Earlier this year, Cusack starred in "Identity," a thriller directed by James Mangold and also starring Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina and Ray Liotta. Cusack recently starred in the Lion's Gate release "Max" for director Menno Meyjes. Cusack portrays `Max Rothman,' a celebrated gallery owner who meets a fellow war veteran and aspiring artist, Adolph Hitler, in 1918 Munich and encourages him to paint. The film, which Cusack also produced, had its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. Previously, Cusack starred opposite Kate Beckinsdale in the romantic comedy, "Serendipity," directed by Peter Chelsom and "America's Sweethearts," also starring Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Billy Crystal. In addition to starring in the critically acclaimed film version of Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity," Cusack co-produced the movie and co-wrote the screenplay with his New Crime partners Steve Pink and D.V. DeVicentis.

In 1999, Cusack starred in the critically praised "Being John Malkovich," also starring Catherine Keener and Cameron Diaz. Malkovich portrayed himself in the film directed by Spike Jonze. Cusack's performance garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actor. That year Cusack also co-starred in "Cradle Will Rock," an ensemble drama written and directed by Tim Robbins. Cusack portrayed Nelson Rockefeller in a cast that included Emily Watson, Cary Elwes, Angus McFaadden, Susan Sarandon, Hank Azaria, John Turturro, Ruben Blades and Vanessa Redgrave. He also starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett in Mike Newell's comedy, "Pushing Tin." He toplined "The Jack Bull," a traditional Western written by his father Dick Cusack, for HBO. In addition to starring in the film, Cusack served as executive producer along with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVicentis under their New Crime Productions banner. John portrayed a Wyoming horse trader who took on a fellow rancher after he abused two of his horses and the 'Crow Indian' man who cared for them.

In 1998, Cusack appeared in director Terence Malick's World War II combat epic, "The Thin Red Line," with an ensemble cast that included George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Bill Pullman and John Travolta.

In 1997, Cusack starred opposite Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd and Minnie Driver in "Grosse Point Blank." He received rave reviews for the comedy that he also produced and co-wrote. This was the first project his company, New Crime Productions, produced under its banner.

That same year Cusack starred with Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi in the blockbuster "Con Air," directed by Simon West, as well as "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," also starring Kevin Spacey, and directed by Clint Eastwood. In addition, Cusack lent his voice to the full-length animated film, "Anastasia," which also featured the voices of Meg Ryan, Christopher Lloyd and Kelsey Grammer.

Cusack has also starred opposite Al Pacino in Harold Becker's "City Hall" and starred in two films for Woody Allen, "Bullets Over Broadway," opposite Chazz Palmintieri, and "Shadows and Fog." His other feature film credits include "Tapeheads," "Fat Man and Little Boy," "Map of the Human Heart," "Postcards from the Edge," "True Colors," "Money for Nothing" and "Road to Wellville."

In addition to his film work, Cusck founded New Crime Theater Company. The company, which is based in Chicago, is the foremost avant-garde theater company next to The Steppenwolf Company. He has directed four plays with this group, including Alagazam...After the Dog Years and Methusalem, which won him a Jeff Citation for Best Director at Chicago's famed Joseph Jefferson Awards. The production also won awards for Best Original Music and Best Costume Design. He has also directed Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Currently, Cusack, along with his New Crime Productions partners, writers Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis, have a first-look deal with New Line Cinema to develop, write and produce films, in some of which Cusack will star.

GENE HACKMAN (Rankin Fitch) has received two Academy Awards®: Best Actor for "The French Connection" and Best Supporting Actor for "Unforgiven." He also received Oscar® nominations for "Bonnie and Clyde," "I Never Sang For My Father" and "Mississippi Burning." His list of honors also includes two British Academy Awards®, three Golden Globes®, two National Organization of Theatre Owners Awards, the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award, and a comprehensive collection of awards from leading critics' groups. He has received retrospective tributes from the British Film Institute, the San Francisco Film Festival and the American Film Institute. Most recently, he received the Cecile B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the 2003 Golden Globes® ceremony.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Hackman's emergence as one of the major actors of his generation is that there is no such thing as a Gene Hackman role. Hackman's most recent roles include the scheming patriarch of a dysfunctional family in "The Royal Tenenbaums," for which he won his third Golden Globe® Award, a hardnosed naval commander whose methods buck the system in "Behind Enemy Lines" and a life-long conman pulling off his final con in David Mamet's "The Heist." Other recent film roles cast him as a sexually tormented businessman in "Under Suspicion," a man dragged in over his head when drafted as a pro football coach during a strike in "The Replacements" and a reprobate magnate targeted by two beautiful women in "Heartbreakers."

Hackman's recent feature credits also include starring roles in "Enemy of the State," opposite Will Smith, Robert Benton's "Twilight," with Paul Newman and Susan Sarandon, "Extreme Measures," "The Birdcage," also starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, and Clint Eastwood's "Absolute Power," in which Eastwood also starred.

Hackman earned his second Oscar® for his role as the vicious sheriff in "Unforgiven," the Academy Award®-winning western directed by and also starring Eastwood and Morgan Freeman. He also starred in another western "The Quick and the Dead," opposite Sharon Stone, "The Crimson Tide," opposite Denzel Washington, and "Get Shorty," with John Travolta and Danny DeVito.

Previously Hackman has starred in two other films based on John Grisham's novels, "The Firm" and "The Chamber."

Hackman began his career in the theatre and made his screen debut in the 1964 film, "Lilith," which starred Warren Beatty. Since then Hackman has appeared in more than 70 films, ranging from comedies to action films to westerns to dramas. These include Francis Ford Coppola's critically acclaimed "The Conversation," the boxoffice hit "The Poseidon Adventure," Warren Beatty's Academy award-winning "Reds," "Scarecrow," "Hoosiers," "Another Woman," "Under Fire," "All Night Long," "Twice in a Lifetime," "Night Moves," directed by Arthur Penn, and three of the "Superman" films in which he appeared as Lex Luthor.

Hackman was born in Riverside, California, and reared in Danville, Illinois, where his father was a newspaper printer. He jointed the Marines at 16 and became a radio operator. After his discharge from the service, Hackman moved from radio to television and worked at various small-town television stations. He eventually returned to the West Coast and enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse where one of his classmates was Dustin Hoffman. There, Hackman made his stage debut with Zazu Pitts in The Curious Miss Caraway.

After a period of summer stock, Hackman moved to New York where he studied with George Morrison and began getting small parts on television and in stage productions. He won the Clarence Derwent Award for his performance in Irwin Shaw's "Children at Their Games," and had his first starring role on Broadway opposite Sandy Dennis in the hit comedy, "Any Wednesday."

In addition to his work as an actor, Hackman is an author of the novel, Wake of the Perdido Star, which he wrote with Daniel Lenihan. Hackman also paints, flies a plane and races automobiles. In addition, he's an avid film collector.

DUSTIN HOFFMAN (Wendall Rohr), a two-time Oscar® winner and a seven-time nominee, is distinguished as one of the cinema's most acclaimed leading actors. Recently, he starred in "Moonlight Mile," opposite Susan Sarandon, and in "Confidence," opposite Edward Burns and Rachel Weisz, for director James Foley.

He next appears in the Fox Searchlight Pictures release "I Heart Huckabees" and in 'J.M. Barrie's Neverland."

Born in Los Angeles, Hoffman attended Santa Monica City College and later studied at the Pasadena Playhouse, with Gene Hackman among his classmates, before moving to New York to study with Lee Strasberg. Hoffman's first stage role was in the Sarah Lawrence College production of Gertrude Stein's "Yes Is For A Very Young Man" which led to several roles Off Broadway, including the farce, "Eh?" directed by Alan Arkin, for which he won the Theatre World and Drama Desk Awards.

His performance in "Eh?" brought him to the attention of director Mike Nichols, who cast Hoffman in the title role in "The Graduate." His portrayal of young Benjamin Braddock brought him his first Academy Award® nomination.

Hoffman has since been nominated for six more Academy Awards®, for such diverse films as "Midnight Cowboy," "Lenny," "Tootsie," which he also produced through his company, Punch Productions, and "Wag the Dog," winning the Best Actor Award for "Kramer Vs. Kramer" in 1979 and for "Rain Man" in 1988.

Other films Hoffman has starred in include "Little Big Man," directed by Arthur Penn, "Straw Dogs," directed by Sam Peckinpah, "Papillion," also starring Steve McQueen, "All the Presidents Men," opposite Robert Redford, and directed by Alan J. Pakula, "Marathon Man," directed by John Schlesinger, "Straight Time," "Agatha," "Ishtar," Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy," "Billy Bathgate," directed by Robert Benton.

Steven Spielberg's "Hook," "Hero," "Sleepers" and "Sphere," both directed by Barry Levinson, "American Buffalo," "Outbreak," directed by Wolfgang Petersen, "Mad City," directed by Costa-Gavras, and Luc Besson's "Joan of Arc."

Hoffman's stage work has been equally impressive since he made his Broadway debut with a walk-on part in "A Cook for Mr. General" in 1961. He joined the Theatre Company of Boston for one season, and then returned to New York to work as an assistant director on Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge." He continued appearing on stage in such productions as "Harry, Noon and Night" and "The Journey of the Fifth Horse," for which he won an Obie® as Best Actor.

After "The Graduate," Hoffman returned to Broadway to star in "Jimmy Shine," by Murray Schisgal, before taking on the role of Ratso Rizzo in "Midnight Cowboy."

Hoffman made his directorial debut on Broadway in 1974 with Murray Schisgal's "All Over Town." He returned to the Broadway stage a decade later as Willy Loman in the 1984 revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," which he also produced, for which he earned the Drama Desk Award for Best Actor. Filmed as a special presentation for television, "Death of Salesman" also brought Hoffman an Emmy® Award. In 1989 Hoffman enjoyed a long run on the London stage as Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" and later reprised the role on Broadway, for which he received a Tony® Award nomination.

Starting with "Tootsie," in 1982, Hoffman has also served as a producer for film, television and the stage under the banner of his company, Punch Productions. His credits as a producer include the films "Outbreak," "American Buffalo" and "Wag the Dog," Solely as a producer, he produced the feature film, "A Walk on the Moon," and served as executive producer on "The Devil's Arithmetic." For the stage he produced "Death of a Salesman" (as well as the TV version) and "The Merchant of Venice."

RACHEL WEISZ (Marlee) starred in "About a Boy," opposite Hugh Grant, and in "Confidence," opposite Edward Burns and Dustin Hoffman, for director James Foley.

Previously, she reprised her role opposite Brendan Fraser in "The Mummy Returns," which broke box-office records upon its release. She also starred opposite Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes in "Enemy at the Gates," directed by Jean-Jacques Arnaud, and in the independent film "Beautiful Creatures," opposite Susan Lynch.

Other films in which Weisz has starred include the acclaimed British comedy "Land Girls," which also starred Catherine McCormack, and "Swept From the Sea," which also starred Vincent Perez. She was also seen in Mark Pellington's "Going All the Way," with Jeremy Davies and Ben Affleck, Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty," opposite Liv Tyler and Jeremy Irons, and the thriller, "Chain Reaction," opposite Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman.

These films quickly followed her acclaimed debut in the London production of Noel Coward's "Design For Living," which garnered her the London Drama Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Newcomer. She also starred in the West End production of "Suddenly Last Summer" for director Sean Mathias.

Before her London theatre success Weisz already had a significant theatrical background that began during her time studying at Cambridge University. With two colleagues she formed the "Talking Tongues" Theater Group, which performed numerous experimental pieces and which won the prestigious Guardian Award at the Edinburgh Festival.

Weisz returned to the stage in Neil Labute's latest play, "The Shape of Things," at the Almeida Theatre in the West End of London, for which she received excellent reviews. The play then had a successful run off Broadway. Weisz co-produced with Neil LaBute and starred in the subsequent film version.

BRUCE DAVISON (Durwood Cable) has had a career rich with a variety of roles, both hero and villain and all shades in between. The range of his projects reflects that versatility. Recently, he had a starring role in the box office hit "X-Men" as Senator Kelly, the avowed opponent of the mutant heroes (a role he reprised in "X2"), and guest-starred in nine episodes of the highly acclaimed TV series "The Practice," beginning with the 2002 season's premiere episode. Davison played a friend of Bobby (Dylan McDermott) who is accused of murdering his wife. Davison also directed his first feature, "Off Season," starring Hume Cronyn, Sherilyn Fenn and Rory Culkin, for Showtime. He received an Emmy® nomination as Best Director.

Davison's recent film credits include "Summer Catch," "Crazy/Beautiful," and "The King is Alive." Previously, he starred in "At First Sight," Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil," and "Paulie."

For his work in the film "Longtime Companion," Davison was nominated for an Academy Award® and was the winner of a Golden Globe® Award, the New York Film Critics and the National Film Critics Awards and a Spirit Award. Among his other notable films are Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," directed by Nicholas Hytner, Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," for which the ensemble cast was honored with a special Golden Globe Award and by the Venice Film Festival, "Six Degrees of Separation," "Short Eyes," Frank Perry's "Last Summer," Robert Aldrich's "Ulzana's Raid," which starred Burt Lancaster, "The Strawberry Statement" and the cult horror classic "Willard."

On television, Davison's credits include the HBO film "Vendetta," three films for Showtime: "Locked in Silence," "Hidden in America," and "The Color of Justice" and "After Jimmy." Davison also guest-starred on three episodes of "Seinfeld."

On stage, Davison starred in the off-Broadway sensation "How I Learned to Drive," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Paula Vogel.

Davison was educated at Penn State where he started out as an art major until fate led him to accompany a friend to her audition of "Come Back, Little Sheba" and he became hooked on acting from then on.

BRUCE MCGILL (Judge Harkin) has had a great diversity of roles in both dramas and comedies since his film debut in the classic comedy "Animal House." Most recently, he had roles in "The Sum of All Fears," "Shallow Hal" and Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men."

McGill's previous film credits include "Exit Wounds," "The Legend of Bagger Vance," "The Insider," "Dog of Flanders," "Letters From a Killer," "Lawn Dogs," "Rosewood," Ed Zwick's "Courage Under Fire," "Black Sheep," "Perfect World," "Time Cop," "Cliffhanger," "The Last Boy Scout," "My Cousin Vinnie," "No Mercy," "The Last Innocent Man," "The Secret of My Success," "Citizen's Band," "The Hand," "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez," "Silkwood" and "Into the Night."

On television, McGill has worked on numerous made-for-television and cable movies, among them "Live From Baghdad," in which he played journalist Peter Arnett, "Path to War," "Inside the Osmonds," "61*," "Running Mates," "The Ballad of Lucy Whipple," "Everything that Rises" and "Good Old Boys."

In addition, he was a series regular on "Live Shot," "Semi Tough" and "A Black Tie Affair," and had a recurring role on "MacGyver." He guest-starred on "CSI," "The Practice" and "Gideon's Crossing."

On stage, McGill had roles in the Broadway musical "My One and Only," "Othello" and "Henry IV" at the Kennedy Center.

JEREMY PIVEN (Lawrence Green) previously worked with director Gary Fleder on "Kiss the Girls." More recently, Piven had roles in "Black Hawk Down," "Serendipity" and "Old School."

Piven's other film credits include "Family Man," "Red Letters," "The Crew," "Very Bad Things," "Phoenix," "Music From Another Room," "Just Write," "Grosse Pointe Blank," "Larger Than Life," "Heat," "Dr. Jekyll & Ms. Hyde," "Miami Rhapsody," "P.C.U.," "Judgment Night," "Twenty Bucks," "The Player," "Singles," "White Palace," "Lucas," "The Grifters," "Say Anything" and "One Crazy Summer."

On television, Piven has been a series regular on "Ellen," and "The Larry Sanders Show" for HBO and "Pride and Joy," for ABC. He also had a recurring role on "Chicago Hope" and guest starred on "Seinfeld." Piven had a lead role in the pilot for the new "Twilight Zone," for UPN, as well leads in "It's About this Gut" and "Partners," for CBS, and "Cupid," for ABC. He also appeared in "Only in America: "The Life and Time of Don King."

NICK SEARCY (Doyle) made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's "Days of Thunder" and then appeared in "The Prince of Tides." His big break came with his memorable role as Mary-Louise Parker's abusive husband in the box-office hit "Fried Green Tomatoes," which led to roles in "The Real McCoy" and "The Fugitive." His recent credits include "Cast Away," "One Hour Photo," Tigerland" and "Head of State."

Searcy was a television series regular on "American Gothic." He played astronaut Deke Slayton in Tom Hanks' Emmy Award-winning series "From the Earth to the Moon," in which he was the only actor to appear in all episodes.

Searcy's directorial debut, "Paradise Falls," won awards at numerous film festivals, including the Nashville Film Festival and the Hollywood Film Festival (Under $1 Million Feature category).