love old musicals," acknowledges Riva. "I don't think you can go wrong by putting at least one or two dance numbers in any movie. And he's determined to do that any chance he gets. He wanted the appearance of a 'knock-down, dirty, seaside bar' for the Treasure Chest. But he wanted the interior to be a total surprise, so we came up with a sexy red strip joint kind-of-place with circular fish tanks mounted in the walls, and a sexy floorshow all enveloped in this red plastic patent leather." (Diaz's performance in a giant martini glass in this scene pays homage to and is inspired by Playboy beauty Dita Von Teese's risqué and renowned burlesque act). Over 500 yards of shiny red vinyl was used to quilt the walls and more than 3000 silver and gold coins were strung up to make curtains. Aquariums filled with dozens of exotic fish were set into the walls behind the bar. Carpenter admires McG's showmanship and his ability to "know just how far he can go before he hangs himself. He has a great and joyful appreciation of the old-style Hollywood filmmaking. When I first met him, I was amazed by how easily he referenced films from the Golden Age of MGM. He could talk about Ben Hur and Show Boat and '60's films like Viva Las Vegas as effortlessly as last week's best-selling music video." The Costumes Joseph G. Aulisi's costumes for the original Charlie's Angels sparked a great deal of interest and praise and McG was eager to have him return for the sequel. "Joe makes the girls look so elegant and so lovely," he says. "Then when it's time to make them look tough, he does it in spades. As a person he's very low-key. There's nothing flamboyant about his personality, but when you witness what his imagination gives rise to, it's really quite extraordinary." McG had some definite clothing ideas for some scenes, says Aulisi. For others, he placed his trust in his costume designer's hands. "McG has this incredible vocabulary of every kind of possible pop-culture reference from the middle of the 20th century on. He draws on that, which inspires me to keep finding new places to go with it." The Technicolor musicals of the 1950s are an inspiration for the film, filtered and updated through McG's sensibilities. Although the Angels' costumes vary wildly, depending on the particular undercover assignment, Aulisi gave each of them a distinctive look. "The look has evolved since the first film," he says. "Cameron's character is still the 'California, outdoorsy girl' and, in general, totally into sportswear. Drew's Dylan has lost some of her 'flower child' demeanor and has moved into a 'rock star' mode, while Lucy's character remains the most international and cosmopolitan of the three girls. The challenge was to give the clothes a fresh look and still be faithful to what we call the 'essence of Angels.' To do this I switched the color palette slightly using a lot of red, white and black." One of Aulisi's favorite segments is the Mongolian Bar scene because "it was so different from the rest of the film. We probably fit about a hundred-and-fifty Mongolian extras along with the three Angels." Barrymore's costume is probably the most correct Mongolian outfit. Liu's costume evolved from research he did on Mongolian armor -- leather-coated plates of copper that were transferred to a more practical all-leather outfit. In counterpoint, Diaz's snow-bunny costume injected some humor into the Angels' wardrobe. As in Charlie's Angels, the costumes in the new film are witty, playful and in some instances, ultra-sexy. "I tried to maintain an elegance," Aulisi says, "using more texture in this film, with pleating and lacing and other things to give the wardrobe more dimension. Since fashion changes from moment to moment, I find it's better to go with classic shapes. I look at the first film now and it still looks fresh, not dated." Motocross enthusiasts may notice that many of the racers are wearing Troy Lee Designs. Lee is the racing world's premier designer and painter of custom helmets and riding gear. Lee designed and built the basic gear for the three Angels -- jerseys, pants and chest protectors. The boots were provided by Alpinestar, and Shoei provided the helmets onto which Lee painted the designs. "Basically, we tried to heighten the reality of the sequence," Aulisi explains. "For a road-luge sequence, I designed a jumpsuit in a camouflage pattern so that it looked like it was part of the road. Then I put a tire track down one side of it to give it an edge." In addition to the three Angels, Aulisi designed the costumes for retired Angel, Madison Lee. In the beginning, her scenes are in shadows so the audience is not sure whether it's a man or a woman. Later it is revealed that she is a 'fallen' Angel. "What I attempted with Madison was to give the impression that she's enmeshed and slightly trapped, so I used layers of net on her costume. At a certain point, she jumps off a roof and her costume turns into a flight suit, which is something that actually exists, although it's used for much higher altitudes. It gave a spidery tone to her character, which was a lot of fun." What viewers may not realize when they see the Angels in their form-fitting costumes is how many versions of the costumes have to be created. "Very often," explains Aulisi, "we're up to eight or twelve copies of each costume, not only for the actors but for their photo doubles and stunt doubles, which means the costumes have to be sized differently as well." The Locations With the exception of the Charles Townsend Agency, the film rarely ventures to the same location twice. The Angels are in constant motion. Location manager Kenneth D. Lavet drove hundreds of miles throughout the Los Angeles area to find the 30 or so diverse locations McG envisioned for the film. "McG likes the idea of celebrating Los Angeles, so there are a lot of iconic landmark locations in the film," explains Lavet. "He has an encyclopedic memory and knew of the best pop locations in the city." "One of our mantras," says McG "is that Charlie's Angels has been designed as a love letter to the city of Los Angeles. Every location had to matter. Everything had to be a landmark, to have historical significance. While there have been several films that were paeans to the legacy of New York City, Los Angeles is often seen as a more disposable city. But in our film you won't see any mini-malls. You'll see a more hidden L.A., amazing locales like the ornate Los Angeles Theatre, brilliant John Lautner-designed homes, extraordinary beaches that exist only on the west coast of North America, the docks of San Pedro and the Griffith Park Observatory, to name but a few." Timing played a big part in what locations were available. Sometimes, Lavet says, the production got lucky. "Normally you can only shoot at the Griffith Park Observatory one day a week when the facility is closed to the public. Because it was about to undergo a massive renovation, we were able to slip in there and shoot for over a week." McG had always wanted to use the landmark, but never before had it been available at the right time. "I'm very influenced by Rebel Without a Cause, which was shot up there. Plus, it has an architectural quality that allows you to look at it in a big, wide shot and it's very bold. It also has an 'angelic' quality in that it looks over the City of Angels." The Observatory is also a dramatically significant icon and the location in which the character of Madison Lee is finally revealed. "When I learned that the top piece of the observatory telescope rotunda would rotate, I knew that I wanted to place her up there," says McG. "We had to build a special rig to keep Demi from falling because as it goes around it jerks and could have bucked her out. I love the reveal when Natalie and Alex get a look at Madison and realize she's betraying the Angels ethos. It's a powerful scene." Another difficult location was the house in which Liu's character resides, which is perched on a promontory overlooking Beverly Hills with views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. The Sheets-Goldstein residence is a true architectural landmark and one of McG's favorite L.A. houses. "It's a perfect synthesis of the city's indoor-outdoor living experience, sort of the crowning achievement of architect John Lautner's career," McG smiles. For the motocross sequence, explains Lavet, "McG wanted the event to be more of an illicit motorcycle race than one held in a stadium. He wanted a covert event where riders pay a fee and winner takes all." "I wanted to create a stark, dangerous backdrop," says McG. "We found an old coalfield in San Pedro and cleared out all the coal, creating a 360-degree stadium made of coal. All you get is the composition of blue sky, black coal and then these almost animatronic athletes a hundred feet in the air doing flips and pop wheelies. It was just the sort of emotion I wanted to feel the speed, the danger, the sexiness and excitement that are embodied in the sport." Another San Pedro location was the nearby Southwest Marine dockside. "The largest harbor in the Los Angeles area is in San Pedro and we took advantage of the giant tanker ships and the idea that the O'Grady clan's secret hideout was aboard one of these hollowed-out super-tankers," says McG "It also gave me the opportunity to get the girls into some welding outfits and take advantage of that Flashdance imagery of beautiful girls ripping off welding masks." Another landmark used in the film was the Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley. The 62-year old structure, which operates under the auspices of the Army Corps of Engineers, is usually used for flood control. Through the digital magic of computer simulation and the sawdust hammer-and-nails work of scores of propmakers, the 10,475-foot long dam was transformed into an eerie Mongolian border crossing. Faux lookout towers and a disposable plaster-and-wood wall with a huge door added to the exotic aura. Set atop the dam was a 49-ton M60 A-1 (Patton) tank that was rented from the American Society of Military History and Museums. "That scene was a real achievement for the art department," recalls Riva, "because McG kept talking about the opening of the picture and how it had to be huge and overpowering. We designed and animated a sequence based on his pitch, and it was that sequence that got everyone at the studio excited. We eventually shot it on film. At first we thought we might have to build this giant dam that's supposed to be in Mongolia. But working in conjunction with our visual effects supervisor Mark Stetson, we created something out of a Los Angeles location that, with a little effects magic, felt like Mongolia. We even had snow and sand on the ground and extras dressed up in giant yak parkas in the 95-degree heat. But it worked." ABOUT THE CAST CAMERON DIAZ reprises the role of Natalie Cook in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Diaz made her feature debut at age 21, captivating moviegoers as the femme fatale Tina Carlyle opposite Jim Carrey in The Mask. As a follow-up to The Mask, Diaz chose a small, independent film called The Last Supper, which featured an ensemble cast that included Annabeth Gish, Ron Eldard, Jonathan Penner and Courtney B. Vance. Her third feature was writer/director Steven Baigelman's offbeat love story Feeling Minnesota, in which she co-starred with Keanu Reeves and Vincent D'Onofrio. She went on to play a cold, manipulative New Yorker in Edward Burns' She's the One. She next starred opposite Harvey Keitel and Craig Sheffer in the thriller Head Above Water. In 1996, Diaz was named ShoWest's Female Star of Tomorrow by the National Association of Theatre Owners. In the summer of 1997, she co-starred with Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding, which became one of the ten top-grossing films of the year. Her performance earned her the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Diaz then starred opposite Ewan McGregor as a spoiled, unhappy rich girl who falls in love with a janitor who accidentally kidnaps her in Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary. For her performance in the title role of the romantic comedy There's Something About Mary, Diaz was honored with the New York Film Critics Circle Award as Best Actress. She also received a Golden Globe nomination, the American Comedy Award, the Netherlands' Best Actress Rembrandt Award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Movie Performance and the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance. Following Peter Berg's dark comedy Very Bad Things Diaz starred in the critically acclaimed Being John Malkovich opposite John Cusack, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich. Directed by Spike Jonze, her performance was nominated for a Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the British Academy Film Award. In Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, Diaz co-starred with Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid, LL Cool J, James Woods and Ann-Margaret. She appeared in The Invisible Circus, based on an acclaimed novel by Jennifer Egan and was seen on Showtime in Rodrigo Garcia's "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" with Glenn Close, Calista Flockhart, Amy Brenneman and Holly Hunter. She provided the voice of the feisty Princess Fiona in Shrek with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow. The animated movie was one of the most successful films of 2001, setting box-office records and appearing on dozens of critics' lists of the year's best movies. She will reunite with the original voice cast for Shrek 2. The film will be released in summer, 2004. Last year, she costarred in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis, and before that she co-starred in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Jason Lee and Kurt Russell. Her performance was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, an AFI Award and a SAG Award, and Diaz was chosen Best Supporting Actress by the Boston Society of Film Critics. She also co-starred in the comedy The Sweetest Thing with Christina Applegate and Selma Blair. DREW BARRYMORE returns to the role of Dylan Sanders, which she created in Charlie's Angels. A successful actress since childhood, she has been captivating movie going audiences for nearly two decades. Since her screen debut, her unique talent and on-screen charisma have earned her critical acclaim and box-office success. Barrymore was most recently seen in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind for director George Clooney, and in a cameo role in Donnie Darko. The latter film, which she produced with her Flower Films partner Nancy Juvonen, starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Jena Malone and received three Independent Spirit Award nominations. Prior to that, Barrymore starred in Riding in Cars With Boys directed by Penny Marshall. She is currently in production on Fifty First Kisses starring Adam Sandler, a romantic comedy produced by Flower Films and Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. Duplex, in which she stars opposite Ben Stiller, will be released later this year with Flower Films and Stiller's Red Hour Films producing. With her 30th film, the romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, Barrymore embarked on a second career as a producer. The film was directed by Raja Gosnell and was Barrymore and Juvonen's first Flower Films effort. The movie grossed $100 million worldwide and featured a stellar ensemble cast including David Arquette, Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly and Michael Vartan. Barrymore also starred with Anjelica Huston in the hit Ever After for director Andy Tennant, which also grossed more than $100 million in worldwide box office. She also appeared in the quirky romantic comedy Home Fries for director Dean Parisot. The film co-starred Luke Wilson, Jake Busey and Catherine O'Hara. She starred opposite Adam Sandler in the 1998 smash hit romantic comedy The Wedding Singer and as well as in the highly successful Woody Allen ensemble Everyone Says I Love You, which also featured Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Alan Alda, Julia Roberts and Goldie Hawn. She made a memorable appearance in the box office hit, Scream, directed by Wes Craven and featuring Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich. Barrymore made her feature film debut in the 1980 film Altered States with William Hurt. Her next film was E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, where her portrayal of Gertie earned her a Youth in Film Award and a BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) Award nomination for Most Outstanding Newcomer. She went on to star in such films as Stephen King's Firestarter, Irreconcilable Differences (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress) and in a film written especially for her, Stephen King's Cat's Eye, in which she played five different roles. Other films include Gun Crazy, which earned her another Golden Globe nomination, Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Batman Forever and Tipperary and Doppelganger. She has also starred in such telefilms as "The Amy Fisher Story," "15 and Getting Straight," "Suddenly Love," "Bogie," "Babes in Toyland," "Conspiracy of Love" and the television series "2000 Malibu Road." LUCY LIU, who returns as Alex Munday, is a native New Yorker. She attended NYU and later received a Bachelor of Science degree in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan. During her senior year at Michigan, she auditioned for a student theater production of Andre Gregory's adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland." Hoping to land a supporting role, Liu was instead cast as the lead. And her acting career was born. Liu's blossoming film career was thrust into overdrive when she starred in Charlie's Angels. In 2000, she also starred opposite action legend Jackie Chan in the hit comedy Shanghai Noon. Other film credits include her memorable role as a dominatrix opposite Mel Gibson in Payback and her sassy starring role with Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson in Play it to the Bone. She was most recently seen in Chicago and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Her credits also include Mike Figgis' Hotel and Cypher opposite Jeremy Northam. She will next be seen in Kill Bill for Quentin Tarantino. In addition, she recently signed a deal to executive produce and star in a contemporary big-screen version of Charlie Chan. On television, Liu appeared as the unforgettable Ling Woo in the hit series, "Ally McBeal." That immensely popular role brought her a great deal of industry recognition and fan support. In 1999, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and, the following year, she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. She guest-starred on HBO's "Sex and the City" and has lent her voice to such animated series as "The Simpsons," "Futurama," "King of the Hill" and the upcoming "Mulan 2." BERNIE MAC, who portrays Jimmy Bosley, has emerged from the small comedy clubs of Chicago to become the highest grossing comedian today, selling out arenas and theaters all across the country. This success has caused a groundswell of attention for Mac's services in all facets of entertainment. Mac can currently be seen every Wednesday night in the family comedy "The Bernie Mac Show" on Fox. The show debuted to stellar ratings last fall and has been hailed as the "One of the Top Ten Shows of 2001" by Time, Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide. Furthermore, he and the show have begun to pick up a slew of prestigious awards. Mac received a 2002 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and "The Bernie Mac Show" won for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. The show received the Peabody Award and two Television Critics Association Awards for Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Performance as well as awards for Best Comedy Series and Best Actor at the NAACP Image Awards. Playing a fictional version of himself, the show follows Mac as he comically struggles to balance his newfound parental duties. Mac is starring in two other high profile feature films this year. He appeared opposite Chris Rock in the hit comedy Head of State, as the older brother and running mate of an unexpected presidential candidate (Rock). Later this year, Mac stars in director Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa opposite Billy Bob Thornton, who plays a thief masquerading as Santa Claus to knock off shopping malls. Mac portrays the detective who searches for a politically correct way to get rid of the bad Santa. Most recently, Mac was seen on the big screen in Steven Soderbergh's hit remake of Ocean's 11 from Warner Bros. Co-starring alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, the highly touted film follows a casino heist in Las Vegas from its conception to the actual score. Mac plays Frank Catton, "the inside man" of the group. The film was a massive hit, grossing more than $350 million dollars worldwide. Never one to limit himself to any one medium, Mac wrote a book entitled I Ain't Scared of You, which was published last fall from MTV/Pocket Books. In the book, he rips through such topics as sex, religion, hygiene, celebrity and more without missing a beat. This spring his latest book, Maybe You Never Cry Again (Regan Books/Harper Collins) debuted, in which he discusses growing up in Chicago and the hardships and obstacles in his path to the top. As a founding member of the "Kings of Comedy" tour, Mac displayed his trademark rapid fire and hard-hitting delivery. The success of the tour spawned Spike Lee's 2000 concert film The Original Kings of Comedy, which has grossed nearly $40 million. Born and raised in Chicago, Mac made his television debut on the landmark HBO comedy series, "Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam," which led to him being cast in the Damon Wayans feature Mo' Money. Other film credits include the Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence comedy Life, House Party 3, How to be a Player and What's the Worst that Can Happen? CRISPIN GLOVER returns as the Thin Man, a role he originated in Charlie's Angels. While he's never been a typical leading man, Glover has distinguished himself as one of the most intriguing personalities in the movie business. His unusual characters and artworks have inspired a cult-like following that has dubbed him both madman and genius. Glover has delivered standout performances in more than 30 films, including River's Edge, Back To The Future, Wild At Heart, The Doors (as Andy Warhol), The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Nurse Betty, and Charlie's Angels. He is the author of multiple works of fiction (Oak Mot, Rat Catching, What It Is and How it is Done, a spoken-word stage performance ("The Big Slide Show"), and an album, ("The big problem does not equal the solution. The solution equals let it be"). Glover is also the director and producer of two feature films currently in post-production, What Is It? (for which he wrote the screenplay) which he describes thus: "Being the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are salt, snails, a pipe, and how to get home, as tormented by a hubristic racist inner psyche. Most of the cast has Down's syndrome, but it is not about that." He has also directed the film's sequel Everything is Fine!, which he describes thus: "It was written by and starred Steven C. Stewart, who was 62 and had severe cerebral palsy. Everything is Fine is Stewart's psychosexual autobiographical story with fiction and fantasy but an ultimate truth. Stewart died within a month of the completion of filming." JUSTIN THEROUX, who plays Seamus O'Grady, is an accomplished film and stage actor who starred opposite Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. He will next be seen with Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in Duplex, and opposite Audrey Tautou in Amos Kollek's Nowhere to Go but Up. His other feature film credits include Mary Harron's American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol, as well as Zoolander, The Broken Hearts Club and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Theroux began his career in the New York theater. He starred opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Shopping and Fucking" and starred with Calista Flockhart, Billy Crudup, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Lili Taylor in "Three Sisters." He returned to New York's Lincoln Center this spring to perform in Frank McGuiness' "Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme," an examination of the individual and collective desire to honor one's beliefs and country. Theroux had previously performed the play in Boston and at the Williamstown Theater Festival. On television, Theroux will next be seen as a possible new love interest for Rachel Griffiths on "Six Feet Under." His other television credits include a starring role in "The District" and guest-starring roles on "Sex and the City" and "Spin City." Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Theroux graduated from Bennington College. He is the nephew of writer Paul Theroux. ROBERT PATRICK, who plays Ray Carter, has enjoyed a career marked by several standout performances, and his work demonstrates an impressive range not often seen by many actors. He recently wrapped the pilot for the FX Network's original series, "Snitch" and production on the film Pavement opposite Lauren Holly. Audiences most recently saw him starring as 'John Doggett' on the last two seasons of the now-classic television series "The X-Files." Prior to that he was seen in the Robert Rodriguez box office hit Spy Kids opposite Antonio Banderas and All the Pretty Horses opposite Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz, under the direction of Billy Bob Thornton. Also upcoming for Patrick are roles in Universal Pictures' Eye See You opposite Sylvester Stallone and A Texas Funeral opposite Jane Adams and Joanne Whalley. He received critical acclaim for his performance in three high-profile second season episodes of "The Sopranos." He is best known for his performance as "T-100" in Terminator 2: Judgement Day opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Faculty directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Kevin Williamson. Patrick's other film credits include From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood, the sequel to From Dusk Till Dawn with Quentin Tarantino, Cop Land opposite Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro, as well as the independent film The Only Thrill starring Diane Keaton, Diane Lane and Sam Shepherd. Also, as a favor to John Singleton, Patrick made a chilling cameo appearance in Rosewood, and before that took a comedic turn as Demi Moore's lowlife, thieving ex-husband in Striptease. He also starred in Fire In the Sky, Double Dragon: The Movie, Decoy with Peter Weller, The Last Gasp and Hong Kong '97 as well as a Showtime episode of "The Outer Limits." Born in Marietta, Georgia, Patrick was raised in Dayton, Cleveland, Detroit and Boston. He played American Legion Baseball in high school and football at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, but after sitting in on drama classes, he decided to quit football and pursue acting. In 1984, Patrick moved to Hollywood where a few weeks later, he was cast as a joint-smoking beatnik in the play "Go." While performing on stage, Patrick was discovered by a casting director for Roger Corman's production company and quickly won the role of a psychotic biker in Warlords From Hell. Patrick next starred in the futuristic western Equalizer 2000. Taking his talents to the stage, he co-starred in the Los Angeles premiere of David Mamet's "The Shawl" at the Waterfront Stage. While a partner in the now dissolved independent film production company, 360 Entertainment, Patrick produced, along with Stanley Isaacs, Within the Rock and The End of the Road, a film in which he had a starring role. Currently, Patrick is filming Ladder 49 opposite John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix, directed by Jay Russell. DEMI MOORE, who appears as Madison Lee, has established herself as one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood. She was last seen in the Paramount film Passion of Mind, released early in 2000. Moore starred opposite Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg in the blockbuster Ghost, a performance that earned Moore a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her other credits include Striptease opposite Burt Reynolds, The Juror with Alec Baldwin, the Roland Joffe-directed film version of The Scarlet Letter opposite Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall, Disclosure with Michael Douglas, Indecent Proposal opposite Robert Redford and Woody Harrelson, A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, The Butcher's Wife with Jeff Daniels and Nothing But Trouble with Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase and John Candy. In addition to achieving great success as an actress, Moore has had a very successful career as a film producer through her production company Moving Pictures. Her credits as actor/producer include GI Jane, in which she starred opposite Viggo Mortensen, the Emmy-nominated film for HBO "If These Walls Could Talk" with Sissy Spacek and Cher, Now And Then with Melanie Griffith, Rosie O'Donnell and Rita Wilson and Mortal Thoughts with Bruce Willis. She is also a part of the team behind the successful Austin Powers franchise, having produced all three films with Jennifer and Suzanne Todd. Moore made her film debut in 1984 as Michael Caine's daughter in Blame It on Rio. Other early film work includes roles in No Small Affair opposite Jon Cryer, Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire, One Crazy Summer with John Cusack, Wisdom written and directed by and co-starring Emilio Estevez, About Last Night opposite Rob Lowe, The Seventh Sign opposite Michael Biehn and We're No Angels opposite Sean Penn and Robert DeNiro. MATT LeBLANC returns as Alex's boyfriend Jason Gibbons in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. He was recently nominated for an Emmy Award as Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the hugely popular NBC weekly sitcom "Friends." The critically acclaimed ensemble cast, composed of LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry has proved itself to be one of the best in comedy television history, winning a SAG Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Comedy Series in 1996. The show itself has garnered accolades from the Screen Actors Guild, the Emmy Awards, the American Comedy Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards. Individually, LeBlanc has won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Joey and has been described by Entertainment Weekly as "a rarity, a hunk with a gift for deadpan comedy." LeBlanc was last seen in the war comedy All the Queen's Men as O'Rourke, the American leader of a British special services team charged with infiltrating the all-female Enigma factory in Berlin and retrieving the famed coding device. Prior to that, LeBlanc appeared on the big screen in Charlie's Angels. In 1998, LeBlanc appeared opposite Gary Oldman as Major Don West in Lost in Space. The Stephen Hawkins-directed film retells the story of the Robinson's family quest to find their way back to Earth after a mission in space goes awry. Previously, LeBlanc starred in the 1996 baseball comedy Ed, and in 1993's The Killing Box opposite Martin Sheen and Corbin Bernsen. A native of Newton, Massachusetts, LeBlanc graduated from Newton North High School, before moving to Hollywood in pursuit of a modeling and acting career. LeBlanc currently resides in LA with his wife, model Melissa McNight. LUKE WILSON is back again as Natalie's boyfriend Pete Komisky. He was most recently seen starring with Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell in the hit comedy Old School, a comedy about three men in their 30s who become disenchanted with life and try to recapture their college days. Previously, he starred as Richie Tennebaum in Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. The all-star cast also included Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Bill Murray. The film was Luke's third collaboration with his brother Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson, who co-wrote the script for Anderson to direct. Wilson made his feature debut in the critically acclaimed independent film, Bottle Rocket. The film was the first written and directed by Wes Anderson and co-written by his brother, Owen, who also co-starred. Following Bottle Rocket, Wilson went on to appear in various cameo and supporting roles before winning the lead roles in Bruce McCulloch's Dog Park and then in Home Fries opposite Drew Barrymore. He then teamed up again with Anderson and his brother, Owen, for Rushmore, which appeared on many Critics' Top Ten Lists for 1998. Wilson next co-starred with Martin Lawrence in the hit comedy Blue Streak, and opposite Heather Graham in Committed, which was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. He also starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Wilson's current and upcoming films include Rob Reiner's romantic comedy Alex and Emma opposite Kate Hudson, Legally Blonde 2, and Masked & Anonymous opposite Bob Dylan, Penelope Cruz and Jessica Lange. JOHN CLEESE plays Alex's father Mr. Munday. His eclectic career began in the mid-1960s with appearances on British television in "The Frost Report" and in "At Last the 1948 Show." In 1969, he co-created "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Working with the same team, he produced four Python films: And Now For Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974), The Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983). Most recently, Cleese co-starred as "Q" in the James Bond film, Die Another Day. He made his first appearance in the Bond series in The World Is Not Enough. Last year, he was featured as Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a role he reprised in the sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He recently appeared in the upcoming Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Among his other motion picture credits are Rat Race, The Out of Towners, A Fish Called Wanda (which he co-wrote and for which he won a BAFTA award), Fierce Creatures, The Jungle Book, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Splitting Heirs, Erik the Viking, Clockwise, Silverado, Privates on Parade, Time Bandits and The Great Muppet Caper. Last year, "The Human Face," a four part documentary series that Cleese wrote and presented, was featured on The Learning Channel, earning an Emmy nomination. For television, he created and starred in the highly acclaimed series "Fawlty Towers" and won an Emmy for a role on the sitcom "Cheers." Other television appearances include "The Taming of the Shrew" as part of the BBC Shakespeare season and "Whoops Apocalypse" for LWT. Cleese co-founded Video Arts in 1972, which became the leading provider of business training programs on video. Although he no longer owns the company, he continues to appear in their programs. In 1993, he formed a new company, Videos for Patients, with Dr. Rob Buckman to help improve communication between patients and doctors. There are currently 45 titles in this video series. With Dr. Robin Skynner, Cleese co-wrote the best-seller Families and How to Survive Them in 1983. The book was subsequently produced as a series for BBC Radio 4. The sequel, Life and How to Survive It, was published in 1993. In 1998, Cleese became a Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS McG's (Director) feature film directorial debut, Charlie's Angels, boasts the biggest opening ever for a first-time director. The film debuted at #1 in the United States with more than $40 million its opening weekend. It also opened at #1 in 31 territories internationally, ending up with a take of more than $250 million worldwide. Since the unprecedented success of his feature film debut, McG has formed a production company, Wonderland, with producing partner Stephanie Savage. Wonderland has a first-look film deal with Columbia Pictures and a television deal with Warner Bros. Currently, Wonderland is developing Hot Wheels for McG to direct for Columbia Pictures. The company is also producing the Fox television series "Fastlane" and "The O.C.", which debuts on Fox this summer. To date, McG has directed almost 50 music videos, featuring a diverse group of artists such as Mase, Barenaked Ladies, Korn, Everclear, The Offspring, Wyclef Jean, Fastball, Spacehog, Sublime, Cypress Hill, Smashmouth and Sugar Ray. In addition, he has also directed commercials for The Gap, Ikea and the Coca-Cola company. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, McG grew up in Newport Beach, California. He attended the University of California, Irvine, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. JOHN AUGUST (Screenplay By, Story By) wrote and co-produced Go, which debuted at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Since then he has co-written Charlie's Angels and Titan A.E., and worked on numerous production rewrites. Upcoming for August is Columbia Pictures' Big Fish, an adaptation of Daniel Wallace's fable-like tale, starring Ewan MacGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Helena Bonham Carter and Danny DeVito, under the direction of Tim Burton. August is also working on a remake of the '60s sci-fi film Barbarella and an untitled monster movie for Columbia Pictures, which he will also produce. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, August earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa and an MFA in film from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. August frequently serves as a creative advisor at the twice-yearly Sundance Screenwriting Institute. In addition, he writes a weekly screenwriting column on IMDb (Internet Movie Database), in the "Ask a Filmmaker" section of indie.imdb.com. CORMAC WIBBERLEY & MARIANNE WIBBERLEY (Screenplay by) both grew up in Southern California and attended the same high school. They also both attended UCLA where they earned bachelors degrees -- Marianne in mathematics and Cormac in economics. Marianne then went on to UCLA's graduate Film School. In 1993, they sold their first spec script to Disney and have been writing together ever since. The Sixth Day starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was their first major motion picture. Their latest project was Columbia Pictures' I Spy. They are currently working on I Dream of Jeannie, based on the classic television show of the same name, for Columbia Pictures, as well as National Treasure for director Jon Turtletaub and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. LEONARD GOLDBERG (Producer) is one of the entertainment industry's most talented and respected executives and creative producers of film and television, Goldberg has held a number of distinguished positions in the industry, including Head of Programming for ABC and President of Twentieth Century Fox. He currently presides over his own production company, Mandy Films. As head of Twentieth Century Fox he oversaw production on hit films like Broadcast News, Big, Die Hard, Wall Street and Working Girl. Independently, he produced such hit features as the first Charlie's Angels movie, War Games, the Julia Roberts thriller Sleeping With the Enemy, the Eddie Murphy comedy The Distinguished Gentleman and the recent thriller hit Double Jeopardy starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd. At ABC, he was responsible for developing and introducing the Made-For-Television movie format. As a television producer he was responsible for some of the most highly acclaimed telefilms ever made, including "Brian's Song," for which he won the Peabody Award, "Something About Amelia," for which he won the Emmy and "Alex: The Life of a Child," based on the book by Frank Deford. In partnership with Aaron Spelling he was responsible for an unprecedented string of hit television series, including "Charlie's Angels," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Rookies," "Fantasy Island," "Hart to Hart," "T.J. Hooker" and the beloved award-winning "Family." They also produced over 35 movies for television, including the film that brought John Travolta to national attention, "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" and the highest rated movie for television ever broadcast, "Little Ladies of the Night." DREW BARRYMORE (Producer) See About the Cast section for Drew Barrymore's biography. NANCY JUVONEN (Producer) founded Flower Films with actress Drew Barrymore in 1995. Their first production, Never Been Kissed, went into production in 1998 with Juvonen and Barrymore producing, along with Sandy Isaac. The romantic comedy, made as part of their first-look deal with 20th Century Fox/Fox 2000 grossed more than $80 million worldwide. For their next project, Flower Films, along with Leonard Goldberg Productions and Tall Trees, produced the hugely successful Charlie's Angels, which grossed over $250 million internationally. Juvonen and Barrymore also produced, along with Matt Groening and Claudia de la Roca, the Emmy-nominated animated program "Olive the Other Reindeer," now a staple for television holiday season programming. In 2001, Flower Films, in conjunction with Newmarket and Gaylord Films released the independent feature Donnie Darko, a cult hit that has been met with extremely favorable critical and fan reaction, domestically, as well as overseas. The following year, Flower Films and Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films completed the dark romantic comedy Duplex starring Barrymore and Stiller, directed by Danny DeVito. Flower Films is currently in production on Fifty First Kisses with Adam Sandler and his company Happy Madison, for Columbia Pictures. Barrymore also stars. Also on the production slate is A Confederacy Of Dunces, written by Scott Kramer and Steven Soderbergh, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Flower Films has a first-look deal with Columbia Pictures through 2005. JENNO TOPPING (Executive Producer) is partnered with Betty Thomas in the production company Tall Trees and served as Executive Producer on the first Charlie's Angels film. In addition, Topping co-produced The Brady Bunch Movie, executive produced Dr. Dolittle and produced 28 Days. All three films were directed by Thomas. She also produced the popular teen comedy Can't Hardly Wait, as well as Thomas' recent action-comedy I Spy starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. Topping just completed production on Surviving Christmas, a comedy starring Ben Affleck, Christina Applegate, James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara. Prior to teaming with Thomas, Topping was vice-president of HBO Pictures, where she oversaw many films including Thomas' "The Late Shift," as well as "The Second Civil War," "Crime of the Century" and the Emmy and Golden Globe winner "Rasputin." PATRICK CROWLEY (Executive Producer) has worked his way up the production ladder from assistant director to his current position as one of the industry's most highly valued producers. He most recently produced The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon and directed by Doug Liman. Born in Orange, California, Crowley received a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree in Communications from Stanford University. He then became an Adjunct Professor of Communications at Stanford, where he taught film from 1972-75. Afterward, Crowley directed documentaries and ran a video production company in San Francisco. Moving to Los Angeles in 1980, Crowley produced commercials for multi Academy Award®-winner Conrad Hall. He then joined the Directors Guild of America as a first assistant director, working with such filmmakers as Curtis Hanson on Losin' It, Roger Spottiswoode on Under Fire, Barry Levinson on The Natural, Karel Reisz on Sweet Dreams and John Schlesinger on both The Falcon and The Snowman and The Believers. Crowley served as co-producer on True Believer, produced by Walter Parkes (one of his students at Stanford) and Lawrence Lasker. He then worked as unit production manager on Revenge, directed by Tony Scott. Crowley was executive producer of the large-scale science fiction thriller RoboCop 2, Nora Ephron's comedy smash hit Sleepless in Seattle and Edward Zwick's historical romance Legends of the Fall. He produced RoboCop 3. Crowley became executive vice president of production at New Regency Productions in 1994. For six years he supervised production and post-production on such films as L.A. Confidential, A Time to Kill, Entrapment, Fight Club, The Devil's Advocate, City of Angels, The Negotiator, Heat, Tin Cup, Cobb, Boys on the Side, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and many others. He is a partner in the eStudio Network internet company, which provides consolidated purchasing and crucial database information for both studio and independent films. AMANDA GOLDBERG (Associate Producer) joined Mandy Films in July of 1998 after working in New York City for two years in the fashion industry as a design assistant to famed designer Todd Oldham. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences in 1996, she began her film career assisting her father, Leonard Goldberg, on the hugely successful feature film Double Jeopardy. On her own, she co-produced the made-for-TV-movie "Runaway Virus" for ABC-TV and produced "Critical Assembly" for NBC. Goldberg served as the associate producer on the first Charlie's Angels film. She is also working on the development of three new features: Fantasy Island, Wonder Woman and Criss Cross. STEPHANIE SAVAGE (Associate Producer) is McG's producing partner at Wonderland Sound and Vision, a company they formed together in January 2001 after securing a first-look deal with Columbia Pictures. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is their first film production and marks Savage's debut motion picture credit. After a successful foray into television last year with "Fastlane," on which Savage serves as a producer, Wonderland recently signed a television development deal with Warner Bros. A second series, "The O.C." debuts on Fox this summer. Wonderland is currently developing a live-action feature built around Mattel's Hot Wheels® cars to be directed by McG with Savage Executive Producing for Columbia Pictures. Before forming Wonderland with McG, Savage was VP of Development for Flower Films, where she supported Nancy Juvonen and Drew Barrymore in the development of Never Been Kissed, Charlie's Angels and Donnie Darko. Among her other credits, Savage has produced commercials for Ikea and Coors, as well as music videos for Sugar Ray. Canadian-born Savage first came to Los Angeles from the University of Iowa, where she taught film history and theory while working on her PhD. She is the published author of several scholarly articles on true crime, scandal and pornography. RUSSELL CARPENTER, ASC (Director of Photography) first collaborated with McG on Charlie's Angels. Carpenter received an Academy Award® as well as an ASC Award for Best Cinematography for his work on director James Cameron's critically acclaimed box-office triumph Titanic. He previously worked with Cameron on True Lies and Terminator 2. Most recently, he worked with directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly on Shallow Hal. His other credits include The Negotiator, Money Talks, The Indian in the Cupboard, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Hard Target, Pet Sematary II, Lawnmower Man, Solar Crisis and Lady in White. Carpenter also served as director of photography on the Michael Jackson music video "Ghosts." J. MICHAEL RIVA (Production Designer) is an Academy Award® nominee for his designs on The Color Purple. He also designed Charlie's Angels and Ivan Reitman's Evolution. Riva has doubled as the production designer and second unit director on A Few Good Men, Radio Flyer, Scrooged and Goonies. Other memorable production design credits include Dave, Six Days Seven Nights, Congo, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Lethal Weapon 4, Ordinary People, Bad Boys and Brubaker. Among his television credits is the Emmy Award-winning telefilm "Tuesdays with Morrie" and the "74th Academy Awards," for which he received an Emmy nomination. WAYNE WAHRMAN A.C.E. (Edited By) who also edited Charlie's Angels, recently edited two diverse films, The Time Machine, based on the H.G. Wells novel and the World War II submarine drama U-571. He has also collaborated with director Steve Zaillian on his films A Civil Action and Searching for Bobby Fischer. Among his other film credits are The Education of Little Tree, 2 Days in the Valley, The Last of the Mohicans, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Kickboxer. Raised in Richmond, Virginia, Wahrman earned his degree in motion picture production from UCLA, where one of his student productions received the Jim Morrison Award for Best Film. JOSEPH G. AULISI (Costume Designer), who also designed the costumes for Charlie's Angels, has been designing costumes for feature films for over 25 years. In addition to his film career, he designed numerous noteworthy musicals and plays on Broadway. He most recently designed the costumes for Duplex starring Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller. Directed by Danny DeVito, the film is produced by Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen's Flower Films and Stiller's Red Hour Films. Aulisi's film credits include his work with director Chris Columbus on Stepmom and Bicentennial Man as well as Frank Oz's Bowfinger with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. He has designed three films directed by Robert Benton, Twilight with Paul Newman and Susan Sarandon, Nobody's Fool also with Newman and Billy Bathgate with Nicole Kidman and Dustin Hoffman. Earlier credits include Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan, Die Hard With a Vengeance starring Bruce Willis, On Deadly Ground with Steven Seagal, Shaft, The Pope of Greenwich Village and Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford and directed by Sydney Pollack. In addition, Herbert Ross' My Blue Heaven and The Secret of My Success were both designed by Aulisi. Other period films include Ironweed starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson and Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. Aulisi also designed Private Parts starring Howard Stern and directed by Betty Thomas. On Broadway, Aulisi designed the costumes for "Jerome Robbins Broadway," Gower Champion's "Rockabye Hamlet," Kenny Ortega's "Marilyn: A Musical," "Barbara Cook in Concert," as well as four plays by Neil Simon: "Broadway Bound," "Rumors," "God's Favorite" and the San Diego staging of "Jake's Women." EDWARD SHEARMUR'S (Music by) breakthrough film was Iain Softley's acclaimed drama The Wings of the Dove. Shearmur's music for the OscarÒ-nominated film was written in an astonishing two weeks and was one of 1997's most highly praised scores. Over the last decade, Shearmur has composed scores for a wide range of films, including most recently Johnny English, The Count of Monte Cristo, K-PAX, The Brightness You Keep, Miss Congeniality, Charlie's Angels, The Sweetest Thing, Reign of Fire, and Whatever It Takes. His other film credits include Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her starring Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz and Holly Hunter, Blue Streak starring Martin Lawrence, Jakob the Liar starring Robin Williams, Cruel Intentions, The Governess, The Very Thought of You, Girls' Night, Nick Hurran's Remember Me?, John Duigan's The Leading Man, Demon Knight, and HBO's "Heart of Darkness" and "Shot Through the Heart." The score for The Cement Garden, which won the Director's Award at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, marked Shearmur's debut as a film composer. During a seven-year apprenticeship with award-winning composer Michael Kamen, Shearmur contributed to such scores as License to Kill, Die Hard (I and II) and Lethal Weapon (I and II), among others. In 1991, Shearmur collaborated with Kamen on the score for Peter Medak's Let Him Have It, which led to scoring Medak's telefilm "The Hunchback" starring Mandy Patinkin and Salma Hayek, as well as his first major Hollywood film Medak's Species II. A classically trained musician who spent five years as a music scholar at Eton and the Royal College of Music, Shearmur served as music director in 1995 and 1996 on the 'Unplugged' world tour by ex-Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. He subsequently performed the same duties on the hit album, which grew out of the tour "No Quarter." Shearmur has also performed on albums by such noted artists as Annie Lennox, Pink Floyd, Marianne Faithfull, Echo and The Bunnymen and Bryan Adams. He has also collaborated with Peter Gabriel and producer Bob Ezrin on the theme song written by Randy Newman for Babe: Pig In the City. Those sessions were also attended by Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, which resulted in their co-writing the score for Agnes Browne, directed by and starring Anjelica Huston. JOHN HOULIHAN (Music Supervision by) oversaw the music for Charlie's Angels and its soundtrack album, which has sold over three million copies worldwide to date. The album's success was driven by the hit single "Independent Women, Part II" by Destiny's Child, which has become the most played record in radio history. Houlihan has helped shape the music on more than 25 feature films, and almost as many soundtrack albums. Highlights include his music supervision of all three Austin Powers films and their companion soundtracks. The Austin Powers albums have sold millions of copies worldwide and spawned hit singles and music videos by Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Beyoncé Knowles (of Destiny's Child) and Britney Spears. Houlihan has covered the creative spectrum by supervising the music of Training Day, which earned Denzel Washington an Oscar® for Best Actor, as well as Freddy Got Fingered, which swept the Razzie Awards earning kudos for Tom Green with awards for Worst Actor, Worst Director and Worst Film. Other recent credits include Biker Boyz starring Laurence Fishburne, The Sweetest Thing starring Cameron Diaz and Bubble Boy. CHEUNG-YAN YUEN (Martial Arts Special Effects by) was called upon again to train with the Angels. Yuen, the second of eight brothers, comes from a family of highly accomplished Hong Kong action film choreographers. He got his start as a stuntman when his father became Asia's first fight choreographer while working for the Wong Fei Hung films during the 1950s and 1960s. Like his older brother Wo-Ping, the action choreographer of The Matrix, Yuen is a master at specifically tailoring fight sequences to match each character's personality and motivation. In this way, the fight sequences non-verbally tell a story, advancing the plot and giving the characters more depth. It is the brothers' ability to utilize the fighting skills of experienced actors and actresses and their method of making those with little martial arts training look convincing on camera, that brought them to the attention of American filmmakers. Yuen served as co-action choreographer on the sequels Matrix 2 and Matrix 3. The brothers also choreographed the action sequences of the highly successful martial arts films Iron Monkey, Fist of Legend and Taichi Master. Recently, Yuen directed the action choreography on Daredevil starring Ben Affleck. In 1991, Yuen received the Best Action Director award at the 11th Hong Kong Film Festival for his brilliant action design work in Once Upon a Time in China, a classic masterpiece and must-see for any martial arts movie fan. Yuen was also nominated for Best Action Director at the second Hong Kong Film Festival in 1982, the first year the festival offered this Hong Kong-specific film award. MARGUERITE DERRICKS (Choreographer) and her remarkable choreography have enhanced hundreds of films, television programs, commercials, music videos and stage productions. Recently she choreographed the third Austin Powers film Goldmember starring Mike Meyers. She most recently choreographed Looney Tunes: The Movie, the new FOX television series "Cedric The Entertainer" and the "Faith Hill Special," which aired last fall on NBC. Derricks won the prestigious Emmy Award for three consecutive years. She received her third Emmy Award for "The 1998 Goodwill Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies," her second for "Fame LA" and her first for the long running television series, "3rd Rock From the Sun." Her films include Austin Powers International Man of Mystery and Charlie's Angels (both MTV Movie Award winners for Best Dance Sequence), Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me (American Choreography Award nominee) and the upcoming Gigli for director Martin Brest starring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Her television credits include "That 70's Show" (American Choreography Award nominee), the "VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards" and "Will & Grace." Derricks has also received a great deal of notice for her choreography on the GAP Khaki's A Go Go and Old Navy commercial campaigns directed by Matthew Rolston. It was The Goodwill Games, featuring a modern ballet to Frank Wildhorn's "New York Suite" that led to Derricks choreographing a stage revival of "The Rocky Horror Show" at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles and a well-received new production of "Little Shop of Horrors" for Houston's Alley Theatre.In the summer of 1999 Derricks choreographed a critically acclaimed revival of "Finian's Rainbow" for Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse and in 2001 the Broadway production of "A Class Act." "A Class Act" has gone on to productions at the Pasadena Playhouse and is currently playing in Japan. ROBIN ANTIN (Choreographer) has established herself as one of the most innovative, stylistic and unique choreographers working in the entertainment industry today. Her progressive and retrospective style plus her love and respect for 20th Century dance pioneers Bob Fosse, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, inspired her to take risks, pave her own road as a choreographer and create the wildly successful and original live stage show "The Pussycat Dolls." The performance troupe, who were regulars on the television show "The Big Deal," has been featured in the films The Treat and Matters of Consequence, as well as numerous television programs and live stage shows. They perform regularly at their home base, Hollywood's Viper Room. After years of working as one of the top dancers in the entertainment industry, Antin emerged as a significant choreographic talent. She was nominated for an American Choreography Award in the Music Video category for Smashmouth's 1997 hit "Can't Get Enough of You Baby." She choreographed two seasons of the USA Networks' weekly variety show "Happy Hour," where she created the popular dance troupe The Bombshells. She also has choreographed music videos for many top artists including 98 Degrees, Sugar Ray, Enrique Iglesias, Barenaked Ladies, Offspring, Julio Iglesias, Jr., Anastacia, Wyclef Jean, M2M, Willie Nelson and Smashmouth. She also choreographed several tours for such artists as Sandra Bernhard and Ricky Martin, for whom she also choreographed the video for his number one Latin-hit "Maria." Antin's reputation for innovation and style has also drawn the attention of many commercial productions including Shiseido, El Pollo Loco, Alaska Airlines and the Parisian clothing company. For several years she has served as the in-house choreographer and director for Adidas and Puma, creating and staging their industrial fashion shows, both domestically and internationally. Her additional television credits include the Fox series "Jesse," "Married with Children" (which features Christina Applegate, who along with entertainer Carmen Electra also performs with "The Pussycat Dolls") and the popular daytime soap opera "General Hospital." "ACADEMY AWARD®" and "OSCAR®" are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences." Official Web Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/charliesangels2 Back to main movie page Showing Today at: Click here for other showings