| ABOUT
THE CAST
STANLEY
TUCCI (Major Haley)
Stanley
Tucci was born in Katonah, New York, and graduated from the acting
program at State University of New York at Purchase. He has had
a diverse career as an actor, writer, director and producer.
As
an actor, Tucci has received critical acclaim in such movies as:
Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal,” co-starring
Tom Hanks, Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition,” co-starring
Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman; “Big Trouble,”
co-starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld;
and “America’s Sweethearts,” co-starring Julia
Roberts, John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Billy Crystal. Previous
film credits include “Midsummer Night’s Dream,”
“Deconstructing Harry,” “Life Less Ordinary,”
”Daytrippers,” “Kiss of Death,” “Mrs.
Parker and the Vicious Circle,” “Pelican Brief,”
“Prelude to a Kiss,” “Billy Bathgate,” and
“Slaves of New York.” Following “Spin,”
Tucci stars next as Stanley Kubrick in “The Life and Death
of Peter Sellers.”
In
1998, Tucci received a Golden Globe and Emmy award for his portrayal
of Walter Winchell in HBO’s original film “Winchell,”
and in 2001 earned nominations for both awards for “Conspiracy.”
Tucci’s most recent role in television was as a Wall Street
‘shark’ on TNT’s “Bull.” Tucci also
starred in Steven Bochco’s drama “Murder One,”
for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Tucci
is no stranger to the theater. He has performed in numerous plays
on and off-Broadway. Most recently he received a Tony nomination
for Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, and has appeared in
other plays including Execution of Hope, The Iceman Cometh, Brighton
Beach Memoirs, and The Misanthrope.
Tucci’s
talent as a writer/director also has won him critical acclaim and
numerous awards. His first directing and writing experience for
film was “Big Night,” a movie in which he also starred.
His second project, “The Impostors,” a film that he
wrote, directed, co-produced and starred, was an Official Selection
at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. His most recent directorial effort
was USA Films’ “Joe Gould’s Secret,” in
which he stars alongside Ian Holm.
RYAN MERRIMAN (Eddie Haley)
Ryan
Merriman was born in Oklahoma and started acting at the age of eight
in local commercials, vocal performances, and theater.
In
1993, at the age of ten, he traveled to LA for auditions, and landed
a starring role in the TV series “The Mommies” as a
series regular. Merriman has since acted in several TV series. Perhaps
his most recognizable role was in “The Pretender” (for
which he received two consecutive Young Artist Awards of Hollywood
for Outstanding Performance in a Drama Series, Supporting Actor).
He also had a role in the Steven Spielberg produced mini-series
“Taken,” and most recently, the ABC series “Veritas,”
in which he had a starring role.
Merriman
has had leading roles in several TV movies. They include “Dangerous
Child,” “Rocket’s Red Glare,” “Luck
of the Irish,” and “Smart House.” He appeared
in the CBS Hallmark Presentation of “Night Ride Home,”
opposite Rebecca DeMornay and Ellen Burstyn, and opposite Richard
Dreyfuss in HBO’s “Lansky.” He also had a starring
role in Dennis Quaid’s directorial debut “Everything
That Rises” for TNT. His next TV movie, “The Colt”
for Hallmark Entertainment is scheduled to air this fall.
His
feature film credits are “Deep End of the Ocean,” with
Michelle Pfeiffer, “Just Looking,” directed by Jason
Alexander, and “Halloween: Resurrection.” Merriman recently
completed shooting “The Ring 2” which also stars Naomi
Watts and Sissy Spacek.
DANA DELANY (Margaret Swift-Bejarano)
Dana
Delany was born in New York City and raised in Stamford, Connecticut.
She graduated from Wesleyan University, moved to New York, and began
to work in theater and daytime television. In the early 80’s
Delany starred in the Broadway show “A Life,” and in
Nicholas Kazan’s off-Broadway production of “Bloodmoon”.
Her soap-opera credits include “As the World Turns”
and “Love of Life.”
In
the mid to late 80’s Delany had supporting roles in movies
such as “Almost You” and “Where the River Runs
Black.” She was featured in “Masquerade,” “Moon
Over Parador,” and “Patty Hearst.” Later, she
starred in the 1994 film “East of Eden.”
In
1988 Delany was cast in the acclaimed TV series “China Beach”
as U.S. Army nurse Colleen Murphy. She won two Emmy Awards for her
performances in this role. She also starred in the TV series “Wild
Palms,” “Pasadena,” and most recently in “Presidio
Med.” Her TV movies include starring roles in “Choices
of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story,” “Resurrection,”
“Sirens,” “Conviction,” and “The Right
Temptation” for HBO.
Most
recently Delany co-starred in the New York, Los Angeles and Boston
productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning play “Dinner with
Friends.” She also produced and starred in the ABC movie “Double
Jeopardy.” Her most recent TV movie was the highly-rated “Baby
for Sale” for Lifetime Televison.
RUBEN
BLADES (Ernesto Bejarano)
Ruben
Blades was born in Panama City, Panama. He has an accomplished career
as an actor, musician and composer. Blades is a graduate of Harvard
Law School, and in 1994 he ran for President of Panama. Newly elected
President Martin Torrijos of Panama recently appointed him Minister
of Tourism for Panama, a Cabinet Post which Blades assumed on September
1, 2004.
Blades
first came on the scene as a musician, and helped popularize salsa
music. In the early 80s he began acting in films (sometimes writing
the music as well), as he did in the 1983 film the “The Last
Fight.” In 1985 he wrote and starred in the movie “Crossover
Dreams,” which is about a salsa singer.
In
1987/88 Blades co-starred in “Critical Condition,” directed
by Michael Apted, Tom Holland’s “Fatal Beauty,”
and Robert Redford’s “Milagro Beanfield War.”
Blades
has worked with talented directors Spike Lee in “Mo’
Better Blues,” Alan Pakula in ”Devils Own,” and
Wayne Wang in “Chinese Box”. He has also co-starred
with actor/director Jack Nicholson in “The Two Jakes,”
Billy Bob Thornton in “All the Pretty Horses,” Tim Robbins
in “The Cradle Will Rock,” and Robert Duvall in “Assassination
Tango.”
Blades
was most recently seen in director Robert Rodriguez’s “Once
Upon a Time in Mexico” which also starred Antonio Banderas,
Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp. Following “Spin” Blades
stars in the upcoming “Imagining Argentina” and “Secuestro
Express” which were both filmed in 2003.
Blades
was recently nominated for a 2004 Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Performer
in a Children/Youth/Family Special for Showtime’s “The
Maldonado Miracle” which was directed by Salma Hayek. His
other television awards and nominations include an ACE award-winning
performance for Best Actor in HBO’s “Dead Man Out,”
and he received an Ace nomination for Best Actor in TNT’s
“Crazy From the Heart.”
To
some, Blades is best known as an accomplished Salsa performer and
pop star. Since the late '70s, Panamanian vocalist Ruben Blades
has given a musical voice to middle class Central America, becoming
one of the region's most successful artists. His music is an exciting
fusion of Latin, rock, reggae and Caribbean sounds, and his modern,
intelligent and socially aware songs have caused him to be labeled
"the Latin Bruce Springsteen." As a composer he wrote
the music for “The Last Fight” (song) and “Do
the Right Thing” (song Tu y yo). He has collaborated on more
than twenty albums, most recently, Mundo and Tiempos.
PAULA GARCES (Francesca Montoya)
Born
in New York, Paula Garces’ career began on television, where
she played ‘Pilar’ Santos on the Emmy-winning daytime
drama, "The Guiding Light."
Garces’
first feature films were the "Harvest,” with James Van
Der Beek and Mary McCormick; "Dangerous Minds,” opposite
Michelle Pfeiffer; "Life with Mikey," opposite Michael
J. Fox; and the acclaimed "Hangin’ with the Homeboys."
Her
first starring role was opposite Jesse Bradford in “Clockstoppers”
the sci-fi action film directed by Jonathan Frakes, and produced
by Gale Ann Hurd and Albie Hecht. She followed with Paramount’s
"Marci X," starring opposite Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans.
Garces
most recently starred in New Line’s hit comedy “Harold
and Kumar go to White Castle.” She recently completed Revolution’s
“Man of the House,” which stars Tommy Lee Jones and
will star in “National Lampoon’s Pledge This!”
which also stars Heather Chase, Paris Hilton and Simon Rex.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
JAMES
REDFORD (Writer/ Director)
James
Redford grew up between New York City and Utah. After graduating
from the University of Colorado with a combined English/Filmmaking
major, he was a correspondent for Rolling Stock Literary Review
before returning to graduate school at Northwestern University.
After receiving his M.A. in literature, he began writing screenplays
and has since written screenplays for various studios and production
companies including Universal Pictures, Blackbird Films, and South
Fork Pictures.
Redford’s
work includes the dramatic short, “The Acting Thing”
which one best comedic short film at the Houston Film Festival and
premiered on the Sundance Channel. He also produced the HBO feature
documentary “The Kindness of Strangers” which won the
Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival as well as Best
Documentary at the Chicago Alternative Film Festival.
Recently,
Redford wrote the original script for Xavier Koller’s rodeo
drama “Ring Of Fire”(Destination Films) starring Keifer
Sutherland, Darryl Hannah, and Pete Postlewaite. He also wrote the
screenplay for “Skinwalkers” – A Tony Hillerman
adaptation directed by Chris Eyre for PBS/Mystery!, which aired
in the fall of 2002. SPIN marks his debut as a Writer/Director.
Redford
is also the founder and President of JRI, a non-profit foundation
created for the purpose of encouraging a greater awareness about
organ donation and transplantation.
He
lives in Marin County, California with his wife and two children.
DONALD EVERETT AXINN (Producer)
Axinn
began as a real estate developer before becoming an author of two
published novels and seven collections of poems. The film “Spin”
is based upon his first novel of the same name. His second novel
is entitled “The Ego Makers.” More than a hundred of
his poems have been published in periodicals, journals, and newspapers
including: The New York Times, Newsday, Writers’ Forum and
Poetry Now. His most recent collection of poetry, El Sueño
del Halcón, was published by santoXoficio.
Axinn
lectures on creative writing and the humanities to diverse groups,
colleges and universities. He has been the Director of Hofstra’s
University Institute for the Arts, Executive in Residence (Economics
& Poetry) for Middlebury College, and Poet in Residence at the
University of Maine, just to mention a few.
In
business he was Vice President of Axinn & Sons Lumber Company,
Director and Partner of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and currently
Founder and Chairman, CEO of Donald E. Axinn Companies.
Axinn
is a member of numerous professional and literary organizations,
including Who’s Who in America and the Academy of American
Poets’ Board of Directors. His honors and awards are too numerous
to mention.
ELAINE
ROGERS (Producer)
Elaine
Rogers is an entertainment lawyer and film agent who has been involved
in numerous aspects of the film industry. She specializes in entertainment
law, including film financing, contract negotiations, packaging
and placement of film and television projects.
Rogers
has produced, agented, or served as legal counsel for numerous theatrical
and TV films. These films include: “The Women Of K2”
which aired on National Geographic Channel; “Heart of a Stranger,”
starring Jane Seymour on Lifetime Television; “Mother on the
Run,” the life story of April Curtis Meyer, also for Lifetime
Television; “Thirteen Days” starring Kevin Costner;
“Love Lessons” for CBS, starring Patty Duke and Ronny
Cox; and “Two Came Back,” which aired on ABC, starring
Melissa Joan Hart. She currently has “The Tenth Justice”
in production at Fox 2000, and “WACO” in production
at HBO.
Rogers,
like fellow producer Axinn, has won numerous honors and awards for
her outstanding contributions and public service including the National
Registry of America, Who’s Who 2000 and was featured in the
American Bar Association’s Forun: Women In Communication Law
Subcommittee’s newsletter “Women to Watch.” She
resides in Boston.
PAUL RYAN (Director of Photography)
Paul
Ryan left engineering and a brief ski-racing career to pursue photography.
He studied with Minor White, W. Eugene Smith and Ansel Adams.
Ryan
was working as a photojournalist in San Francisco when George Lucas
asked him to do the still photography on “American Graffiti.”
It was there that Ryan developed his interest in cinematography
and decided to attend Graduate Film School at San Francisco State.
Soon after, he started filming documentaries, and shot for the Maysles
brothers on “Gimme Shelter” at Altamont.
Ryan’s
first experience shooting a narrative feature film (2nd unit) was
on Terrance Malick’s “Days of Heaven.” The film
won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. He continued to build
his reputation doing second unit shooting, and often second unit
directing, on main- stream films such as Robert Redford’s
“A River Runs Through It” and “The Horse Whisperer,”
Lasse Hallstrom’s “Something To Talk About,” and
Sam Raimi’s “The Simple Plan.”
Ryan’s Director of Photography credits include “You
Talkin’ to Me?,” “Alan and Naomi,” “Lonely
Hearts,” “Where the River Flows North,” “Box
of Moonlight,” “Wildflowers,” and “Thomas
and the Magic Railroad.” He shot the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
selection “Big Bad Love” for Arliss Howard and Debra
Winger, and “The ‘Burbs” directed by Bob Balaban.
PATTI
PODESTA (Production Designer)
Patti
Podesta started in the movie business doing title sequence designs,
before moving in to production design for rock videos and commercials.
In the early 90s she worked as an Assistant Art Director on such
films as “Honey I Blew up the Kids” and “A Dangerous
Woman.”
In
1996, she made her feature film debut as a Production Designer on
“Driven.” She soon followed with such films as “NoWhere,”
“Splitsville,” and “Splendor.” But it was
the original and critically acclaimed film “Memento,”
directed by Christopher Nolan, that put her on the map. Most recently
she designed “Scorched,” starring John Cleese, Woody
Harrelson and Rachel Leigh Cook.
ALEXIS
SMITH (Costume Designer)
Alexis
Smith started her career as an actress, but quickly moved to costuming
in the early 90s. In the mid to late 90s she was the assistant costumer
on such films as “Excess Baggage,” “To Die For,”
and “She’s So Lovely.”
By
1999, she was the costume designer on “No Vacancy” and
“Bats.” She followed with work on the controversial
indie film “Buffalo 66,” before moving to more mainstream
films such as “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder”
and “The Recruit,” starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell.
Her TV credits include the recent movie for Showtime entitled “Lady
Warriors.”
NICHOLAS C. SMITH (Editor)
Nicholas
C. Smith began his career in the early 1980s as a co-editor on a
movie entitled “Fighting Back.” He soon followed with
“Thrashin’,” “The Return of Billy Jack”
(co-editor), “Spaceballs” (additional editor),”Torch
Song Trilogy,” and “The War of the Roses” (additional
editor).
In
the 1990’s Smith edited films for an impressive list of directors
that included: Lizzie Borden, “Love Crimes;” Frances
Coppola, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (co-editor);
Paul Mazursky, “Faithful;” Carol Ballard, “Fly
Away Home;” and Wayne Wang, “Anywhere But Here.”
He also worked as an additional editor on “The Secret Garden,”
“Rookie of the Year,” and “Losing Isaiah.”
In addition, he was the editor for Warner Brothers’ “Home
Fries.”
Smith’s
television credits include: “Cook and Perry: The Race to the
Pole,” Thomas Schlamme’s “What’s Alan Watching”
(co-editor), ”Against the Law,” “The Roommate,”
“In A Shallow Grave,” and “The Vietnam War Story:
The Last Days.”
Since
2000 Smith’s additional film credits are “The Crew,”
“Monkeybone’ (co-editor), and “40 Days, 40 Nights.”
TODD
BOEKELHEIDE (Composer)
Todd
Boekelheide first job in the film business was in 1974 working as
a member of the staff at American Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola’s
production company in San Francisco. He left his employment at Zoetrope
in the mid-70s to work as an assistant editor on “Star Wars.”
Two years later he worked as sound editor on “Black Stallion.”
Boekelheide
decided to pursue his interest in film music and began music studies
at Mills College in Oakland. Although his primary focus was on film
composing, he also specialized as a rerecording mixer, and won an
Oscar for mixing the music on “Amadeus.”
Boekelheide
has scored several feature films including “Dim Sum”
and “Nina Takes a Lover.” He has done numerous documentaries,
most notably “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.”
In 1999, he won an Emmy for his score for the documentary “Kids
of Survival: The Life and Art of Tim Rollins and the KOS.”
Additional
scoring credits are the Academy Award nominated documentary “Regret
to Inform” and Showtime’s “The Outsider.”
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