Joel Coen
Joel Coen (Director / Screenwriter) was honored by the Cannes International Film Festival in 2001 as Best Director for The Man Who Wasn't There and in 1991 as Best Director for Barton Fink. In 1996, he was honored as Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and the BAFTA Awards for Fargo and also won the Academy Award(r) for Best Original Screenplay for Fargo, which he co-wrote with his
brother Ethan. The screenplay for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, also co-written with Ethan, was nominated for a BAFTA Award and an Academy Awardâ for Best Adapted Screenplay. Other films he has directed and co-written are The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona and Blood Simple.
Ethan Coen
Ethan Coen (Producer / Screenwriter) has produced and co-written such critically acclaimed films as Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink (winner of the Palme d'Or, Best Director and Best Actor Awards at the 1991 Cannes International Film Festival) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (which was nominated for two Academy Awardsâ, four BAFTA Awards and two Golden Globe Awards). In 1996, one of the year's most honored films, Fargo (which
he produced and co-wrote), received four Academy Awardâ nominations and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for Ethan and his brother Joel. Among the other films he has co-written and produced are Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski and The Man Who Wasn't There.
Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone
Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone (Screenwriters / Story by) met while undergraduates at Northwestern University. Intolerable Cruelty is their fourth feature film. Previously, they wrote Big Trouble, starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; Life, starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, directed by Ted Demme; and Destiny Turns on the Radio, developed at the Sundance Institute, starring Dylan McDermott
and Quentin Tarantino, directed by Jack Baran.
They also contributed to the CBS television series Johnny Bago, starring Peter Dobson and produced by Robert Zemeckis. Shooting begins October 6, 2003, on their current project, Cheer Up, a comedy for director Steven Herek, starring Tommy Lee Jones.
John Romano
John Romano (Story by) has amassed a lengthy list of credits as both a producer and writer for television. As a writer, he most recently scripted the HBO film Cloudsplitter and the FX telefeature John Walker Lindh: The American Taliban and worked on the pilot episode of 24.
Romano currently serves as consulting producer on NBC's acclaimed series American Dreams. Previously, he was executive consultant on NBC's Providence. He has worked as executive producer on myriad projects, including: Third Watch; Party of Five; Michael Hayes (series also created by Romano); Dark Angel (also created by); Sweet Justice (also created by); and Class of ‘96 (co-created by). He also served as consulting producer
on Early Edition; as director and co-executive producer of Knots Landing; and as supervising producer of Cop Rock.
Additional credits include scripting freelance episodes of the series L.A. Law.
Brian Grazer
Academy Award(r)-winning producer Brian Grazer (Producer) has been making movies and television programs for more than 20 years. As both a writer and producer, he has been personally nominated for three Academy Awards(r), and in 2002 he won the Best Picture Oscar(r) for A Beautiful Mind. In addition to winning three other Academy Awards(r), A Beautiful Mind also won four Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture Drama)
and earned Grazer the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign.
Over the years, Grazer's films and TV shows have been nominated for a total of 39 Oscars(r) and 27 Emmys. At the same time, his movies have generated more than $10.5 billion in worldwide theatrical, music and video grosses. Reflecting this combination of commercial and artistic achievement, the Producers Guild of America honored Grazer with the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. His accomplishments have also
been recognized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which in 1998 added Grazer to the short list of producers with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In addition to A Beautiful Mind, Grazer's films include Apollo 13, for which Grazer won the Producers Guild's Daryl F. Zanuck Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award as well as an Oscar(r) nomination for Best Picture of 1995; and Splash, which he co-wrote as well as produced and for which he received an Oscar(r) nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1986. Among his other films are Blue Crush; Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch
Stole Christmas; The Nutty Professor; Liar, Liar; Ransom; My Girl; Backdraft; Kindergarten Cop; Parenthood; Clean and Sober; and Spies Like Us.
His most recent film is the box office smash 8 Mile, starring Eminem. His upcoming film projects include Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, starring Mike Myers; and The Missing, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett.
Grazer's television productions include Fox's 24 (receiving 10 Emmy nominations this year), the WB's Felicity, ABC's SportsNight, as well as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, for which he won the Emmy(r) for Outstanding Mini-Series. Grazer serves as executive producer on three series on the Fall 2003 lineup: Fox's Arrested Development, NBC's Miss Match and ABC's The Big House.
Grazer began his career as a producer developing television projects. It was while he was executive-producing TV pilots for Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s that Grazer first met his longtime friend and business partner Ron Howard. Their collaboration began in 1985 with the hit comedies Night Shift and Splash, and in 1986 the two founded Imagine Entertainment, which they continue to run together as co-chairmen.
James Jacks
James Jacks (Executive Producer) was the Executive Producer of Raising Arizona, and then became Vice-President of Acquisitions for Universal Pictures. During his five years in this capacity (ultimately becoming Senior Vice-President of Production) he was involved in such films as Field of Dreams, Do the Right Thing, Darkman, Tremors, Jungle Fever, American Me and People Under the Stairs. In 1992, Jacks left Universal to go
into partnership with Sean Daniel and formed Alphaville Productions.
Together they have produced: Dazed and Confused, directed by Richard Linklater; Hard Target, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed byacclaimed Hong Kong director John Woo; Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and an all-star cast, directed by George Cosmatos; Mallrats, directed by Kevin Smith; The Gulf, written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson; Michael, starring John Travolta and directed by Nora Ephron;
The Jackal, starring Richard Gere and Bruce Willis; A Simple Plan, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda, directed by Sam Raimi; Down to Earth, starring Chris Rock and directed by the Weitz brothers; The Gift, starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Sam Raimi; Rat Race, directed by Jerry Zucker; The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser and directed by Stephen Sommers, The Mummy Returns, with the same creative team of The Mummy; The Scorpion King, starring The Rock; Dark
Blue, directed by Ron Shelton and starring Kurt Russell; and The Hunted, directed by Billy Friedkin, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro. Upcoming projects include Red Cell, written by Jacks from a story by Kem Nunn and Mark Stefanich; and John Carter of Mars, based on the science-fiction books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Sean Daniel
Sean Daniel (Executive Producer) is a partner with James Jacks in Alphaville Productions based at Paramount Studios. Among the movies Alphaville has produced for Paramount are The Hunted, directed by William Friedkin and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro; Rat Race; Down to Earth; The Gift; and A Simple Plan.
Sean was also a producer on The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King; Nora Ephron's comedy Michael, starring John Travolta; the western, Tombstone; Richard Linklater's acclaimed high school movie, Dazed and Confused; and famed action director John Woo's first American film, Hard Target; among others. For cable, the company has produced the TNT Original Film Freedom Song, about the birth of SNCC in Mississippi and
directed by Phil Robinson; and the USA Network four-hour mini-series Atilla.
Daniel received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts and began his career with Universal Pictures in 1976 as an assistant. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice-President of Production. Between 1984 and 1989, he served as President of Production for the motion picture group. At Universal, he supervised such films as National Lampoon's Animal House, Coal Miner's Daughter, Missing, Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, Gorillas in the Mist, The Breakfast Club, Fletch, Brazil, Field of Dreams and Do the Right Thing. Sean has been a participant in the debate about media and culture, appearing in The New York Times and as a guest on The McLaughlin Group and Which Way LA. He is also a member of the Hollywood 9/11 committee.
Roger Deakins
Intolerable Cruelty is the seventh consecutive collaboration with the Coen brothers for multiple Academy Award(r)-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins, A.S.C., B.S.C. (Director of Photography). It follows The Man Who Wasn't There; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Big Lebowski; Fargo; The Hudsucker Proxy; and Barton Fink.
Deakins' work with the Coen brothers has earned him critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. O Brother, Where Art Thou? earned him BAFTA, American Society of Cinematographers and Academy Award(r) nominations. For his work on Fargo, he received American Society of Cinematographers and Academy Award(r) nominations, as well as Best Cinematographer citations from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film
Critics Association. Barton Fink earned him the Best Cinematography award from the National Society of Film Critics.
His work on The Shawshank Redemption brought him the American Society of Cinematographers Award, as well as his first Academy Award(r) nomination. For his work on Martin Scorsese's Kundun, he received Best Cinematography citations from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics, as well as Academy Award(r) and American Society of Cinematographers Award nominations.
Deakins began working as a stills photographer before enrolling in Britain's National Film School in 1972. His association with fellow student Michael Radford led to director of photography work on three features directed by Radford: Another Time, Another Place; 1984; and White Mischief.
His other director of photography credits include Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy, Michael Apted's Thunderheart, John Sayles' Passion Fish, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, Edward Zwick's Courage Under Fire and The Siege, and Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind.
Deakins has also shot such feature documentaries as When the World Changed and Eritrea: Behind the Lines, as well as the music documentaries Blue Suede Shoes and Van Morrison in Ireland. Deakins has also shot music videos for Eric Clapton, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock and Madness, among others.
Leslie McDonald
Leslie McDonald (Production Designer) first worked with the Coen brothers as art director on Miller's Crossing and served in the same capacity on Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy. Her recent credits as production designer include Snow Day, Out in the Cold, Jingle All the Way and The Indian in the Cupboard.
McDonald's other recent film credits as art director include Minority Report, Forrest Gump, Accidental Hero, Bugsy, Guilty by Suspicion, Field of Dreams and The Grifters.
Roderick Jaynes
Roderick Jaynes (Film Editor) began his career minding the tea cart at Shepperton Studios in the 1930s. The U.K. native eventually moved into the editing equipment department where he worked on some of the British film industry's more marginal features from the 1950s and 1960s.
With the demise of the "Carry On" series, he retired from film editing, only to emerge from retirement to work on Joel and Ethan Coen's first feature, Blood Simple. He has since worked on most of their films.
Mr. Jaynes resides in Hove, Sussex, with his chow, Otto. He remains widely admired in the film industry for his impeccable grooming and is the world's foremost collector of Margaret Thatcher nudes, many of them drawn from life.
John Cameron
John Cameron (Co-Producer) first worked with the Coen brothers as first assistant director on The Hudsucker Proxy. He then co-produced Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Man Who Wasn't There.
He has been associated with the Coen brothers for many years, having first met them while working with director Sam Raimi. Cameron first began working with Raimi and actor/producer Bruce Campbell in 1973, while the three were still in high school. After attending NYU's film school, Cameron rejoined his two friends (together with producer Rob Tapert) for production of Raimi's first feature as director, The Evil Dead.
Cameron subsequently worked as first assistant director on many of Raimi's films, including Crimewave, Darkman, Army of Darkness and The Quick and the Dead; he also served as assistant director on Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused and Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black.
He has also directed episodes of the popular Raimi/Tapert-produced syndicated television series Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess.
James Whitaker
James Whitaker (Co-Producer) is the Executive Vice-President of Imagine Entertainment and most recently executive produced 8 Mile. He was a co-producer on Nutty Professor II and Life, both starring Eddie Murphy, and an associate producer on Gus Van Sant's Psycho. Whitaker began his career doing craft services on John Waters' Hairspray, worked in production as an assistant camera man, and produced and directed documentary films
before attending the Peter Stark Program at USC, where he earned a Master's Degree in Fine Arts. He began his career in Hollywood nine years ago as an intern at Imagine. Whitaker earned his BA in Economics from Georgetown University.
Mary Zophres
Mary Zophres (Costume Designer) has worked with the Coen brothers on six consecutive films. Past collaborations as costume designer include The Man Who Wasn't There, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski and Fargo and as assistant costume designer on The Hudsucker Proxy.
Her other film credits as costume designer include Bruno Barreto's A View From the Top, Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, Scott Sanders' Thick as Thieves, Daniel Pyne's Where's Marlowe?, Julia Sweeney's God Said,"HA!," Timothy Hutton's Digging to China, Andy Wilson's Playing God and three features for Peter and Bobby Farrelly: There's Something About Mary…, Kingpin and Dumb and Dumber.
As assistant costume designer, Zophres' film work includes Natural Born Killers, This Boy's Life, Jennifer Eight, Man Trouble, City Slickers and Young Guns II.
Zophres earned a degree in art history and studio art from Vassar College before beginning her professional career working in the fashion industry for Norma Kamali and Espirit. She began working in the film industry as the extras wardrobe supervisor on Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July.
Carter Burwell
A veteran of the downtown New York art music scene, Carter Burwell's (Composer) first foray into film scoring was for the Coen brothers' 1984 feature Blood Simple. Carter quickly became one of the most significant composers on the indie-alt scene, scoring films such as the Brad Pitt/Juliette Lewis/David Duchovny starrer Kalifornia and Stephen Gyllenhaal's Waterland, in addition to the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona, Miller's
Crossing, Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy.
It didn't take long for the studios to discover him. Carter was soon scoring major features such as Michael Caton-Jones' Rob Roy, The Chamber, Richard Donner's Conspiracy Theory, the Jennifer Aniston starrer Picture Perfect and Michael Caton-Jones' The Jackal. Carter has continued to maintain an impressive alliance with the indie scene, scoring films such as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner, Todd
Haynes' Velvet Goldmine and Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters.
Other credits include Mystery, Alaska; The Corruptor; The General's Daughter; Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich; Three Kings; and What Planet Are You From?. Burwell also provided the score for the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Rookie; the Spike Jonze film Adaptation; and Andrew Niccol's S1m0ne.
Carter is currently completing the scoring on The Alamo, starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thorton.
Carter Burwell's musical works in theater includes Mabou Mines' Mother (LaMama ETC), Henry Miller's The 14th Ward (LaMama ETC), the chamber opera The Celestial Alphabet Event (Under the Roff, 1991) and Ariel Dorman's play Widows (Williamstown Theatre Festival). He also recently collaborated on Cara Lucia, a work-in-progress with Mabou Mines, and on Lot's Wife and Other Tales of Turning Back, a dance piece with the Sara Pearson
and Patrik Widrig Dance Co., scheduled for a 2003 premiere. |
