D a r k C a s t l e O n l i n e

     Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Dark Castle Entertainment Production, a Stephen Hopkins Film, “The Reaping.” The supernatural thriller stars two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Boys Don’t Cry”), David Morrissey (“Derailed”), Idris Elba (HBO’s “The Wire”), AnnaSophia Robb (“Bridge to Terabithia”) and Stephen Rea (“V for Vendetta”).
     Directed by Stephen Hopkins (“The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”) from a screenplay by Carey W. Hayes & Chad Hayes (“House of Wax”), story by Brian Rousso, “The Reaping” is produced by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, Susan Downey and Herbert W. Gains. Erik Olsen, Steve Richards and Bruce Berman serve as executive producers, with Richard Mirisch co-producing.
     The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Peter Levy, production designer Graham “Grace” Walker, editor Colby Parker, Jr., and costume designer Jeffrey Kurland. The score was composed by John Frizzell.
     “The Reaping” will be released worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
     This film has been rated “R” by the MPAA for “violence, disturbing images and some sexuality.”

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

    Producer Joel Silver, the man behind such blockbusters as “The Matrix,” “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon” series, sees “The Reaping” as more complex and layered than your average supernatural thriller. “It’s a little more sophisticated than what we’ve done before at Dark Castle, on top of being a scary movie,” he says. “‘The Reaping’ changes the formula of who the good guys and the bad guys are. I like to switch it up.”
     The film, which explores a series of bizarre occurrences in the Deep South, is steeped in atmosphere and anchored by one of contemporary film’s most acclaimed actresses, Hilary Swank. “Hilary plays a professor who is pushed to question everything she has come to believe,” says Silver. “She brings real honesty and strength to the character. Hilary takes you along on Katherine’s journey, letting you into her thought processes and sense of faith, so you are as shocked as she is when you find out what’s really going on.”
     Swank read the screenplay for “The Reaping” just prior to winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the film “Million Dollar Baby.” “It was a page-turner,” she recalls. “Things were happening that I didn’t expect, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I thought it was a truly scary story while also being smart and dramatic. It really plays to the notion that nothing is as it seems in life. We’re so quick to put our stamp of judgment on it, but I think it’s important to stay open to incidences that are intriguing. It’s a very human thing to do and there are real human moments in this story, in the midst of these extraordinary events.”
     The actress adds that Silver’s enthusiasm for the project was infectious. “He has such a great spirit,” says Swank. “Joel really gets people excited. He gets a great crew together and he takes really good care of everyone. I had a great time making this film.”
     Director Stephen Hopkins, who recently garnered acclaim for the telefilm “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” envisioned the project as the ideal opportunity to bring the bizarre and supernatural into the mundane, everyday world. “It can be very frightening to find the supernatural in the realistic world,” he comments, “and that dichotomy is really at the heart of this story, in which science and faith do battle, in a sense. Our goal was always to frighten people through atmosphere and ideas, rather than just simply outright gore. Although we do include some good old-fashioned horror in this film,” he smiles. “But what’s scariest is what’s behind it.”
     “Stephen and I go back a long time,” Silver says. “We did a movie in the early ‘90s called ‘Predator 2’ and I’ve always wanted to work with him again. ‘The Reaping’ was the perfect fit for his style, and he knew immediately how he wanted to shoot it. He also liked the idea of working with Hilary, so it all came together.”
     Swank’s early discussions with the director yielded a close professional bond between the two. “Stephen Hopkins is so smart, so articulate and so present that it was really fun to collaborate with him,” she says, “I have an enormous amount of respect for him. He has so much energy – always active, always thinking about the next shot. I don’t think I ever saw him sit down through the entire production.”
     Swank plays Katherine Winter, a woman who lost her faith when her husband and child were killed while they were on a religious mission in the Sudan. “Katherine Winter is a woman who has already been through so much in her life in trying to help people,” Swank describes. “Like anyone, she’s just trying to figure out what her life is about, and, in that process, she decides to debunk myths and miracles. She travels around the world figuring out what’s really behind them. But at the core of this mission of hers is a feeling that if God and miracles truly existed, how could her family be so cruelly taken from her?”
     Producer Herbert W. Gains feels that Katherine’s crisis of faith is something to which anyone can relate. “I think that everybody at some time or other in their life believes in something, and during the course of life certain events could make you question that belief. Things happen that make you think, ‘Why me?’ and ‘Why did this happen?’”
     Katherine’s partner in her work is Ben, a former student and fellow professor at the university, played by British actor Idris Elba. “We’re biologists, scientists, that debunk miracles,” Idris relates, “as in religious miracles. If you see Jesus’s face on a tree, you’ll make a phone call and a couple of scientists will come up and tell you you’re crazy…or you have a real live miracle on your hands.”
     But where Katherine approaches these mysteries believing she’ll find a scientific explanation, Ben hopes to confirm his own religious faith. “It’s an interesting dilemma between them because Katherine is a complete atheist now and has no interest in finding a real miracle,” explains Elba. “In fact, when she arrives at a place where there’s a so-called miracle, she’s just short of laughing out loud when she sees what’s really going on. In contrast, Ben is doing this for his own religious beliefs--to prove that God exists, scientifically.”
     “Our characters in the movie are best friends,” says Swank. “They know each other really well, inside and out. They work together every single day. They could finish each other’s sentences. And it’s funny: when I met Idris I felt an instant connection. We had a great time together.”
     “When you work with Hilary you have to bring your ‘A’ game,” says Elba. “You understand why she has had such success because she’s absolutely focused all the time. She’ll sit and share a joke with you, but as soon as it’s time to work she’s like a completely different person. But she’s also a really kind, loving, warm person, as well.”
     Hopkins had worked with Elba on a pilot and brought him along to an event to introduce him to Silver. “He’s just tremendously handsome and charismatic, and he and Hilary had a great rapport, which carried over to the screen,” the director asserts. “Idris is this huge, seemingly intimidating guy, but you just want to be his pal. And he can play anything. He’s just an awesome actor.”
     Elba was likewise inspired by Hopkins’s style of directing: “I’m a nerd when it comes to detail, so I really admire Stephen’s work. Absolutely everything in each frame matters to him. Every frame is like a picture’s he’s painting.”
     Stephen Rea, who previously starred in producer Silver’s “V For Vendetta,” joined the cast as Father Costigan, a priest who was also a missionary in the Sudan when Katherine’s family was killed. Now living in the States, Costigan receives what he interprets to be a warning about his former colleague. “She is not anxious to hear from Father Costigan because she associates him with the tragedy that befell her family,” says Rea. “But he persists because he believes she’s in great danger now. Of course, she no longer believes in spiritual signs, so he finds it quite difficult to get through to her.”
     Katherine has no reason to associate Costigan’s phone call with a sudden visit from a young schoolteacher named Doug Blackwell. Appearing to be every bit the southern gentleman, he has traveled to the university to seek Katherine’s help. For the role of Blackwell, Hopkins cast fellow Brit David Morrissey, who has garnered raves in various British productions, including “State of Play” and “Hilary and Jackie.” “David Morrissey is a fresh face for American audiences, but he’s very well thought of in the UK,” says Silver. “He’s a great actor, and he and Hilary also have great chemistry onscreen.”
     “I’m a massive fan of Hilary Swank and have been since ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ so it’s been a great pleasure to work with her,” Morrissey says. “She brings real complexity and vulnerability to this role, and all of our scenes together were extremely involving. Doug becomes Katherine’s touchstone in this town. Like her, he has lost loved ones, and as he leads her into this odyssey, he is gradually earning her trust.”
“On the surface, Doug a very nice man, and seems to be a very rational man as well,” Hopkins notes. “But there is something dark lurking beneath that surface, which David manages to balance in a very compelling way.”
     Morrissey relates that his character sees himself as the voice of reason in a panicked community, “The local people have witnessed these mysterious events, starting with a murder and then the river turning to blood, and immediately believe that they are seeing the wrath of God. Doug Blackwell takes it upon himself to calm the town council long enough to prove that whatever happened to the river is a natural phenomenon and not a plague sent to curse them. He’s really pinning all his hopes on Katherine to help him.”
     Though she’s busy with a full academic schedule, Katherine reconsiders when she hears that a young girl is being blamed for the unusual occurrences in Haven. “Katherine has lost a daughter, so she knows what it is to lose a child that you have brought into the world—something I can’t imagine,” says Swank. “When Doug says to her that the town thinks it has something to with a little girl and they want to kill her because of it, that gets her attention. Though she may not recognize it consciously, the assignment represents a chance to save one child…and maybe redeem her past.”
     The final piece of the puzzle is that child, Loren McConnell, played by young actress AnnaSophia Robb, who has already played a diverse range of roles in such films as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Bridge to Terabithia.” “She’s just such a talent,” Swank says. “Although her character says very little in the film, acting is not always about dialogue. She says so much with her face and with her expressions, through her eyes. AnnaSophia was such a joy to work with.”
     “Loren is very quiet, shy and scared,” says Robb, who turned 12 after production wrapped. “She has a reason to be scared because the townspeople have tried to kill her. She lives way back in the swamps and has no real friends, so she has been hiding in the woods since all of this started. Loren’s not very educated. She just reacts without thinking, instinctively, like an animal.”
     Tucked away from the pace and progress of the big city, Haven is a community where relations are tight and faith is strong. “I have spent some time in the South and there are some places that are really hidden away,” says Hopkins, “like a secret world inside the Bible Belt, where people with their own beliefs can exist almost completely independent of the outside world.”
     In Haven, Katherine and Ben are confronted with a river turned to blood, an unknown disease befalling area cattle, and a mounting number of unexplainable occurrences. “The first plague is a river turned to blood,” comments co-producer Richard Mirisch, “and, at first, Katherine thinks it’s a chemical response. Of course, as the movie progresses and the situation becomes a bit more complex, she is forced to question her own beliefs about what may be happening in these very extreme situations.”
     As they take samples and send them back for analysis, one thing becomes clear—none of Katherine’s theories are panning out. To save Loren and stop the acceleration of the attacks, she will need to seek other resources outside of the scientific realm. “This movie, to me, is about a woman who loses her faith over certain circumstances in her life,” says Swank. “So, this journey for her is a kind of awakening. Things happen for a reason, and her past and present are tied together in ways she doesn’t necessarily expect.”
     “She comes to this town in Louisiana and is confronted with a series of occurrences that she can’t debunk,” adds Silver. “Suddenly, she’s in real danger and the tools she has come to rely on no longer work. The only weapon she has left is instinct.”

FACT, FICTION AND FAITH

     The character of Katherine Winter is based on real-life skeptics and scientists that take on unnatural occurrences and miracles. “All over the world, people are drawn to the idea of miracles,” Silver comments. “Even when scientists try to explain them away, it usually fails to dissuade the faithful. It’s all part of the classic struggle between science and the will to believe.”
     In preparation for her role, Swank delved into research and spoke to a number of debunkers, many of whom, like Katherine, were once very religious people. Swank notes, “I read a lot of books on debunking myths, and a magazine called The Skeptical Inquirer. I didn’t even know that there were magazines like that out there. I also read the Bible. It was so interesting to enter this world and see people driven by science and others driven by faith.”
     Hopkins likewise plunged into the world of miracle debunking. “I met one gentleman who has debunked 60 or 70 miracles in his life, and he works as a professor of theology,” says the director. “He told me about his experiences going around the world. He’d seen a lot of things he could explain, but there were some things that he couldn’t. I think it’s an extraordinary type of character: someone who is obsessed with finding out the truth of whether these miracles exist or not.”

ON LOCATION

     To find the ideal setting for the story, the filmmakers turned their sights on Louisiana. “Louisiana is an extraordinary place with such beautiful architecture,” Hopkins says, “and it still has a bit of mystery to it. We needed that for Haven, which is modern-day but still pretty cut off from the rest of the world.”
     Locations manager Peter Novak led the filmmakers to their Haven – St. Francisville (pop. 1,712), a town, he says, “with beautiful scenery, a collection of spectacular Victorian homes, and a community of cool, eclectic people.”
     “Atmospherically,” Silver adds, “the place was perfect with its crumbling plantation homes, swamps, deep woods...”
     The town’s history even lent itself to the story. Hopkins explains, “It was destroyed by floods about 120 years ago. There are lots of photos in the town museum, and we saw pictures of these places all underwater. After the town was destroyed, everything was moved up on top of a hill away from the swamps, and I thought, ‘I wonder if people lost faith living in those times?’ So, we modeled our town of Haven after St. Francisville.”
     The local communities were welcoming and generous, but nature was another matter. The summer heat, which Hopkins admits, “could be staggering at times,” nevertheless worked to create a rich on-screen mood. Shooting was proceeding on schedule, with every element locked firmly in place…and then Hurricane Katrina struck.
     Herb Gains, who had been on location earlier in the summer and faced a similar hurricane threat, had already devised an evacuation plan with the Head of Safety at Warner Bros. “When it was obvious the storm was coming our way, we got 120 people out,” Gains remembers. “We were the last flight out of Baton Rouge. But we left a few people there on the ground just to monitor events and help get things restored in the event we were able to come back.”
     Only two weeks after Katrina, Hurricane Rita posed another serious—but thankfully short-lived—threat to the production. The locations had sustained mostly minor damage from both events, but many on the crew had suffered personal losses. Gains recalls, “The first day back was quite emotional. People were breaking down. But I think the general sense was that staying and being a part of the region’s recovery effort was the right thing to do.”
     “These people define southern hospitality; they were so welcoming and generous to us,” Swank offers. “They just opened their arms to us. Obviously, being here through two hurricanes and seeing the mass devastation that it had on this state was heartbreaking but also inspiring. To see these people lose their homes, lose family members, lose virtually everything, you are reminded of what’s important: ‘I’m alive. We’ll rebuild.’ It was amazing to see these things unfold. We were all so grateful.”
     “It was strange to be working on a film that has so much to do with God’s work,” adds Gains, “and then be faced with God’s work in a very real way.”

SOWING "THE REAPING"

     In the center of the production’s base in St. Francisville, acclaimed production designer Graham “Grace” Walker supervised the installation of a gas station, mortuary and barber shop. “We found this little crossroads with two existing buildings and we built onto it,” he describes. “I’d never been to the South before and I just loved everything I saw, especially this great town.”
     Whether designing for a small southern town, a gothic plantation, catacombs beneath an ancient site, or a desert in Africa, Walker and his team of artisans sought to adhere to the realism that colored every aspect of the film. Walker credits location manager Novak with helping to discover so many richly authentic sites for the film. “A place we called ‘Doug’s plantation’ was one of my favorites,” he says. “It’s an old, antebellum home—tremendous place. I loved it.” The set was fitting for a thriller drenched with mystery and surprise. Novak also found an old homestead on the swamp to serve as the McConnell house.
     Academy Award-nominated costume designer Jeffrey Kurland (“Bullets Over Broadway”) worked with Walker and Hopkins to create a moody palette for the film’s costumes. “I chose tones that were very muted,” he notes. “There’s a patina to everything. I wanted to suggest a feeling of antiquity; everything looks worn and well aged and washed out, since one of the messages in the movie is that there’s a past to everything.
     “For Katherine, I chose the style of tailored, workaday clothes,” he continues. “For Loren, we made a single dress for a girl a little younger than her age to support the plot. Slightly small and tight on her, the dress was aged to show the wear of the five days living in the woods that she endured.”
     Elba’s character, a former street kid who had sustained eight bullet wounds, has an abiding faith in God—one that is expressed, in part, through his tattoos. “Stephen and I discussed extensively where we were going to place them,” Elba says. “And this guy has lots. In some scenes, only a few may be visible because of the clothing I wear. So those maybe took an hour and a half in the morning. But it would take a full day for the one on my back, which is a huge Jesus looking over a bridge. That one took a bit of patience.”
     In a film that deals with the ten plagues of Exodus, the filmmakers sought to juxtapose the supernatural with a very real, believable world. Hopkins worked with his longtime collaborator, cinematographer Peter Levy, to give the visuals the immediacy of a television news report. “We decided to approach it in a photo-journalistic style,” Hopkins says, “which I think suits the way Hilary Swank’s character sees the world. She is very straightforward and evidence-driven, so I wanted this movie to have a very realistic feel to it.”
     In the first plague, the river turns to blood. “It is red, yes, but it’s also full of dead fish and scum and looks polluted, like it could have been caused by an accident at a chemical plant, or something,” Hopkins describes.
     The nine plagues that follow are frogs, flies, diseased livestock, lice, boils, locusts, darkness, fire from the sky, and the final plague: death of the firstborn.
     For the locusts, Hopkins wanted the sequence to convey the same feel as war footage shot by news cameras in the midst of a firefight. “The cameraman would be hiding behind a wall, so you only see certain things that happen,” he describes. “There’s dust everywhere, and you can zoom in on certain things and certain people. I used that approach with the locusts, where you feel like you’re amongst them. I have locusts splattering on the lens and things like that, so it appears accidental, but actually it takes a long time to make it look that way.”
     The practical use of live locusts had a chilling effect on the entire cast and crew, all except young actress AnnaSophia Robb, who was required to interact with them on camera. “They were brought in a cage,” Robb recalls, “and for practice, to get me used to them, the insect wrangler would put them on my shoulders and knees. I held them and got used to picking them up. They’d put them on me at any given moment and I couldn’t flinch. Sometimes they even threw them on me and I had to be calm and still. They’re my friends now. I named a few of them; my favorites are: Big Boy Bob, Gloria and Elvis. They’re kind of scary looking, but unless you’re a piece of lettuce or something green, they won’t hurt you.”
     Practical footage was then enhanced with computer-generated imagery supervised by Richard Yuricich, whose credits include the classic “2001: A Space Odyssey,” among numerous other projects. “We were lucky in that we had a master of visual effects,” Hopkins attests, “one of the founders of digital film, in fact. Richard is a legend.”
     Hopkins did not want to stray from Levy’s earthy photography, so Yuricich worked directly with the negative rather than shooting separate effects plates. “It was a fun film for me because traditionally I’m involved in photographing elements independently and then compositing that footage with the live action footage,” Yuricich explains. “For this film, we treated the first element – the original negative – and tried to be as photo-real as possible in telling the story with these visuals.”
     “It’s a challenge these days because studios are turning out movies faster and faster, and you want to make sure you get the CGI effects just right,” adds co-producer Mirisch, “especially in a movie like this one that has such a photo-realistic style.”
     For all involved, it was important to ground the supernatural elements of “The Reaping” into the very real notions of faith and the loss of faith. “The film is about faith and spirituality, but it’s also about how, in any community, the theological power of religion can grow out of proportion,” concludes Hopkins. “As on any personal journey, spirituality and religion can enlighten you…but they can also be used to control people. I think the film deals with that duality in a big way.”

ABOUT THE CAST

     HILARY SWANK (Katherine) is a two-time Academy Award winner in the category of Best Actress. She won her first Oscar for the role of Brandon Teena in the 1999 drama “Boys Don’t Cry.” She also won the Golden Globe Award and Critics’ Choice Award, as well as the New York Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, and National Society of Film Critics Awards in the same category. Additionally, The National Board of Review recognized Swank’s work with the Breakthrough Performance of the Year Award, and she earned BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations.
     In 2005, Swank won her second Academy Award for her starring role in Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Best Picture, “Million Dollar Baby,” opposite Eastwood and Morgan Freeman. In addition, she won her second Golden Globe Award and a SAG Award, as well as the National Society of Film Critics and Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Actress. That same year, she earned Golden Globe Award and SAG Award nominations for her portrayal of suffragette Alice Paul in the HBO movie “Iron Jawed Angels.”
     Swank most recently starred in Richard LaGravenese’s true-life drama “Freedom Writers,” playing inspirational schoolteacher Erin Gruwell. Earlier this year, she co-starred with Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett in Brian De Palma’s “The Black Dahlia.” She next stars in the romantic drama “P.S. I Love You,” which reunited her with LaGravenese.
     Swank’s other film credits include Christopher Nolan’s “Insomnia,” opposite Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and Sam Raimi’s “The Gift,” with Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves.

     DAVID MORRISSEY (Doug) next stars opposite Emily Watson in “The WaterHorse,” a fantasy adventure directed by Jay Russell and written by Terry George, and he will also be seen in the historical drama “The Other Boleyn Girl,” with Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. His other film credits include Anand Tucker’s “Hilary and Jackie”; “Some Voices”; “Born Romantic”; John Madden’s “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz; Stephen Woolley’s “Stoned”; “Derailed,” with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston; and “Basic Instinct 2.” Morrissey also founded his own production company, Tubedale Films, which co-produced the award-winning Patrice Leconte film “The Man on the Train.”
     Well known to British television audiences, Morrissey earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor for his work in the BBC drama “State of Play.” He most recently starred in the Channel 4 miniseries “Cape Wrath,” which is also set to air on Showtime under the title “Meadowlands,” and the television movie “Viva Blackpool,” in which he reprised his role from the popular BBC series “Blackpool.” His many other television credits include Stephen Frears’s controversial drama “The Deal,” for which he won a Royal Television Society (RTS) Award for Best Actor; and “Holding On,” which brought him another RTS Award nomination. Behind the camera, he was BAFTA-nominated for Best New Director for the 2001 telefilm “Sweet Revenge,” and later directed the BBC drama “Passer By.”
     A graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Morrissey has played a wide variety of roles on the stage, including the title role in “Peer Gynt,” for director Declan Donnellan. He has also appeared in productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

     IDRIS ELBA (Ben) is perhaps best known for his role as the calculating de facto leader of a Baltimore drug empire in HBO’s critically acclaimed original series “The Wire.” In 2005, he received an Image Award nomination for his work on the series. Also for HBO, Elba starred in the movie “Sometimes In April,” from director Raoul Peck. Set during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the movie marked his first film starring role. Elba played a Hutu soldier who tries to save his Tutsi wife and family, earning another Image Award nomination for his performance.
     Elba most recently starred in the “Daddy’s Little Girls,” with Gabrielle Union under the direction of Tyler Perry. He next stars in the horror thriller “28 Weeks Later,” the much-anticipated sequel to the zombie hit “28 Days Later,” which is due out in May 2007. Additionally, he recently completed production on Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster,” with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and is currently filming the holiday comedy “This Christmas.”
     Elba’s other film credits include “The Gospel,” for director Rob Hardy; “Buffalo Soldiers,” with Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris; and “Beautiful Mother,” with Catherine Deneuve.
     On television, Elba has guest starred on such series as “Law & Order” and “CSI: Miami,” and starred in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries “Ultraviolet.” In his native England, he starred in the recent Channel 4 telefilm “All in the Game,” and earlier guest starred on a number of series, including the BBC’s “Silent Witness” and “Dangerfield.”
     Elba has also worked on the stage, including leading roles in “Coming Home,” an original play written by Oscar Watson and performed at London’s Red Lion Pub Theater, and Sir Peter Hall’s off-Broadway production of “Troilus and Cressida,” receiving rave reviews for his portrayal of Achilles.

     ANNASOPHIA ROBB (Loren McConnell), one of today’s busiest young actresses, is currently starring in the critically acclaimed fantasy adventure “Bridge to Terabithia.” Robb made her feature film debut in 2005 in the Wayne Wang-directed family film “Because of Winn-Dixie,” with Jeff Daniels. Robb was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress for her performance as Opal, a young girl whose life is changed when she befriends a stray dog. Later that year, she starred as champion gum chewer Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Johnny Depp.
     Robb also stars in a wide range of upcoming films, including “A West Texas Children’s Story,” with Val Kilmer, Matthew Modine and Lara Flynn Boyle; the indie drama “Ferris Wheel,” with Charlize Theron; the indie adventure “Doubting Thomas”; and the sci-fi adventure “Jumper,” in which she stars with Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson under the direction of Doug Liman.
     On television, Robb played the title role in the telefilm “Samantha: An American Girl Holiday,” executive produced by Julia Roberts and directed by Nadia Tass. Robb’s other television credits include guest appearances on the Nickelodeon comedy series “Drake & Josh” and “Danny Phantom.”

     STEPHEN REA (Father Costigan) achieved international recognition when he was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his performance in Neil Jordan’s controversial drama “The Crying Game.” Rea first worked with Jordan on the film “Angel,” and the two have since collaborated on “The Company of Wolves,” “Interview with the Vampire,” “Michael Collins,” “The Butcher Boy,” “In Dreams,” “The End of the Affair” and “Breakfast on Pluto.”
     Rea more recently starred in the 2006 hit action thriller “V for Vendetta,” with Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. He counts among his other film credits Mike Leigh’s “Life is Sweet,” Robert Altman’s “Prêt à Porter,” Bruce Beresford’s “Evelyn” and Gillies MacKinnon’s “Tara Road” and “Trojan Eddie,” as well as “Still Crazy,” “Guinevere,” “Ulysses” and “River Queen.”
     In addition, Rea starred in the Mark Rydell-directed HBO movie “Crime of the Century,” earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for his portrayal of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the man convicted of the notorious Lindbergh baby kidnapping. He has also appeared in several British television productions for the BBC and Channel 4.
     An accomplished stage actor, Rea was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for his work in the 1993 Broadway production of Frank McGuinness’s “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.” He is currently starring in Sam Shepard’s new play, “Kicking a Dead Horse,” at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, where Rea previously trained. Additionally, Rea formed the Field Day Theatre with playwright Brian Friel in 1980, and has starred in numerous theatre productions in Dublin and London’s West End.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

     STEPHEN HOPKINS (Director) won an Emmy Award for his directorial work on the critically acclaimed biopic “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” starring Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron and Emily Watson. The film garnered a total of 16 Emmy nominations, winning nine, and was also nominated for four Golden Globes, winning two, including Best Motion Picture Made for Television. Hopkins was also nominated for a DGA Award and the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or.
     Prior to that, Hopkins directed the pilot episode for the hit drama series “24” in 2001 and went on to serve as both director and co-executive producer for the first season. He received a DGA Award nomination for directing the pilot, as well as dual Emmy nominations for directing and producing. Following “24,” Hopkins also received another Emmy Award nomination for his work as a director and a producer on the 2004 miniseries “Traffic.” In addition, his early TV work includes directing three episodes of HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt,” and writing and directing a short film for the acclaimed collection of shorts called “Tube Tales,” which screened at Cannes in 1999.
     Hopkins made his feature film directorial debut with the heist thriller “Dangerous Game,” followed by “A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child”; “Predator 2,” with Danny Glover and Bill Paxton; “Judgment Night,” starring Emilio Estevez, Denis Leary, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Stephen Dorff; “Blown Away,” with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones; “The Ghost and the Darkness,” starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas; and “Lost in Space,” with Gary Oldman and William Hurt. He then directed and produced “Under Suspicion,” starring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, which debuted at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
     Hopkins was born in Jamaica and raised in England, and began his career as a comic-book storyboard artist and later as an art director for numerous commercials and music videos. He then went on to direct music videos, commercials, and stage plays in Australia and Europe before starting his television and feature film career in the U.S.

     CAREY W. HAYES & CHAD HAYES (Screenwriters) wrote the screenplay for the 2005 remake of the 1953 horror classic “House of Wax,” from Dark Castle Entertainment and producers Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis.
     Currently, the Hayes brothers are working on a horror thriller called “The Innocents,” based on Henry James’s classic tale “The Turn of the Screw,” as well as a remake of “The Blob.” Additionally, they are currently adapting the Tahir Shah novel “The Caliph’s House,” which will mark their directorial debut.
     Coming from the television world, they are credited with working as writers on such shows as “The Crow,” “Ghost Stories” and “Mysterious Ways,” as well as having written eleven television movies.

     BRIAN ROUSSO (Story) has worked in the entertainment industry on both the creative and business ends for more than 15 years. As a professional screenwriter, he has sold scripts and rewritten projects in the horror and comedy genres for such producers as Joel Silver, Joe Wizan and Broadway producer Willette Klausner.
     Rousso is currently developing a horror thriller project for up-and-coming Latino rapper Ghostman, whose music is featured on the “Ghost Rider” soundtrack.
     Prior to becoming a screenwriter, Rousso was a story analyst and creative executive at such film studios and production companies as Miramax, Jersey Films, Fox, Propaganda and TriStar.
     Rousso was also a Director of Business Development for Edgework Productions, where he produced the “Three Mo’ Tenors” live album and concert DVD; negotiated mechanical, digital and sync royalties rates with the record labels and publishing houses; secured corporate sponsorship; and expanded the content distribution network through a grassroots marketing campaign involving PBS.

     JOEL SILVER (Producer), one of the most prolific and successful producers in the history of motion pictures, has produced over 50 films, including the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, the blockbuster four-part “Lethal Weapon” franchise, and the seminal action films “Die Hard” and “Predator.” To date, Silver’s catalog of films has earned nearly $10 billion in worldwide revenue from all sources.
     Silver most recently produced the action thriller “V For Vendetta,” starring Natalie Portman. Silver is currently producing a wide range of features, including “The Invasion,” a sci-fi thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig under the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel; the psychological thriller “The Brave One,” directed by Neil Jordan and starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard; the comedy “Fred Claus,” starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti under the direction of David Dobkin; and the live-action adventure “Speed Racer,” to be written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, who previously collaborated with Silver on “The Matrix” movies.
     Silver recently structured a deal for his Dark Castle Entertainment production company, which gives him green-lighting power and creative control of all films produced under the banner. The first Dark Castle film to go into production under the new structure will be “Whiteout,” a thriller to be directed by Dominic Sena, and starring Kate Beckinsale as the lone U.S. Marshal in Antarctica who has three days to solve a murder before winter’s darkness closes in, leaving her stranded with the killer.
     Formed by Silver and Robert Zemeckis in the spirit of the late horror impresario William Castle, Dark Castle previously produced a string of hit films beginning with the record-breaking release of “House on Haunted Hill,” which opened at number one in 1999, followed by “Thir13en Ghosts” in 2001, “Ghost Ship” in 2002, “Gothika” in 2003 and “House of Wax” in 2005.
     Silver’s 1999 production “The Matrix” grossed over $456 million globally, earning more than any other Warner Bros. Pictures film in the studio’s history at the time of its release. Universally acclaimed for its innovative storytelling and visuals, “The Matrix” won four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Visual Effects. The first DVD release to sell one million units, “The Matrix” DVD was instrumental in powering the initial sale of consumer DVD machines.
     The second installment of the epic “Matrix” trilogy, “The Matrix Reloaded,” earned over $739 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The opening weekend box office receipts for “The Matrix Revolutions,” the final explosive chapter in the trilogy, totaled a staggering $203 million worldwide. To date, “The Matrix” franchise has grossed $3 billion from all sources worldwide.
     While overseeing production on “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” Silver produced the integral video game “Enter the Matrix,” which features one hour of additional film footage written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers and starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Anthony Wong, who reprised their roles from the films. He also executive produced “The Animatrix,” a groundbreaking collection of nine short films inspired by the visionary action and innovative storytelling that power “The Matrix.”
     More recently, Silver produced the action comedy thriller “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” written and directed by “Lethal Weapon” screenwriter Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. He also produced the hit films “Romeo Must Die,” starring Jet Li and Aaliyah; “Exit Wounds,” starring Steven Seagal and DMX; and “Swordfish,” starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.
     Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, where he ultimately ascended to President of Motion Pictures. During his tenure, he associate produced “The Warriors” and, with Gordon, produced “48 Hrs.,” “Streets of Fire” and “Brewster’s Millions.”
     In 1985, Silver launched his Silver Pictures production banner with the breakout hit “Commando,” followed by “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Predator.” Silver Pictures solidified its status as one of the industry’s leading production companies with the release of the “Lethal Weapon” series, and the action blockbusters “Die Hard” and “Die Hard 2: Die Harder.” Silver also went on to produce “The Last Boy Scout,” “Demolition Man,” “Richie Rich,” “Executive Decision” and “Conspiracy Theory.”
     A successful television producer as well, Silver executive produces the hit UPN television series “Veronica Mars,” the critically acclaimed crime drama starring Kristen Bell. Silver also executive produced, with Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill and Robert Zemeckis, eight seasons of the award-winning HBO series “Tales From the Crypt,” as well as two “Tales From the Crypt” films.
     As a student at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1967, Silver and a group of his friends developed a game called Ultimate Frisbee. The fast-moving team sport has since become a global phenomenon supported by tournaments in 50 countries.

     ROBERT ZEMECKIS (Producer) won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Director’s Guild of America Award for Best Director for the hugely successful “Forrest Gump.” The film’s numerous honors also included Oscars for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Picture. Zemeckis has since re-teamed with Hanks on the contemporary drama “Cast Away” and the motion-capture animated hit “The Polar Express,” based on the classic children’s book. Most recently, Zemeckis served as an executive producer on “Monster House,” which received Oscar, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Annie Award nominations for Best Animated Feature.
     Earlier in his career, Zemeckis co-wrote (with Bob Gale) and directed “Back to the Future,” which was the top-grossing release of 1985, and for which Zemeckis shared Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Screenplay. He went on to helm “Back to the Future, Part II” and “Part III,” completing one of the most successful film franchises ever.
      In addition, Zemeckis directed and produced “Contact,” starring Jodie Foster, based on the best-selling novel by Carl Sagan, and the macabre comedy hit “Death Becomes Her,” starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. He also directed the box office smash “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” cleverly blending live action and animation. He then directed the romantic adventure hit “Romancing the Stone,” pairing Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, and co-wrote (with Gale) and directed the comedies “Used Cars” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.”
     Zemeckis also produced “House on Haunted Hill” and executive produced such films as “The Frighteners,” “The Public Eye” and “Trespass,” which he also co-wrote with Gale. He and Gale previously wrote “1941,” which began Zemeckis’ association with Steven Spielberg.
     For the small screen, Zemeckis has directed several projects including the Showtime feature-length documentary “The 20th Century: The Pursuit of Happiness,” which explored the effect of drugs and alcohol on 20th century society. His additional television credits include episodes of Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” and HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt.”
     In 1998, Zemeckis, Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke partnered to form the film and television production company, ImageMovers. The first film to be released under the ImageMovers banner was the thriller “What Lies Beneath,” directed by Zemeckis and starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.
     In March 2001, the USC School of Cinema-Television celebrated the opening of the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. This state-of-the-art center was the country’s first fully digital training center and houses the latest in non-linear production and post-production equipment as well as stages, a 50-seat screening room and USC student-run television station, Trojan Vision.
     Zemeckis’s other recent credits include “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, and the Queen Latifah comedy “Last Holiday.”
     Currently, Zemeckis is directing and producing a new CG-created 3-D version of the classic “Beowulf,” starring Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone and Robin Wright Penn. The film is set for release in November of this year.

     SUSAN DOWNEY (Producer) began working at Silver Pictures in 1999, when she joined the company as Vice President of Production, overseeing the development and production of such projects as “Thir13en Ghosts” and “Swordfish.” She went on to become a co-producer on “Ghost Ship” and “Cradle 2 The Grave,” a producer on “Gothika” and “House of Wax,” and an executive producer on “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.”
     In her current role as Executive Vice President of Production at Silver Pictures, she is developing a diverse slate of films, including “Wonder Woman,” “Sgt. Rock” and “Dirty Dozen.” Additionally, Downey serves as a producer on Neil Jordan’s psychological thriller “The Brave One,” starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, and as an executive producer on the sci-fi action thriller “The Invasion,” starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Both films are set for release later this year.
     Downey was also recently named Co-President of Dark Castle Entertainment, the production entity formed in 1999 by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis, which recently structured a deal with CIT Group Inc. to finance the production of 15 films over the next six years. Under the new arrangement, Downey runs both creative and production divisions for the company. She is currently producing the action thriller “Whiteout,” starring Kate Beckinsale, to be directed by Dominic Sena.
     Prior to her tenure at Silver Pictures, Downey worked on the hit films “Mortal Kombat” and “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,” spearheaded the development of its spin-off live action and animated TV series, and associate produced the feature film “Beowulf” for Dimension Films.
     Downey is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.

     HERBERT W. GAINS (Producer) currently serves as executive producer on the upcoming Neil Jordan psychological thriller “The Brave One,” starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, set for release later this year. Prior to “The Reaping,” he served as executive producer on “House of Wax,” starring Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray. He also executive produced the 2004 romantic comedy “Little Black Book,” with Brittany Murphy, and served as producer on Michael Tollin’s sports drama “Radio,” with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris.
     Gains’s other film credits as executive producer include “Cradle 2 The Grave,” starring Jet Li and DMX; Jake Kasdan’s comedy “Orange County”; “Hardball,” starring Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane; and “Summer Catch,” starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jessica Biel. Gains counts among his co-producing credits “Varsity Blues,” with James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight and Amy Smart; “Ready to Rumble” and Rob Cohen’s “Daylight,” starring Sylvester Stallone.
     Previously, Gains was production manager for such films as “The Negotiator” and “Mouse Hunt.” As assistant director, he worked on a variety of films, including “Natural Born Killers,” “Heaven & Earth,” “Point Break,” “Pacific Heights,” “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” “Dirty Dancing” and “The Fan.”

ERIK OLSEN (Executive Producer) is currently Senior Vice President of Production for Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment. He began working with Silver in 1998 as an intern and worked his way through the ranks to his current position. During his tenure, Olsen helped develop numerous films, including “Thir13en Ghosts” and “Gothika,” and served as associate producer on the 2005 remake of the 1953 horror classic “House of Wax.” With Silver’s other production entity, Silver Pictures, Olsen has worked on such films as “Exit Wounds,” “Swordfish” and “Cradle 2 the Grave.” Currently, he is developing the World War II adventure “Sgt. Rock,” based on the DC comic book, and supernatural thriller “The Summoner,” which is to be directed by Victor Salva.

     STEVE RICHARDS (Executive Producer) was recently named Co-President of Dark Castle Entertainment, and is in his thirteenth year working with producer Joel Silver. He was instrumental in developing the business plan for Dark Castle and in forging the financial partnership with CIT Group Inc., which will finance the production of 15 films over the next six years.
     Richards has served as executive producer on all of the films under the Dark Castle banner, including “Thir13en Ghosts,” “Ghost Ship,” “Gothika” and “House of Wax.” During the formation of Dark Castle in 1999, Richards organized the foreign financing and distribution of the shingle’s first film, the remake of William Castle’s “House on Haunted Hill.”
     In 1995, Richards joined Silver Pictures and is currently Co-President/COO of the company. He counts among his film credits with Silver Pictures “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Animatrix,” and two installments of the “Dungeons & Dragons” fantasy game film adaptations. Additionally, upon joining Silver Pictures, Richards aided in the launch of Decade Pictures and served as executive producer on “Made Men” and as associate producer on “Double Tap.”
     Richards began his career as a production executive for Tony and Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free.

     BRUCE BERMAN (Executive Producer) is Chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures. Village Roadshow will co-produce 60 theatrical features in a joint partnership with Warner Bros. through 2007, with all films distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
     The initial slate of films produced under the pact included such hits as “Practical Magic,” starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman; “Analyze This,” teaming Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal; “The Matrix,” starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne; “Three Kings,” starring George Clooney; “Space Cowboys,” directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; and “Miss Congeniality,” starring Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt.
     Under the Village Roadshow Pictures banner, Berman has subsequently executive produced such wide-ranging successes as “Training Day,” for which Denzel Washington won an Academy Award; “Ocean’s Eleven,” starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts; “Two Weeks Notice,” pairing Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant; “Mystic River,” starring Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in Oscar-winning performances; the second and third installments of “The Matrix” trilogy, “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions”; Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Johnny Depp; “The Dukes of Hazzard”; “The Lake House,” reuniting Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves; the award-winning animated comedy adventure “Happy Feet”; and the romantic comedy “Music and Lyrics,” pairing Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.
     Village Roadshow’s upcoming projects include the third installment of the “Ocean’s” franchise, “Ocean’s Thirteen,” starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino; the romantic drama “No Reservations,” starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart; and the psychological thriller “The Brave One,” starring Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster.
     Berman got his start in the motion picture business working with Jack Valenti at the MPAA while attending Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC. After earning his law degree, he landed a job at Casablanca Films in 1978. Moving to Universal, he worked his way up to a production Vice President in 1982.
     In 1984, Berman joined Warner Bros. as a production Vice President, and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Production four years later. He was appointed President of Theatrical Production in September 1989, and, in 1991, was named President of Worldwide Theatrical Production, where he served through May 1996. Under his aegis, Warner Bros. Pictures produced and distributed such films as “Presumed Innocent,” “GoodFellas,” “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Batman Forever,” “Under Siege,” “Malcolm X,” “The Bodyguard,” “JFK,” “The Fugitive,” “Dave,” “Disclosure,” “The Pelican Brief,” “Outbreak,” “The Client,” “A Time to Kill” and “Twister.”
     In May of 1996, Berman started Plan B Entertainment, an independent motion picture company at Warner Bros. Pictures. He was named Chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures in February 1998.

     RICHARD MIRISCH (Co-Producer) served as co-producer on Dark Castle Entertainment’s “Gothika,” “Thir13en Ghosts,” “House of Wax” and “Ghost Ship.” He has also served as associate producer on The Wachowski Brothers’ award-winning sci-fi epic “The Matrix,” and the highly successful HBO series “Tales from the Crypt.”
     Mirisch counts, among his other production credits with Silver Pictures, “Ricochet,” “The Last Boy Scout” and “Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood.”
     Mirisch began his career in filmmaking working for The Avnet/Kerner Company, where he served as director Paul Brickman’s assistant on “Men Don’t Leave,” starring Jessica Lange.

     PETER LEVY (Director of Photography) counts “The Reaping” as his eighth feature film project with director Stephen Hopkins. For his most recent collaboration with Hopkins, the biopic “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” Levy won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography and received a nomination from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.
     In 2002, Levy garnered his first ASC Award nomination for his work on the pilot of the hit series “24,” also directed by Hopkins. Levy’s other credits with Hopkins include “Under Suspicion,” “Lost in Space,” “Blown Away,” “Judgment Night” and “Predator 2.” In 1991, Levy received the Australian Cinematographers Society’s Cinematographer of the Year award for “Predator 2.”
      Levy’s other film credits include “Torque,” “Broken Arrow,” “The War at Home,” “Cutthroat Island,” and “Ricochet.” He also lensed the pilot for the hit crime drama series “Without a Trace.”

     GRAHAM “GRACE’’ WALKER (Production Designer) has worked on such Dark Castle Entertainment films as “House of Wax,” “Gothika” and “Ghost Ship.”
     A four-time Australian Film Institute (AFI) nominee, Walker was awarded Best Achievement in Production Design for “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.” He garnered other AFI Award nominations for production design on Phillip Noyce’s “Dead Calm,” Dusan Makavejev’s “The Coca-Cola Kid” and “The Chain Reaction.”
     Walker’s other film credits include “Queen of the Damned”; “Pitch Black,” starring Vin Diesel; “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer; Peter Faiman’s “Crocodile Dundee”; “The Sum of Us,” starring Russell Crowe; and George Miller’s “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”
     Walker recently completed work on the action thriller “The Condemned,” and is currently in pre-production on Dark Castle’s “Whiteout,” starring Kate Beckinsale and directed by Dominic Sena.

     COLBY PARKER, JR. (Editor) began his editing career in commercials and music videos, collaborating with such renowned directors as Terry Richardson, Mike Mills, Little X. and “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton.
     In 2000, Parker transitioned into editing longform projects with an offer to cut Peter Berg’s television series “Wonderland,” and followed up with work on the Berg-directed actioner “The Rundown,” starring The Rock, Christopher Walken and Rosario Dawson. Parker also edited the critically acclaimed hit sports drama “Friday Night Lights,” starring Billy Bob Thornton and Derek Luke.
      Following “The Reaping,” Parker’s work can be seen this September in the upcoming drama thriller “The Kingdom,” starring Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper.
      Born and raised in New York City, Parker is a graduate of the prestigious School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

JEFFREY KURLAND (Costume Designer) has devoted much of his career to designing the costumes for many of Woody Allen’s films. He received an Academy Award nomination for his costume designs for the director’s “Bullets Over Broadway” and a BAFTA Award for his work on “Radio Days.” His work with Allen also includes “Everyone Says I Love You,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “Husbands and Wives,” “Shadows and Fog,” “Alice,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” “New York Stories,” “Another Woman,” “September,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Broadway Danny Rose.”
Kurland more recently designed the costumes for Michael Mann’s dramatic thriller “Collateral,” Joe Johnston’s action adventure “Hidalgo,” and the thriller “Criminal,” produced by Steven Soderbergh. He has also worked with Soderbergh on the hit films “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Erin Brockovich,” earning a Costume Designers Guild Award for the latter. His additional film credits include Milos Forman’s “Man on the Moon,” Richard LaGravanese’s “Living Out Loud,” Neil Jordan’s “In Dreams,” P.J. Hogan’s “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” and the Nora Ephron films “This Is My Life” and “Mixed Nuts.”

     JOHN FRIZZELL (Composer) has created scores for films as varied as the dark and violent “Alien: Resurrection,” the off-beat cult hit comedy “Office Space,” the historical epic “Gods and Generals” and the intimate period drama “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.” He has also collaborated with the producing team of rap star DMX on the score to the action crime drama “Cradle 2 the Grave” and composed the score for the Looney Tunes characters in the short film “The Whizzard of Ow.” For television, he created the score for the award-winning film biopic “James Dean” and the acclaimed telefilm “Crime of the Century,” to name only a few.
     Born in New York City, Frizzell began his music career singing in the chorus of the Paris Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera Company. He studied at the University of Southern California School of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music, and met his mentor, guitar legend Joe Pass, during his college years.
     After college, he worked for acclaimed producer/vibraphonist Michael Mainieri, who owned a Synclavier, the first digital music workstation. Frizzell became a master synthesist, which led him to work with Academy Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, for whom Frizzell provided orchestrations to Oliver Stone’s landmark mini-series “Wild Palms.” Shortly after relocating to Los Angeles, Frizzell was introduced to composer James Newton Howard, who championed him. The two went on to collaborate on the music for the feature films “The Rich Man’s Wife” and “Dante’s Peak.” Frizzell’s additional film credits include “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Beautiful” and “Thir13en Ghosts.”
     A proponent for film music issues, Frizzell serves on the Executive Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, instructs graduate students at USC Thornton School of Music, and was the Honorary President of the International Film Music Conference in Ubeda, Spain.

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