- Notes provided by Overture Films. -

A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness in The Crazies. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George A. Romero horror classic. Directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara), The Crazies is written by Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Ray Wright (Pulse, Case 39).
The American Dream goes horribly wrong when the residents of this picture-perfect town begin to succumb to an uncontrollable urge for violence and the horrific bloodshed escalates into anarchy. In an attempt to contain the epidemic, the military uses deadly force to close off access into or out of town, abandoning the few healthy citizens to the growing mayhem as depraved killers lurk in the shadows.
Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant, Live Free or Die Hard); his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell, Silent Hill); Becca (Danielle Panabaker, Friday the 13th), an assistant at the medical center; and Russell (Joe Anderson, Across the Universe), Dutton's deputy and right-hand man, find themselves trapped in a once-idyllic town they can no longer recognize. Unable to trust former neighbors and friends, deserted by the authorities and terrified of contracting the illness themselves, they are forced to band together in a nightmarish struggle for survival.
The film is produced by Michael Aguilar (The Departed), Dean Georgaris (What Happens in Vegas) and Rob Cowan (Righteous Kill). George A. Romero is executive producer. The talented crew includes director of photography Maxime Alexandre (The Hills Have Eyes), editor Billy Fox (Traitor), production designer Andrew Menzies (The Uninvited) and Robert Hall (Quarantine), special effects makeup designer.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

In 1973, horror auteur extraordinaire George A. Romero unleashed his fourth feature film, The Crazies, a provocative story about a small town infected with a deadly virus that spreads even faster than the panic it creates. Breck Eisner's new, nail-biting reimagining of Romero's classic movie goes even further than the original in creating a terrifying world in which an experimental bio-weapon brings out its victims' darkest thoughts and puts them into action.
``We've obviously taken reality and bent it and stretched in some extreme ways, says Eisner. ``But the core of this movie, the inception of the movie, is based in a reality that could happen.
Producer Rob Cowan says he initially envisioned The Crazies as a relatively small, contained story. ``But when I read the script, I realized it was a huge step above most movies in this genre, although it still delivers all the terror and suspense horror fans love.
Cowan credits Eisner with taking the script to an even higher level. ``Breck is such an interesting filmmaker, he really elevated the material, says the producer. ``He approached the script with respect and then added his own unique sensibility, while keeping it extremely scary and creepy.
The new film was adapted from the original by Ray Wright (Pulse) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror). Wright confesses he never saw the original film until just before he began starting his first draft. ``The dramatic situation was so compelling-a small town under siege-and that attracted me to the project. Also, George Romero is a film legend, so I felt privileged to work on something he created.
Working closely with Eisner, the writers took Romero's original concept and updated it, resulting in a screenplay that is both truly terrifying and extremely thoughtful. ``Breck was involved at every stage of the writing process, from scene construction to line edits, says Wright. ``In the end, I probably did a half-dozen drafts, but most of the significant revisions happened in the first round.
Eisner adds, ``Scott's initial draft had significantly more military in it. It was closer to the original movie in that it was told from the point of view of the townsfolk as well as the military itself. We developed this version of the movie more towards the horror, more towards the people in the town. We kept the military in it but we took the movie out of their point of view and told the whole story through David and Judy's eyes.
When The Crazies began production, Cowan found himself in the midst of a shoot that was often epic in scope. ``We had military convoys and planes, he says. ``There was an armada of helicopters that came in and corralled all the people in the town. Every day we had some kind of big stunt. It was nonstop.
Two aspects of its plot help The Crazies transcend the horror genre, says the producer. The first is that it's set in an idyllic farming community that has everything going for it until it's torn apart from the inside out. ``The threat is from people you know well. The film takes a lot of time getting to know the people who become the Crazies. They are often people with whom our main characters have relationships.
``The other interesting element is the military and how they react, he says. ``They are a real threat, so our heroes are not just dealing with the Crazies. There are two forces coming after them and they have nowhere to turn for help except each other.
Brian Frankish, associate producer of The Crazies, says Eisner's energy and outlook helped take the film out of the realm of the ordinary. ``Breck has the spirit of youth, he says. ``He also has an eye for seeing what the lens sees. He picked wonderful artists to be on his team, like Andrew Menzies, the production designer, and Maxime Alexandre, the director of photography. It all adds up to a piece of eye candy that will hold the audience's attention visually while they think about what's going on in front of them.
This high level of the production values help set the film apart from its predecessor, made on Romero's customary shoestring budget. ``The thing that makes the original film interesting is George Romero, says Frankish. ``It has great writing and the concept he came up with is the same concept we're dealing with here. It's not women or teenagers in jeopardy. It's not a terrible monster stalking a small group of people. This is something bigger. It's terrifying in a much larger sense.
Radha Mitchell, who plays Dr. Judy Dutton, the sheriff's wife and the town doctor, finds the premise of the film more chilling for exactly that reason. ``Generally the threat in a film like this is coming from outside, she says. ``In this case, the story is set in a small town where everybody knows everybody else, and the threat is everybody around you. Taking what's familiar and making it unfamiliar is always an interesting tactic.
``One of the things I love about this movie is that it takes place in the heartland of America, Eisner continues, ``It is these vast open spaces, these wheat fields and corn fields that go on for miles and miles, these endless plateaus of nothingness that create an epic landscape. There are no trees, no houses, no buildings. You can walk down a road with visibility for thirty miles in every direction and that alone limits your options; there is nowhere to hide. Our characters need to avoid the military, the Crazies, and the disease itself as they travel this open and exposed landscape, a landscape that evolves from beautiful to terrifying.
Adding to the film's shock value is the speed at which the infection spreads: the virus devastates the entire town in a mere three days. ``We shot a scene with David, Tim Olyphant's character, walking down a pristine, peaceful street, says Frankish. ``A few days later, we see broken televisions lying in the street and cables pulled out and cars set on fire. The Crazies have taken over the town and the military is unable to contain it. The aftermath is like the riots in Los Angeles or Hurricane Katrina. It's mayhem.
The Crazies promises to be thought-provoking entertainment that will prompt audiences to discuss it after they see it, according to Frankish. ``I can see students sitting in coffee shops all over the country after seeing this picture saying, 'What about this? What if that?' I think it has that lasting value.
Olyphant, the film's leading man, points out parallels between the social climates of the era in which Romero wrote the original script and today. ``The thing about all Romero's movies is that they're clearly about something more than just being scary, says the actor. ``He dialed into some things that were going on at the time, like the Vietnam War. We are in similar circumstances, with a war that people are very divided about.
But any larger message, says Cowan, is secondary to the entertainment value of the film. ``We didn't try to make a huge message movie. There are elements built into it that reflect the times we live in, and the way people feel about their safety and security. All of that gets into the story without us really having to do much about it. That underlying social commentary is one of the reasons I liked the script.
``Primarily, though, I want people to have fun when they see The Crazies. There are fundamental themes that people can take away from it if they want. But at the end of the day, we just want them to enjoy some surprises and maybe forget their troubles for a couple hours. People come in with a lot of built-in fears. In this movie, some of them are played out, and the audience can feel good about it, because it all gets resolved and it's just for the fun of it.
``The thing about The Crazies that I initially responded to is the journey the characters are forced to go through, the journey that David and his pregnant wife Judy must endure. The audience's passion for these two characters to escape starts from the first minute of the movie and builds to the last.

CASTING THE CRAZIES

The four central characters in The Crazies form a tight-knit alliance in order to survive. The filmmakers knew that during the often grueling shoot, the performers playing them would need to develop a similar kind of camaraderie, and kept that in mind as they assembled the cast.
``The first character we cast was David Dutton, Eisner recalls. ``Throughout the whole process the one guy I always wanted was Tim Olyphant. We had lists upon lists and Tim was always at the top. So we sent the script to him and he responded. It's pretty rare and lucky that the guy you want, who is at the top of your list, is the guy who wants to do the movie.
``Tim has a sort of Gary Cooper-Everyman quality about him that is perfect for this character, says producer Rob Cowan. ``He's just a simple guy who's trying to raise a family and live up to his father's expectations, a small town sheriff who gets thrown into this extraordinary circumstance.
Eisner agrees: ``Tim is a movie star and he has that aura about him. But he also feels like a regular human being; he has a realness about him, an honesty and intelligence that was perfect for the role.
For Olyphant, the quality of the screenplay was paramount. ``The script was fantastic, he says. ``It was entertaining from the first minute. First I thought, 'Oh, this is fun,' and then it stayed with me for days. And I loved the title. If you watch the trailer for the original, they keep repeating it: 'The Crazies! The Crazies!' I just love that title.
Olyphant admits that he loves a good fright fest. ``I remember as a kid wanting to see them and being told I was too young. That right there makes them fantastic. I remember my brother describing movies to me shot by shot, scene by scene, frame by frame-and he'd have never seen the film!
Working with Eisner was an extremely collaborative experience, recalls Olyphant. He says their ongoing discussions revealed as much about the character as the original source material did.
``We had this great back and forth that started even before the shoot, Olyphant says. ``We had phone and email conversations. I would meet him in his office and we'd go over the script. We talked endlessly. The more we talked, the more interesting the character became, and the more interested I became.
The exchange of ideas continued during shooting. ``For Breck, the script was a guide, says Olyphant. ``Everything was still open. He allowed me to participate, and that meant a great deal to me.
One of the concerns Olyphant expressed to Eisner was about the relationship between David and his wife, Judy. ``I remember saying to Breck, 'I don't know about you, but that's not my marriage.' Marriage is tricky. Marriage is complicated. I wanted to see the fragility of it. If you start with a relationship that seems unsure and then you throw all these other things at them, it either does them in or ends up bringing them together.
The characters and their relationships are central to the film, says Olyphant. ``We have found great characters that are very real and I'm hoping that it elevates beyond what you often see in this genre. It starts with an interesting and very real relationship between a man and his wife and it extends to all of the other relationships in the film. There's a real back and forth there between the sheriff and his deputy, Russell, and between Judy and Becca, the young woman who works for her.
Radha Mitchell plays Dr. Judy Dutton, the sheriff's wife. ``We were looking for somebody for the role of Judy who had a down-to-earth quality but still had the special spark that Radha has, says Cowan. ``Radha liked that Judy was not just the girlfriend, and not just the wife. She's a doctor, as well, with her own story arc.
``I'm a big fan of Radha, says Eisner. ``She's done some amazing work and it was such a pleasure to have her in this movie. She brings an intensity to the role as her character is forced to fight for her life, desperately trying to survive. She brings a raw and visceral emotion to her work which is fascinating to watch.
As a small town physician, Judy has an intimate relationship with many of the townspeople. ``She's delivered their babies, says Mitchell. ``She's seen them in extremely personal situations. It shocks and mortifies her to see what they turn into. But by the time my husband and I figure out that there's something in the water supply, the military drags us off to a camp where David and I are separated.
That Judy is pregnant with her first child only raises the stakes, says Mitchell. ``She's got another life inside of her and that's a strong motivation to get through this.
The role called for a very physical performance from Mitchell, partly because of what she refers to as the ``minimalism of the script. ``You feel and react to most of what's going on, but there are really no words for it, she says. ``The physical aspect of that was especially interesting and fun. I'm in some really bizarre scenes, scenes unlike anything I've seen before and that's always exciting to be a part of.
Mitchell, who has appeared in her share of thrillers, says she finds the intensity of the experience cathartic. ``You get to express a lot of things you wouldn't in your real life, she says. ``I don't get to scream in my real life, but I do in these movies. I've done a lot of screaming in this one!
And she can scream, according to others on the set. ``Radha screams like nobody's business, says Olyphant. ``They got lucky with how well that woman can scream. On movie sets, when there's going to be gunfire, everybody gets little earplugs. They also do it when Radha screams. It's awesome.
Cowan concurs with Olyphant's observation. ``Radha is great in a scary scene. She really knows how to fight and scream, and it's helped send the fear level soaring.
The first horror movie Mitchell remembers seeing is The Hunger. ``David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve are vampires, she says. ``It's just a scary, scary movie and I was way too young to see it, so it stayed in my mind. Some movies are so intense that they leave this imprint. You really feel like you're in the movies.
For the role of Russell, the Sheriff's deputy, the filmmakers needed an ``everyday guy, says Cowan-someone who was charming and fun, but who could handle the weight of the role. ``He goes from a regular guy to someone with huge moral decisions to make. I've always thought Russell is the best role in the movie.
``I was not extremely familiar with Joe Anderson's work prior to his audition, says Eisner. ``But when he came in and auditioned, we immediately realized that this was our guy. I think we auditioned somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 actors for this role, but every time we saw somebody, no matter how good, we always came back to Joe.
Russell Clank is an ambitious young man who would like to succeed David as sheriff someday. His courage and tenacity are tested during the story. ``I think his arc is probably one of the biggest in the movie, says Anderson. ``It's an adult role with an element of danger. The story is a rite of passage for him and he has a chance to become a man by the end of it.
``Playing a character who goes through the kind of transformations Russell has to during the course of the movie is great to play, he continues. ``It gives you a lot to work with. There was so much on the page for Russell that it all started flooding into my brain. I suddenly saw the complete picture that I wanted to draw, so to speak.
Anderson found the variety of work methods Eisner employed inspiring. ``Breck is very strong-minded, says the actor. ``He knows exactly what he wants and how he wants to get there. Some days we used storyboards and had shot lists. Other days, it would be looser. It was interesting to work with someone who could be being absolutely rigid on some things, and improvisational on other things.
Anderson's introduction to the horror genre was A Nightmare on Elm Street. ``I must have been eight or nine, he says. ``My dad was freaking me out and flicking his fingers out and saying he was Freddy Krueger. I remember endless nightmares, but it was fun.
``There is plenty of spectacle on our film, Anderson says. ``We have helicopters and guns going off. I have to say, I kind of got angry when they brought in the stuntmen. I'm a big kid, so I've been waiting years to play a cop in a movie and to have something as juicy as this to play with. I jumped at any action I could get.
But the real fun was working with his fellow actors to develop the solidarity the characters need to survive together. ``We had to find nuances that tell the audience how well we know each other, how the town is set up and what these relationships are, he says. ``I really appreciated how careful Breck and the team were to keep those nuances in play.
Anderson and Olyphant recently starred together in the film High Life. ``Joe's fantastic, say Olyphant. ``He's fully committed. Because we worked together before, we already had a nice shorthand when we got here.
Danielle Panabaker plays Becca, Judy Dutton's 17-year-old office assistant. ``Becca was originally a very small role, says Cowan. ``Danielle Panabaker is charming and beautiful and talented. She's very young, but still has a maturity about her. When her name came up, we decided to flesh out the role because of how good she is.
``Danielle is a young, talented, passionate actress, says Eisner. ``She had to go through some pretty intense scenes in the film-reacting to her family being killed and her boyfriend being shot right in front of her, to name just a few of the more terrifying moments. It is a really demanding role for an actor but Danielle never once hesitated. She was just excited to be there. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Danielle in the future.
Panabaker describes her character as a typical high school student who works part-time in a doctor's office until she gets caught up in a terrifying ordeal. ``What I love about the script is that it goes to people's darkest places, she says. ``Part of the disease is that your fears and deepest resentments come out, and you start killing other people. There's no way to know what the disease is going to cause people to do.
``Everybody's inner demons emerge, she continues. ``The high school principal goes after the kids because, deep down, he really hates them. After I read the script, I wondered what would be my darkest place and I think the audience will, too. It's really dark and exciting.
Comparing The Crazies with more conventional horror films, Panabaker observes, ``With Jason in Friday the 13th, you know what you're running from-a big guy who's out to kill you. With a disease like this, you don't really know what's coming. There's this huge fear of the unknown. Who's coming after you and what are they going to do if they catch you? There are definitely some gruesome, gory deaths, but there are also some really scary, intense moments and some awesome action sequences.
Panabaker admits that she is afraid of most horror movies. ``I'm actually a big scaredy-cat, she says. ``Bambi gave me nightmares as a child. But in doing my research, I saw Disturbia and the original Friday the 13th. I'm really coming to appreciate the genre and all the work that goes into creating a really scary movie. Audiences really respond to this sort of suspended reality. And as an actor, there are great places to go in this genre. You get to experience so many different emotions.
During filming, fear of the swine flu pandemic originating in Mexico swept through the United States. ``It really showed how relevant and scary this concept is, says Panabaker. ``It's important to me to make films that have some resonance and stay with the audience. This stayed with me and left me thinking. I think audiences will go to this movie and really enjoy it and have a great time, but they'll also still be thinking about it and about what would happen if this were their town.

SEARCHING FOR TRIXIE

The deadly virus that sets the events of The Crazies in motion has an innocuous name: Trixie. The disease results in a variety of mental and physical symptoms that have a devastating effect on its human victims. As the filmmakers set about visualizing Trixie and its outward signs, Breck Eisner was adamant that it all had to be grounded in medical reality.
``One of the interesting things about this film is it's not a zombie movie, says Eisner. ``Romero has made several zombie movies, but this was not one of them.
Rather than a horde of brain-eating undead monsters, the ``infected are sick individuals, each reacting to the disease in unique and often terrifying ways. It is this reality that drove the conceptual design for the look of the various stages of the disease.
Robert Hall of Almost Human, one of Hollywood's premier makeup effects houses, was given the task of developing the look of Trixie sufferers. He was also required to find medical data to back up his ideas. ``We did a lot of research on real diseases, says Hall. ``We would pitch Breck an idea about what one side of the face should look like. He immediately wanted to know what disease the idea came from and how it could be integrated into Trixie. As long as we had medical backup, we had carte blanche.
Creating the look of the Crazies was a time-consuming process, says producer Rob Cowan. ``We started by playing around with a number of diseases. Once we hit on the core idea, Rob Hall and his group had a field day with it. It was really something to see in person. It was hard eating lunch some days.
Hall's primary concern was creating something original, but still realistic. ``The script references rabies in terms of some of the symptoms and how the virus affects the body, he says. ``We began by drawing on that in a way that wasn't completely literal. Then we continued conceptualizing based on what Breck liked and didn't like.
``There was also an interesting idea that the writers included about tetanus, he continues. ``Tetanus causes the body to arc off the ground and creates extreme tautness of the neck and the muscles. We thought it would be an interesting running theme if the Crazies' necks were taut and the tendons came up into the face and became blood blisters. In the end, we incorporated an array of real diseases, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which is a rare disorder that causes a painful red or purplish rash that eventually causes the top layer of your skin to die.
The effect that Trixie has on the Crazies, Hall says, came from the idea that the virus makes them ``hyper-alive. ``It's like life is surging through their veins, creating these pockets of infection. It has to come out, so it comes out the eyes, it comes out the ears.
Hall's research and imagination reaped spectacular results. ``These people truly look sick, which speaks to the incredible talent of Rob and his team, says Danielle Panabaker. ``To see the transformation when someone walked out of the makeup trailer was really impressive.
Fellow actor Radha Mitchell found that the finished makeup gave her a visceral understanding of her character's plight. ``The Crazies were made up in such a specific, realistic way. They are creepy and disgusting. The makeup drives the terror.
Firmly rooting the makeup design in reality adds poignancy to the fate of the infected, says Joe Anderson. ``You don't feel like you're looking at a monster. You're looking at somebody who's got a serious problem. They're absolutely human beings who are very, very sick.
Hall and his crew also used state-of-the-art techniques to create custom prosthetics for the actors. ``The infection spreads so fast, killing within 48 to 72 hours, he says. ``It comes on in stages that occur in very rapid succession. All the appliances that we used needed to be very mobile, because we needed to be able to mix and match them, for lack of a better phrase.
``For custom prosthetics we took live casts, he continues. ``That allowed us to sculpt out individual silicone pieces with all the top muscles accentuated. We put those on each 'infected' actor every day, and blended off the edges to make them seem more realistic.
Since the disease progresses so quickly, Hall would sometimes be asked to update a character's makeup on the fly. ``Breck might say, 'We're a little bit further along than we were the last time. Can we add another vein here?' We had hundreds and hundreds of additional small pieces that basically were made out of the adhesive we would use to glue an appliance anyway. We could add to a makeup within five minutes. It allowed us to be very fluid.
That transfer process is one of the newer techniques that Hall used. ``Silicone was sort of the bee's knees during the last decade, but the transfer is a very big step forward, he says. ``It was developed for The Passion of the Christ. It takes about 70 percent of the time. I can do a complete road rash arm in two minutes. It used to be every tiny little edge would have to be finessed. But if you're careful about the placement, there's no work around the edges.
Although realism was essential, as Hall points out, the best-designed makeup is useless unless the actor can perform in it. ``If I can help actors create a character from the outside in, that's fun for me. Sometimes it's as simple making sure the actor can turn his head. It is my responsibility to make it work. A stiff neck prosthetic can wrinkle and ruin the illusion. If Breck wanted an actor to do a certain kind of move, we made sure he got what he needed.

PERRY TO LENOX

George Romero's original The Crazies was set in a small Pennsylvanian town, a locale that epitomized America's 1960s self-image as strong, independent-and safe. This time around, the filmmakers were determined to retain that sense of idealized life in the USA, while setting the stage for a shocking turnabout.
``We looked all over the place for where to shoot this movie, explains Eisner. ``We scouted Canada, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, California, Illinois; basically anywhere that might have the appropriate landscape and offered good tax incentives.
Rob Cowan traveled to five states to find the perfect location to represent Ogden Marsh. ``We sent scouts to two or three others, he says. ``We wanted wide open farm land and we had a very hard time finding that. We did a lot of looking before we found the right places. Finally, they decided to split the shoot between Perry, Georgia and Lenox, Iowa.
Lenox had the requisite small-town ambiance and acres of surrounding farmland. ``The movie is about the heartland and we wanted to go to the heartland, says associate producer Brian Frankish. ``But Iowa was in the middle of a bitter winter, so we decided to go to Georgia for interiors while the world warmed up, and then move to Iowa for exteriors.
Perry, a town of about 10,000, sits close to the center of the state at the intersection of four major highways, which has earned it the nickname, the ``Crossroads of Georgia, and made tourism the number one industry in Perry. The town is the home of Robins Air Force Base, as well as global manufacturing corporations including Cagle's Inc., Frito-Lay and Graphic Packaging International, and the Georgia State Fair.
``Shooting on location gives me the opportunity to totally focus on the film and not get distracted by other things, which is great, says Danielle Panabaker. ``Georgia was lovely. In the south, everyone's very sweet and you eat lots of peach cobbler and they take great care of you.
Next, the film company set up shop in Lenox, a town with a population of just over 1,200. ``Lenox was able to give us the size and scope we needed, says Cowan. ``That was really important to us. We could have shot the film just about anywhere, but Breck believed those qualities were the key to making it work.
``Lenox is about a thousand miles from civilization, says Frankish. ``We were in the center of the heartland. We brought 170 people into a place where there were only 70 hotel rooms. It was challenging, but to do something audiences haven't seen before, you have to go someplace where no one's taken a camera before.
The location gave the actors a chance to understand the odds that their characters were working against. ``It was still freezing and you can't imagine how much space there was around us, says Mitchell. ``It gave me a sense of what these characters must be going through, because there's no quick way out of here. It's a long drive anywhere, and it's very difficult to communicate with anybody outside of this area.
On the other hand, the authenticity of the real Lenox, Iowa, was an eye-opener for a couple of Los Angeles natives. ``In the Midwest everyone's so friendly and helpful, says Panabaker. ``I got my car stuck in the mud. I knew if I walked over to the nearest farm, someone would help. That's a really great feeling.
Timothy Olyphant also enjoyed the time in Lenox. ``There's something fun for me about being in a place like that, he says. ``People reminded me how special my job is. It's refreshing to see your job through other people's eyes and realize how exciting it all is.

ABOUT THE CAST

TIMOTHY OLYPHANT (Sheriff David Dutton), with his diverse film and television credits, is known for poignant roles in both dramas and comedies. He most recently stars opposite Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway. Timothy also stars in Gary Yates' independent feature High Life, which premiered at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.
In 2007, Olyphant starred in Hitman and Live Free or Die Hard. Hitman, based on the popular video game and directed by Xavier Gens, centers around Agent 47 (Olyphant), who realizes he's being pursued by both Interpol and the Russian military as he treks across Eastern Europe. In Live Free or Die Hard, directed by Len Wiseman, Olyphant played Thomas Gabriel, an internet-based terrorist whom John McClane (Willis) is trying to stop from systematically shutting down the United States.
Olyphant co-starred with Elisha Cuthbert and Emile Hirsch in The Girl Next Door. He also starred in Doug Liman's Go. Timothy's other film credits include the independent feature Meet Bill, co-starring opposite Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba; the romantic comedy Catch and Release, in which he starred opposite Jennifer Garner; and the film adaptation of Stephen King's best selling novel Dreamcatcher. He also appeared in Rock Star, Gone in Sixty Seconds, A Man Apart, Scream 2 and A Life Less Ordinary.
On television, Olyphant has enjoyed guest appearances on popular shows such as NBC's ``My Name is Earl, HBO's ``Sex and the City and ABC's ``Samantha Who? Olyphant garnered critical notice for his portrayal of the tough, honorable, natural born-leader ``Seth Bullock in HBO's groundbreaking ``Deadwood. The show was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild award for ``Best Ensemble for the third season.
Most recently, Timothy completed an arc on this season's FX Emmy Award-winning show ``Damages.

RADHA MITCHELL (Dr. Judy Dutton) was last seen in Surrogates, opposite Bruce Willis, and recently wrapped production on the independent film Waiting City, which she also co-produced and which made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Previously, Mitchell played the leads in both The Children of Huang Shi, opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Chow Yun-Fat, and Henry Poole is Here, for director Mark Pellington. She also recently starred in the romantic comedy Feast of Love, alongside Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear.
Hailing from Australia, Mitchell gave a memorable performance early in her career as Syd, the young editorial assistant who falls in love with Ally Sheedy's heroin-addicted photographer in Lisa Cholodenko's critically acclaimed drama High Art. Her role in Emma-Kate Croghan's romantic comedy Love and Other Catastrophes was highly praised at both the Cannes and Sundance film festivals.
Since then, Mitchell has been seen in such films as Silent Hill, playing the lead role opposite Sean Bean; Finding Neverland, opposite Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Dustin Hoffman; Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington; Phone Booth, alongside Colin Farrell; and Pitch Black, with Vin Diesel.
Other recent film credits include When Strangers Appear, with Josh Lucas; Dead Heat, opposite Keifer Sutherland and Anthony LaPaglia; Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, with Will Ferrell; Nobody's Baby, opposite Gary Oldman and Skeet Ulrich; Rodrigo Garcia's Ten Tiny Love Stories, featuring Debi Mazar; and Mozart and the Whale, opposite Josh Harnett.
On television, Mitchell starred with Hank Azaria and Donald Sutherland in NBC's critically acclaimed miniseries ``Uprising, for director Jon Avnet.
The actress currently resides in California.

JOE ANDERSON (Russell Clank), after receiving critical acclaim on the London stage, starred opposite Ed Harris in Agnieszka Holland's Copying Beethoven. He subsequently landed the coveted co-lead in Across the Universe, the Beatles musical directed by Julie Taymor. Thereafter, Joe went on to do co-starring roles in Becoming Jane and the critically acclaimed Control, a biopic about the U.K. band Joy Division. He followed that up with the 2007 thriller The Ruins, and in 2008 he played the lead role in the independent feature The 27 Club and Gary Yates' indie project High Life, about four junkies who try to rob a bank.
Joe was recently seen opposite Hilary Swank and Ewan McGregor in the Amelia Earhart biopic Amelia and in Love Happens as the musician boyfriend of Jennifer Aniston. He's also recently wrapped the wild action flick Rogue's Gallery, where he plays the lead character amongst a group of government assassins who turn on themselves.

DANIELLE PANABAKER (Becca Darling) has quickly grabbed attention as one of Hollywood's most vibrant talents. Panabaker recently starred as the female lead in the highly anticipated remake of Friday the 13th opposite Jared Padalecki. Directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Michael Bay, the film grossed over $43 million its opening weekend.
Panabaker will soon start production on the sci-fi thriller Prodigy, in which she will star opposite Max Thieriot. The film follows students at an elite boarding school who begin investigating the murders of two alumni. They soon find their lives endangered, as they begin to unravel the cabal behind the murders, uncovering a thrilling conspiracy that reaches far beyond the confines of their school.
Panabaker starred as James Woods' unwaveringly wise daughter on CBS' drama ``Shark. She also appeared opposite Kevin Costner and Dane Cook in the thriller Mr. Brooks.
Panabaker garnered critical acclaim for her breakout performance in the HBO miniseries ``Empire Falls, starring opposite Paul Newman and Ed Harris. Her additional film credits include Yours, Mine and Ours, opposite Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid, and Sky High, opposite Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston.
Panabaker also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movie ``Read It and Weep, where she and her sister, Kay, played versions of the same character. Panabaker's additional television work includes starring roles in ``Searching for David's Heart (for which she won the 2005 Young Artist Award for Best Performance for a TV Movie Leading Young Actress), ``Mom at Sixteen, ``Sex & the Single Mom and the Disney Channel Original Movie ``Stuck in the Suburbs. Her guest-starring roles have included ``The Guardian (for which she won the 2004 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series Guest Starring Young Actress), ``Law and Order: SVU, ``CSI, ``Malcolm in the Middle, and ``Summerland.
Born in Georgia, Panabaker graduated from high school at the age of 14 and received her bachelor's degree in English from UCLA. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

BRECK EISNER (Director) began his film career with Sahara in 2005, his feature film directorial debut starring Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, William H. Macy, and Steve Zahn.
In television, Eisner directed the 2006 pilot ``Beyond, starring Adrian Lester, Seth Gabel, and Rachael Stirling. He directed and executive produced the two-hour drama ``Thoughtcrimes, and he also directed an episode of the acclaimed Sci-Fi Channel drama ``Taken, winner of an Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries, a Saturn Award for Best Single Television Presentation, a Golden Globe nomination and numerous other honors. In 2000, Eisner directed the pilot of Sci-Fi Channel's Saturn-nominated comedy thriller ``The Invisible Man.
Over the past ten years, Eisner has directed over 100 national television commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Coke, Coors, Heineken, Kodak, McDonald's, Pepsi and Sony, among others.
Eisner received an MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television and a BA from Georgetown University.

RAY WRIGHT (Screenwriter) graduated with a BA in psychology from the University of Maine. He also received an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. Wright moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to pursue his professional career. After adapting Chuck Yeager's biography for Richard Zanuck, he wrote an FBI-thriller called Bloodland about the Osage Indian murders of the 1920s. Both are unproduced. He then wrote Case 39 as a change of pace and thus began an unexpected detour into the horror genre. No imagined horror could have prepared him for the real-life nightmare of watching Case 39 be made, but The Crazies was a blast.

SCOTT KOSAR's (Screenwriter) credits include the remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Amityville Horror (2005) for Platinum Dunes, as well as The Machinist (2004) starring Christian Bale. He is currently writing The Sacrifice, a Satanic cult project, and The Family, an adaptation of Ed Sanders' Manson family saga.

MICHAEL AGUILAR (Producer) is currently a producer and principle at Dos Tontos, a production company with a deal at Fox Studios. Previously he served as president of production at Mosaic Media Group. Prior to Mosaic, Michael founded Penn Station Entertainment in 2003 with writer-producer Dean Georgaris.
Most recently, Michael produced the romantic comedy What Happens in Vegas, starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, directed by Tom Vaughan. Michael's other recent credits include the supernatural thriller Constantine starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Francis Lawrence. He was a co-producer on the Academy Award(R) winner The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. Michael produced the family holiday adventure Unaccompanied Minors directed by ``Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig and starring an ensemble cast that included Wilmer Valderrama, comedian Lewis Black, Rob Corddry and Tyler James Williams. He executive produced Henry Poole is Here starring Luke Wilson, as well as Taking Chances by writer/director Talmage Cooley and starring Justin Long, Rob Corddry and Emanuelle Chriqui.
The Phillips Exeter Academy and Kenyon College graduate began his career in entertainment hawking tickets for Boston comedy clubs, then scored an internship at RKO Pictures (L.A.), where he rose to director of development overseeing the storied company's massive library. He then went on to Paramount Pictures as a creative executive, overseeing such pictures as Face/Off, A Night at the Roxbury and Event Horizon.
Aguilar spent the next six years running the production company founded by producer Lauren Shuler Donner and director Richard Donner. There, he oversaw the development of the X-Men franchise along with Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. He also produced Out Cold and co-produced Richard Donner's adaptation of Michael Crichton's Timeline.

DEAN GEORGARIS (Producer) is a prolific writer and has written screenplays for the features Tristan + Isolde starring James Franco, directed by Kevin Reynolds and produced by Ridley Scott; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Jan DeBont; The Manchurian Candidate starring Denzel Washington and directed by Jonathan Demme; and Paycheck starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman and directed by John Woo. Georgaris did a rewrite for the movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy. He also produced What Happens In Vegas starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz.
Georgaris was raised in New York City and graduated with honors from Swarthmore College where he majored in political science. He decided to pursue a career in the arts after living in Florence for six months, and enrolled in the directing program at USC School of Cinema-Television, which he later left to write full time.

ROB COWAN (Producer) recently produced Home of the Brave, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel and Curtis ``50 Cent Jackson, and also Righteous Kill starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Righteous Kill was Cowan's third collaboration with Robert De Niro; the first two are Guilty by Suspicion, which premiered at Cannes, and Night and the City, which Cowan co-produced and was the opening night film of the New York Film Festival. Next up for Cowan is the Vietnam drama 105 Degrees and Rising, currently in pre-production with Overture Films.
Early in his career, Cowan co-produced the film Short Time and was the assistant director on such big screen successes as Three Men and a Baby, Cocktail and Stakeout.
Cowan is a longtime collaborator with director and producer Irwin Winkler. They first worked together on two Costa-Gavras films: Betrayed and Music Box. Cowan went on to join Winkler Films, producing such movies as The Net, Enough, The Juror, At First Sight, Life as a House and De-Lovely, both starring Kevin Kline, the latter film debuting as the closing movie of the Cannes Film Festival.
For television, Cowan produced ``Rocky Marciano, starring Jon Favreau and George C. Scott. The telefilm was selected as the opening film of the Monte Carlo Television Festival. He also produced and co-wrote the pilot for the series ``The Net.
Cowan wrote and produced the DVD sequel ``The Net 2.0, which shot in Istanbul, Turkey. He also produced the feature film Shackles, which was in competition at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.

GEORGE A. ROMERO (Executive Producer) is a pivotal figure in the development of the contemporary horror film. His first feature, Night of the Living Dead (1968), redefined the genre, not only with its explicit violence, but with a satirical view of American society that reflected the turmoil of the times. Ethnically and sexually integrated, anti-macho and always skeptical of conventional wisdom, Romero's work epitomizes the progressive wing of a sometimes reactionary genre.
Inspired by Michael Powell's Tales of Hoffman, Romero made short subjects, industrials, and commercials before co-writing, editing, filming, and directing Night of the Flesh Eaters. Produced for $144,000 and renamed Night of the Living Dead, the film became a landmark of independent cinema. A stark parable of the American family consuming itself, it retains the power to shock and surprise.
Romero made several more low-budget films in his beloved Pittsburgh before solidifying his reputation with two remarkable works. Martin (1977) is a lyrical, poignant, and deeply disturbing story of a lonely boy who is convinced he is a vampire. Dawn of the Dead (1978) is set in a typical suburban shopping mall, where a band of struggling survivors is beset by zombies and their own personal demons. A powerful, apocalyptic action film leavened with Romero's signature pitch-black wit, the movie became one of the most profitable independent productions in film history.
Romero continued to do interesting work through the '80s and '90s. Knightriders (1981) is a heartfelt film based on Arthurian legend. Ed Harris plays the leader of a troupe that stages medieval fairs with knights jousting on motorcycles instead of horses. Creepshow (1982), scripted by Stephen King, is a more mainstream work featuring higher production values and a cast of well-known actors. Smart and boldly stylized, the film was a critical and financial success. Day of the Dead (1985) is a progressive, eerily claustrophobic film, and his third zombie adventure.
Romero's first studio-developed film, Monkey Shines (1988), was an unusual and unusually gripping thriller and was hailed by Newsweek as "a white-knuckle triumph." Two Evil Eyes (1990), a collaboration with Dario Argento, consists of two vignettes inspired by Edgar Allan Poe short stories. The Dark Half (1993) stars Timothy Hutton in a superb dual performance; the film was praised by critics and is among the most thoughtful of the many Stephen King adaptations.
Bruiser (2000) is a taut, frightening, and highly original tale of revenge whose hero is stripped of his identity and becomes-literally-faceless.
At the end of 2004, Romero found himself back in the director's chair filming his fourth zombie installment, Land of the Dead. The film was released in June of 2005 and was one of the summer's best-reviewed films. With the success of Land of the Dead, Romero went back to basics, going the independent route with Diary of the Dead. With less than a $3 million dollar budget, Romero showed the world what you can do with a good script and great talent. Diary was released in mid February 2008 to strong reviews.
With horror films finally being taken seriously and the success of the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, George's work has been re-introduced to a whole new generation. Over the past few years, Romero has received Life Achievement Awards and retrospectives honoring him from the American Museum of the Moving Image, The Torino Film Festival, Fangoria magazine and the New York Horror Film Festival, among others. His biggest honor to date was an invitation by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to deliver the George Pal Lecture at the Academy on horror films. This is the first time a director from the genre has ever been invited to address the Academy.
Notable for his intelligence, innovation and sensitivity as a filmmaker, in addition to his ability to scare, Romero remains one of the pre-eminent directors in the horror and thriller genres.

MAXIME ALEXANDRE (Director of Photography) was born in Renaix, Belgium, on February 4th, 1971, and was raised in Italy from the age of five. In 1980, at 9-years-old, he played his first part as an actor with Anouk Aimée and Bruno Cremer in the movie by Elie Chouraqui, Une page d'amour, followed in 1984 by the movie Bianca by Nanni Moretti.
In 1990, Alexandre left Rome, moved to Paris and concentrated on his professional path as an assistant cameraman, working next to photography directors such as Darius Khondji (Se7en, The Beach), Tetsuo Nagata (La Vie en Rose, Renegade), Tonino Delli Colli (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America), Franco Di Giacomo (The Postman, Night of the Shooting Stars) and Jean Yves Escoffier (Good Will Hunting, Rounders).
During 1994 and 1995, Alexandre started expressing himself as a photography director, first in short spots and video clips and finally in his first commercial with director Michel Gondry. Alexandre's projects as director of photography include Mirrors, The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension.
In 1997, Alexandre left Paris to return to Italy, first to Rome, then Venice where he still resides.

BILLY FOX (Editor) has lent his editing talents to a number of documentaries, commercials, miniseries and narrative films. His feature credits include Overture Films' Traitor, starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce; Woman Thou Art Loosed for Michael Schultz; and Hustle & Flow, starring Terrence Howard, for Craig Brewer and producer John Singleton. Singleton also enlisted Fox to edit Four Brothers. Fox then returned to the same team that produced Hustle & Flow to edit Black Snake Moan. He recently edited Pride, also starring Terrence Howard. In 2001, Fox was the co-producer and editor of the HBO miniseries ``Band of Brothers for Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Fox is the recipient of 15 major awards and numerous nominations, including seven Emmy wins, two BDA Awards, The Monitor Award, The Peabody Award, The Golden Laurel and Humanitas Awards.

ANDREW MENZIES (Production Designer) was born in Australia and lived there until he was about four years old. Around that time his parents separated; one parent chose to live in Australia and the other in London. This meant his childhood was spent predominantly in Britain, living in London and going to school in Scotland, with the occasional summer in Australia. Andrew, looking at the positive, felt lucky to have grown up in those three beautiful places.
At 8 years old, Andrew, with his twin brother Simon, had a chance meeting with their hero John Wayne. Wayne at the time was filming Brannigan (1975) in their apartment in London and was kind enough to show them around the sets. At that point, the seed was sown for Andrew's interest in filmmaking.
On completing his first degree he went traveling around Europe and to such places as Nepal, Thailand, Borneo and the outback of Australia, finding work in the latter two. After a while he returned to London to do a master's degree in film design at the prestigious Royal College of Art (RCA).
On graduating from the RCA, Andrew received a job offer with Village Roadshow in Australia. He had some time before the job started, so he decided to take a motorcycle trip across the United States en route to Sydney. On arriving at the East Coast of the U.S. to prep for his trip, he had a chance meeting with a fellow alumnus from the RCA who was designing on a George Lucas film. This led to Andrew's first job in film, working as a draftsman. He progressed from there into art direction, working on a host of films including Steven Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence, Milos Forman's Man on the Moon, Joe Johnston's October Sky and Tony Scott's Enemy of the State. His credits as art director also include Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds and Munich, and James Cameron's Avatar.

ROBERT HALL (Special Effects Makeup), in the last decade, has become one of the most popular and prolific special effects makeup artists in Hollywood. Hall and his studio, Almost Human, have been responsible for creating some of the most horrifying and photorealistic effects work in film and television.
Hall's creatures were featured weekly in the phenomenally successful cult series Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. He also did subtle aging prosthetics on S. Epatha Merkerson for HBO's Lackawanna Blues; the film was nominated for an Emmy for Best Makeup and Merkerson won Best Actress Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.
Originally born In Detroit, Hall began his career as a youngster in Alabama, buying makeup and materials at the local Wal-Mart for his friends' Halloween makeup. While his friends were out playing sports, Hall was busy messing up his face in the mirror and getting tips from horror magazines such as Fangoria. In 1992, at the age of 18 and fed up with his job as a chicken deboner for Tyson Chicken, he traveled more than 300 miles to Selma, Alabama, where he impressed Tom Burman and talked him into hiring him to work as an assistant makeup effects artist on Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers.
Hall remembers thinking, "Wow, I get paid to do this?" So with that enthusiasm and love for the craft, he continued to take risks in pursuit of his passion. With less than $100 dollars in his pocket, 19-year-old Hall packed his bags and moved to Hollywood. He worked non-stop for other special effects makeup studios where he mastered his craft and developed his own unique style. During this time he worked for Stan Winston on such films as The Ghost and the Darkness, The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Relic.
In 1996, Hall decided it was time to step out on his own and set up his own studio. With the company's name pulled from the title of a Kiss song, Almost Human special effects makeup studio was born. In the early stages of the company, Hall worked with extremely small budgets on over 30 film and TV projects for the legendary Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures. He considers himself a graduate of the ``Roger Corman School of Film.
Most recently Almost Human has created FX makeup for films such as Vacancy, Super Bad, Prom Night, Pineapple Express, and Quarantine. Hall and Almost Human also create all of the prosthetics, makeup effects and Animatronics for the new hit Fox show ``Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Hall has directed music videos for bands such as Drivin N' Cryin, Buckcherry, Manntis and In This Moment.
In 2004 Hall made his writing and directorial feature film debut with Lightning Bug. The semi-autobiographical tale won several top awards at film festivals, including Best of Show at the Trenton Film Festival and The George Lindsay Film Festival. It was also a Festival Favorite at the prestigious Philadelphia Film Fest. The film was distributed courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment/Starz Home Entertainment and has become an underground cult classic.
Robert Hall's sophomore directing endeavor (and his first horror film), Laid To Rest, was released in 2009.