|
Nick Cassavetes (Director)
Director Nick Cassavetes most recently directed She's So Lovely,
starring Sean Penn, Robin Wright and John Travolta, the only film
to win two awards at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, including a
best Actor Award for Sean Penn and a Best Cinematography Award.
Cassavetes made his feature film directorial debut on the critically-acclaimed
Unhook the Stars, starring Marisa Tomei, Gerard Depardieu
and Gena Rowlands.
As
an actor, Cassavetes studied at the American Academy of Dramatic
Arts. His 1999 releases include starring roles opposite Eddie Murphy
in Life, opposite Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron in New
Line's The Astronaut's Wife
and opposite William H. Macy in Panic. He has also been seen
in John Woo's Face/ Off, Alan Rudolph's
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Oliver Stone's The
Doors and Peter Bogdanovich's Mask. Other screen acting
roles include Just Like Dad, Blind Fury, Quiet Cool, The Wraith
and Twogether. In addition, Cassavetes has penned several
projects including Blow, The Godforsaken
and Unless That Someone is You.
Mark
Burg (Producer)
Mark Burg has produced and executive produced a wide range of films
including Bull Durham, starring Kevin Costner; Can't Buy
Me Love, starring Patrick Dempsey; Airheads; The Cure; Toy
Soldiers; the Sandlot; Eddie, starring Whoopi Goldberg; Don't
be a Menace, starring Sean and Marlon Wayans; and B.A.P.S.
starring Halle Berry and Martin Landau for New Line Cinema. He also
produced The Gingerbread Man, based on an original story
by John Grisham and directed by Robert Altman, starring Kenneth
Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey, Jr., Daryl Hannah, Famke
Janssen, Tom Berenger and Robert Duvall.
Most
recently Burg produced the Jim Toback movie, Black & White,
starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jared Leto, Brooke Shields,
Elijiah Woods and Mike Tyson; Lockdown, directed by John Luessenhop;
and Good Advice, directed by Steve Rash and starring Charlie
Sheen, Denise Richards, Angie Harmon, Jon Lovitz and Rosanna Arquette.
Burg
formed Evolution Entertainment with Oren Koules in October 1998,
a management/production company representing actors, writers and
directors. The company also has a first-look television deal with
DreamWorks SKG.
Oren
Koules (Producer)
Oren Koules is co-founder of Evolution Entertainment, a management/production
company that represents actors, writers and directors. Together
with Mark Burg, he has produced such films as Black and White
and Good Advice, as well as the upcoming Run Ronnie Run!,
starring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. Prior to Evolution Entertainment,
Koules served as Senior Vice President of Production for Paramount
Pictures and also produced Set it Off, directed by F. Gary
Gray, and Mrs. Winterbourne starring Shirley MacClaine, Ricki Lake
and Brendan Fraser.
Koules began his motion picture career in 1992 and co-founded Peak
Productions in 1995 with Dale Pollack. The duo produced two studio
releases in eighteen months.
Avram
Butch Kaplan (Executive Producer)
Avram Butch Kaplan was born in New York City and received a classical
French education from Lycee Francais before moving at age 15 to
Israel and attending agricultural high school, where he matriculated
in dairy farming. He then subsequently joined the Israeli Defense
Forces and served as a paratrooper for three years in the standing
army, and later in the reserves.
In
1982, Kaplan entered the film business as the Israeli distributor
at CIC (an equivalent to Paramount and Universal in Israel). In
1987, he returned to the United States and began working in production
in Los Angeles, going on to produce various television shows including
"Red Shoe Diaries" for Showtime, "Strangers"
for HBO, "Allies" for CBS and "Beyond Belief"
for Fox.
Kaplan's
feature producing credits include The Patriot,
directed by Dean Semler for Interlight Pictures; Lawnmower Man
2, directed by Farhad Mann for New Line Cinema; and Lake
Consequence. Kaplan also served as line producer/UPM on Buffalo
66, directed by Vincent Gallo for Lion's Gate Films.
It
was while producing She's So Lovely, starring John Travolta and
Sean Penn, that Kaplan formed a working relationship with John Q.
director Nick Cassavetes.
James
Kearns (Screenwriter)
Before concentrating on screenwriting, James Kearns lived in New
York City where he worked as a playwright. His plays "Days
in the Dark Light" and "Price of Admission" were
produced in New York and Los Angeles. Another full-length drama,
"Favorite Sons" was staged by the Actors Producing Company
in New York and was subsequently named a Selection Committee Finalist
at the Eugene O'Neill Writers Conference in Waterbury, Connecticut.
His
work in the theater eventually led him to relocate to Los Angeles
where he worked as a writer on several critically praised dramatic
series, most notably "A Year in the Life" (NBC) and "Wiseguy"
(CBS). Over the years he has managed to stay gainfully employed
by writing film scripts (which have yet to make their way to the
big screen) and several television movies, including the recently
filmed "Code 1114" for CBS. John Q. is his first
screenplay to be produced as a feature length film. He currently
lives in southern California with his wife and two daugthers.
Rogier Stoffers, N.S.C.
(Director of Photography)
Rogier Stoffers, a native of Holland, was the cinematographer on
Mike van Diem's Character, which won the Academy Award for
Best Foreign Film in 1993 in addition to three Best Cinematography
Awards at film festivals in the U.S., Poland and Madrid. Stoffers
has just completed Philip Kaufman's Quills. His other credits
include Mart Dominicus' 1999, Ilse Somers' short, Sancta Mortale,
Anette Apon's One Man and His Dog, Monique van de Duren's
Mama's Proefkonun, Robert Steyn's Ici Et Maintenant
and Mike van Diem's Alaska, which won an Academy Award for
Best Student film in 1990.
Stefania
Cella (Production Designer)
Stefania Cella hails from Italy, where she completed Papa Dice
Messa and Amati Matti (which screened at the Venice Film
Festival) before relocating to the United States. More recently
she designed Jill Mazursky's short, Fallen Bride, John Briley's
The Son of Man and Dangerous Beauty directed by Marshall
Herskovitz, on which she worked as Art Director.
Cella's
television credits include eight episodes of ABC's "Once and
Again" and the pilot "The Castle," directed by Marshall
Herskovitz. Cella honed her skills on scores of commercials and
music videos for such directors as Woody Allen, Fabrice Carazo,
Michael Grasso, Edward Zwick and Mark Piznarski.
Cella
recently completed Assassination Tango directed by Robert
Duvall and produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Beatrix
Auruna Pasztor (Costumer Designer)
Beatrix Arurna Pasztor's most recent credits are Wonder Boys,
starring Michael Douglas, Monkey Bone with Brendan Fraser
and A Dog of Flanders. She previously designed the costumes
for Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely. A member of Gus Van
Sant's creative team, she first worked for him on Drugstore Cowboy
followed by My Own Private Idaho, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,
To Die For, Good Will Hunting and Psycho, starring Anne
Heche and Vince Vaughn.
Among
her more than 20 feature films are The Fisher King, Oliver
Stone's U-Turn and Marco Brambilla's Excess Baggage, Indecent
Proposal, American Heart and her first picture, The Bloodhounds
of Broadway, starring Madonna.
Dede
Allen, A.C.E. (Editor)
The numerous feature credits of acclaimed editor Dede Allen include
such classic films as The Hustler, America, America, Bonnie and
Clyde, Rachel, Rachel, Alice's Restaurant, Little Big Man, Slaughterhouse
Five, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Night Moves, The Missouri Breaks,
Slapshot, The Wiz, Reds (for which she also served as Executive
Producer), The Breakfast Club, The Milagro Beanfield War, Henry
and June, The Addams Family and, most recently, Wonder
Boys.
Allen
began her career in film editing in 1950 in New York (following
a stint making commerical spots for television) with Odds Against
Tomorrow, directed by Robert Wise, and from there went on to
form collaborations with several noted directors, including six
films for Arthur Penn, three films for Sidney Lumet, two films for
George Roy Hill, two films for Paul Newman and one film each for
Elia Kazan and Robert Rossen. With her work on Bonnie and Clyde,
Allen pioneered such innovative and much-imitated editing techniques
as pre-lapping sound - the sound track coming in ahead of the picture
on a cut - and unmatched cuts, fade-outs and cut-ins. She was also
the first in her craft to win a credit position for the film editor
in the opening credits of a film, alongside the cinematographer,
the writer and director.
In
1992, Allen returned to Los Angeles to become a creative executive
in theatrical production at Warner Brothers, where she consulted
on films from dailies to post-production. In 1999, Allen left her
executive position to return to her first love - film editing -
and edited the acclaimed Wonder Boys.
Allen's
numerous awards and nominations include the 1982 Women in Film Crystal
Award, the 1975 British Academy Award for Dog Day Afternoon,
Academy Award nominations for Dog Day Afternoon and Reds,
a Doctor of Fine Arts Honorary Degree from the American Film Institute,
the 1994 A.C.E. Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1999 Hollywood Film
Festival Career Achievement Award, the 2000 Los Angeles Film Critics
Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2001 New York Women in Film and
Television Muse Award.
Aaron
Zigman (Composer)
John Q. marks the feature film debut of composer Aaron Zigman.
Previously
Zigman has worked extensively as a music producer, arranger and/or
writer for such recording artists as Christina Aguilera, Seal, Aretha
Franklin, Oleta Adams, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Patti Labelle,
Chicago, The Jets, Nona Gaye, Carly Simon, Pointer Sisters, Huey
Lewis, Dionne Warwick and Jennifer Holiday. His work has been featured
on such film soundtracks as Mulan, Buster, What's Love Got To
Do With It?, License to Kill, Pocohantas and Fame
REVIEW,
TRAILERS, PHOTOS
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
ABOUT THE CAST
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
|
