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Based
on true events, Evelyn tells the inspiring story of real-life hero
Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan) and his young children, Evelyn (Sophie
Vavasseur), Maurice, and Dermot. Abandoned by his wife, Doyle
does his best to make it as a single dad, raising his kids alone
in Ireland in 1953. Their life isn?t easy ? but above all
else in the world, Doyle loves his children. Unfortunately,
when his wife?s mother reports her daughter?s abandonment to the
authorities, the power of the Church and the Irish courts take his
children away and put them in orphanages. Doyle is devastated.
Vowing
to reunite his family, he enlists the help of new friend Bernadette
Beattie (Julianna Margulies), her solicitor brother Michael (Stephen
Rea), their American lawyer friend Nick (Aidan Quinn), and Nick?s
mentor Thomas Connolly (Alan Bates). Together they attempt
to do what has never been done before ? challenge a law before the
Irish Supreme Court. Doyle?s fight to keep his family intact
becomes an uplifting testament to the strength of a father?s love
and the power of the human spirit.
United
Artists presents, in association with First Look Media and Cinerenta,
an Irish DreamTime and CineEvelyn production of Evelyn, starring
Pierce Brosnan, Aidan Quinn, and Julianna Margulies. Based
on a true story and directed by Bruce Beresford, Evelyn was written
by Paul Pender and also stars Stephen Rea, John Lynch, Sophie Vavasseur,
and Alan Bates. The film was produced by Brosnan, Beau St.
Clair, and Michael Ohoven with executive producers Eberhard Kayser,
Mario Ohoven, Kieran Corrigan, and Simon Bosanquet. The production
team includes André Fleuren as director of photography, production
designer John Stoddart, editor Humphrey Dixon, and composer and
musical director Stephen Endelman, with costumes designed by Joan
Bergin and Paul Pender as co-producer.
THE
STORY BEHIND EVELYN
 Writer
Paul Pender says Evelyn was a movie ?just waiting to be made.?
The inspiring true story of Desmond Doyle and his children had the
warmth, drama, and heart to make a compelling, rich, and affecting
narrative ? it just needed someone to find it and help it on its
way to the big screen. A few years ago, when Pender met the
real Evelyn Doyle, the story took its first steps toward making
the transition to film.
?The
origin of the film,? says Pender, ?was meeting the real Evelyn in
a hotel in Edinburgh during the film festival there. In amongst
all the British accents, I heard an Irish brogue ? it was Evelyn
telling the story of her father. I overheard a bit, then asked
her to tell me the rest. Within three minutes of her talking
to me, the hair was standing up on the back of my neck. I
knew it would make a great film, a classic, moving David and Goliath
story.?
According
to Pender, while sitting there in that Edinburgh hotel he immediately
thought of Pierce Brosnan as perfect casting for Evelyn?s father.
?I know it sounds coincidental,? he continues, ?but Evelyn showed
me a picture of her father. He looked like Pierce, and I said
so. I?m sure she thought I was out of my mind, but that?s
what started it all.? The seeds of Evelyn were planted.
Picturing an actor of Pierce Brosnan?s caliber in the movie of your
unsold screenplay is one thing, but actually getting the project
off the ground and signing Brosnan to the role is entirely another
? quite an ambitious goal for a first-time screenwriter living in
Scotland. Some time later, though, while working to break
into the film industry, Pender became an intern and reader at MGM
Pictures headquarters in Santa Monica, California.
?I
was reading all these scripts being sent in,? Pender says, ?and
I found them so boring. I like films which are funny and uplifting
and say something interesting about the human condition.?
He believed he had written such a film with his screenplay for Evelyn.
Determined to get the script to Brosnan, Pender discovered that
the offices for Irish DreamTime ? Brosnan?s production company with
partner Beau St. Clair ? were conveniently and coincidentally located
on the floor above where he was working. It was hard to believe,
but Pender wasn?t about to pass up that opportunity. He dropped
off his script and soon found out what it was like to be on the
other side of what he?d been doing as an intern ? now it was him
waiting for someone to read his screenplay.
RECREATING
HISTORY: BRINGING EVELYN TO THE SCREEN
 When
they read the script, producers Brosnan and St. Clair were immediately
spurred into action. ?I liked it at once,? says St. Clair.
?It touched me, it moved me, and it made me laugh, and that?s exactly
the kind of project we were looking for.?
?The
story has a jauntiness to it,? adds Brosnan. ?Not only is
it an important and moving story, but it?s something people will
enjoy. We?ve all seen gloomy films with a ?message,? but this
is different. It?s a very hopeful film, very optimistic about
the future and the good that people can do when they set their minds
to it. That?s very timely, and people want to see stories
like that.?
Irish
DreamTime decided to produce the film, and the producers began looking
for a director. Brosnan quickly thought of his friend, acclaimed
director Bruce Beresford, with whom he?d worked a decade earlier
on Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson won a Silver Bear at the 1991
Berlin Film Festival, and Brosnan had been looking for an opportunity
to rekindle the experience ever since. ?Bruce?s cinematic
sensibilities are razor sharp,? says Brosnan. ?He knows how
to tell a story with economy, eloquence, and above all, great humanity.?
As
it did Brosnan and St. Clair, the script impressed Beresford.
?It always all starts with the script,? says Beresford. With
a critical and commercial reputation built on insightful character-driven
cinema, Beresford always puts the story and characters first, letting
those shape the film itself.
?Pierce sent me the script and I knew it was something I?d like
to make,? he continues. It?s a touching story about a father trying
to get his children back, but the thing I really liked was that
it was all done with a lot of humor. So many films about social
issues are so heavy, so ?worthy,? they?re actually hard to watch.
?I
try to only film stories that I?m interested in,? he says.
?Evelyn really appeals to me because an audience can become so involved
in the drama of a story like this. The fact that it?s true
only adds to the involvement.?
As
Pender learned from Evelyn in their hotel visit, the true story
behind Evelyn is based on a groundbreaking Irish 1953 court case
in which Desmond Doyle took the Minister of Education to court.
Doyle was challenging the contention that he was unfit to bring
up his children after being deserted by his wife. ?It has
the foundation of storytelling from another era,? says Brosnan,
pointing to classics of American cinema by filmmakers like Ford
and Capra.
In
writing Evelyn, Pender learned that the real task when converting
a ?true story? into a screenplay is finding the essence of the story
and the most compelling aspect of its drama. ?I think the
film is best described as a fable inspired by true events,? he says.
?The writer has to take the emotional truth of events and turn them
into a story audiences will get involved with and respond to.
?We
worked hard shaping the dialogue,? he continues, ?and deciding what
to add and subtract from the story to serve it more effectively.
It?s a love story between a father and his children, a story about
friends banded together, and the story of one man against the system.?
THE
CAST OF EVELYN
 Once
the producers and director were attached, the filmmakers turned
their attentions to completing the cast. ?I really loved the
character of Desmond Doyle and knew I?d want to tackle the role,?
says Brosnan. ?As a man and father and someone who feels very
passionately about certain things, I identified with Doyle, and
I know roles like that don?t come around often. I was excited
to jump into Desmond?s shoes.
?But
when we decided to go ahead and make the film,? he continues.
?I had no idea who, apart from me, would be in it. But once
we had Bruce on board, this really terrific cast came together,
not just for the principal roles, but completely across the board.?
St.
Clair was also delighted with the cast. ?It sounds like a
pat answer,? she says, ?but I think the casting is perfect.
Aidan?s role could have been written for him. Julianna was
our first choice for Bernadette, as was Stephen Rea as Michael Beattie
and Alan Bates as Connolly. I don?t think producers often
get to say it truthfully ? and we may never get to say it again
? but we got every single actor we wanted, all the way down the
line.?
Like
Brosnan, Julianna Margulies had previously worked with Bruce Beresford
on Paradise Road. She was delighted to join the cast under
his direction. ?Bruce can keep the whole film in his head,
yet pays great attention to each detail in the moment,? she says.
Another attraction to working with Beresford, she says, is his meticulous
attention to the story. ?As an actor,? she says, ?Bruce gives
you great freedom to explore the character because he has such a
grasp of the story.?
When
she read the script, Margulies immediately liked the character of
Bernadette. ?For an Irish woman of the 1950s,? says Margulies,
?Bernadette is feisty and ahead of her time. She?s not married,
training to be a chemist ? she?s taking the bull by the horns.?
Finding the right combination of era and attitude were crucial to
her preparations for the role.
?If
you look at the films of the 1950s,? Margulies continues, ?women
were very feminine. I tried to incorporate that into the character
as well as her strength. Bernadette?s courage and her sense
of purpose are really what helped inspire Desmond to give up drink
and pursue the case through the courts.?
Margulies
had to adopt an Irish accent for the role, but that turned out to
be less difficult than she thought it would. ?I grew up in
England,? she says, ?so I already had an ear for that side of the
Atlantic. Accents in Ireland, though, are so much more Americanized
today than 50 years ago because of TV and movies, so it?s no use
listening to the way people talk now,? she laughs.
Aidan
Quinn plays the role of Irish-American lawyer Nick. At first
Nick is Desmond?s rival for Bernadette?s charms, but later he?s
the man who decides to take on Doyle?s case. Quinn found it
somewhat easy to step into Nick?s shoes. ?Nick is based on
a real character, like Desmond,? Quinn says, ?and by happy coincidence,
his story is not so different from my own. He spent time living
between Ireland and the U.S.? Aidan?s parents left Ireland
in the 1950s ? the period in which the film is set ? and he himself
lived in Ireland on two occasions during his childhood. ?My parents
left during that very difficult decade,? says Quinn, ?and I have
pictures of them here in Dublin from that time. They?re wearing
clothes very like the ones we?re wearing in the film, which is poignant.?
Of
his character, Aidan says, ?Nick sticks out a bit in 1950s Ireland
in his flash suits and his ways. But he knows the culture
because it?s his culture. That?s kind of how I feel when I?m
there.?
Quinn
feels people will find the film appealing because it?s based on
?good old fashioned values. It?s a great story of a man going
against big odds, going against the church and state and finally
being justified.?
Quinn
is also grateful that Brosnan and Irish DreamTime worked so hard
to make Evelyn. ?Brosnan has a lot of power and influence as the
actor who plays James Bond,? he says. ?I wish more people
in his position would use that power to make interesting movies.?
Along
those lines, Brosnan is grateful he?s been able to experience such
success. ?Beau and I formed Irish DreamTime to make movies
that interest us,? he says. ?They don?t necessarily have to
be Irish, but they have to get us excited. When Evelyn came
along, it fit the bill exactly, and we couldn?t have been more excited
about it.
?Evelyn
works on a number of levels,? he continues. ?It?s a love story
between a father and his children. It?s also a love story
between Desmond and Bernadette. It?s a David and Goliath story,
with a small group of people taking on the Church and government.
And it?s about a guy who becomes a man. It?s an entertaining
story that also has something to say for itself. You can?t
ask for much more than that.?
When
asked whether Evelyn has similarities with his own experiences growing
up in Ireland, Brosnan says, ?Well, yes and no. I don?t know
what it was like to grow up in Dublin in the ?50s, but I know what
it?s like to be from a broken home, to be Irish, to be a father,
and to have to make hard decisions. In that respect, Desmond
is a very personal role.?
It
was also a role the actor/producer enjoyed enormously. ?It?s
a great plus to play a character who gets to display such a variety
of emotion on screen,? he says. ?I?m pretty widely seen as
James Bond, and I?d say I tend to get a bit pigeonholed as this
suave, sophisticated sort of chap.?
Beau St Clair believes Pierce?s performance ranks amongst the best
in his already impressive career. ?I know Pierce well,? she
says, ?and it?s the most heartfelt performance I?ve ever seen him
give. Bruce Beresford creates a very trusting atmosphere on
set, and I think it allowed Pierce to really enter into this character
in a very vulnerable way. People will be surprised by this
performance, pleasantly surprised, because it works so much against
the persona that they expect. Once in a while you feel an
actor inhabits a role rather than plays it, and Pierce inhabits
the role of Desmond.?
One
of the challenges and pleasures for the actors was working with
children in such central roles. ?As an actor you have to be
very prepared when working with children,? Brosnan says, ?because
you can?t keep going again and again, taking time to warm up and
get into it. Especially with emotional scenes.? He admits
that he was anxious at first about this aspect of the production.
?I was worried about the children,? he continues, ?but Bruce alleviated
my fears. He?s so giving with child actors and has wonderful
patience. And Sophie (Vavasseur, who plays Desmond?s daughter,
Evelyn) proved to be a wonderful young actress.?
Beresford
really enjoyed working with the children. ?It was great,?
he says. ?But we had quite a job finding them. John
Hubbard ? the casting director - must have seen about a thousand
girls initially for Evelyn. We whittled it down slowly over
lots and lots of auditions until we found Sophie.?
For
her part, young actress Sophie Vavasseur was thrilled to play the
part of such an inspiring heroine. Sophie?s been acting for
about three years and studies drama with a teacher, but this was
her first major role. She ?had to read, like, five times,?
she says, but she was determined to make the part hers and bring
Evelyn herself to the screen.
?Evelyn
is a really smart girl,? Sophie says. ?She?s very intelligent.
And she?s a little mommy-like.? She?s also Irish, and Sophie
herself is from Dublin, so she could identify with the things an
Irish child would experience.
In
describing her character?s predicament, Sophie could easily imagine
how upsetting life in the convent could have been away from her
parents. In the film, when Evelyn is left at St. Joseph?s,
?It?s horrible,? Sophie says. ?Evelyn has to get her hair
cut. The nuns are horrible. Well, there?s Sister Theresa
and Sister Felicity. They?re really, really nice. But
Sister Bridgett is awful. Frigid Bridgett, they call her.?
Sophie
really enjoyed working with Pierce Brosnan, her other co-stars,
and the filmmakers. ?Pierce is really, really nice,? she says.
?When we weren?t filming, he talked to me and would sit beside me
and chat. And his little baby, Paris, is so cute. And
Bruce Beresford always explains things to me. He gives me
advice and things like that, and he doesn?t get annoyed very easily.
He?s very nice; he doesn?t change or anything.?
The
dramatic high point of the film takes place during the courtroom
scenes when Desmond must state his case for custody of Evelyn and
her brothers. In developing these scenes, writer Pender went
back to the original court transcripts then was able to draw on
his own legal training to add drama. ?I graduated in Law from
Glasgow University,? he says, ?and I was also president of the Law
Society, where I had to make speeches and debate, so I honed those
skills there. I really enjoyed writing the courtroom exchanges.
?The
only ?proper? job I ever wanted was to be a lawyer,? he continues.
?The humor in the speeches came from my own pained reading of cases.
You?d think you understand what was going on, only to find it completely
reversed by a ?however.??
Bruce
understands the dramatic power of the legal set-piece, having filmed
what must be the longest in feature films: 50 minutes of debate
in Breaker Morant. ?For such a scene to work,? Beresford says,
?I think the drama as a whole has to be intrinsically interesting,
otherwise there?s no point in having it. You have to have
something the audience wants to happen, yet the evidence is swaying
them one way, then another. I think Paul did that wonderfully
in his script.?
All
in all, the cast and filmmakers were glad to be a part of Evelyn.
?It?s a special feeling to complete a film and have wonderful memories
of making it,? says Brosnan. ?It makes it even better to believe
audiences are going to love what you worked so hard to accomplish.
That?s what makes it all worth it. And it?s also an incredible
testament to the courage and perseverance of Desmond Doyle and his
family.?
ABOUT
THE CAST
 PIERCE
BROSNAN (Desmond Doyle, Producer) is perhaps best known
for reinvigorating the popularity of the James Bond franchise, putting
his stamp on 007 in the superhits Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies
and The World Is Not Enough. Brosnan?s three Bond films have
brought in significantly more than a billion dollars at the box-office.
But Brosnan also commands respect as one of film?s most varied,
adventurous, and skilled dramatic actors. He recently expanded
the range of his filmwork by launching his own production company,
Irish DreamTime, with his production partner Beau St. Clair.
Their first feature was the acclaimed The Nephew. Brosnan
also produced and starred in the company?s first studio project,
The Thomas Crown Affair, which became a huge critical and box office
hit.
Brosnan
was most recently seen in John Boorman?s film of the John LeCarre
novel The Tailor of Panama. During his career, the London
stage-trained actor has also starred in such films as Beresford?s
Mr. Johnson and Sir Richard Attenborough?s Grey Owl, and has shown
his comedic skill in such films as The Mirror Has Two Faces, Mrs.
Doubtfire, Mars Attacks and Love Affair. Other film credits
include The Fourth Protocol, Lawnmower Man, Nomads, and Dante?s
Peak. He recently earned the Empire Award (a major British
acknowledgment) as Best Actor of 1999. He was also named ?The
Sexiest Man Alive? in People?s 2001 poll.
Brosnan
was born in County Meath, Ireland, where he lived until the age
of 11 when his family moved to London. It was there he grew
into his craft, studying acting at the Drama Center for three years
after some preliminary workshops in experimental theatre.
He was introduced to the workshops by a fellow employee at a studio
where he worked as an illustrator. After school he went straight
into a job as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre
Royal, and it was six months later that Tennessee Williams selected
Pierce to create the role of McCabe in the British premiere of Red
Devil Battery Sign. Brosnan also starred in other London stage
productions, such as Zeffirelli?s Filumena and Wait Until Dark at
the York.
Now
well trained in both classical drama and character comedies, being
selected as the lead in the American miniseries The Manions of America
brought Brosnan his first U.S. critical acclaim. Nancy Astor,
a thirteen-part television series for the BBC, earned him a Golden
Globe nomination. Brosnan was then catapulted to international
stardom in the title role of the Remington Steele series.
Other television work includes such top-rated miniseries as Around
the World in Eighty Days and Noble House.
AIDAN
QUINN (Nick) was born in Chicago to first generation
Irish parents. Quinn first came to critical attention for
his roles in the film Desperately Seeking Susan and the TV film
An Early Frost, in which he played a character with AIDS.
Quinn?s subsequent roles include Nick, the driver of Robert Duvall
and lover of Natasha Richardson in The Handmaid?s Tale, a father
in Barry Levinson?s semi-autobiographical Avalon, and a travelling
Irish player in The Playboys. He played the brother of mentally
disturbed Mary Stuart Masterson in Benny and Joon, and in Mary Shelley?s
Frankenstein he played the captain who listens to Dr. Frankenstein?s
tragic tale. That same year, he co-starred with Brad Pitt and Anthony
Hopkins in the period drama The Legends of the Fall. He subsequently
co-starred with Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts in Neil Jordan?s epic
Michael Collins with a memorable performance as Harry Boland, Collins?
best friend. After a dual role as a terrorist and his US Navy
doppelganger in The Assignment, he was on more familiar territory
in This is my Father as an Irish orphan raised by a poor farming
family whose love affair with a spirited under-aged girl wreaks
havoc. That film was directed by his brother Paul and shot
by another brother, acclaimed cinematographer Declan Quinn.
Other
films include The Songcatcher, Practical Magic, Music of the Heart,
In Dreams, Looking for Richard, Blink, Crusoe, The Mission, and
Reckless.
 JULIANNA
MARGULIES (Bernadette) is an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild
Award-winner and Golden Globe nominee. She first gained widespread
recognition for her portrayal of Nurse Carole Hathaway in the critically
acclaimed series ER. Margulies received her sixth straight
Emmy nomination for the 2000 season, and twice won the Screen Actors
Guild Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series for the program.
Margulies
recently finished production on Ghost Ship, directed by Steven Beck.
She?ll next star opposite Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger in the upcoming
film The Man From Elysian Fields. She was last seen with Anjelica
Huston and Joan Allen in TNT?s Emmy-nominated original The Mists
of Avalon, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Last
winter, Margulies completed a successful run at Lincoln Center in
Jon Robin Baitz?s Ten Unknowns, for which she won the Lucille Lortel
Award. Margulies feature film credits include What?s Cooking,
an ensemble drama directed by Gurinder Chadha which opened the 2000
Sundance Film Festival; Richard Linklater?s The Newton Boys; Boaz
Yakin?s A Price Above Rubies; Jack Green?s Traveller; and Bruce
Beresford?s Paradise Road.
Margulies?
theater credits include The Vagina Monologues, both Off-Broadway
and the Los Angeles premiere; Fefu and Her Friends for the Yale
Repertory Theatre; The Substance of Fire at the Aolso Theatre; Living
Expenses; Dan Drift and Book of Names at the Ensemble Studio Theatre
in New York; and Intrigue with Faye at the NY Stage and Film Festival.
She also appeared onstage in The Lover, In the Boom Boom Room, and
Balm and Gilead.
STEPHEN
REA (Michael)
Academy Award®-nominated Stephen Rea is one of today?s leading
actors, having delivered critically acclaimed performances in film,
television and theater. His longstanding relationship with
renowned director Neil Jordan has spanned seven films, most notably
The Crying Game, for which he received an Academy Award® nomination
and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor in
1992. Other collaborations with Jordan include the much-acclaimed
The Butcher Boy; Michael Collins with Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts;
Interview with a Vampire with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt; and In Dreams
with Annette Bening and Robert Downey, Jr. Rea reunited with
Jordan for The End of the Affair opposite Ralph Fiennes and Julianne
Moore.
Rea
recently starred opposite Sarah Polley in Audrey Wells? directorial
debut Guinevere, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
His other films include Robert Altman?s Pret-a-Porter, Trojan Eddie,
Angie, Princess Carboo, Bad Behavior, and Mike Leigh?s Life Is Sweet.
He will next be seen in Peter Hyams? D?Artargnan opposite Tim Roth,
Catherine Deneuve, Mena Suvari and Justin Chambers.
Rea
has also received praise for television work, receiving a Golden
Globe nomination for Crime of the Century in 1996. He starred
in Chris Gerolmo?s Citizen X and received Best Actor at the Catalonian
International Film Festival in Spain in 1995. His other television
credits include Shadow of a Gunman, Days of Hope, The Plough and
the Stars and Four Days in July. Rea will soon be seen playing
an Orthodox Rabbi in Snow in August for Showtime.
A native
of Belfast, Ireland, Rea formed the Field Day Theatre Company with
respected Irish playwright Brian Friel in 1980, performing in all
the company?s productions, including ?Translations,? ?Double Cross,?
?Pentecost,? ?Saint Oscar? and ?Uncle Vanya.? He also directed
Field Day?s presentation of ?Three Sisters.? Rea?s other stage work
includes ?Playboy of the Western World? at London?s National Theatre
and ?Aristrocrats? at Dublin?s Abbey Theatre. The Hampstead Theatre?s
production of ?Someone Who?ll Watch Over Me? moved to Broadway and
earned Rea a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Lastly,
Rea was seen in Harold Pinter?s ?Ashes to Ashes? at The Royal Court
Theatre in London.
JOHN
LYNCH (Wolfe) has made a name for himself on film, television,
and on the stage. His big screen work includes several acclaimed
films, including Puckoon, Best, The Quarry, Sliding Doors with Gwyneth
Paltrow, Moll Flanders with Robin Wright Penn, Some Mother?s Son
with Helen Mirren, Princess Cariboo, The Secret of Roan Inish, Jim
Sheridan?s In the Name of the Father, Derek Jarman?s Edward II,
and Agnieska Holland?s The Secret Garden.
On
television, Lynch has been seen in Seventh Stream, Peak Practice,
Young Indy, Small Change, Shrinks, Out of the Blue, The Roughest
Way, Chimera, and Who Bombed Birmingham?, Making Out, Total Eclipse,
and The Railway Station Man.
Lynch?s
many stage performances include ?Blackwater Angel? and ?Hamlet?
at the Abbey Theatre; ?The Way South,? ?By the Border,? and ?The
Strangeness of Others? at the National Theatre; ?The Tutor? at the
Old Vic; ?The Centre? at the Royal Court; ?Arturo Ui,? ?Oh What
a Lovely War,? ?Scraps,? and ?The Tempest? at the Contact Theatre,
Manchester; and ?Nicholas Nickleby? at the Royal. Shakespeare Company.
SOPHIE
VAVASSEUR (Evelyn Doyle) is 9 years old and lives in
Dublin, Ireland, where she has studied drama for the past 3 years.
Despite her youth she has appeared in films, onstage, and done a
number of advertisements and voice-overs. Film credits include
the IMAX film Twang and Reign of Fire starring Matthew McConaughey
and Christian Bale. Onstage she recently appeared in Come
On Over by Conor McPherson at The Gate Theatre.
ALAN
BATES (Tom Connolly) is one of the most revered and accomplished
actors of his time. Classically trained and acclaimed
for performances on both stage and screen, his career is one of
the most remarkable in his profession ? and it?s still going strong.
Bates
knew he wanted to be an actor at a very young age. He attended
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, then became a member
of the new English Stage Company at the Royal Court theatre, making
his West End debut with the Company in 1956. Since then, his
stage appearances include performances in plays by virtually every
master playwright, including Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Strindberg,
Pinter, and Stoppard. Bates won this year?s Tony Award for
Best Actor in a Play for his incredible performance in Ivan Turgenev?s
?Fortune?s Fool.?
Onscreen, Bates received an Academy Award® nomination
for his performance in The Fixer. After his film debut in
The Entertainer, other credits include Zorba the Greek opposite
Anthony Quinn, Georgy Girl, John Schlesinger?s Far from the Madding
Crowd, Women in Love opposite Glenda Jackson, Three Sisters, An
Unmarried Woman, The Rose opposite Bette Midler, Duet for One, Zeffirelli?s
Hamlet starring Mel Gibson, the Oscar®-nominated Gosford Park,
The Mothman Prophecies opposite Richard Gere and Laura Linney, and
this summer?s blockbuster The Sum of All Fears.
ABOUT
THE FILMMAKERS
BRUCE
BERESFORD (Director) has one of the highest reputations
enjoyed by any director working in cinema today, thanks to a talent
for versatile, engaging storytelling and a natural gift with actors.
In
1975, Don?s Party won Beresford the Best Director award from the
Australian Film Institute. His next film, The Getting of Wisdom,
was selected for Director?s Fortnight at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.
In
1980 he was nominated for an Academy Award® for his screenplay
Breaker Morant. The film was also selected for competition at the
Cannes Film Festival and won eleven Australian Film Institute Awards,
including Best Director and Best Screenplay.
In
1982, Beresford received his second Academy Award® nomination
as Best Director for Tender Mercies starring Robert Duvall.
The film won Academy Awards® for Best Actor and Best Original
Screenplay. It was also selected for competition at the Cannes
Film Festival. The Fringe Dwellers, written and directed by Beresford
and produced by Sue Milliken, was selected for competition at the
1986 Cannes Film Festival and won the Australian Film Institute
Award for Best Screenplay.
In 1987, Beresford?s Crimes of the Heart was nominated for three
Academy Awards®. The film starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange,
Sissy Spacek and Sam Shephard.
In
1990, Beresford directed Mister Johnson, the first feature to be
shot entirely in Nigeria. The film starred Pierce Brosnan
and Edward Woodward and was selected as that year?s Royal Command
Performance Film. Black Robe, the first Australian/Canadian
co-production, followed. Produced by Robert Lantos and Sue
Milliken, it was filmed in Quebec and won six Canadian Academy Awards,
including Best Film and Best Director.
In
1990 Driving Miss Daisy, directed by Beresford, won four Academy
Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica
Tandy. The National Board of Review also selected it as Best
Film.
Most
recent credits include Bride of the Wind, starring Jonathan Pryce
and Vincent Perez; Double Jeopardy, starring Tommy Lee Jones and
Ashley Judd; Paradise Road, starring Julianna Margulies, Cate Blanchett,
Glenn Close and Francis McDormand; and Last Dance, starring Sharon
Stone, Rob Morrow, Peter Gallagher and Randy Quaid.
Bruce
Beresford was born in Australia and graduated from Sydney University
in 1962. He also served as Film Officer for the British Film Institute
Production Board from 1966-1971 and as a Film Advisor to the Arts
Council of Great Britain.
PAUL
PENDER (Screenwriter/Co-Producer), after graduating from
Glasgow University with a degree in Law and English, attended the
National Film and Television School where he wrote, produced and
directed the award-winning soccer comedy The Game. After working
as a journalist for several publications, Paul was the BBC production
executive on Franz Kafka?s It?s a Wonderful Life, which won both
a BAFTA and the 1995 Academy Award® for Best Live Action Short.
In 1994 Paul set up Pender Productions, which produced the award-winning
Somebody Else?s War on the Bosnian conflict and Faith, Hope, Calamity,
a six-part documentary series on Scottish soccer.
As
a screenwriter for TV, Paul?s credits include Beautiful Lies and
The Bogie Man. He recently completed The Secret Adventures
of Jules Verne, a major TV series for Crest (USA) and Talisman (UK).
Paul
graduated from the European Film Studio and Film Business School
in 1996.
BEAU
ST CLAIR (Producer) partnered with Pierce Brosnan to
create Irish DreamTime, an MGM based film production company.
With Brosnan and Irish DreamTime, St. Clair produced the independent
feature The Nephew, directed by Eugene Brady and starring Hill Harper
and the late Donal McCann, filmed in Ireland. Their company
also executive produced The Match in Scotland starring Max Beesley,
Richard E. Grant, Tom Sizemore and Ian Holm. The Thomas Crown
Affair, directed by John McTiernan and starring Rene Russo and Pierce
Brosnan, was Irish DreamTime?s third feature, produced in conjunction
with MGM Pictures.
St.
Clair rejoined John McTiernan to produce his reinterpretation of
the cult favorite Rollerball for MGM starring Chris Klein, LL Cool
J, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and Jean Reno.
Prior to forming Irish DreamTime, St. Clair also served as associate
producer on Race the Sun in Australia with Jim Belushi and Halle
Berry. She was production supervisor on the David Mamet drama
The Edge starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.
Earlier,
St. Clair was a production executive for Kadokawa Productions, whose
projects included the feature film Deception with Andie MacDowell
and Liam Neeson, as well as the Broadway musical Shogun. She
followed this with an association with Summers-Quaid Productions,
where she associate produced Hideaway, directed by Brett Leonard
and starring Jeff Goldblum and Christine Lahti.
St.
Clair began her career as director of development for Oscar®-winning
producer Jerome Hellman. While with him, she also worked as
production coordinator on The Mosquito Coast starring Harrison Ford
and production supervisor on the Broadway musical Threepenny Opera
starring Sting.
St.
Clair graduated from UCLA with a degree in English literature.
MICHAEL
OHOVEN (Producer) German businessman Michael Ohoven
formed Infinity International Entertainment Inc. in August 2000
and serves as its chief executive
officer.
Raised and educated in Germany, Ohoven learned financing and institutional
investment at the prestigious Commerzbank. He then joined
the International Corporate Affairs division of RTL Television,
Europe's largest private broadcaster, where the station's renowned
founder, television mogul Professor Helmut Thoma, became Ohoven?s
mentor. After two and a half years, Ohoven left the company
to create Infinity International Entertainment. Under his
leadership, the company quickly established strong working relationships
with major studios, talent representatives, and financial institutions.
As a result, the company has completed production on six films in
its first two years of operations.
EBERHARD
KAYSER (Executive Producer), after graduating from college
with a degree in Economics, worked in finance for real estate.
First, he acted as managing director for a Munich investment company.
Then, in 1969, he set up his own company and financed two building
projects, producing 100 flats for owner occupation.
In
1976, Kayser became managing director of Cinerenta GMBH. Cinerenta
produced and financed 27 theatrical feature films with Columbia
Pictures, including box-office hits like Kramer vs. Kramer, Close
Encounters of the Third Kind, The Blue Lagoon, and The Deep.
Cinerenta also financed All That Jazz, starring Roy Schneider and
Jessica Lange; Gloria, starring Gena Rowlands; and Absence of Malice,
starring Paul Newman and Sally Field. When Cinerenta terminated
its film related activities, Kayser returned to real estate.
In
1996, Kayser, together with Mario Ohoven, re-established Cinerenta,
and again became managing director. Since 1997, the new Cinerenta
has produced more than 30 feature films, including The Contender,
starring Joan Allen and Jeff Bridges (nominated for Academy Awards®
for their performances), and Confidence, starring Dustin Hoffman
and Edward Burns. Later, the company produced Quicksand starring
Michael Keaton and Michael Caine; Liberty Stands Still starring
Wesley Snipes, and The Human Stain starring Anthony Hopkins and
Nicole Kidman.
MARIO OHOVEN (Executive Producer)
has worked as an investment banker and finance manager for more
than thirty years. He is owner and president of the Investor
Treuhand Group, one of the most successful investment banking companies
in Germany, and is also president of one of the largest associations
lobbying the importance of a middle class economy. He is also
a successful writer ? his best-seller The Magic of Power-Selling
has been published in nine languages and is considered the ultimate
handbook on modern marketing.
In
1996, Ohoven established Cinerenta with Eberhard Kayser, which has
since produced over 30 feature films, including A Map of the World
with Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore, How to Kill Your Neighbor?s
Dog with Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright-Penn, and The Contender
with Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges and Christian Slater.
KIERAN
CORRIGAN (Executive Producer) is a chartered accountant
and barrister-at-law. He founded Merlin Films Group and has
specialized in film finance for the past twelve years. A director
of the Film Institute of Ireland and Arthouse, the Irish multimedia
centre, Corrigan is also a director of the Irish Industrial Development
Authority (IDA) and director of Hummingbird Productions. The
Irish Government appointed Corrigan Chairman of the National Building
Agency, and he?s also a member of the Custom House Docks Development
Authority.
Widely
regarded as Ireland's foremost film financier, Corrigan has produced
many film and television projects, most notably The General, This
Is My Father, Angela Mooney Dies Again, Journey to Knock and The
Treaty.
SIMON
BOSANQUET (Executive Producer) is one of the United Kingdom?s
busiest producers. He worked his way up from assistant director
to production supervisor on films as diverse as John Schlesinger?s
Yanks, Warren Beatty?s Reds, Chariots of Fire, Greystoke, and Angel
Heart. He then co-produced Michael Radford?s White Mischief,
Schlesinger?s Madame Sousatzka, and Nuns on the Run.
Through
his own production company, Telescope Pictures, he produced Afraid
of the Dark, Princess Caraboo, Victory, and The Revenger?s Comedies.
In 1998, with Ileen Maisel, he produced Martha Fiennes? award-winning
Onegin. During this period he was also executive producer
on Emily Bronte?s Wuthering Heights with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette
Binoche and produced Eric Idle?s Splitting Heirs.
In
2000, he produced writer/director Guy Jenkin?s The Sleeping Dictionary
and the Emmy-award winning Wit for HBO, directed by Mike Nichols
and starring Emma Thompson. Before serving as executive producer
on Evelyn, Bosanquet produced Ripley?s Game starring John Malkovich
and Dougray Scott. In 2003 he will produce, with Ileen Maisel,
The Eustace Diamonds, an adaptation of Anthony Trollope?s novel
by Academy Award®-winning writer Julian Fellowes.
ANDRÉ
FLEUREN (Director of Photography) has worked extensively
in cinematic and television drama for twenty-five years. Throughout
his career, he has completed films in Australia, Europe and Canada.
Fleuren
has shot many documentaries, for which he has received numerous
awards. City of Dreams was nominated for an Australian Film Institute
Award. Both Renzo Piano - Piece by Piece and A Breath received
Australian Cinematographers Society distinctions. First State
88, a Showscan production, was awarded the Society?s Golden Tripod.
During
the past ten years Fleuren has often worked with director Bruce
Beresford as DP, second unit DP, and camera operator. His
recent projects include the Imax production Sydney ? The Living
City, Bride of the Wind, Double Jeopardy, Paradise Road and The
Black Robe.
JOHN
STODDART (Production Designer) was born in Sydney, Australia,
and trained as an architect. While working in an architectural
firm in London, he was asked to design some scenery for a small
local theatre. One opportunity led to another, and soon he
found a new career. Stoddart designs most often for opera
companies, working with the English National Opera, Houston Grand
Opera, the Scottish Opera and the Australian Opera. His film
credits include Bruce Beresford's The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
(1972), Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) and The Getting of Wisdom
(1977); Carl Schultz's Careful He Might Hear You (1984); and Stephen
Wallace's For Love Alone.
HUMPREY
DIXON (Editor) Evelyn is the second feature film
edited by Dixon for Bruce Beresford. The first was Mr. Johnson,
which also starred Pierce Brosnan.
Dixon's distinguished career started with Led Zeppelin's Madison
Square Garden concert movie, Song Remains the Same, directed by
Jo Massot. Upon completion of the film, Dixon moved into less
frenetic Merchant Ivory films, editing Heat and Dust, Quartet, A
Room with a View, and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.
He edited Andrei Konchalovsky's first American film, Maria's Lovers,
starring Robert Mitchum and Nastassia Kinski, Stepping Out starring
Lisa Minelli, and edited the action footage on Jean-Jacques Annaud's
big budget European war movie Enemy at the Gates.
Other credits include Sirens and Lawn Dogs for director John Duigan,
Playboys and A Simple Twist of Fate for Gillies MacKinnon, Crusoe
for Caleb Deschanel, and Dancing at Lughnasa for Pat O'Connor.
STEPHEN
ENDELMAN (Composer and Musical Director) received critical
acclaim earlier this year for his score to Bruce Beresford's Bride
of the Wind, the story of Alma Mahler. He just completed his
first romantic comedy, I'm With Lucy. Endelman's works have
ranged from the rich orchestral score for The Englishman Who Went
Up a Hill, but Came Down a Mountain to his minimalist, modern score
for the hit comedy Flirting with Disaster.
In
2000, Endelman received critical acclaim for his score entitled
Passport to the Universe, a public commission for the first Space
Show in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City. Narrated by Tom Hanks, the show
is now playing in the Futuroscope Park in France. This year,
Endelman wrote the music to the second show, The Search For Life,
Are We Alone, narrated by Harrison Ford, which opened to great acclaim
in the spring.
English-born Endelman began playing the clarinet at age seven and
became a full-time scholar at The Purcell School of Young Musicians
at age twelve. He then studied composition at London's Guildhall
School of Music Drama and the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta,
Canada. Besides his growing body of film work, Endelman has
composed two operas and, at the age of 18, composed the music for
the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's A
Moon for the Misbegotten.
An
ardent film-lover, Endelman moved to New York in 1992 to pursue
and develop his career in film music. His first score for
a feature film was Household Saints. He then worked closely
with Robert DeNiro on his directorial debut, A Bronx Tale.
Endelman's
other film credits include Two Family House, which received an Audience
Award for Best Dramatic Film at the Sundance Film Festival 2000;
Tom and Huck; Reckless, and City of Industry. He also scored
Kicked in the Head, The Proposition, Finding Graceland, Imaginary
Crimes, and Jawbreaker.
In
1998, he won the ASCAP Foundation Award as resident composer at
the Metropolitan Opera Guild, where he has been a resident artist
since 1993.
JOAN
BERGIN (Costume Designer) is one of Ireland?s best-known
costume designers and, throughout her career, has worked on numerous
projects around the globe. Her credits include the critically
acclaimed films My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, and Dancing
at Lughnasa.
Bergin began her career in stage and architectural design, and won
awards in both capacities. She designed Brian Friel?s ?Translations?
on Broadway starring Brian Dennehy, and returned to New York in
1999 for the Friel season at Lincoln Center. Recently, her
work was seen on television in the miniseries David Copperfield
and on the big screen in Barry Levinson?s An Everlasting Piece.
She designed costumes for this summer?s Reign of Fire and Andrew
Lloyd Webber?s new musical, ?The Beautiful Game,? in London.
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