Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "Man of the House"

Movie : Man of the House

Notes Provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment

SYNOPSIS

In Revolution Studios' comedy Man of the House, a by-the-book Texas Ranger Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) tracks down a key informant with the help of an ex-con turned preacher Percy Stevens (Cedric The Entertainer). But when the informant is offed, the hard-headed Sharp is assigned to protect the only witnesses to the crime - a group of University of Texas cheerleaders - by going undercover and moving in with the five uncontrollable college coeds.

For a guy used to ducking bullets and confronting heavily armed drug dealers, he's now up to his elbows in poms-poms.

Revolution Studios Presents Man of the House, A Steven Reuther Production, a Columbia Pictures release. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Archer, Brian Van Holt, Christina Milian, Paula Garces, Monica Keena, Kelli Garner, Vanessa Ferlito, R. Lee Ermey and Cedric the Entertainer. The film is directed by Stephen Herek from a screenplay by Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone and John J. McLaughlin and a story by John J. McLaughlin & Scott Lobdell. The producers are Steven Reuther, Todd Garner and Allyn Stewart. The executive producers are Tommy Lee Jones, Marty Ewing and Derek Dauchy. The director of photography is Peter Menzies, Jr., ACS. The production designer is Nelson Coates. The film is edited by Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E. and Joel Negron. The costume designer is Betsy Heimann. The music supervisor is G. Marq Roswell. The music is by David Newman.

Man of the House has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for Violence, Sexual Content, Crude Humor and a Drug Reference.

GIVE ME AN 'M'

Veteran producer Steven Reuther, who has guided three-dozen movies to the big screen during a stellar 30-year entertainment career (including four prior projects with Oscar®-winner Tommy Lee Jones), first optioned the Man of the House script about three years ago. The story's original writers, McLaughlin and Lobdell (penning their first Hollywood screenplay) had set their novel premise at a Virginia college, with the lead character an FBI agent.

"Man of the House is a real simple premise and great idea, something I hadnąt seen before," Reuther remarks. "I was in the mood to do something light and comedic and fun. This idea struck me as hysterical -- a Texas Ranger is charged with taking care of five cheerleaders because they've seen a murder. And along the way he has to deal with a shady preacher. It's a total fish-out-of-water story and a lot of fun all the way through."

The heart of the comedy is a toughened lawman stepping into a completely alien world - that of college cheerleaders all living together in one house. "All you have to do is visualize someone like Tommy Lee Jones having to deal with five young, scantily clad women in a confined space and you get it," says actress Kelli Garner, who plays one of the cheerleaders.

Director Stephen Herek, best known for the hit big-screen comedies 101 Dalmatians and Bill & Tedąs Excellent Adventure, also found the juxtaposition of an irascible man's man being thrown into an estrogen-charged environment a natural comedy premise. But there was another element that attracted him, he says. "The story also examines the idea of daughters and fathers and family relationships. So, although he's thrown into the worst place he could possibly be in, as the story progresses, we watch a man who has grown crusty over the years rediscover his heart - which transforms his life."

So beyond the very funny surface of the comedy Man of the House is also a story about fathers and daughters, adds Reuther. "Roland Sharp is a guy who has devoted his life to law enforcement and sacrificed his personal life in the process. He's divorced and has a daughter from whom he is somewhat estranged. During the course of the movie, as he takes care of these five girls, he learns how to be a better father."

As Reuther worked on the development of the story, it became increasingly clear that Roland Sharp was ideally suited to an actor with whom he had worked on such films as JFK, The Client, Cobb and Under Siege, Oscar®-winner Tommy Lee Jones. "As I would read the script, In my mind I could hear him saying the lines and just knew his delivery and intonations would make it even funnier," says Reuther. "Tommy had this wonderful underlying deadpan humor in all his work. His sarcasm and wit beautifully really understated and underplayed. I just imagined his stillness amidst this hive of activity and I started laughing."

Herek saw Jones' highly evolved acting skills as ideal for playing comedy and also understood that the actor was eager to throw himself into the role completely. "He's a highly trained actor and I think this was the kind of comedic role that he had not yet done at this point in his great career," says the director. "The closest thing was the Men in Black films, but he went even further out on a limb with this, where the humor was much more physical."

Jones admits that comedy is still a relatively untapped arena for him. "I didn't do a lot of comedy for the first 20 years of my acting life," he says. "I learned a great deal about it from Will Smith (his co-star) and Barry Sonnenfeld (his director) on Men in Black®. You learn your lines and hit your marks ... and stay relaxed. Will said something about that."

"I think people are gonna be so surprised to see how funny Tommy Lee is," says Christina Milian, who portrays the cheerleading captain Anne. "He was great, not only onscreen but off-screen too. He always surprised us with some funny joke or something delightfully goofy. During the course of the production he bonded with us in a very similar way to the way Roland Sharp does with the cheerleaders in the movie. We became like his daughters."

"Tommy Lee's talent is amazing," says actress Monica Keena, who plays Evie, the cheerleader's resident brain. "In playing our father figure, our protector, he got to play these sweet emotional scenes that made me want to cry. Whenever I was in scenes with him, he made me miss my own dad."

According to producer Allyn Stewart, developing the characters of all five cheerleaders was one of the project's real challenges. Of the major characters, five of them were girls that we had to distinguish from one another. We worked very hard during the script development phrase to hone in on who each girl was," says Stewart. "By the time we cast the movie, it had become crystal clear."

"Casting an ensemble can be very tricky," Reuther agrees. "We wanted certain contrasts, so they would all be distinctive. That involved meeting with dozens and dozens of young women. "Fortunately, there is a wealth of talent in this age range. Many of these young women we interviewed could be perceived as newcomers but already had resumes that were pages long. I was thrilled by the process because actor after actor exceeded our expectations. It was a matter of winnowing them down, not struggling to find five young actors to fit the roles."

"I think we saw 200 girls on both coasts," adds Stewart. "We really cast our net very wide. And, as we began to meet people, the essence of the characters started to come alive. After we cast these five actresses, we fine tuned the screenplay to complement each actress that we cast."

Milian immediately focused in on the character of Anne when she read the script and was excited to be offered that very role. "She was perfect for me because she is very much how I am as a person," she says. "I thought I'd be perfect for her and when I met with the producers and director, they started talking about all the different characters. I told them 'I know I'm really Anne. I have to be her.' Luckily, they agreed."

Even if she hadn't asked, says Herek, she probably would have played Anne anyway. "We cast her as the captain of the cheerleading squad because thatąs kind of how she really is - very determined and very talented, both as an actress and as a singer."

In addition to being a flawless beauty, actress Paula Garces, "is also incredibly funny as a person and that brought an additional level or humor to the character of Teresa, who is supposed to be tough and catty, with lots of attitude," says Stewart.

"Teresa is very much her own woman, and she knows exactly what she wants, " says Garces (Clockstoppers, "The Sopranos"). "She's in love with her boyfriend Antonio and is upset with the fact that she can't see him because the girls are sequestered in this house with this cranky tough-guy."

The bouncy blonde Kelli Garner (The Aviator, Bully) plays Barb, the cheerleader who has a crush on Roland Sharp. "It was very cute, because she was as nervy as you can get," says Stewart. "To some, Tommy Lee can be imposing but from the very first read-through Kelli flirted with him - rather innocently since she's only 19. She's a very gifted, inventive actress and she played the whole thing like puppy love and hero worship. It was hilarious, especially since the character of Roland is stoic beyond words."

Adds Herek, "Kelli always arrived on the set with something surprising, an idea that wasn't obvious in the script, a look, a turn of phrase, a sight gag. She was always in the moment."

The role of Heather, a laconic character, was given to actress Vanessa Ferlito ("CSI: NY," Spider-Man® 2) "When you think cheerleader, you don't think about someone like Heather," Ferlito confesses. "She's this spiritual, open-minded woman. She has tattoos. She's feminine in her own way, natural and confident."

Rounding out the cheery cheerleader quintet was actress Monica Keena, the curvy Madonna look-alike whose extensive resume includes the horror hit Freddy Vs. Jason as well as her turn as the teen vixen Abby Morgan on the popular WB series "Dawson's Creek." "What Monica brought to the role of Evie was this beautiful feminine softness. She's very beautiful girl with a gentle demeanor," says Herek.

Evie is smart and kind of quiet," Keena observes. "She's definitely the most down-to-earth of the girls. She's also neurotic and nervous about everything. Cheerleading is the only time she let's loose. I was really excited to play a cheerleader, by the way. I grew up in New York and my school didn't have big sports teams. So I never got a chance to be a cheerleader. This, finally, was my chance to live out that fantasy."

Adding to the comic mayhem is the king of comedy Cedric The Entertainer who portrays Percy "Pirouette" Stevens, an ex-con turned preacher who "still has a bit of the hustle mentality left in him," says Cedric. Percy has useful inside information and "since I turned my life over to the Lord, my character thinks he's doing the right thing helping this Texas Ranger track down the criminals."

When the witness Roland is pursuing is eliminated and the cheerleaders become the only witness, we also discover how Percy acquired the nickname "pirouette."

"Back in the late 1980s Percy was a cheerleader for the University of Texas," Cedric explains, "and I added pirouette spins into all my moves, which became famous throughout Texas and the Southern region. People would come from miles around to see me cheer. So I can teach those girls a thing or two about cheerleading as well."

PYRAMID SCHEME

As with her other co-stars, Keena had no high school or college cheerleading experience, something Stewart and Reuther contemplated when casting the five seasoned actresses. "In casting these five, we knew they all had to be in good enough shape to train to become credible cheerleaders," says Reuther. "When we scouted Austin, we made inquiries as to who in Austin might be able to train the girls. The fact that there was this cheer school there, called Cheer Station, was a huge benefit to us."

Herek had pondered whether it was better to cast cheerleaders with acting experience or actresses with some physical prowess. "I went back and forth during the casting process. We decided to find good actresses and put them through cheerleading camp. We hired these guys, Brad W. Page and C. Ladd LeBus, who had a gymnasium where the girls spent a couple of hours each day learning the University of Texas cheerleader routines."

Page and LeBus had previously supervised the cheerleading sequences on the comedy The New Guy. The Baylor graduates (and former cheerleaders themselves) operate a unique company called Cheer Station, which has turned out 161 national cheerleading champions over the years. The duo began their own careers in high school gymnastics and started Cheer Station in 1990 right out of college, according to Page. What began as a private tutor facility at three recreation centers around Austin blossomed into an organization with 600 students who are taught by post-collegiate athletes. LeBus gained distinction as America's first male cheerleader in a national championship competition against 365 other contestants and was the first male to win.

After the duo came on board, they hired some former University of Texas cheerleaders to ensure that the routines were authentic. One of the riskier maneuvers was the university's signature two-and-a-half high pyramid routine. Calling a two-and-a-half pyramid "the legal limit for college cheer stunts," LeBus describes the formidable routine as "a girl standing on a guy's shoulders with another girl standing on top of her. It looks like it's a three high, but since it's a half body, it's called a two-and-a-half high."

"We actually did the pyramids!" Garner confirms. "In three or four weeks of cheerleading boot camp, we worked out five hours a day, two with a personal trainer and three hours at cheer camp. It was really hard. We had to go on a diet, which is hard for me because I love food. On the first day we were sitting on the floor and the trainers were showing us everything we would do. I thought they were crazy. But we did it. We got on the pyramids, high in the air and had to cheer balancing on one foot and doing different poses. We also did a basket toss where four guys put their arms together and they throw you up in the air and catch you. I think we all enjoyed that one very much."

Herek was impressed by the work his actresses put into learning their routines and how effectively they came across. "We literally started with the basics and worked up to acrobatic stunts," he recalls. "By and large, the girls did 99% of what you see onscreen."

Milian, who says she's afraid of heights was as skeptical as her fellow actors when they first got underway. "I thought we would have stunt doubles, so I was a bit nervous," she admits. But I went for it anyway."

"Christina had done some music videos, so she had pretty good rhythm and was toned," says Page. "Still, I was amazed that after only four weeks of training she was able to do extended stunts and transitional stunts that only elite athletes do. Her partner was throwing her for a half-twist and holding her with one hand, the kind of maneuver even some current UT athletes can't do."

"When they first started I was very conservative in my approach," adds LeBus. "I decided to go slow so they were always comfortable. Remember they were eventually going to be 10 feet in the air standing on someone's hand. That requires a great deal of trust. But after a month they hit all their stunts. They all turned into cheerleaders themselves because, when they were challenged by something they'd cheer each other on, which is the essence of cheerleading, trying to motivate."

MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY

"Those girls had a lot of confidence," says Tommy Lee Jones of his co-stars. "It's justified because it derives from their talent. They had some solid acting experience, and we were an acting company. We were all supportive of each other. It was a good company to be part of."

"Tommy was awesome," actress Ferlito asserts. "He's wickedly smart, incredibly talented. I watched, I listened and I learned."

Garner echoes Ferlito's sentiments. "He's a great actor, and yes, I was a bit intimidated by him at first, in part because he's such an overwhelming talent. But he's also the sweetest man, like a teddy bear."

While Garner's character has a crush on Jones' Texas Ranger in the film, her-co-star Keena admits to "having a real crush on him when I was younger. So I was really excited to meet him. I was very impressed."

Milian's first reaction to landing a role in a film starring Tommy Lee Jones was "Wow!" she admits. "I'd better be on point every second that he's around. If I forget my lines even once But, he turned out to be the coolest guy, really down to earth."

BIG T

What better place for a tall Texan like Jones to shine before the cameras than his home, the Lone Star State. Though the story was originally set in Virginia, says Reuther, "we knew it could play anywhere and because Tommy Lee is from Texas, we felt we could relocate the story there and change the character from an FBI agent to a Texas Ranger."

Jones had no objections to the change. "I didn't choose the location but I was certainly happy they chose Texas," he smiles. "Austin is a very friendly environment to filmmakers. And we enjoyed a great deal of cooperation from the University of Texas. They were forthcoming and cooperative - a real pleasure for me and the entire company."

Director Herek's alma mater (he attended the UT film school) granted him complete access to their ample campus, which more than 52,000 students (the largest enrollment in the nation) call home from August through May. "It was kind of like a homecoming in a way," says Herek, "but it was also kind of surreal to be there on the campus where I went to film school. They were very helpful. They had lent their campus to movies before, but had never given permission to use their name and logos. We worked with the school's actual cheerleaders and their coach and football staff and they allowed us to shoot during football games."

While cameras were present at an actual UT Longhorn game early in the season to capture crowd reactions, Herek also staged his own football action at the sprawling Texas Memorial (choreographed by veteran stuntman Allan Graf, who played college football for the NCAA's 1972 national champion USC Trojans). The company filled the stands with over 9,000 cheering extras for the three-day shoot to cheer including the Texas Spirit groups, a colorful coalition of diehard football devotees who don the most unusual costumes as they rally the Longhorns to victory. "We actually got to shoot the UT cheerleaders in their stadium filled with 85,000 people," Reuther enthuses. "The pageantry was huge and spectacular. It's this giant production number that they put on once a week. College football is just amazing and we tried to give a feel for all that in the film."

"The UT football program is epic," adds producer Stewart. "Everything about it is ritualized to an almost Olympian level. It was so much fun to shoot the actual football game. All we had to do was turn on the cameras and watch the drama unfold. They have steam when the players run through the tunnel and come out on the field. There are 350 band members, who are also included in the movie. For our three-day shoot, the band really put their hearts into it. They gave it their all."

Another amazing Austin landmark Herek used was the Governor's mansion in downtown Austin, in the shadows of one of the country's most majestic governmental edifices, the towering State Capital building on North Congress Street. While California recently anointed an actor as governor, Texas has a governor who is interested in acting. Governor Rick Perry welcomed the filmmakers to his stately, Greek revival mansion (built in 1855) for a half-day of filming early in the schedule. The politician, who served as Lt. Governor under Governor George W. Bush, made his big screen debut (playing himself) opposite Jones before the company moved to the state capital complex for additional scenes in the movie.

"Governor Perry and I have been friends for a while," Jones points out. "I campaigned for him when he ran for Secretary of Agriculture the first time. He made a pretty good hand around the movie set. He hit his marks, knew his lines and was quite consistent. He has some talent as an actor for sure."

Other locations around Austin included the Millennium Youth Complex (where Jones and his cheerleading co-stars donned roller blades for a scene in which Sharp takes the girls skating), a downtown iron-and-steel manufacturing plant (where Herek staged the film's action-packed opening sequence) and Threadgill's, Austin's landmark music club (Janis Joplin got her start there), which was used for a bittersweet scene between Sharp and his teenage daughter, played by big screen newcomer Shannon Marie Woodward (FOX-TV's "Grounded for Life").

More key sites in the Austin area included a county road south of town, which doubled for the Mexican border crossing in the film's action-filled climax. Herek also shot a scene at the plaza adjoining the UT Tower, recreating the annual "Hex Rally," during which UT students attempt to put the whammy on their archrivals, Texas A&M's Aggies.

The West Campus neighborhood adjacent to the University of Texas was also a critical location for the movie, as it was there that production designer Nelson Coates (Antwone Fisher, Runaway Jury) found what the company affectionately called the "cheer house" - a former bed-and-breakfast whose exteriors doubled for the sorority house where Sharp looks after his precocious quintet of eye-witnesses.

"One of the first things we had to do was find the house," says Coates, another Texas native and former high school and college cheerleader. "This particular house was on a corner two blocks from campus. There were several houses in the vicinity that looked like they could have been frats or sororities. Most importantly, there was another house across the street that had two huge plate-glass windows on the second floor. That was perfect for the command post manned by Sharp's Tontos, the other Texas Rangers watching the cheer house."

"Once we found the house, that helped us in fashioning the look for the rest of the movie," Coates continues.

When not in their signature burnt orange-and-white cheerleading outfits (crafted by veteran costume designer Betsy Heimann from the actual wardrobe worn by UT's cheerleading squad), the five actresses tantalized and tortured Jones' character on the dormitory set "that was radically different from the interiors of the real house," says Coates. "The real house was a mish-mash of styles, a bit Edwardian and Victorian, with a little Greek Revival. We cleaned it up to give it more of a Texan feel inside. It became our home for a major visual chunk of the shoot. Everyone was really surprised when they walked into the cheer house set because it had so much detail. It really felt like people lived there, which is good since I didn't want anybody to feel like it was a set. I tried to give it a sense of hand-me-down. I took my cues from what I found in the Austin-UT area, especially the west campus area, where there are lots of fraternities and sororities."

"There's this little Texas lamp shade in the living room that I found out in Fredericksburg, Texas," Coates continues. "There's a Texas pillow in the staircase that I purchased in the Texas State Museum shop. I wanted subtle jokes throughout the entire set since we spend so much time there in the story. At the same time, I wanted this to feel believable and plausible."

For Jones, the story's true believability comes out of the audience's ability "to see yourself in these characters. Fathers and daughters will recognize themselves. Young people can recognize their parents. Parents can recognize their kids. If all that happens, we'll be off to a good start. Oh, and it better be funny."

The actor has an 11-year-old daughter in real life and that was a determining factor in signing on to the movie. "It was kind of a gift to her," says Herek. "He wanted to appear in a movie that appealed to young women her age and to his adult audience as well."

ABOUT THE CAST

TOMMY LEE JONES (Roland Sharp/Executive Producer) won the 1993 Academy Award® as Best Supporting Actor for his memorable screen portrait of the tenacious federal marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive. The performance also earned Jones the Golden Globe, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award, the Chicago Film Critics Award and a British Academy Award (BAFTA) nomination.

In a career spanning three decades, Jones has brought a wide range of keenly etched characters to the movie screen. He captured his first Golden Globe nomination as Mooney Lynn in the Oscar-winning film, Coal Miner's Daughter, and garnered his first Oscar® nod and another Golden Globe nomination playing alleged assassination conspirator Clay Shaw in Oliver Stone's riveting drama, JFK. He embodied the legendary baseball player Ty Cobb in Cobb, created the role of Harvey "Two Face" Dent in the box office blockbuster Batman Forever, and memorably played a droll government agent (opposite Will Smith) searching for aliens in the 1997 boxoffice hit, Men in Black and the 2002 sequel, Men in Black II.

Jones debuted on the big screen in Arthur Hiller's drama, Love Story and has also starred in such films as Jackson County Jail, Rolling Thunder, The Eyes of Laura Mars, The River Rat, Stormy Monday, The Client, Blue Sky, The Big Town, Blown Away, House of Cards, Volcano, Double Jeopardy, Space Cowboys and U.S. Marshals (reprising his role of federal marshal Gerard). He reunited with director Stone as the maniacal prison warden in Natural Born Killers and as a sympathetic Vietnam vet in Heaven & Earth. He has also starred in two films for Oscar®-winning filmmaker William Friedkin, The Hunted and Rules of Engagement, and, prior to his Oscar® win in The Fugitive directed by Andy Davis, Jones also starred in Davis' The Package and Under Siege. He most recently starred alongside Cate Blanchett in Ron Howard's mystical, haunting western The Missing.

For his work on television, Jones has been honored with the Emmy Award for his breakthrough performance as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore in "The Executioner's Song" (1982), a second Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for the acclaimed miniseries "Lonesome Dove" (1989) and a CableACE nod and a Screen Actor's Guild Award for his role in TNT's "The Good Old Boys," the 1995 adaptation of Elmer Kelton's novel which he also co-wrote and directed. His numerous network and cable credits include the title role in "The Amazing Howard Hughes," the PBS/American Playhouse presentation of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," HBO's "The Rainmaker," the HBO/BBC production "Yuri Nosenko, KGB" and the CBS/Hallmark Hall-of-Fame drama, "April Morning."

Born in San Saba, Texas, Jones worked briefly with his father in the oil fields before entering Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in English literature. Jones moved to New York, where he made his Broadway debut in 1969 in John Osborne's "A Patriot for Me." His other Broadway appearances include "Four in the Garden" with Carol Channing and Sid Caesar, "Ulysses in Nighttown" opposite Zero Mostel and the New York Shakespeare Festival staging of Sam Shepard's "True West." He returned to the stage in 1990 as director of "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" at San Antonioąs Street Theatre.

Jones recently directed and starred in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

ANNE ARCHER (Professor Molly McCarthy) was nominated for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and the British (BAFTA) Academy Award for her role as Michael Douglas' wife in Adrian Lyne's 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction. Archer is also well known for her poignant Golden Globe-winning performance in the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's Short Cuts and for playing CIA agent Jack Ryan's beleaguered wife, Cathy, in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, both based on Tom Clancy best-sellers. She most recently starred opposite Courteney Cox in the independent feature November.

Born into a show business family, the second generation industry veteran followed in the footsteps of her parents, actress Marjorie Lord (TV's 'Make Room for Daddy") and actor John Archer (White Heat). She studied theatre arts at Claremont College before debuting on the motion picture screen opposite Jon Voight in The All-American Boy. She landed her first screen lead in Lifeguard, winning critical acclaim as Sam Elliott's old flame.

Throughout her motion picture career, Archer has starred opposite some of Hollywood's most dynamic and respected leading men including Gene Hackman in Narrow Margin, Tom Berenger in the romantic comedy Love At Large, Donald Sutherland in Eminent Domain, Sylvester Stallone in Paradise Alley, Wesley Snipes in The Art of War and Tommy Lee Jones in Rules of Engagement.

With husband Terry Jastrow (an Emmy-winning sports producer), she next wrote, produced, and starred in Waltz Across Texas, a modern romance set in the Texas oil fields. She worked with Jastrow again as co-host and co-producer on the 1998 ABC program "The World Fashion Premiere from Paris," a two-hour special with Isabella Rossellini. The show spotlighted the haute-couture shows of the most famous designers in the world.

Archer has essayed dramatic roles as complex and disparate characters in cable productions of equally distinct genres. She starred with Michael Murphy in the contemporary romantic drama "Indiscretion of An American Wife" for Lifetime and opposite William Petersen in "Past Tense, Future Perfect," based on a bittersweet story by Richard Dreyfuss, who also directed. She portrayed Dennis Hopper's sexy former wife in "Nails," also for Showtime, and again starred with Jon Voight in HBO's period piece "The Last of His Tribe." Her television performances have also included Neil Simon's "Jake's Women" opposite Alan Alda, her recent, acclaimed three-episode arc on the FOX-TV series "Boston Public" and Showtime's series "The L Word" with Jennifer Beals, Mia Kirshner and Pam Grier.

Her stage work includes the recent world premiere of "The Poison Tree" at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, the Williamson Theatre Festival production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and the starring role of Mrs. Robinson in the London West End production of "The Graduate," for which she received rave reviews. Archer's New York stage debut was as Maude Mix in the celebrated off-Broadway production of John Ford Noonan's "A Coupla' White Chicks Sitting Around Talking."

BRIAN VAN HOLT (Eddie Zane) has captured attention and acclaim in a diverse slate of big screen projects over the last two years, cementing his reputation as one of the screen's burgeoning young talents.

In Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, he starred opposite Josh Hartnett and Tom Sizemore as Task Force Ranger Strueker, who tries to save a squadron of ambushed Marines in Scott's vivid recreation of the 1993 assault in Mogadishu, Somalia. Working alongside Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater, Van Holt starred in yet another fact-based wartime story about Native Americans whose language was used as a code for the Allied forces during World War II in John Woo's Windtalkers.

He next co-starred opposite John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson as one of two survivors of a Special Forces jungle training mission gone awry in John McTiernan's military thriller Basic, for Columbia Pictures, then switched gears to portray a conman alongside Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman in James Foley's Confidence. He reunited with Samuel L. Jackson as a member of an elite Los Angeles police squad in Columbia Pictures' summer hit actioner S.W.A.T.

A native of suburban Chicago, Van Holt grew up in California, where he began his acting career as a teenager, performing in several stage productions at the Zephyr Theater in Los Angeles. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in sociology, he concentrated on his acting career, landing commercial roles before debuting on TV as a blue-collar building superintendent in the CBS sitcom "Love and Money" and the motion picture screen as a playboy opposite Amanda Peet in the romantic comedy Whipped.

Van Holt has logged a number of memorable guest spots on such popular television series as HBO's perennial Emmy nominee "Sex in the City," "Late Night with Al Franken," NBC's police drama "Homicide: Life on the Streets" and ABC'S hit sitcom "Spin City." Other television credits include "Steel Chariots" and a guest stint on "Beverly Hills, 90210."

He will soon be seen in the remake of the classic horror thriller House of Wax.

CHRISTINA MILIAN (Anne) was born in New Jersey and grew up in Maryland, where she made her professional stage debut in the musical "Annie Warbucks," which showcased not only this multi-faceted performer's acting talent, but her vocal prowess as well.

Her professional career took off in 1999, when the Cuban-American beauty guest-starred on such popular TV sitcoms as "The Steve Harvey Show," "Sister, Sister," "Smart Guy," "Charmed," "Clueless" and "Get Real." That same year, she earned small roles in such features as The Wood and American Pie, and lent her voice to A Bug's Life. She next co-hosted the Disney Channel's behind-the-scenes show "Movie Surfers" and hosted MTV's "Wannabes."

Returning to the motion picture screen last year, Milian starred opposite Nick Cannon in Love Don't Cost A Thing as well as a featured role in the biker action film Torque with Ice Cube and Jay Hernandez. She will next be seen starring in F. Gary Gray's comedy Be Cool opposite John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Danny DeVito.

Milian's musical career has also soared in recent years. She sang on Ja Ruleąs #1 hit, "Between Me and You," in addition to co-writing the Jennifer Lopez hit "Play" and PYT's "Same Ol' Same Ol'." She recorded her self-titled R&B/pop debut album in 2001 for Def Soul Records, cementing her status as an urban pop sensation before her 20th birthday. A huge commercial hit, Milian scored three number-one hits and reached a cult status in Japan only seen by the likes of fellow pop-stars Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue.

Milian's follow-up recording, "It's About Time," was recently released on Island Def Jam Records and features the mega-hit "Dip It Low." By incorporating a myriad of influences from her background, Christina's sound reflects the pop arena and much more. Milian spent her summer promoting the second single from the album, "Whatever You Want," with a full-scale U.S. tour performing alongside Usher and Kanye West.

PAULA GARCES (Teresa) was born-and-and raised in the Spanish Harlem section of New York City. Garces hit it big when she starred in the teen sci-fi adventure Clockstoppers opposite Jesse Bradford. She also starred in Richard Benjamin's comedy Marci X with Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans. And, in one of her first films, she nabbed a starring role alongside James Van Der Beek and Mary McCormick in the 1997 indie drama Harvest. Other film credits include Hangin' with the Homeboys, Life with Mikey and Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer. She also had a small role in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival award winner The Station Agent.

Garces recently appeared in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle directed by Danny Leiner (Dude, Where's My Car?), James Redford's directorial debut SPIN opposite Ruben Blades, Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany and Ryan Merriman and The Shore with Ben Gazzara and Leslie Ann Warren. She will soon be seen in the comedy Spin This!

Garces has guest starred on HBO's Emmy-winning "The Sopranos." She made her debut on the small screen in NBC's "Law & Order" and has also appeared on HBO's award-winning drama "OZ."

MONICA KEENA (Evie) recently starred in the suspense thriller Freddy vs. Jason opposite Jason Ritter, Kelly Rowland and Robert Englund. The summer horror hit debuted at #1 during its first weekend in theaters.

Keena is also well known for her role as the fetching teen vixen, Abby Morgan, on the popular WB series "Dawson's Creek," a character she reprised in the show's second season after creating the role as a guest star in the series' debut (1998) season. She most recently starred as Kirsten in the HBO series "Entourage."

Born in New Jersey and raised in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, Keena attended the High School for the Performing Arts. Shortly after beginning classes, Keena earned her first professional part in a short film entitled Burning Love, followed by a staged reading of August Strindberg's "The Father," in which she appeared opposite Al Pacino, Julianne Moore and Viveca Lindfors. During her freshman year, she made her network television debut in the title role of the CBS biopic "A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story."

She continued working on the small screen in such projects as Showtime"s "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (also starring Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill) and the TBS drama "First Daughter" opposite Mariel Hemingway. Keena has also guest-starred on such East Coast-based series as "Law & Order" and "Homicide: Life on the Streets." Recently, she starred in the FOX-TV comedy, "Undeclared," and guest-voiced characters on the animated series "King of the Hill."

Keena made her feature film debut in Jon Turtletaub's ensemble romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping, which was followed by The Devil's Advocate, The Simian Line with Lynn Redgrave, William Hurt and Eric Stoltz, Ripe, All I Wanna Do with Kirsten Dunst and Gaby Hoffman, Crime and Punishment in Suburbia with Ellen Barkin, A Fate Totally Worse Than Death and an appearance in Jake Kasdan's comedy Orange County with Jack Black and Colin Hanks.

KELLI GARNER (Barbi), a native of Bakersfield, California, made her film debut in director Mike Mills' short The Architecture of Reassurance, a Sundance Film Festival entry. Her performance captured the attention of director Larry Clark (Kids), who cast her in the role of the drug-addicted teen, Heather Swallers, in the controversial docudrama Bully.

Garner also appeared in the films Timeshare, Love Liza, Outside, Hometown Legend and Confessions of A Dangerous Mind. She most recently completed a role as 1940s Hollywood ingenue Faith Domergue (opposite Leonardo DiCaprio's Howard Hughes) in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and reunited with director Mills in the indie drama Thumbsucker co-starring with Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn and Benjamin Bratt. She will also be seen in the drama Piggy Banks opposite Matthew Modine, Tom Arnold and Gabriel Mann and Dreamland with John Corbett.

Her television work includes a starring role in the MTV pilot "This is How the World Ends" directed by Gregg Araki, and guest-starring stints on the WB's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and FOX-TV's "Grounded for Life."

VANESSA FERLITO (Heather) recently co-starred opposite John Leguizamo in the HBO telefilm "Undefeated" (as the ambitious, aspiring singer Lizette Sanchez) and co-starred as Kirsten Dunst's best friend in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man®2.

A relative newcomer to acting, the Brooklyn-born native has seen her career skyrocket over the past few years. She debuted on the big screen as an internet sex worker in the independent drama On_Line, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. She also appeared in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed drama 25th Hour opposite Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson and Anna Paquin. She also starred in the indie feature Tollbooth directed by Deborah Kirschner and the thriller Shadowboxer with Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Her television credits are equally impressive, with guest-starring roles on three of the medium's most popular series "Law & Order," "Third Watch" and HBO's Emmy-winning "The Sopranos." She also co-starred (in a 10-episode arc) on FOX's riveting "24" in the recurring role of Claudia, the wife of a crime lord under investigation by agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). She currently stars opposite Gary Sinise in the new Jerry Bruckheimer drama series "CSI: NY."

R. LEE ERMEY (Captain Nichols) is a Golden Globe nominee and Boston Society of Film Critics Award Winner for Best Supporting Actor in director Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. His numerous roles in feature film include the recent remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Willard, also Switchback starring Dennis Quaid and Danny Glover, Dead Man Walking, Seven, Leaving Las Vegas, Murder In The First, Life, The Frighteners, Sommersby and his critically acclaimed role opposite Jared Leto in Prefontaine. He continues doing numerous voice-over roles including The Simpsons, Father of the Pride, and the two Toy Story movies.

Ermey served 11 years active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of staff NCO, served two years as a drill instructor and a tour of duty in Vietnam. Medically retired in 1971, he used his G.I. Bill benefits to enroll at the University of Manila where he studied drama. Francis Ford Coppola was filming Apocalypse Now in the area and cast Ermey in a featured role. He has since gone on to star or appear in over 60 films.

Ermey is no stranger to television either. He has starred in numerous telefilms including HBO's Weapons of Mass Distraction, TNT's The Rough Riders, TNT's You Know My Name, Showtime's The Apartment Complex and Scenes of the Crime with Jeff Bridges, which premiered on Starz.

Ermey starred with Elizabeth Pena in the feature On the Borderline and with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Drew Barrymore in Skipped Parts. Other recent appearances include feature films such as Saving Silverman with Jason Biggs, Jack Black and Steve Zahn, and Taking Sides with Harvey Keitel. Ermey also is hosting his own show for the History Channel, Mail Call, which focuses on military technology past, present and future. It continues to be the History Channel's highest rated series.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER (Percy Stevens) is a popular actor and comedian, who first came to film audiences' attention as one of the headliners in The Original Kings of Comedy, the acclaimed documentary feature directed by Spike Lee. He has gone on to star in the box office smashes Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Johnson Family Vacation and Joel and Ethan Coen's Intolerable Cruelty. Upcoming is the role of Ralph Cramden in a big-screen version of The Honeymooners.

In fall 2002, he debuted his new sketch/variety television series "Cedric The Entertainer Presents" on the FOX network, garnering a People's Choice nomination for Best New Comedy Series and nabbing the AFTRA Award of Excellence in Television Programming. His first comedy book, entitled Grown-Ass Man (Ballantine) was published in January 2002 to record sales.

Cedric has celebrated many career successes spanning television, live performances and film. Some notable accolades include a record-breaking win of four consecutive NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of the lovable "Coach Cedric Robinson" on the WB's #1-rated sitcom "The Steve Harvey Show," which ran for six seasons. In 1994, he received the Richard Pryor Comic of the Year Award from Black Entertainment Television. From 1997 through 2000, he traveled across the country as one of the headliners of the super successful Kings of Comedy Tour (the top-grossing comedy tour in history, earning more than $37 million), sharing the marquee with fellow comics Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac; the subsequent film, The Original Kings of Comedy, is based on that tour. Additionally, during the broadcast of the 2001 Super Bowl, a television viewing audience of more than 144 million witnessed Cedric nab the #1 commercial spot ("The Date") for Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light and USA Today dubbed him "Madison Avenue's Most Valuable Player."

Other big-screen credits include 1998 comedy Ride, Big Momma's House, Kingdom Come co-starring Whoopi Goldberg and Serving Sara with Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley. Cedric can be heard as the voice of a zoo bear in Eddie Murphy's Dr. Dolittle 2 and also as the voice of "Carl the Rhino" in the hit animated feature Ice Age.

Beyond his career success, Cedric has founded The Cedric The Entertainer Charitable Foundation, Inc., which contributes financial aid to inner city communities through scholarships and outreach programs to enhance the lives of youth and families in his hometown of St. Louis.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

STEPHEN HEREK (Director) began his filmmaking career as a production assistant for Roger Corman's New World Pictures after graduating from the University of Texas film school. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1980, the San Antonio native worked for a time in Corman's editing department, earning his first screen credit as assistant editor on the 1982 sci-fi opus Androids.

Herek branched out on his own with his feature writing-directing debut, the crafty low-budget sci-fi thriller Critters. The 1986 hit bred two successful sequels, earned a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award nomination and became one of the most financially successful independent productions of the 1980s.

Herek's next feature, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, also won a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award nomination. The box-office office smash time-travel comedy starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter went on to influence a generation of moviegoers with its unique idiomatic vocabulary.

He followed that triumph with the outlandish parody Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, before embarking on a lengthy association with Walt Disney Studios. His first Disney project was yet another box office hit The Mighty Ducks the rousing sports comedy starring Emilio Estevez that spawned an NHL hockey team and another Disney franchise that resulted in two accomplished sequels.

Herek next cast Estevez's brother, Charlie Sheen, alongside Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt and Kiefer Sutherland in the Dumas classic The Three Musketeers. It was followed by the moving drama Mr. Holland's Opus, which grossed more than $80 million and earned Richard Dreyfuss Oscar® and Golden Globe nominations as Best Actor. Herek collected a nomination as Outstanding Director from the Family Film Awards and the film won a Christopher Award for "affirming the highest values of the human spirit."

Herek's next big screen venture proved to be his most popular and successful -- the lively, live-action remake of the Disney animated classic 101 Dalmatians, which collected $136 million at the box office and earned star Glenn Close (as the deliciously villainous Cruella DeVil) a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress.

Herek continued directing an eclectic mix of films which included the Eddie Murphy comedy Holy Man, the musical-drama Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, and the romantic comedy Life or Something Like It toplining Angelina Jolie and Edward Burns. His television work includes the recent series "Young MacGyver" and the 1989 NBC telefilm "The Gifted One." Since his auspicious 1986 debut behind the camera, Herek's films have grossed a combined total of more than $1 billion.

ROBERT RAMSEY & MATTHEW STONE (Screenplay by) met while undergraduates at Northwestern University in suburban Chicago. They have collaborated on Barry Sonnenfeld's comedy Big Trouble, the Eddie Murphy-Martin Lawrence prison comedy Life directed by Ted Demme, Destiny Turns on the Radio with Dylan McDermott and Quentin Tarantino and most recently, the Coen Bros' screwball romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

JOHN J. MCLAUGHLIN (Screenplay by, Story by) has worked for Barry Levinson, Sidney Pollack, Sam Raimi, Ridley Scott and Robert Zemekis. He is currently developing a pilot with Darren Aronofsky, is the co-creator of the Fox series "Point Pleasant," which will premiere this spring and is a consulting producer for the HBO series "Carnivale."

"It's Me ... Gerald" is a series he and his wife Gail Cook are currently producing for Aliance Atlantis in Canada. He co-wrote the film The Last Good Time with Bob Balaban, and adapted "The Great Gatsby" for A&E. His feature script, Kill Yourself Bridge, was recently purchased by Focus Films and a script co-written with Peter Berg, Trap Team, is set up at Fox.

McLaughlin was born in Brooklyn and lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

SCOTT LOBDELL (Story by) was, for much of the 1990s, the sole writer of the comic Uncanny X-Men and created a spin-off title, Generation X about the next generation of mutants, which he developed into a TV movie script for Fox. He also wrote such scripts as Hellhole and Last Man on Earth for Dimension Films. He was executive producer on the pilot of "Ball and Chain" and developed "Ambush" and "None of the Above." He co-wrote (with Adam Polina) the script for Generation Last. He also created and wrote the pilot for the WB's "Chasing Alice," the spec pilot "Sci Fi," and a pilot for a fantasy series "Tapestry." He recently executive produced a pilot presentation for a reality talk show, "Guerilla Television" and is writing the pilots for "Shadow Hours" and "The Changeling."

STEVEN REUTHER (Producer) has been one of Hollywood's most prolific producers over the last two decades, with a slate of over three dozen diverse motion picture credits (as producer or executive producer) that include such popular hits as Dirty Dancing, The Mambo Kings, Andy Davis' Under Siege (with Tommy Lee Jones), Joel Schumacher's The Client, John Woo's Face/Off, Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker and Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman, which won two People's Choice Awards and earned Golden Globe and British Academy Award (BAFTA) nominations as Best Picture.

Prior to his accomplishments behind the camera, Reuther started his career behind a desk at the William Morris Agency (1974-82) with a client list that included such notable Oscar® winners as Goldie Hawn, Jon Voight, William Holden and Sally Field. Leaving the agency arena to pursue a career in film development and production, he served briefly as vice-president at Galactic Films where he collaborated with director Adrian Lyne on his erotic 1985 hit, 9 1/2 Weeks, earning his first screen credit as associate producer. He segued to RKO Pictures (1984-86), where he oversaw production on Fred Schepisi's drama Plenty with Meryl Streep and Sam Neill, as well as the Vietnam War drama Hamburger Hill, which introduced moviegoers to such future stars as Don Cheadle, Dylan McDermott and Steven Weber. Moving onto Vestron Pictures (1986-89), Reuther executive produced the box-office smash Dirty Dancing in addition to such films as The Promised Land, Love Hurts, Backtrack, And God Created Woman and Hider in the House.

Reuther next partnered with Arnon Milchan in New Regency Films (1989-94), where he developed Sidney Lumet's comedy-drama Family Business and Danny DeVito's dark comedy War of the Roses starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. He reunited with Lumet on the searing cop drama Q&A, collaborated with Irwin Winkler on his blacklist drama Guilty By Suspicion and produced the romantic comedy blockbuster Pretty Woman, which earned Julia Roberts her first Best Actress Oscar® nomination.

During his tenure with New Regency, he also produced The Mambo Kings, Boys on the Side and Sommersby while executive producing or overseeing such successful projects as Oliver Stone's JFK and Natural Born Killers and Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, on which he re-teamed with star Douglas. Along with the Oscar®-winning actor-producer, Reuther established Douglas/Reuther Productions (serving as the company's President and CEO from 1994-97). Together, they executive produced such films as Face/Off starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage and The Ghost and the Darkness pairing actor Douglas with Val Kilmer. He also produced The Rainmaker based on John Grisham's bestseller, with an ensemble cast featuring Matt Damon, former client Voight and actor DeVito.

In 1998, Reuther set up Bel Air Entertainment, a co-venture with Warner Bros. Studios and European media giant Canal Plus. Over the past five years, Reuther has produced such films as Andy Davis' actioner Collateral Damage, Pat O'Connor's romantic drama Sweet November, Chain of Fools and Pay It Forward. He also executive produced Ready to Rumble, The Replacements, Taylor Hackford's Proof of Life, The Husband That I Bought and Rock Star, on which he first worked with director Stephen Herek.

TODD GARNER (Producer) joined Revolution Studios as a partner in May 2000. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of development and production for the company's motion pictures. Garner also served as an executive producer on XXX, Radio, 13 Going on 30, Anger Management, The Forgotten and the upcoming action film XXX2 starring Ice Cube.

In its first four years of operation, Revolution Studios has released such hit films as America's Sweethearts, Black Hawk Down, XXX, Anger Management and Daddy Day Care.

Prior to joining Revolution Studios, Garner served as Co-President of the Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Motion Picture Group. Among the highly successful films he oversaw were Pearl Harbor, Gone in 60 Seconds, Remember the Titans and The Waterboy. Prior to that, Garner was Executive Vice President (1998-99) of Buena Vista Motion Picture Group. Garner began his 10-year association with Disney as a Creative Executive at Touchstone Pictures in 1990 and was subsequently promoted to Director of Production, Vice President of Production (1995-96) and Senior Vice President of Production (1996-98).

Prior to joining Disney, Garner worked at Paramount Pictures in finance. He began his professional career as a freelance videotape editor with credits on several commercials and music videos.

ALLYN STEWART (Producer) has a comprehensive background in motion picture production, distribution and marketing. She began her entertainment career in distribution and production for 20th Century Fox in London. She next moved back to her native California to join Warner Bros. in Los Angeles. During her six years as a senior executive at Warners, she oversaw the production of such films as the 1989 Academy Award® winning Best Picture Driving Miss Daisy, Stephen Frear's costume drama Dangerous Liaisons (which collected seven Oscar® nominations and won three) and the WWII drama Memphis Belle.

In 1990, Stewart left Warner Bros. for a production deal with Tri-Star Pictures, forming her own eponymous production banner. During her association with the Sony-based company, she produced the telefilm "Friends At Last" starring Kathleen Turner and the feature film Bliss starring Terence Stamp, which marked the writing-directing debut of former Hollywood studio executive Lance Young.

In 1998, Stewart produced the family film Madeline starring Frances McDormand, which was nominated for the Young Artist Award as Best Family Feature/Comedy. She also produced Hugh Hudson's drama I Dreamed of Africa with Kim Basinger and Vincent Perez.

TOMMY LEE JONES (Executive Producer) See bio above in "About the Cast."

MARTY EWING (Executive Producer) has enjoyed a career that spans two decades. He has worked with some of Hollywood's finest filmmakers. His work as an assistant director includes collaborations with Carl Reiner (Summer Rental, Sibling Rivalry), Adrian Lyne (Flashdance), James Bridges (Urban Cowboy, The China Syndrome), Michael Apted (Class Action), Bob Rafelson (Man Trouble), Norman Jewison (Other People's Money), Robert Zemeckis (Death Becomes Her) and James L. Brooks, on which he shared a Directors Guild of America honor for his work on his 1983 Oscar® winner Terms of Endearment.

The San Diego native graduated to unit production manager on A Simple Twist of Fate and served in a similar capacity on John Woo's 1997 action hit Face/Off, Switchback, 2 Days in the Valley, Jumanji, Almost Famous and The Haunting (on the latter two projects he also had an associate producer credit). He co-produced Pat O'Connor's romantic drama Sweet November and the comedy Stealing Harvard, and served as executive producer on Andy Davis' hit Holes and the 2001 Christopher Award-winning motion picture My Dog Skip directed by Jay Russell. He most recently reunited with Russell as executive producer on the firefighting drama Ladder 49 starring John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix. Upcoming for Ewing is The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson.

DEREK DAUCHY (Executive Producer) is part of the creative team at Revolution Studios and has helped develop several feature films including The Animal, Dana Carvey's film The Master of Disguise, XXX, Anger Management, Daddy Day Care and Radio (all of which he co-produced) and Are We There Yet? and Darkness Falls (on which he was executive producer). Dauchy previously spent three years working for Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein at their Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures, where he helped develop such blockbusters as The Perfect Storm and Analyze This. He is currently at work on XXX: State of the Union and Mr. Lucky.

PETER MENZIES, JR., ACS (Director of Photography) is a second-generation industry veteran, following in the footsteps of his father, Australian director and cinematographer Peter Menzies.

The Sydney native started as a film loader and quickly moved up the ranks, becoming a focus puller on Peter Weir's The Year of Living Dangerously before operating camera on such Paul Hogan hits as Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II and Almost An Angel, as well as The Rescue, The Good Wife and The Other Facts of Life. As a cinematographer, Menzies guided the camera work (in addition to operating his own camera) on such features as Mario Van Peebles' Posse, Roger Donaldson's White Sands and The Getaway.

Menzies has also collaborated twice with director Simon West on The General's Daughter and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and with John McTiernan on Die Hard: With A Vengeance and The 13th Warrior. Other credits include A Time to Kill, Hard Rain, The Kid, Bless the Child, Kangeroo Jack and, most recently, John Dahl's The Great Raid and Miss Congeniality 2 with Sandra Bullock.

Prior to shooting features, Menzies made a name for himself in the commercial arena, garnering numerous awards for his cinematography, including the 1995 Australian Television Award for Best Commercial Effects, the 1993 Australian Television Award for Best Commercial Cinematography and the 1991 London International Advertising Award for Best Cinematography.

NELSON COATES (Production Designer) is a multi-faceted artist whose career encompasses designs for both the stage and screen in addition to notable accomplishments as an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer and composer.

Coates may be best known for his diverse skills on the motion picture screen, including a long-standing association with filmmaker Gary Fleder for whom he designed such films as Don't Say A Word, Impostor, Kiss the Girls, the stylish noir drama Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead (Cannes Film Festival, 1995) and, most recently, Runaway Jury adapted from the John Grisham bestseller.

His big screen credits also include David Koepp's haunting thriller Stir of Echoes, Richard LaGravanese's comedy Living Out Loud (featured as one of five films in a special exhibition on film design during the 1998 Bienalé de Firenzé in Milan), CB4, Murder at 1600, Three of Hearts, Blank Check, Universal Soldier, Disturbing Behavior, and the designs for the directorial debuts of four noted actors: Kevin Spacey's Albino Alligator, Angelica Huston's "Bastard Out of Carolina," Bill Paxton's Frailty and Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher.

On television, Coates received an Emmy Award nomination for his production design on ABC-TV's eight-hour miniseries, "Stephen King's The Stand." Additionally, he worked as production designer for the Family Channel/PBS series, "Gerbert," from its inception and pilot episode through its first two seasons, directing and designing 45 music videos for the series. More recently, Coates designed FOX-TV's sci-fi series "John Doe" and the sleuth series "Jonny Zero."

Coates has also designed for the stage, where he actually got his start during his college acting days. He constructed sets for the Onstage Theatre Company's presentation of "Hurlyburly," which collected raves from such publications as Variety, Dramalogue and the Los Angeles Times. He has also earned several Forum Awards, including one for Horton Foote's play "The Traveling Lady."

Coates has also worked as an actor, singer and dancer, making his professional performing debut at age six. He has appeared in three off-Broadway shows, performed for four U.S. Presidents, and has sung solos with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as with numerous orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada. He also composed and choreographed the opening-and-closing portions of the Albert Schweitzer Awards honoring former Russian premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

A native of Texas and Tennessee, Coates graduated magna cum laude from Abilene Christian University in Texas, with a degree in communications. He received the Department of Communications Professional Achievement Award in 1994 and was named Outstanding Young Alumnus two years later.

CHRIS LEBENZON, A.C.E. (Film Editor) has collected two Academy Award® nominations for his editorial work on a pair of Tony Scott hits Top Gun (shared with co-editor Billy Weber) and Crimson Tide. The latter also earned Lebenzon a British Academy Award (BAFTA) nomination and his second American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nomination (his first came on the 1979 documentary The Secret Life of Plants).

In a career dating back to the late 1970s, Lebenzon has collaborated frequently with filmmakers Scott (Enemy of the State, Days of Thunder, Revenge, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout), Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Batman Returns, Big Fish) and Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor).

Long regarded as one of the masters of the action movie genre, Lebenzon has also edited such features as Con Air, Hudson Hawke, Gone in Sixty Seconds, XXX and Midnight Run. Other notable credits (alone or in collaboration) include Wolfen, Weird Science, Weeds, Josh and S.A.M., Death of an Angel, A Breed Apart, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover and Radio.

Born in Redwood City and raised in Palo Alto, California, Lebenzon graduated from Stanford University before entering the motion picture industry. He was introduced to his craft by award winning filmmaker Michael Wadleigh (Woodstock), gaining early experience experimenting on an old KEM machine Wadleigh used to cut his landmark 1970 documentary feature. Though he worked steadily on a number of small independent films in the mid-1970s, his first big break came when he collaborated with editor Richard Chew as assistant editor on Wadleigh's 1981 horror flick Wolfen.

He will next edit Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

JOEL NEGRON (Film Editor) has been credited as editor on XXX, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow and the upcoming House of Wax. He was an additional editor on Big Fish, Radio, Gone In Sixty Seconds, and associate editor on Pearl Harbor. He was first assistant editor to Chris Lebenzon on Armegeddon, Enemy of the State, Con Air and Mars Attacks. Prior to joining Lebenzon, he was first assistant editor to Conrad Buff on True Lies.

BETSY HEIMANN (Costume Designer) has worked on some of the most acclaimed films of the past decade including Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. The Chicago native is also a favorite of director Brett Ratner, having collaborated with him on Red Dragon and The Family Man. Most recently, Heimann designed the wardrobe for the new ABC-TV detective series "Karen Sisco" produced by Danny DeVito and starring Carla Gugino. Next up is Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential starring John Malkovich and Uma Thurman's costumes in Be Cool.

DAVID NEWMAN (Music) is a member of the formidable family of composers - cousin of Randy Newman, son of Alfred Newman, brother of Thomas Newman - who have left a legendary mark on motion pictures.

Nominated for an Academy Award® for his score on Anastasia, Newman has scored such movies as Cat in the Hat, Are We There Yet?, Daddy Day Care, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Nutty Professor, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Life or Something Like It, Ice Age, The Affair of the Necklace, Dr. Doolittle 2, Heathers and Honeymoon in Vegas.

Newman has enjoyed a long relationship with director Danny DeVito, having scored the films Duplex, Death to Smoochy, Matilda, Hoffa, The War of the Roses and Throw Momma From the Train as well as the upcoming I Married a Witch.

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