- Notes provided by Paramount Pictures. -

"I was born under unusual circumstances."
And so begins "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: A man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. From New Orleans at the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, on a journey as unusual as any man's life can be, the film tells the grand tale of a not so ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds and loses, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures Present A Kennedy/Marshall Production A David Fincher Film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Tilda Swinton. The film is directed by David Fincher. The screenplay is by Eric Roth, with screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin.
The behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Claudio Miranda, production designer Donald Graham Burt, editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, and costume designer Jacqueline West. The music is by Alexandre Desplat.
This film has been rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" began its life as a short story written in the 1920s by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who, in turn, drew his own inspiration from a quote by Mark Twain: "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18."
Fitzgerald's story was a caprice, a find of fancy, and bringing it to life on the screen was long perceived as too ambitious, too fantastical to accomplish. The project floated around for 40-some odd years until producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall took it up. For over a decade, the project has likewise intrigued Eric Roth, David Fincher and Brad Pitt.
For Roth, the concept became an opportunity to introspectively view the broad canvas of a life through the synthesis of intimate moments experienced every day, through events that may be as large as a world war or as small as a kiss. "Eric was the ideal person to fully realize the potential of such a large-scale but deeply personal story," Kennedy notes. "In 'Forrest Gump,' he revealed intimate portraits against the backdrop of epic stories, and a gift for richly observed detail."
The chance to live life backwards would seem ideal. "But it's not that simple," says Roth. "On the surface, you think it would be just lovely, but it is a different kind of life, which I think is so compelling about this story. Even though Benjamin is going backwards, the first kiss and the first love are still as significant and meaningful to him. It doesn't make any difference whether you live your life backwards or forwards - it's how you live your life."
While conceiving and writing the screenplay, Roth experienced the personal loss of both of his parents. "Their deaths were obviously very painful for me, and gave me a different perspective on things," he notes. "I think people will respond to the same things in this story that I responded to."
The movie explores the human condition that exists outside of time and age - the joys of life and love and the sadness of loss. "David and I both wanted it to feel as if this was anybody's story," Roth says. "It's just a man's life - that's what's sort of
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extraordinary about the movie and very ordinary at the same time. What affects this odd character affects everyone."
While Benjamin's predicament is entirely peculiar, his journey highlights the complex emotions at the core of every life. "It touches on questions we ask ourselves over the course of a lifetime," says Marshall. "And it's rare that one movie will elicit so many different, personal points of view. Someone in their 60s or 70s will look at the movie one way, while someone who's 20 is going to see it another way."
Producer Céan Chaffin recalls that the project had long been circling around Fincher, away from him and back. An earlier version of the screenplay sat on his desk when Chaffin started working with him in 1992. "It was something he loved and kept bringing up over the years," she says. "I remember, too, when Brad asked him about it, and David said, 'That could be a great movie.' Scripts come and go, but this script never left. He says things go away for the right reasons and you can't have regrets. This one must have had the right reasons to stay."
Fincher's own experience of loss infused his fascination with the story. "My father died five years ago, and I remember the experience of being there when he breathed his last breath," he reflects. "It was an incredibly profound one. When you lose someone who helped form you in a lot of ways, who is your 'true north,' you lose the barometer of your life. You're no longer trying to please someone, or you're no longer reacting against something. In many ways, you're truly alone."
Early in the film's preparations, Fincher's meetings with Kennedy and Marshall often turned highly personal. "We'd start talking about the story," Fincher remembers, "and fifteen minutes later we're all talking about people that we've loved who have died, and people that we loved who didn't pay attention to us, or people we chased or who chased us. The film is interesting in that way; it had this effect on all of us."
Making the movie would be an ambitious jump, posing dramatic as well as technical challenges. "How do you deftly and succinctly create the experience of a life, with all its dips and peaks, from grave to cradle, within a single film?" muses Kennedy. "In Eric's script, each moment accrues emotions that resonate with you later on. Cheating that sensibility would diminish the experience, so we knew from the beginning that it would take time to project the experience of a whole life."
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For Pitt, the only way to play the character was all the way through, at every age, which posed one of the film's most daunting challenges. "Brad was only interested in playing the part if he could play the character through the totality of his life," Fincher explains. "Kathy and Frank were more than mildly curious how we were going to do that. I said, 'I don't know, but we'll figure it out.'"
Pitt's draw was also in the journey Benjamin takes. "Many actors weigh a part based on what their character gets to do," says Fincher. "Well, Benjamin doesn't 'do'a lot, per se, but, man, he goes through an enormous amount. Brad was the perfect person. It's the kind of role that would be passive in lesser hands."
To share the screen opposite Pitt, Fincher cast Cate Blanchett. The director had Blanchett on his mind since catching her performance in "Elizabeth." "I remember going to the Sunset 5 and just thinking, 'Who is that? My goodness,'" he recalls. "You just don't see people who have that kind of power and ability every day of the week."
The actress, says Pitt, "elevated most of our performances. She's exquisite. She's a great friend. She can read a scene like few actors can. I find her to be grace incarnate. I liked that she was playing a dancer. It fit her because of who she is, because of her undeniable elegance."
The relationship between her character Daisy and Benjamin evolves as she comes to understand and learns to live with his preternatural circumstances. Notes Eric Roth, "Cate embodies this woman, who has to make peace with the idea of growing older while the person she loves is on the backward path. What does life become for her then? She goes from being an impetuous, passionate dancer to a woman with deep reserves of strength."
Blanchett shaped Daisy with a dancer's manner and passions, though the actress' own ballet practice ended in childhood. "When I was a child, I did the usual girly thing and studied ballet but had to choose between that and piano lessons," Blanchett notes. "I chose piano and then gave it up for drama. I have a great appreciation for dance, but know my limitations. This movie was a great opportunity to revisit that appreciation."
Daisy is one of many figures that come into contact with Benjamin. "Benjamin is like a cue ball and all the people he collides with leave marks on him," says Fincher.
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"That's what a life is - a collection of these dents and scratches. They are what make him who he is and not anyone else."
"I like this idea of dents," adds Pitt. "People make an impact and leave some kind of an impression. There's something very poetic and accepting about that. It doesn't mean you roll over. It doesn't mean you don't fight for what you want. It means you accept the inevitabilities of life. People come and go. People leave, whether by choice or by death. People leave as you yourself will someday leave - it's the inevitable. How you deal with this becomes the question."
Pitt associates this notion with his friend and frequent collaborator. "The film explores this idea that I know to be true of Fincher - the belief that we are responsible for our own lives," the actor says. "We're responsible for our successes and failures and there's no one else to blame or take credit for them. Fate certainly has a say, but at the end of the day, its shape is ours."
The role presented Pitt with a complex challenge unlike any he has faced in a film
- to communicate the character's inner growth as he reacts to others he encounters throughout the film. "Benjamin Button's journey is a very interior one," says Blanchett. "Despite the obvious physical demands the role placed on Brad as an actor, the trick was playing a character that listens and is present and reactive to everyone in the movie."
"It's perhaps the stillest performance Brad has ever given," Fincher adds.
Roth points out that Pitt also grounded the extraordinary aspects of the character with his own essential humanity, "The bravura of this performance is that Brad plays him as this sort of 'everyman.' I think from his own life, Brad found an affinity for this character that transcends acting the role. He understands what it's like to live a different kind of life."
As Benjamin's adoptive mother, Queenie, tells him throughout his life, "You never know what's coming for you."
Benjamin is born in New Orleans in 1918, at the end of the Great War - a good night to be born. When Benjamin's mother dies in childbirth, his father, horrified at his appearance, abandons the baby on the steps of Nolan House, a retirement home where he is taken in by Queenie, the home's caretaker.
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Taraji P. Henson was pegged for the role of Queenie long before the film came to fruition, when Fincher's casting director, Laray Mayfield, steered the director toward her performance in "Hustle and Flow." "We were all taken with how alive and maternal she was," Fincher recalls. "I found all the warmth, all the non-judgmental aspects of Queenie, in Taraji."
Queenie does a job many people could never do. "She's a woman who knows how to deal with death," says Henson. "And, at the same time, she is the embodiment of unconditional love. To be able to take in a child that's not yours, at a time when racism is the norm, and he's white and has been born under these unusual circumstances - she is able to look past all that and love him."
The character spoke to Henson on an intensely personal level. "It's been a very spiritual journey for me," she reveals. "I had just lost my father, and even though I miss him dearly, it's almost as if his death was a part of my journey towards Queenie. When my father was sick, we made sure that he was never alone; someone was always at his bedside. He passed away while I was with him because he knew I could handle it. This role helped me through my grief and my grief helped shape my performance. Art can be very healing."
Benjamin grows into adulthood with an equanimity towards loss that few experience. "He comes from a world of people who have made peace with their own mortality, so there's not a lot that scares him," says Fincher. "Every person he meets is transient; every moment with them could be his last. Yet, none of the people there are hysterical; they're all making do. So, by a very young age, he is familiar with the most profound aspects of death. It's coming for everyone, and we spend all our lives focusing on other things to avoid having to think about that inevitability."
Benjamin first meets Daisy when they are both children and she comes to visit her grandmother at Nolan House. Daisy sees through the exterior of his elderly handicaps to the child beneath. "One of the linchpins of the piece is how their lives coincide and differ," says Roth. "This relationship evolves as they grow and change, with all the missed and found opportunities in between."
While everyone around him is growing older, Benjamin is growing younger, all alone. "Benjamin aging backwards only makes him more aware that you can't hold onto
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things," says co-star Mahershalalhashbaz Ali. "He knows that you have things for a certain amount of time, and then you have to be okay with letting go. You can take what you can from it while it's here, but it's never yours."
This sense of acceptance is a trait Fincher traces back to his own father. "I see a lot of my father in Benjamin," the director says. "As a journalist and a product of the Great Depression, my father was a bit of a stoic, an observer; he took things in without judgment. I remember him as being happy to appreciate people as they were. I filtered that in Benjamin's reactions and especially the way he dealt with people, with situations. I'd look at him and say, 'Yes, Jack would do that. He would act that way.'"
Along with Queenie, Benjamin is raised by the elderly men and women whose adventures and life lessons are behind them and who have come to Nolan House to quietly spend their twilight years.
Tizzy Weathers, Queenie's longtime love, is one of Benjamin's first "fathers." "Tizzy is kind of a flag post, a barometer for his manhood," says Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, who plays Tizzy. "He helps to guide him and raise him. He teaches him to read and to write; he teaches him about Shakespeare. But I think he mostly leaves him with a sense of what a man is. Tizzy gives him that foundation so there can be some chance at peace for Benjamin in regard to having a male figure in his life."
But Tizzy, like everyone Benjamin comes to know and love, is only his for a short time. Benjamin leaves behind Queenie and Tizzy, Daisy, and his collection of friends from the only home he has ever known when he lights out for the world. The person who presents him with an invitation to adventure is Captain Mike and the motley crew of personalities on his tugboat.
Jared Harris plays the grizzled sea captain, who reveals his secret self through the map of tattoos covering his body. Harris describes his character as "sort of a thwarted, frustrated, drunk, angry failed artist, in a way. He went into his family business because he couldn't stand up to his own father."
In spite of his own father issues, Captain Mike becomes another "father" to Benjamin. "Your father is a tremendously powerful figure in your life," says Harris. "And within this story, the male characters - the relationships between fathers and sons - is a massive underlying thread. Captain Mike introduces Benjamin, in that sort of bad
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father/uncle way, to the vices and pleasures of life. He also introduces him to a life at sea, and through that life, Benjamin gets to see the world."
But Captain Mike, like Tizzy before him, is a stand-in for the real thing - Thomas Button, the father that left Benjamin on Queenie's doorstep. "Thomas transfers all his sadness, resentment and fear of the future to the child," says Jason Flemyng, who plays Thomas Button. "In a strange way, after losing his wife in childbirth, Thomas believes he's ridding himself of all the heartache by leaving his son behind, but in fact, he spends the rest of his life regretting that act. It haunts him forever."
Flemyng, a friend of both Pitt's and Fincher's, was so taken with Eric Roth's script that he immediately put himself on tape after reading it in attempt to land the role of Thomas Button. Flemyng recalls, "I was excited for Fincher and Céan Chaffin to see what I could do with this part. I knew this would be the kind of movie that I would go to the cinema to see. I just really wanted to be a part of it."
Benjamin comes of age in the far-flung Russian port town of Murmansk, where he meets another defining personality - Elizabeth Abbott, played by Tilda Swinton. "Tilda has proven time and time again that she can do anything," says Kennedy. "The opportunity for her to hold the screen with Brad, Cate, Taraji and all the other wonderful actors contributed to the tremendous wattage of the film as a whole."
The lonely Elizabeth Abbott, wife of a diplomat, who harbors dreams of swimming across the English Channel, becomes Benjamin's first kiss. "They each learn something from the other," Swinton says. "She is open, energetic and self-searching; he is patience, simplicity, and optimism. It is a fair exchange. The idea of her, at the end of her life's adventure, being affected by Benjamin's sense of beginning - of living with the newness of independence and of choice, of claiming one's own life for oneself - is something I find very moving."
Throughout Benjamin's travels on the tugboat, Daisy's own trajectory brings her to New York, where she joins a dance company in the prime of her young life, brimming with emotion and pushing boundaries. "This isn't a ballad of co-dependency, which is 'I can't live without you,'" says Fincher. "They're not waiting for each other. They're both sexually active. These are two complete individuals who choose to be together for a certain amount of time, even though it is not the easiest way to go."
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Their paths will diverge and converge throughout their lives, until they reach what Fincher calls the "sweet spot" in the middle when they're meant to be together. "The universe conspires to make them who they are at exactly the right moment," he says. "And you kind of breathe a sigh of relief when they get together because now it can happen, exactly as it is supposed to."
Daisy, and all of the personalities that populate Benjamin's world, have their own life arcs over the course of the tale. Their stories, in tandem or out of frame, are indelible threads in the tapestry of the film.
"I think David has the artist's sense of holding the actual material of filmmaking in his own hands," says Swinton. "His sleeves are up. He perceives both the traditions of Hollywood cinema and what he sees as its pretty limitless possibilities, all with the attitude of a true pioneer. He's like a child in a sandbox. There is a sense in which the images he builds with his colleagues are simply downloaded from the film that exists, fully formed, in his own head. It feels as if he's piecing together his taste of the film in an elaborate game: as if he was remembering a dream. Wonder seems never very far away for him."
Pitt concurs, noting, "David is like a man possessed. He's got such an eye for film and the balance and ballet of a camera move that it cannot be any other way for him but superb. The great reward is that you have this finely sculpted piece at the end. He is a sculptor."
"He circles an idea, a moment, an image, a character or a scene, viewing it from all angles and, where other people are satisfied when they have viewed the idea in three dimensions, David wants to keep investigating until that idea has six or seven dimensions," adds Blanchett. "When other people would say, 'Stop David, that's impossible,' it only spurs him on. I do think many other filmmakers would have stopped short of the incredible places David took this fable - and us."
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was shot in a variety of locations, including Montreal and the Caribbean, and the character's home city of New Orleans, which was recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina when production set down. "We had committed to film in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina and, of
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course, there was a period of uncertainty about whether we would be able to shoot there following the disaster," recalls Kennedy. "However, the city called us just two days after the hurricane, eagerly encouraging us to continue with our plans."
Working in an area that was just coming out from under devastating emotional and physical damage presented some logistical challenges for the filmmakers. "With the overwhelming support of the city and the incredible talent of our cast and crew, these proved to be minor complications," says Marshall. "Each day was carefully planned and rehearsed, and David's leadership in all areas allowed everyone to have a clear idea of what was expected, so, overall, the shoot went very smoothly."
The filmmakers quickly found that hardship had not dimmed the spirit of the people of the city. "I think Fincher and I were very fortunate that we got to work with people who were there because they wanted to be," says Chaffin. "On this film, we had an extraordinary amount of 'Yes, we would love to have you,' particularly from Louisiana. Each person who read the script was touched by some part of it - and it was different from person to person. I think it reminded them of something in their own life and they had to be a part of this film."
The timelessness of the city dovetailed with the tapestry of eras in Fincher's film. "It was important to clearly delineate each era in the film without overtly announcing the passing of time," says production designer Donald Graham Burt. "It was more important to create a sense of a natural progression of time within sets. [Set decorator] Victor J. Zolfo and I would discuss what elements on the sets we felt should change and which should be suspended in time. It was important for any elements to be purposeful and have reason, and not just be placed to fill a void or altered just for the sake of change."
Fincher worked with the production design team to infuse the sets with a feeling like paging through a photo album from somebody's attic, filled with portraits of simple folks living ordinary lives. "We created our own 'life' stories for each of these sets, in particular Nolan House and the Winter Palace Hotel in Murmansk [where Benjamin meets Elizabeth] - places where major events in Benjamin's life occur," says Zolfo.
The mandate at every level of the production was to create a believable realism that would nurture the essential truths at the heart of the story. "As much as there are a lot of fable conceits in this story, I wanted to err on the side of it being as realistic as
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possible," Fincher explains. "I didn't want it to feel like 'Once upon a time.' I didn't want to let the actors off the hook. I didn't want to let the audience off the hook. I didn't want to let the production designer off the hook. Everything had to be up to period - what places would look like, what people would wear, what kind of glasses or hearing aids they'd have."
The costumes were of the moment, but stylized. Costume designer Jacqueline West met with Burt and Zolfo early on to ensure the symmetry of their work. "David composes like a painter," says West. "When I walked onto the railroad set, it looked like a Caillebotte painting. So, I went to Caillebotte and the other early Impressionists for my inspiration - Edouard Manet, Toulouse Lautrec, Courbet. I just knew that once I figured out Don Burt's beautiful sensibility, whatever I put in there within my color palette, which was pretty dark and muddy, would work."
West turned to the Depression-era WPA and FSA photographers, especially to gain inspiration for Queenie's wardrobe during Benjamin Button's early life. "Queenie is a poor woman who has a lot of character, so I wanted her wardrobe to reflect her personality," she says. "I also figured that most of her clothes would be hand-me-downs from the old women who had lived in Nolan House and died there. These women had probably stopped shopping maybe 20 years earlier. So, I took her back in time a bit."
By contrast, Daisy would always be dressed in the upcoming fashions and form-fitting ballerina clothes of the era. For Daisy, West referenced pioneering dance choreographer George Balanchine and his wife and muse, Tanaquil LeClercq - an inspiration Blanchett herself had explored. "I looked at dance movements that were influential in Daisy's youth," Blanchett explains. "George Balanchine and Tanaquil LeClercq were of particular interest to me."
Blanchett, says West, "became a ballerina in the fittings. She reminded me so much of pictures I'd seen of LeClercq - the body language, the mannerisms and the internal conflict."
LeClercq favored the designs of Claire McCardell, one of America's top designers in the 1940s and 1950s, who is credited as the originator of "The American Look." West turned to McCardell for one of Daisy's most memorable costumes - the flowing red dress she wears on her date with Benjamin. "Jackie was definitely my
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partner in crime," says Blanchett. "I adored every stitch, every button. She introduced me to Claire McCardell and the costume fittings were a revelation. How blessed was I."
To dress Benjamin Button throughout his life, West referenced cinema icons of the 20th century. "I used Gary Cooper in the '40s; Brando in the '50s; and Steve McQueen in the '60s. They were great inspirations and Brad has that same kind of charisma, so I knew he could pull those looks off," she says.
One other physical element for Pitt was the digital techniques that would facilitate his performance of Benjamin from youth to old age. Visual effects supervisor Eric Barba, a longtime Fincher collaborator, notes, "David told me from the beginning, 'Brad has to drive the performance from beginning to end.' Benjamin is the emotional core of the movie, and is clearly present, even when it seems impossible. That was our challenge with the effects."
Barba worked in tandem with Academy Award®-winning special make-up designer Greg Cannom, who created prosthetics to enhance the aging and de-aging throughout the film.
Understated but meticulous attention to detail on a broad canvas extended to digital cinematography in the film. "David's shooting style for the film takes on a sense of what David Lean exemplified with sweeping epic shots that capture a sense of place and time," says Marshall. "The emotional poignancy of the film achieves its power through David's use of the camera as the observer. He wants you involved in the character study, so the camerawork becomes more studied and calm. It's not a film that requires quick cuts and visceral frenetic camera moves."
"We wanted to keep it as naturalistic as possible," says director of photography Claudio Miranda. "We tried to know where the source was going to be coming from, and then tried to bend it or play it. We did some shots where we just put light bulbs in the frame and let them light the scene. You normally cheat sources by putting in a light bulb, dimming it down so it's not too much, then creating another light source just out of frame. I thought it was cool that we just let it be."
The light sources change as the eras overlap and give way to one another. "There's progression in the technology, going from candles to gas lamps and clear bulb incandescents to fluorescents," Fincher explains. "There are some movie lights, but not a
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lot. For the most part, it was shot digitally to be able to utilize these kinds of light sources, and also to be able to move quickly."
Occasionally, shots organically presented themselves, as in the spare, elegant shot of Blanchett dancing in the gazebo during her date with Benjamin in New York. "That shot on the gazebo was so simple. We saw that and said, 'We gotta shoot here,'" recalls Fincher. "There was some question about what the background would be and I said, 'Well, it's a swamp out there, let's get some steam or smoke and light up those trees and keep her in silhouette.' We were trying for an old, classic Hollywood style, super simple. It looked like a music box."
Fincher's exacting sensibility and attention to such details provided the ideal compliment to his deep understanding of the truths at the heart of Benjamin's tale. "Considering the epic scope of the story and deep emotional arcs, every choice he made was perfect and so rewarding for us to be a part of," Kennedy concludes.

ABOUT THE CAST
BRAD PITT (Benjamin Button), one of today's most-watched film actors, is also a successful film producer, with his company Plan B Entertainment.
He was an Academy Award® nominee for his performance in Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys," for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was also a Golden Globe Award nominee for his performances in Edward Zwick's "Legends of the Fall" and Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Babel."
Pitt most recently starred in Joel and Ethan Coen's comedy thriller "Burn After Reading," which had its world premiere as the opening night attraction at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival. The previous year, he was named Best Actor at Venice for his portrayal of Jesse James in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" directed by Andrew Dominik.
Opposite George Clooney, his "Burn After Reading" co-star, he also appeared in Steven Soderbergh's hits "Ocean's Eleven," "Ocean's Twelve" and "Ocean's Thirteen."
Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri at Columbia where he majored in Journalism. Right before
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graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to study graphic design, but instead began to pursue an acting career, studying with Roy London. Soon after, he began securing roles in television, including the series "Glory Days" and the acclaimed telefilms "The Image" directed by Peter Werner and "Too Young to Die?" directed by Robert Markowitz.
It was Mr. Pitt's role in Ridley Scott's Academy Award®-winning "Thelma and Louise" that first brought him national attention. He soon went on to star in Robert Redford's Academy Award®-winning "A River Runs Through It," Dominic Sena's "Kalifornia" and Neil Jordan's "Interview With the Vampire." He has also starred in Tom DiCillo's "Johnny Suede," which won the Golden Leopard Award for Best Picture at the 1991 Locarno International Film Festival; Ralph Bakshi's "Cool World," Tony Scott's "True Romance," Barry Levinson's "Sleepers," Alan J. Pakula's "The Devil's Own," Jean-Jacques Annaud's "Seven Years in Tibet," Martin Brest's "Meet Joe Black," and two previous David Fincher films "Se7en" and "Fight Club."
More recent films include Doug Liman's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," which was one of 2005's biggest hits, Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy," Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson's animated feature "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," Tony Scott's "Spy Game," Gore Verbinski's "The Mexican," Guy Ritchie's "Snatch," as well as cameo roles in Soderbergh's "Full Frontal" and Clooney's "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind."
Pitt's Plan B Entertainment develops and produces film and television projects. Plan B has thus far produced such films as Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," which won four Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, Michael Winterbottom's "A Mighty Heart," for which Angelina Jolie received Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, Critics' Choice, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp, Ryan Murphy's "Running with Scissors," for which Annette Bening received a Golden Globe Award nomination, "Troy" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."
CATE BLANCHETT (Daisy), who most recently played Irina Spalko in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," was nominated for two Oscars® this year, as Best Actress for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and as Best Supporting Actress for "I'm Not There," making her only the fifth performer
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in the Academy's 80-year history to be nominated in both acting categories in the same year. Additionally, for "The Golden Age," she received SAG and BAFTA nominations. For "I'm Not There," she also received SAG and BAFTA nominations and won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes and an Independent Spirit Award for her work.
Blanchett previously won an Academy Award® as Best Supporting Actress for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator." She was also honored with BAFTA and SAG Awards and a Golden Globe nomination for the role. In 1999, Blanchett earned her first Oscar® nomination and first BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of another famous figure, Queen Elizabeth I, in Shekhar Kapur's "Elizabeth." She subsequently received Academy Award®, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her performance in "Notes on a Scandal" opposite Dame Judi Dench.
Blanchett recently starred in the films "The Good German" directed by Steven Soderbergh, opposite George Clooney and Tobey Maguire; and "Babel" opposite Brad Pitt.
Blanchett has also earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for the title role in Joel Schumacher's "Veronica Guerin" and her work in Barry Levinson's "Bandits." Among her other film credits are "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy; Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"; Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes," for which she earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination; Ron Howard's "The Missing" opposite Tommy Lee Jones; "Charlotte Gray" directed by Gillian Armstrong; Lasse Hallstrom's "The Shipping News" with Kevin Spacey; Rowan Woods' "Little Fish" with Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving (for which she won an AFI award for Best Actress); Mike Newell's "Pushing Tin" with John Cusack; Oliver Parker's "An Ideal Husband"; Anthony Minghella's "The Talented Mr. Ripley," for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress; Sam Raimi's "The Gift"; and Sally Potter's "The Man Who Cried," for which she was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review.
A graduate of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Blanchett includes among her earlier film credits Bruce Beresford's "Paradise Road"; "Thank God
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He Met Lizzie," for which she won both the Australian Film Institute (AFI) and the Sydney Film Critics Awards for Best Supporting Actress; and Gillian Armstrong's "Oscar and Lucinda" opposite Ralph Fiennes, for which she also earned an AFI nomination for Best Actress.
Blanchett's extensive theater work includes productions with Company B, based at Belvoir Street in Sydney, under the direction of Neil Armfield. Her roles included Miranda in "The Tempest," Ophelia in "Hamlet," for which she earned a Green Room Award nomination, Nina in "The Seagull" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing." For the Sydney Theatre Company, she appeared in Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls," David Mamet's "Oleanna" (winning the Sydney Theater Critics Award for Best Actress), Michael Gow's "Sweet Phoebe" and Timothy Daly's "Kafka Dances," for which she received the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. For the Almeida Theatre in 1999, Blanchett played Susan Traheren in David Hare's "Plenty" in London's West End.
In 2004 Blanchett returned to the Sydney Theatre Company for the title role in Andrew Upton's adaptation of "Hedda Gabler." The play was a critical success, earning her the prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play. The production moved on to a sold-out run at Brooklyn's Academy of Music in 2006, Blanchett's New York stage debut.
Blanchett made her directorial debut with the play "A Kind of Alaska" at the Sydney Theatre Company, which she followed with a production of David Harrower's "Blackbird" and Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking."
Blanchett is a member of the Australian Museum Board of Trustees and an ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation, SolarAid, the Australian Film Institute and the Sydney Film Festival.
She and her husband, Andrew Upton, were recently named Co-Artistic Directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Their debut season begins in 2009.
TARAJI P. HENSON (Queenie), who first garnered attention in "Hustle and Flow," has recently starred in such films as "Talk to Me" opposite Don Cheadle, in the ensemble action drama "Smokin' Aces" with Jeremy Piven, Alicia Keys and Ben Affleck, and Tyler Perry's "The Family That Preys" with Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard.
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Soon to be released for Henson is a co-starring role opposite Forest Whitaker and Lil' Wayne in "Hurricane Season" and "Not Easily Broken" with Morris Chestnut, directed by Bill Duke. She is currently filming the independent feature "Once Fallen" with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Henson was a regular on David E. Kelly's drama "Boston Legal" and now recurs on ABC's "Eli Stone" as the daughter of Loretta Devine's Patti. Henson also stars in the music video for Estelle's latest single, "Pretty Please."
Henson was named Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Feature Film at the 2005 Black Movie Awards and received the Best Actress nod at the 2006 BET Awards for her performance as Shug in the gutsy drama "Hustle & Flow," produced by Oscar®-nominated filmmaker John Singleton and starring Terrence Howard. She received two nominations at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards including Best Breakthrough Performance. Henson made her singing debut in "Hustle & Flow," is featured on the soundtrack, and performed the Oscar®-winning song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" at the 78th annual Academy Awards®. She reunited for the third time with John Singleton to film "Four Brothers" with Mark Wahlberg and Andre 3000 for Paramount Pictures. Henson co-starred with Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker in "Something New," and is well remembered for her role as Yvette, the beautiful girlfriend of Jody (Tyrese) in "Baby Boy," written, produced, and directed by John Singleton.
For three years, Henson starred as a detective on Lifetime's "The Division." She co-starred in the CBS movie "Murder She Wrote Movie: The Last Free Man" starring Angela Lansbury and Phylicia Rashad. On series television, she has appeared in featured roles on "ER," "Strong Medicine," "CSI," "House," and others.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., the Howard University graduate resides in Los Angeles. Henson has a strong passion for helping disabled and less fortunate children and reveals, "I always stress to kids to have faith in themselves - the greatest recipe for success is self confidence."
JULIA ORMOND (Caroline) was born in Epsom, Surrey, England, and found her calling with theater in school plays and studied drama at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, she landed her first professional work
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in theatre, until she had her breakthrough in a leading role in the channel four series "Traffik."
With several solid years of stage and TV work to her credit, Ormond went on to co-star in the HBO biopic "Stalin," in which her performance as the dictator's long-suffering wife was one of the highlights of the production. It was this role that impressed director Edward Zwick, who cast her as the heroine in his big-budget theatrical feature "Legends of the Fall" starring Brad Pitt. Ormond was next seen portraying Guinevere opposite Sean Connery's King Arthur and Richard Gere's Sir Lancelot in "First Knight" and, subsequently, in the title role of Sydney Pollack's remake of "Sabrina" with Harrison Ford.
Ormond was recently seen in David Lynch's film "Inland Empire," as well as "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" with Abigail Breslin. Ormond will also be seen in Steven Soderbergh's "Che" with Benicio Del Toro and "Surveillance" alongside Bill Pullman.
She has starred in such international pictures as "Smilla's Sense of Snow," "Sibirskij Tsiryulnik" ("The Barber of Siberia") and "Resistance."
Ormond executive-produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary "Calling the Ghosts" about two survivors of Omarska, the Serbian war camp, and is a well-known social activist on humanitarian issues. She is the President of ASSET; The Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking, a non-governmental organization that advocates for and supports systemic solutions to end global slavery. She is also the United Nations' office on Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador against Trafficking and Slavery, and Founding Chair of FilmAid International.
JASON FLEMYNG (Thomas Button) is an exciting and versatile actor whose talent and strong screen presence have marked him as one of the most compelling actors coming out of Great Britain today.
He recently appeared in "Stardust," his fourth collaboration with Matthew Vaughn. He was seen as Crazy Larry in Vaughn's directorial debut "Layer Cake" starring Daniel Craig. Earlier in Flemyng's career, he co-starred in Guy Ritchie's directorial debut "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and in Ritchie's follow-up "Snatch," both of which Vaughn produced.
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Known for creating distinct characters, Flemyng brought his talent to "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" opposite Sean Connery, Warner Bros.' "Rock Star" starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, the Hughes Brothers' "From Hell" opposite Johnny Depp, and Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" opposite Liv Tyler. Other feature film credits include "Below," "The Red Violin," "Deep Rising, "The Hollow Reed" and "Alive and Kicking." Flemyng's television work includes roles in NBC's "Alice in Wonderland," the BBC production "A Question of Attribution" directed by John Schlesinger, and "For the Greater Good" directed by Danny Boyle. He starred as Jim Corbett in the BBC's "The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag," which tells the true story of Corbett's hunt for the most notorious man-eating leopard of colonial India in 1925.
Flemyng's theater credits include several Royal Shakespeare Company (Barbican) performances, including "Coriolanus," "As You Like It," "Moscow Gold" "Barbarians" and "All's Well That Ends Well."
ELIAS KOTEAS (Monsieur Gateau) was cast, early in his career, in "Full Moon in Blue Water" and "Malarek," which earned him his first of two Genie Award nominations for Best Actor.
He subsequently starred in director David Cronenberg's "Crash" and in several films directed by Atom Egoyan, including "The Adjuster," as well as "Exotica," for which he earned a Genie nomination for Best Supporting Actor and "Ararat," for which he won the Genie for Best Supporting Actor.
Koteas also appeared in Steven Shainberg's "Hit Me," Andrew Niccol's "Gattaca," Gregory Hoblit's "Fallen," Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil," Richard LaGravanese's "Living Out Loud," Terrence Malick's Academy Award®-nominated "The Thin Red Line," "Novocaine," "Harrison's Flowers" and "The Greatest Game Ever Played" directed by Bill Paxton.
Recent features include Antoine Fuqua's "Shooter," James Isaac's "Skinwalkers" and David Fincher's "Zodiac." Upcoming for Koteas is Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," "The Haunting in Connecticut" opposite Virginia Madsen and the sci-fi thriller "The 4th Kind."
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Koteas' television credits include the Emmy-nominated "Traffic: The Mini-Series," the HBO original movie "Shot in the Heart," in which he played the notorious murderer Gary Gilmore, HBO's "Sugartime" and Horton Foote's drama "The Habitation of Dragons."
Koteas is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a member of the prestigious Actors' Studio. He has starred in numerous stage productions, including Paula Vogel's "Hot 'N' Throbbing," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and Sam Shepard's "True West" directed on Broadway by Matthew Warchus.
TILDA SWINTON (Elizabeth Abbott) won an Academy Award® and a BAFTA Award for her performance in Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton," which starred George Clooney, with whom she more recently starred in the comedy thriller "Burn After Reading" directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, which had its world premiere as the opening night attraction at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival. She also received Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award nominations for her role in "Michael Clayton." Swinton had earlier been a Golden Globe Award nominee for David Siegel and Scott McGehee's "The Deep End," which also brought her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
A native of Scotland, Swinton started making films with the English director Derek Jarman in 1985, starting with "Caravaggio." They made several other films together, including "The Last of England," "The Garden," "War Requiem," "Edward II" (for which she was named Best Actress at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival) and "Wittgenstein," before Jarman's death in 1994.
She gained wider international recognition in 1992 for her portrayal of "Orlando," based on the novel by Virginia Woolf and directed by Sally Potter. Since then, her films have included "Lynn Hershman-Leeson"; "Conceiving Ada"; "Teknolust" (in four roles); Susan Streitfeld's "Female Perversions"; John Maybury's "Love is the Devil"; Robert Lepage's "Possible Worlds"; Danny Boyle's "The Beach"; Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky"; Spike Jonze's Academy Award®-winning "Adaptation"; David Mackenzie's "Young Adam"; two films costarring with Keanu Reeves, Mike Mills' "Thumbsucker" and Francis Lawrence's "Constantine"; Béla Tarr's "The Man from London"; Andrew
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Adamson's two blockbuster "The Chronicles of Narnia" tales; and Erick Zonca's "Julia," which world-premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival.
Swinton recently completed a role in Jim Jarmusch's new film "The Limits of Control," and has also appeared in the writer/director's "Broken Flowers."
JARED HARRIS (Captain Mike) is a performer whose on-screen intensity is rivaled only by his off-screen charisma and one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. Harris recently starred in a wide range of features: M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" and the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries "To Ends of The Earth."
Other films include "Sylvia" starring Gwyneth Paltrow, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Dummy" opposite Oscar® winner Adrien Brody and Milla Jovovich. He won critical recognition for his riveting portrayal of influential American Pop artist Andy Warhol in the acclaimed "I Shot Andy Warhol," for which, in true Warhol fashion, Harris entered the audition with a video camera and taped the casting director while his own audition was being recorded. Harris has earned a reputation for playing varied and unique characters including an intellectually-challenged street cleaner in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face," a truculent fur trapper in Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man,' Tom Cruise's boozing, n'er-do-well brother in "Far and Away" and a sleazy Russian cab driver in Todd Solondz's "Happiness," for which the cast received the 1999 National Board of Review Acting Ensemble Award, as well as the gripping feature "Sunday," which won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and Best Screenplay at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.
Harris' first screen appearance was in 1989's "The Rachel Papers," which marked the directorial debut of his older brother Damian. A career marked by unilateral recognition, Harris received rave reviews for his character portrayals including his Henry VIII in the improvised production of "The Other Boleyn Girl" for BBC2. Salon.com said "Harris puts a chill around your heart" regarding his portrayal of John Lennon opposite Adian Quinn's Paul McCartney in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's "Two of Us" and Anita Gates of The New York Times said "Jared Harris is becoming one of the most fascinating actors around" citing his performance in Michael Radford's "B. Monkey"
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opposite Asia Argento. He also co-starred in "Igby Goes Down" written and directed by Burr Steers and starring Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes and Jeff Goldblum.
The son of famed Irish actor Richard Harris, he was born in London, England and educated at Duke University where he majored in drama and literature. After graduation, Harris became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has performed in some of New York's most renowned theater companies, including work with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the New Group, New Jersey Shakespeare Company, the Vineyard Theater and the Manhattan Theater Club.
ELLE FANNING (Daisy - age 6) is an energetic, lively and bright ten year-old actress who made her feature film debut as a young Lucy in New Line Cinema's "I Am Sam." She then co-starred opposite Eddie Murphy in the family comedy "Daddy Day Care" for Revolution Studios, which earned Fanning her first nomination for a Young Artists Award.
In 2004, she starred alongside Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger in Focus Films' "The Door in the Floor" directed by Tod William's. She followed that up with "Because of Winn-Dixie" with Cicely Tyson and Dave Matthews. In 2006, she was nominated twice more for a Young Artists Award for her performances in the Academy Award®-nominated film "Babel" starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and for her work on the SCI-FI channel miniseries "The Lost Room" starring Peter Krause. That same year Fanning completed work on "Reservation Road," in which she played Emma Learner, the eight-year-old daughter of Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly.
Last year, Fanning completed the title role in the feature "Phoebe in Wonderland" starring alongside Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. She most recently finished work on the film "The Nutcracker: The Untold Story," a period piece set in 1920s Vienna. Also starring John Turturro and Nathan Lane, it is the timeless tale of a little girl whose godfather gives her a special doll one Christmas Eve.
In addition to her film credits, Fanning has also made numerous television appearances. She has been on both "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York," as well as guest-starring on "House," "Criminal Minds," "Judging Amy" and "Dirty Sexy Money."
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She has also shot commercial spots for Toyota, Smuckers and Target and was featured in Vogue Bambini's 30th Anniversary Issue.
Fanning continues to be a bundle of energy and enjoys acting and dancing. She resides in Los Angeles with her parents, Joy and Steve Fanning and her sister, actress Dakota Fanning.
MAHERSHALALHASHBAZ ALI (Tizzy), who stars opposite Harrison Ford and Sean Penn in Wayne Kramer's upcoming film "Crossing Over," is steadily becoming a strong presence in Hollywood.
Born in Oakland, California, Ali was raised in the neighboring city of Hayward by his parents and extended family. He planned on being an NBA player while on the basketball team at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California (just east of Berkeley), where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications. But, in his junior year, he was sidetracked by taking an acting lesson, which changed the path his career would take. In his senior year, he landed a featured role in the school's production of "Spunk."
After graduation, Ali made his professional debut performing for one season with the acclaimed California Shakespeare Festival in Orinda, California, followed by his acceptance into the very prestigious Master's program for Drama at New York University. While at NYU, Ali appeared in productions of "Blues for an Alabama Sky," "The School for Scandal," "A Lie of the Mind," "A Doll's House," "Monkey in the Middle," "The Merchant of Venice," "The New Place" and "Secret Injury, Secret Revenge." His additional stage credits include appearing in Washington, D.C. at the Arena Stage in the lead role of Jack Jefferson in "The Great White Hope," and in "The Long Walk" and "Jack and Jill."
Ali segued from theater to television, appearing as Dr. Trey Sanders on the television drama series "Crossing Jordan." It was followed by roles on shows like "NYPD Blue," "Threat Matrix," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "The Haunted."
Subsequently, Ali landed as a series regular on "The 4400," a highly acclaimed show on the USA Network, which ran for three seasons. His role as Richard Tyler, the Korean War pilot, won him many fans and critical acclaim.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
DAVID FINCHER (Director) made his feature film debut in 1992 with "Alien³." In 1995, he directed "Se7en," the lauded crime drama of two detectives (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) tracking down a serial killer who bases his murders on the seven deadly sins. The film grossed more than $325 million worldwide and its innovative approach, title and credit sequences influenced other films in the genre for years to come.
In 1997, Fincher directed "The Game" starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, a dark adventure story focusing on a closed-off San Francisco businessman who receives an unusual gift from his younger brother - a gift in which he becomes an unwitting player in a game that takes over his life. In 1999, he re-teamed with Brad Pitt in "Fight Club," based on the screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel. The film, which co-starred Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, received strong notices from critics and developed an underground following marking it as one of the seminal films of its time.
In 2002, he directed "The Panic Room" starring Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakum and Jared Leto. The box-office hit, which introduced some innovative uses of computer graphics, centered on the plight of a single mother and her daughter hiding in a safe room of their new house as criminals broke in bent on finding a missing fortune.
Prior to directing "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Fincher directed the critically hailed "Zodiac." Released in 2007, the film garnered many kudos and was named in over 150 ten best lists, including Entertainment Weekly, USA Today and The Washington Post.
Academy Award® winner ERIC ROTH (Screenplay, Screen Story) attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, Columbia University and UCLA. He won the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award while at UCLA. His first produced screenplay was Robert Mulligan's "The Nickel Ride," which premiered at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Some of the movies Roth has written, or written on include "Suspect" with
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Cher and Dennis Quaid; "Mr. Jones" with Richard Gere and directed by Mike Figgis; "Rhapsody in August" directed by Akira Kurosawa; "Forrest Gump," for which he won the Oscar® and the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; "The Horse Whisperer" directed by Robert Redford; "The Insider" directed by Michael Mann and starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award® and a Writers Guild Award and won the Humanitas Award. He also wrote "Ali" directed by Michael Mann and starring Will Smith. He co-wrote the 2005 Academy Award®-nominated screenplay for "Munich," directed by Steven Spielberg; and the screenplay for "The Good Shepherd" with Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro, directed by DeNiro.
Roth is currently working on "Hatfields and McCoys" for Warner Bros., "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" for Warner Bros. and Paramount, and will soon be writing "The Devil in the White City" for Paramount. His daughter, Vanessa Roth, won an Academy Award® in 2007 for the Best Short Documentary, "Freeheld."
Roth lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Debra Greenfield, an attorney and UCLA instructor in genetics and law. He has five children and five grandchildren.
ROBIN SWICORD (Screen Story) is primarily known for her work as a screenwriter ("Memoirs Of A Geisha," "Little Women," "Matilda," "Shag," "The Perez Family," "Practical Magic") and playwright ("Last Days at the Dixie Girl Café," "Criminal Minds"). Swicord recently made her feature film directing debut with Sony Pictures Classics' "The Jane Austen Book Club," for which she also wrote the screenplay adaptation. She is currently at work with producer Wendy Finerman ("Forrest Gump," "The Devil Wears Prada") on a romantic comedy for the newly minted CBS Films, "Didn't Like Him Anyway," about an unwilling psychic. In the coming months, Swicord is set to write and direct a thriller for Universal called "The Alibi Club."
Robin Swicord wrote her first draft of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in January 1990. Premiere magazine named it to their list of "Ten Best Unproduced Screenplays." Over the next ten years, Swicord wrote more than a dozen successive drafts as the script went through development at two different studios under an ever-
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changing roster of A-list directors and production executives, before the project found its final path to production.
Born in South Carolina, Swicord grew up in rural North Florida and southern Georgia. Her plays, as well as her screenplay "Shag" (which takes its title from a Southern coastal dance contest), are centered in this part of the world. She began writing and making short films while studying English literature and theater at Florida State University.
Swicord is married to fellow playwright and screenwriter Nicholas Kazan. They have two daughters and live in Santa Monica, California and Vashon Island, Washington in Puget Sound.
Swicord is active in the Writers Guild of America, West Foundation's board, where she helped start the WGA's educational outreach program; and where earlier this year she established the Industry Support Fund, which provided almost half a million dollars in financial grants to non-writer industry professionals whose jobs were impacted by the recent writers' strike. She is a trustee of the Writers Guild Pension and Health Fund, and was recently tapped to join the inaugural board of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, headed by Dr. Martha Lauzen.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY's (Producer) record of achievement has made her one of the most successful executives in the film industry today. Among her credits are three of the highest-grossing films in motion picture history - "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," "Jurassic Park" and "The Sixth Sense."
Kennedy currently heads The Kennedy/Marshall Company, which she founded in 1992 alongside director/producer Frank Marshall. Under their banner, they have produced such films as "The Sixth Sense," which earned six Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture; "Seabiscuit," which garnered seven Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture; and the blockbuster "Bourne" trilogy - "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum"- which collectively reinvented the spy thriller.
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Kennedy recently produced the Oscar®-nominated indie hits "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," an adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby's moving memoir, directed by Julian Schnabel and written by Ronald Harwood; and "Persepolis," based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel about a young girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution. Additionally, The Kennedy/Marshall Company produced "The Spiderwick Chronicles," based on the popular series of children's books.
Kennedy began a successful association with Steven Spielberg when she served as his production assistant on "1941." She went on to become his associate on "Raiders of the Lost Ark," associate producer of "Poltergeist" and producer of "E.T." While "E.T." was becoming an international phenomenon, Spielberg, Kennedy and Marshall were already in production on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," which she and Marshall produced with George Lucas. This partnership also encompasses "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and the long-awaited fourth installment, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which became a global box office hit in the summer of 2008. She is currently producing "Tintin," a series of motion pictures directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson based on the iconic character created by Georges Remi ("Herge").
In 1982, Kennedy co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg and Marshall, for which she produced or executive-produced dozens of films, including "Hook," "Always," "Gremlins," "Young Sherlock Holmes," "The Goonies," "Innerspace," "*batteries not included," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "An American Tail:
Fievel Goes West," "Cape Fear" and "Arachnophobia," Frank Marshall's directorial debut in 1990.
Kennedy also teamed with Spielberg, Marshall and Quincy Jones to produce "The Color Purple," which earned eleven Academy Award® nominations in 1985, including Best Picture; and with Spielberg and Marshall on 1985's highest-grossing film, "Back to the Future," as well as its two successful sequels - "Back to the Future, Part II" and "Back to the Future, Part III."
In 1988, Kennedy again earned the distinction of top-grossing film of the year for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" which she produced with Marshall and Robert Watts; and
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then produced Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" with Spielberg and Marshall, which the National Board of Review named Best Picture of the Year.
Kennedy served as executive producer on the critically acclaimed Spielberg-directed Holocaust drama "Schindler's List," which garnered seven Academy Awards® in 1993, including Best Director and Best Picture. That same year she also re-teamed with Robert Watts to produce Marshall's second film, "Alive."
In 1995, Kennedy produced the Amblin Entertainment/Malpaso Production "The Bridges of Madison County," directed by Clint Eastwood, followed by Amblin Entertainment's Jan DeBont-directed action thriller "Twister," which Kennedy produced with Ian Bryce. Kennedy also served as executive producer on the Spielberg-directed "Jurassic Park" sequel, "The Lost World."
In 1999 and 2000, three films produced by The Kennedy/Marshall Company were released: "Snow Falling on Cedars," directed by Scott Hicks; "The Sixth Sense," starring Bruce Willis; and "A Map of the World," starring Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore. The Kennedy/Marshall Company also produced the IMAX film "Olympic Glory," which was released in May 2000.
In 2001, Kennedy produced the Spielberg-directed "Artificial Intelligence: A.I." with Bonnie Curtis and "Jurassic Park III," with Spielberg and Gerald Molen; the following year she executive-produced M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" starring Mel Gibson. In 2003, she produced (with Marshall, Gary Ross and Jane Sindell) the critical and popular hit "Seabiscuit." In 2005, Kennedy and Colin Wilson produced "War of the Worlds" directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. Later that year, Kennedy re-teamed with Wilson, Barry Mendel, and Spielberg to produce the Spielberg-helmed "Munich," which received five Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture.
Kennedy is on the chair of the Academy of Motion Pictures' Producers Branch Executive Committee and is a member of the Academy's Board of Governors. She recently completed her tenure as President of the Producers Guild of America, which bestowed upon her its highest honor, the Charles Fitzsimons Service Award, in 2006. In 2008, she and Marshall received the Producers Guild of America's David O. Selznick Award for Career Achievement.
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"Raiders of the Lost Ark" marked the beginning of FRANK MARSHALL'S (Producer) epochal collaboration with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, a partnership that encompasses "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
With more than 50 films to his credit as a visionary producer who has helped shape American film, Marshall is also an acclaimed director and active participant in public service and sports. Marshall's credits as a producer include some of the most successful and enduring films of all time, including "Poltergeist," "Gremlins," "The Goonies," "The Color Purple," "An American Tail," "Empire of the Sun," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," "The Land before Time," the "Back to the Future" trilogy,"The Sixth Sense," "Seabiscuit" and the "Bourne" trilogy.
His films have been nominated for a multitude of Academy Awards®, including Best Picture nominees "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1982 and "The Color Purple" in 1985, which he produced with Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones and his wife, Kathleen Kennedy. M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 box office smash, "The Sixth Sense," was nominated for six Academy Awards®, and the critically acclaimed "Seabiscuit" received seven Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture.
As a director, Marshall helmed the critically acclaimed box office smash "Eight Below," as well as the thriller "Arachnophobia"; the compelling true-life drama "Alive"; the 1995 hit adventure "Congo"; and an episode of the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon."
Marshall began his motion picture career as assistant to Peter Bogdanovich on the director's cult classic "Targets." He was then asked by Bogdanovich to serve as location manager for "The Last Picture Show" and "What's Up, Doc?" before graduating to associate producer on the filmmaker's next five movies, including "Paper Moon" and "Nickelodeon."
Marshall was line producer on Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz," the heralded musical documentary on The Band. He then began a two-film association with director Walter Hill, first as associate producer on "The Driver," then as executive producer of "The Warriors," both of which have also attained cult status among cineastes. Marshall
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was also line producer of Orson Welles's legendary unfinished film "The Other Side of the Wind," to which he periodically returned from 1971 through 1976.
His lengthy and fruitful collaboration with Steven Spielberg and Kennedy began in 1981 with "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Following the productions of "E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial" (for which he was production supervisor) and "Poltergeist" (which he produced) in 1981, the trio formed industry powerhouse Amblin Entertainment. During his tenure at Amblin, Marshall produced such films as Kevin Reynolds' "Fandango," Barry Levinson's "Young Sherlock Holmes," Joe Dante's "Gremlins," Robert Zemeckis's "Back to the Future" trilogy and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and Spielberg's "Always," "Hook" and "Empire of the Sun," as well as his directorial debut, "Arachnophobia."
Marshall left Amblin in the fall of 1991 to pursue his directing career, and formed the Kennedy/Marshall Company with Kathleen Kennedy. The company's productions include such diverse films as "The Indian in the Cupboard" directed by Frank Oz; "Snow Falling on Cedars" directed by Scott Hicks; "A Map of the World" starring Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore; "The Sixth Sense" starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment; "Olympic Glory," the first official large format film of the Olympic Games; M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs;" "Seabiscuit," the dramatic true story based on Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book, directed by Gary Ross; and the three blockbuster films in the "Bourne" franchise starring Matt Damon in the title role: "The Bourne Identity" directed by Doug Liman; "The Bourne Supremacy" and last year's "The Bourne Ultimatum," both directed by Paul Greengrass.
The Kennedy/Marshall Company produced "The Spiderwick Chronicles," based on the popular series of children's book about the unseen world of fairies that exist all around us; "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," the critically-hailed adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby's moving memoir directed by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel and written by Oscar®-winner Ronald Harwood for which Schnabel was awarded the prize for best director at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar®; the English-language version of the French animated film "Persepolis," which is based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel about a young girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution, which tied for the Jury Prize at Cannes and received an
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Oscar® nomination for Best Animated Film; and "Crossing Over" directed by Wayne Kramer.
In release is the Kennedy/Marshall production, "Roving Mars," the IMAX documentary about the exploration of the Red planet, which he produced with director George Butler.
An L.A. native and son of composer Jack Marshall, Marshall ran cross-country and track while a student at UCLA, and was a three-year Varsity letterman in soccer. Combining his passion for music and sports, he, along with America's premiere miler Steve Scott, founded the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon, which debuted in 1998 in San Diego as the largest first time marathon in history. For over a decade, Marshall was a member of the United States Olympic Committee and is the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Olympic Shield. He is currently on the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors. This past summer, Marshall was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Currently, he is on the board of the Los Angeles Sports Council, Athletes for Hope and The Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, as well as Co-Chairman of Mentor LA and a member of the UCLA Foundation Board of Governors. He is a recipient of the acclaimed American Academy of Achievement Award, the UCLA Alumni Professional Achievement Award and the California Mentor Initiative's Leadership Award. He and Kennedy are the recipients of the 2008 Producers Guild of America's David O. Selznick Award for Career Achievement.
CEÁN CHAFFIN (Producer) previously produced four of David Fincher's films since the two became partners after collaborating on a Japanese Coca-Cola ad in 1992, which she produced and he directed: "The Game," the 1997 adventure drama starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn about a financier who is given a disturbing birthday gift by his brother that consumes his life; the cult classic "Fight Club" starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel; "Panic Room," a thriller co-starring Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakum about three men who break into a mansion searching for a missing fortune while a mother and daughter hide in a safe room; "Zodiac," the story of the elusive San Francisco-based serial killer starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Chaffin also produced two Grammy Award winning videos: Mark Romanek's "Scream," by Michael and Janet Jackson and David Fincher's "Love Is Strong" by The Rolling Stones.
Cinematographer and inventive lighting guru CLAUDIO MIRANDA (Director of Photography) has known David Fincher since 1985. From his first jobs as a stage manager, electrician and best boy, he moved on to gaff Fincher's "The Game," followed by the watershed feature "Fight Club" in 1999. At the production wrap party for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Miranda earned the (tongue-in-cheek) "Longevity Award" for his enduring relationship with the director. He also gaffed Tony Scott's "Crimson Tide," "The Fan" and "Enemy of the State."
Faultless practicality and technical know-how have propelled Miranda towards his current status as an in-demand cinematographer. The 2005 Sundance Film Festival hit "A Thousand Roads" directed by Chris Eyre, provided Miranda's first feature cinematography credit and cemented his reputation as a DP to watch.
After honing his lighting chops on tentpole action flicks, Miranda began picking up Best Cinematography awards left, right, and center for his commercial and music video work. Images from the commercials he has shot stay in the mind long after they have completed their run; he has won AICP and Clio awards for the Pocari "Tennis" spot in 2002, a Clio for Xelebri in 2004, an AICP for Heinekin in 2005, as well as an MVPA for a Beyoncé (featuring Sean Paul) clip in 2004.
The son of a Chilean architect and an interior designer, Miranda began studying at a Los Angeles community college but quickly realized this variety of education wasn't for him. He didn't want to end up in a desk job; besides, his work as a stage manager was far more interesting. His big break came in 1994, when Dariusz Wolski hired him to work as chief lighting technician on Alex Proyas' "The Crow."
Reaping the benefit of constant support from colleagues, Miranda says he has been offered many valuable legs-up along an accelerated career path. He didn't pick up a camera as a teenager, nor did he dream of being Steven Spielberg. He says he is amazed his career keeps moving so quickly given the number of other talented DPs out there.
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Miranda has developed a look influenced more by the natural world than conventionally cinematic stylizations. He is influenced by the imperfections appearing within a composition, often choosing to light less obvious focal points within the frame.
With his girlfriend Kelli and his greatest accomplishment, daughter Sofia, Miranda lives in Los Angeles. He is represented by Dattner Dispoto and Associates.
DONALD GRAHAM BURT (Production Designer) has designed the look for 11 feature films including his first collaboration with director David Fincher on "Zodiac."
He has collaborated with Wayne Wang on several films, starting with "The Joy Luck Club," the critically acclaimed drama based on Amy Tan's bestselling novel and Burt's feature film debut as a production designer. He also worked on Wang's 2005 "Because of Winn-Dixie" starring Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson and Eva Marie Saint, about a young girl abandoned by her mother who goes to live with her father in Florida; Wang's 2001 steamy Vegas drama "The Center of the World" starring Peter Sarsgaard; and the 1999 mother/daughter comedic drama "Anywhere But Here" starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman. He served as production designer on Davis Guggenheim's documentary "It Might Get Loud," a look at electric guitar from the viewpoints of rock musicians The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White.
Burt designed the sets for two John Smith films, the 1998 drama "A Cool Dry Place" with Vince Vaughn and Joey Lauren Adams and his 1995 biopic "Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle Pfeiffer, about an ex-Marine teacher who reforms tough inner city kids. It was his second collaboration with Pfeiffer, who also starred in director Peter Kominsky's 2002 drama "White Oleander" with Robin Wright Penn, Renee Zellweger and Alison Lohman.
His other credits include Mike Newell's critically acclaimed thriller "Donnie Brasco" starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
KIRK BAXTER (Editor) was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. At the age of 17, he started his career in the film industry as a runner for a local commercial production company that housed several directors, a large camera department, grips,
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electricians, and a full editorial department. Working for every department, by his own admission, Baxter "fell in love with editing and never looked career sideways again."
By age 18, he was a full-time assistant editor, trained on film. Within two years, he began editing commercials, which coincided with the dawn of AVID and nonlinear editing. With little excitement occurring within Australia's feature film industry, Baxter concentrated on a career in commercials. Thanks to his father's Scottish origins, Baxter's British passport allowed him to move to London at age 23, searching for - and finding - bigger and better opportunities. After five years working in London editing some of the top British commercials of the day, Baxter relocated to New York City and co-opened a commercial editing company called Final Cut. He soon found himself traveling to Los Angeles for months at a time editing spots. To handle his L.A.-based assignments, Baxter worked out of editorial company Rock Paper Scissors (RPS), home to its founder Angus Wall. The combined positive experiences of great affinity with Wall - and the unmatched viability of L.A.'s feature film industry - led Baxter to relocate to Los Angeles and join RPS. During the editing of "Zodiac," Wall introduced director David Fincher to Baxter, and he was invited to cut a few scenes. "That was over two years ago and I have barely left Fincher's cutting room since. Angus and I went on to co-edit 'Benjamin Button." I feel like the luckiest editor in the world. It's such a masterful film. I'll cherish the experience for the rest of my life."
ANGUS WALL (Editor) is a feature film editor and founder of Rock Paper Scissors, a provider of editorial services to directors and advertising agencies, and A52, an effects company.
Wall created both Los Angeles service firms for television and film, Rock Paper Scissors in 1992 and A52 in 1997, after leaving Propaganda Films in 1992, where he worked for five years. Propaganda was co-founded by "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" director David Fincher.
Wall continued to work with Fincher post-Propaganda on the director's films. He edited Fincher's crime drama about the infamous serial killer, "Zodiac," and the thriller "The Panic Room." He was an editorial consultant on his film "Fight Club" and main title editor on Fincher's thriller, "Se7en." He also edited John Woo's "Hostage" and did
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the trailer and ads for George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" in 1999.
Additionally, he has edited hundreds of ads for international companies including the Heineken ad with Brad Pitt and the Nike "Speedchain" ad, both directed by Fincher. He received an Emmy Award for the "Carnivale" title sequence, which he designed and directed. His other commercial credits include: Miller's "Alternative Fuels" commercial, directed by Errol Morris; Nike's "Y2K" directed by Spike Jonze; Timex's "Kung Fu" by director Tim Burton; and Levis' "Second Day" directed by Gus Van Sant.
JACQUELINE WEST (Costume Designer) recently reunited with director Terrence Malick on his upcoming "Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. West previously worked with Malick and production designer Jack Fisk on "The New World."
Most recently, West designed the costumes for Kevin MacDonald's crime drama "State of Play" starring Rachel McAdams, Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren. She also designed the wardrobe for Oliver Hirschbeigel's "Invasion" and Todd Robinson's "Lonely Hearts" starring John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Scott Caan and Laura Dern.
West originally set out to be a doctor, but after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, she decided to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a clothing designer. From 1988 to 1997, West ran her own company and designed a nationally acclaimed line of ready-to-wear. She also owned retail stores and had a contemporary department at Barney's New York and Japan.
West earned Academy Award® and BAFTA nominations for her period costume design for Philip Kaufman's biopic about the Marquis de Sade, "Quills," starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix. West made her foray into films as a creative consultant on Kaufman's "Henry & June" and made her debut as a costume designer on Kaufman's "Rising Sun" starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. She has since designed costumes for such films as "The Banger Sisters" starring Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn; "Leo" starring Joseph Fiennes and Elisabeth Shue; and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" starring Sean Connery.
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ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (Music) has composed the music for over 50 European films and been nominated for two Cesar Awards. He burst onto the Hollywood scene in 2003 with his evocative score to "Girl with the Pearl Earring" starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, which earned him nominations for Golden Globe, BAFTA and European Film Awards. His reputation was solidified by his critically acclaimed score to Jonathan Glazier's film "Birth" starring Nicole Kidman, followed in close succession by the scores to "The Upside of Anger" starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner, "Hostage" starring Bruce Willis and Stephen Gaghan's film "Syriana" produced by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination. "The Queen," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Helen Mirren, secured him his first Academy Award® nomination and his third Golden Globe nomination. In the same year, he was also nominated for and won a Golden Globe Award for his score to "The Painted Veil" starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.
In 2007, Desplat wrote the music for "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, "The Golden Compass" starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, which is the first movie based upon the beloved trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and "Lust, Caution" for Academy Award®-winning director Ang Lee.
He recently completed the score for Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.
Balancing a busy Hollywood schedule, Desplat still makes time to lend his talents to a select number of European films. One of his recent scores, "The Beat that My Heart Skipped," garnered him a Silver Bear Award for Best Score at the Berlin Film Festival and a Cesar Award.
Desplat's Greek mother and French father met while attending College at Berkeley in the United States. The multilingual Desplat was classically trained, but fed a constant diet of American jazz and Hollywood movie scores. These influences have been fused in his music to create a fresh and unique, new voice in film music.
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Like David Fincher, Joseph Kosinski and many of the other top directors he collaborates with, Digital Domain's ERIC BARBA (Visual Effects Supervisor) is equally comfortable working in the worlds of film and advertising. His visual effects credits span films including "The Fifth Element," "Supernova" and "Zodiac" to dozens of high-end commercials for Heineken, Jaguar, Lexus and many other leading brands.
In 2003, Barba oversaw the effects on a Fincher-directed commercial for Adidas that garnered multiple top awards. Since then, he has worked on every one of Fincher's commercial and film projects, including a Nine Inch Nails music video; spots for Nike, Motorola, HP and other advertisers; "Zodiac" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Barba was involved with the "Benjamin Button" project since its inception, developing the approach to creating a digital human used in the 2004 test that helped sell the project to the studio. Barba also directs commercials himself, including campaigns and spots for American Express, Nike and Honda. Prior to joining Digital Domain in 1996, Barba worked at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Imaging on shows including "SeaQuest DSV," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the Emmy Award-winning pilot of "Star Trek Voyager," and others. He is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design.
GREG CANNOM (Special Make-Up Effects) has over 100 film and television credits. Some of the notable films include "The Howling," "Cocoon," "The Lost Boys," "Star Trek VI," "The Undiscovered Country," "Alien³," "The Shadow," "The Mask," "The Insider," "Hannibal," "Roommates", "America's Sweethearts," "Ali," "The Singing Detective," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Master and Commander," "The Far Side of the World," "The Passion of the Christ," "Van Helsing," "White Chicks," "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," "Forever Young," "Big Mama's House," "Babel" and "Chaos Theory." He has received Academy Award® nominations for his work on "Hook," "Hoffa," "Roommates," "Titanic," "Bicentennial Man" and "A Beautiful Mind." He won the Academy Award® for Best Makeup on "Bram Stoker's Dracula," along with Michele Burke and Matthew W. Mungle; and for "Mrs. Doubtfire," along with Ve Neil and Yolanda Toussieng. He received the Academy's Technical Achievement Award with Wesley Wofford for the development of their special modified silicone material for makeup applications in motion pictures.
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