Made of Honor

 

Production Information

In Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy Made of Honor, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) leads a good life: he’s sexy, he’s successful, and he knows he can always rely on Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life. It’s the perfect setup until Hannah goes overseas to Scotland on a six-week business trip… and Tom is stunned to realize how empty his life is without her. He resolves that upon her return, he’ll ask Hannah to marry him – but is floored when he learns that she has become engaged to a handsome and wealthy Scotsman and plans to move overseas. When Hannah asks Tom to be her “maid” of honor, he reluctantly agrees to fill the role… but only so he can attempt to woo Hannah and stop the wedding before it’s too late.

Columbia Pictures presents, in association with Relativity Media, an Original Film production, a film by Paul Weiland, Made of Honor. The film stars Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kathleen Quinlan, and Sydney Pollack. Directed by Paul Weiland. Produced by Neal H. Moritz. The screenplay is by Adam Sztykiel and Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont. The story is by Adam Sztykiel. The Executive Producers are Callum Greene, Tania Landau, Amanda Lewis, Marty Adelstein, Aaron Kaplan, Sean Perrone, and Ryan Kavanaugh. The Director of Photography is Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC. The Production Designer is Kalina Ivanov. The Editor is Richard Marks, A.C.E. The Costume Designer is Penny Rose. The music is by Rupert Gregson-Williams. The Music Supervision is by Nick Angel.

Made of Honor is not yet rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. For future rating information, please visit www.filmratings.com. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on May 2, 2008.

  

 

ABOUT THE FILM

In Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy Made of Honor, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) has finally realized that the woman of his dreams is the one who has been there all along: his best friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). But just as he’s getting ready to pop the question, Hannah gets engaged to another man – Scotsman Colin (Kevin McKidd) – and throws Tom for a loop by asking him to be her maid of honor. Tom accepts, seeing his opportunity to get close to the bride-to-be and woo her before it’s too late. As Hannah begins to realize that Tom may be marriage material after all, she will have to decide between marrying her best friend or the man who asked first.

“Hannah’s choice is not an easy one,” says Neal H. Moritz, producer of Made of Honor. “Both Tom and Colin are good guys, they both have merit.”

“At its heart, Made of Honor is the age-old idea that you don’t see love when it’s right in front of you,” says director Paul Weiland. “Tom is a very good-looking man who gets women easily, but won’t commit. When Hannah meets someone else, he realizes that not only is he going to lose his best friend, but he’s really in love with this girl and just hadn’t realized it. All along, he’s had his cake and been able to eat it too, and suddenly, someone has taken his cake away.”

“Unfortunately for Tom, he discovers too late that Hannah really is his true love,” says Dempsey. “Hannah believes in true love and marriage, while to this point, Tom has been a ladies man with serious issues about marriage. Tom has many opportunities, missed moments, but Hannah’s been there the entire time. Now she’s been taken away from him, and his only recourse is to go to Scotland as her maid of honor and try to win her over.”

Monaghan notes that “I really wanted to be a part of this project because I loved the story and everyone that was involved. The odd coincidence was it was a situation I had lived through: when I was married, my maid of honor was a man who is still my best friend.”

 

From the very beginning, Moritz wanted to make the film with Patrick Dempsey. “When this script came to us, we loved the concept,” recalls Moritz. “We thought it was a great idea for a romantic comedy. I had been a fan of Patrick Dempsey’s ever since Can’t Buy Me Love, and then he was in a film I made, Sweet Home Alabama. Since then, he’s come to represent something – not just anyone could play Dr. McDreamy. Patrick can play romance and he can play the rogue, and you still end up rooting for him. Of course, he was the first person we talked to about the role of Tom.”

“Patrick was absolutely perfect for this role,” says Weiland. “I’ve always been incredibly impressed by his ability to do so many different things. When he and Michelle are together, it’s an exciting combination. She’s so full of life and has a sense of humor equal to his.”

For his part, Dempsey was attracted to the role by the chance to bring the rogue around. “Tom has it all, right up until Hannah gets engaged – and then he realizes that his seemingly perfect life is nothing without her in it,” he says. “When it becomes apparent to him that he might lose her, it really throws him – he’s ready to change his entire life to make sure she stays in his life. I think that’s a satisfying story – I know that a lot of guys out there wish they’d been smart enough, and bold enough, to hold onto the one that they let get away.”

With Dempsey on board, Moritz set about looking for the perfect person to direct the film. A colleague suggested he see a movie called Sixty Six, directed by Paul Weiland. Moritz did, loved it, met with Weiland, and hired the director.

“Paul has a great comedic sensibility and he also knows the subtlety of relationships and romance,” says the producer. “He is really able to bring a truthfulness to a story.”

“I’m a bit of a romantic at heart myself,” allows Weiland, “so making a romantic comedy is something I’ve always wanted to do. Tom is an emotional cripple in the beginning of the story but by the end he is able to confess his true love. I liked that this is from a male perspective, because most of the time in movies, it’s the girl getting her heart broken. It’s nice to see it happening to the opposite sex!”

  

Dempsey says, “One of the things that made this project so satisfying was working with Paul. Several times things have come up at the last minute that we’ve been able to flesh out with a little improvisation. It’s challenging and fun to go through that process and discover where the humor is, and at the same time, Paul always keeps it grounded.”

A perfect example of this is a scene where Tom, in his best “maid of honor” mode, accompanies Hannah to choose her china and silverware patterns. Remembers Weiland, “I read somewhere that Patrick knew how to juggle, so I suggested that he juggle the huge china plates. He was astonishing during several rehearsals. As luck would have it, he dropped all the plates on the first take – but he was perfect on the others.”

“That idea came up the morning we were filming that scene,” says Dempsey. “Paul asked if I juggled and when I said yes, he said, ‘Why don’t we try it with the plates?’ I told him that I hadn’t juggled in a while, but we just sort of built the scene around that notion. It changed the dynamic of the entire scene.”

Hannah, the woman Tom suddenly discovers is not only his best friend but the love of his life, is played by Michelle Monaghan. “Hannah doesn’t really take Tom seriously,” she says. “She has a sense of humor and gets a kick out all of his stories about his adventures. The truth is, she really does have a thing for Tom, but she never acts on it. She doesn’t see the potential for a long-term relationship because he doesn’t believe in marriage and she, with her whole heart, does. It’s the age-old experience of people not appreciating one another until they’re no longer a part of your life.”

Dempsey thoroughly enjoyed acting opposite Monaghan. “We laughed a lot,” he says. “What makes her so fun is that she’s a very brave actress – she is game for anything.”

According to executive producer Callum Greene, “Made of Honor is a very sweet, compelling story with two actors that really are enjoyable to watch. I think that’s key. Both Patrick and Michelle are such gifted actors and they bonded so well together. They make you laugh and they’re completely engaging.”

Monaghan says that Paul Weiland brought just the right mix of humor and emotion, slapstick and sophistication, to Made of Honor. “I absolutely adore Paul,” she says with an enormous smile. “He made me smile and giggle every single day – I just enjoyed being around him and being directed by him. He has a wonderful sensibility you don’t find in your typical romantic comedy director; he brings something unique, a European vision and tone to the film.”

 

Kevin McKidd, who played the lead role in HBO’s “Rome” and most recently starred on NBC’s “Journeyman,” takes on the third point in Made of Honor’s romantic triangle: the Scotsman Colin, who falls for Hannah and asks for her hand after a whirlwind six weeks. Weiland says, “I was looking for someone who wasn’t obvious for the role of Colin. I wanted a serious bloke – strong and passionate. It couldn’t be someone that the audience would immediately hate, because he needed to be an equal foe for Tom. Colin is also rich, but he has better manners, he’s more sincere. He seems to be the type of man that Hannah has been waiting for – strong, always there for her no matter what happens.”

McKidd says, “On first impression, Colin is the perfect man. He owns a fantastic castle. He’s the lord of a fantastic plot of land in Scotland. His family has owned a famous distillery of Scottish whiskey for generations and is very distinguished. He’s almost a nobleman – it’s a very posh, old-money family.”

The actor admits that the role represented a break from the types of roles he usually plays. “I was a little nervous at first, because I’ve always done serious, intense films,” he says. “In Made of Honor, I would be working opposite Patrick, a great actor who has been in lots of comedies and lots of romantic movies. He has such a wonderful gift for coming up with stuff on the spot and being funny. I was nervous, but he really made me feel very comfortable.

With these two co-stars, Monaghan says that falling into her role as Hannah was a piece of cake. “It was very easy to become besotted with these two men. Both Patrick Dempsey and Kevin McKidd are extremely, extremely charming. How bad could that be for an actress to play against?”

One memorable moment for McKidd came when the Scotsman learned to dunk a basketball. “In a early version of the script, my character played golf, which for a Scotsman felt natural. When they changed it to basketball, I thought, ‘Oh man, this is bad!’ The good news is I do have hand-eye coordination, so at least I could catch the ball. Fortunately, there also was quite a bit of basketball on television around the time I was going to shoot this scene. That, a great stunt coordinator, and movie magic turned me into a star dunker! “

Another serendipitous moment came when Weiland discovered that McKidd had a wonderful, though untrained, singing voice. In a scene originally scripted to have Colin, during a grand dinner party at the family castle recite a Robert Burns poem to his bride to be, McKidd instead sang a traditional Scottish song, “Love is Like a Rose,” to nary a dry eye in the house – both cast and crew!

  

 

“Colin just really wows Hannah,” Monaghan notes. “She’s been waiting for her Prince Charming, and she thinks she’s found him in Colin. He’s new and fresh and unexpected and lovely. I swear, when Kevin sang ‘Love is Like a Rose,’ he melted my heart during each take. He is just so loving – and that accent! Cupid has caught her right between these two men.”

Around the three stars, the filmmakers cast a pair of veteran actors to play parents: Sydney Pollack plays Tom’s father and Kathleen Quinlan plays Hannah’s mother, Joan.

“Sydney and Kathleen are actors of such great caliber,” adds Moritz. “They both have several scenes with Patrick and Michelle that add a sense of weight and credibility to the story. It was a great decision on Paul’s part to cast actors who would be able to lift those scenes tremendously.”

“I’ve known Sydney for a while,” says Weiland, “and actually, I have another project that his company is producing. He’s very funny as Tom’s father, but I have to admit, having him in the film brought a lot of fear to the project because basically I had to direct one of the most famous directors in the world! But he was very, very supportive and incredible fun.

“I was honored that Kathleen Quinlan accepted the part of Hannah’s mother, Joan,” Weiland continues. “It’s not a very big role, but it is important, because she sees that maybe her daughter might be making a mistake marrying Colin. But she also isn’t sure about Tom – although Joan likes the raffish aspects of Patrick’s character, and has affection for him, I’m not sure she wants her daughter to marry him. Maybe it’s a case of no one being good enough for her daughter, but I think Joan always felt that Hannah could do better. Joan comes to realize that Tom is the most important part of Hannah’s life – and you can’t get a better match than that.”

    

FILMING IN SCOTLAND

From the very beginning, says producer Neal H. Moritz, the filmmakers intended to film the climax of Made of Honor in Scotland, where it is set. “There is simply no way that you could build sets or find locations to match the reality of where we filmed on location,” he says. “Being in that beautiful environment tremendously helps the movie and also lets the characters really embrace who they are and what they’re supposed to be doing. It lends an air of credibility to it – and it makes the magic happen.”

“Scotland definitely becomes a character in the movie,” says Patrick Dempsey. “You can feel the difference when you’re there. The water, the countryside – it’s so beautiful and doesn’t look like anywhere else. And the local people were great – I couldn't understand a word they said, but they're very, very sweet.”

The company filmed at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye for five days. Though there are only at most 12,000 people on Skye at any one time, the Made of Honor production rolled in with a crew of 250, a cast of 25, and 300 extras. “We were split up between over 50 different hotels and bed-and-breakfasts and inns. It was a staggering feat to pull off,” says executive producer Callum Greene.

Dunvegan Castle, a fortress stronghold in an idyllic loch-side setting, is said to be the oldest inhabited castle in northern Scotland and has been occupied continuously by the chiefs of MacLeod for over seven centuries. It is still the MacLeod ancestral home. It was on the extensive grounds of the castle that the Highland Games as well as a touching scene between Hannah and Tom were filmed.

  

Paul Weiland recalls, “You look behind you across the field at Dunvegan Castle and it’s like a fantasy, it’s a feast for your eyes. For me, the visual effect of the film needs to be part of the whole package. I think that many romantic comedies are filmed in a flat way that is boring. I wanted this to be textural. I wanted to create a world that everyone who saw it would think, ‘I wouldn’t mind living there.’”

Kevin McKidd, who was raised on the eastern side of Scotland, was happy to have an opportunity to work in the land of his birth. “When the sun shines in Scotland, it’s the most beautiful place in the world,” he remarks. “I think it’s great to show the audience that Scotland really is a romantic and magical country. You couldn’t cheat this anywhere else in the world.”

While on Skye, the company encountered a minor miracle. With huge exterior locations to be shot with hundreds of extras, there was not a drop of rain to be seen – despite shooting in an area that sees 60 to 80 inches of rain every year. None of the local citizens could believe it. And while it was dry on Skye, it was pouring and flooding across the border in England.

As for the Highland Games sequence, Moritz says, “It’s a Scottish tradition that when somebody is going off to be married, the groom has to win the Highland Games to earn the right to marry the bride. Tom is trying to prove his worth participating in games that no American man has ever done before, like the Caber toss and Braemar Stone throw, as well as a very mean tug-of-war.”

“I wanted to give the scene a real flavor,” says Weiland. “The Highland Games are supposed to be fun, with everyone dressed up in kilts and Renaissance costumes, but Tom takes it very seriously, believing that if he can beat Colin at some of the events and come out the victor of the games, he will have an opportunity to win Hannah. Of course, things don’t quite turn out that way for him.”

While shooting on Skye, the production also filmed on the tiny Glenachulish ferry that traverses the Sound of Sleat, connecting Kylerhea to Glenelg. The ferry is the earliest recorded service in Skye’s history, dating back at least to 1695.

     

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Helping Weiland bring Made of Honor to the screen are cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC and costume designers Penny Rose and Rebecca Hale, all of whom have previously collaborated with the director, as well as production designer Kalina Ivanov, who designed last year’s sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine.

Ivanov says that the look of the film is defined by each individual character. “I lay a very specific color pallet, because I feel that color is emotion,” she says. “When I read a script, I have very distinct feelings about what the colors of the characters are. I try to lay that pallet throughout the entire film. Every character has its own narrative arc, and so do my colors. They tell a story, too.

When she was first approached about the film, Ivanov created a gallery of images on her website for Weiland to look at. In a subsequent meeting with the director and producer, they realized that they had very similar visions of the characters, the humor, and of the elegance of the script.

“One of the things that appealed to me,” says Ivanov, “was the opportunity to create two different worlds. One is Tom’s world, which is very contemporary. He’s a very wealthy, creative man. The other is the traditional Scottish world based on years of tradition and very old money. It was new money in New York which is hip, trendy and vibrant, versus old, rather staid, and old-fashioned money in Scotland.

   

 

“One of the things I’m most proud of is finding the loft in Los Angeles that we used for Tom’s home,” Ivanov continues. “We found a space that had the greatest bones you could imagine, with very high ceilings and on various levels. It was two lofts put together. I realized that by knocking out a wall we could easily connect the two spaces and have the most beautiful New York-like architecture.”

“It was an empty shell that allowed me to create a style for Tom’s character. I also wanted to create a fluidity in it. I built a lot of bookcases, an entire library that curved around the room. It made the room more inviting and warm and gave it a sense of creativity and heart. Because he’s a wealthy bachelor, I wanted to create the ultimate in technology, so I also designed a curved DVD library and metal library ladders. I also created the ultimate bachelor’s kitchen, a breathtaking and beautiful space that probably had never been used, and a huge wine rack.”

Luckily, after creating the space, Ivanov found a building in New York with exteriors that matched the interior windows of the loft space in L.A.

When it came time to create the Scottish sets, Ivanov looked to history. “The inspiration for the pallet for the Scottish section of the film was the classical tartan of the Scottish family in the film,” he says. “The tartan has a very beautiful green, a little bit of blue, and a little bit of red running through it, so I reserved the color red until we got to Scotland. For the wedding in Scotland, we did most of the flowers with red roses, plus the traditional Scottish heather – which was our blue and green.”

Though Dunvegan Castle represents, in most shots, the exterior of Colin’s home, Ivanov notes that finding locations for the interiors was not so easy. “There was a lot of movie magic used in creating that castle. We used 4 or 5 structures to make the one,” she says. “By scouting castles and reading books about Scottish architecture, one of the things I noticed was that every castle has many layers to it, added through history. If the original was built in the 13th century, a brand new Tudor ceiling might have been added in the 15th century, and then in the 18th century they might have remodeled and used the first wallpaper, then in the 19th century plumbing came in. So there are a tremendous number of looks in each castle. The ground floor might look like 13th century but the second floor might be completely 19th and 20th century.”

Among the English and Scottish castles that form the interior of the McMurray home are Broughton Castle, near Oxford, England, which has a great hall of stone, traditional in Scottish architecture.

   

However, the second floor of Broughton did not suit the filmmakers’ purposes. So it was on to a third castle, Dorney Court, for the more intimate rooms. Putting false stone over the wood-and-brick hallways to match the stone of Broughton Castle, the rooms were just what the filmmakers were looking for.

In a few exterior shots, Colin’s home is played by another Scottish castle, Eilan Donan, which stands on a rocky promontory in the waters of Lochalsh on Skye. “It became a little bit of a Rubik’s Cube, to put all the pieces together to make sure that they all kept the same Scottish feeling we had seen in our research,” notes Ivanov. “But that is the magic that production designers perform!”

Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC, who has two Academy AwardÆ nominations to his credit, was charged with lighting Made of Honor. Unlike many romantic comedies, Made of Honor is being shot in a very lush, very beautiful way with a lot of depth to it.

“Paul was very keen that he didn’t want the film to look too bright. He didn’t want what he calls ‘comedy lighting,’” says Pierce-Roberts. “He wanted it to look real and believable.”

Finding and then lighting Tom’s loft was another challenge for the director of photography. “The loft that Kalina found for Tom was fabulous,” he explains. “It was huge, but was very difficult to light because it was 15 stories up. The windows were a lovely hemispherical shape that you find in a lot of older New York lofts, so that worked rather well.

For a wedding scene on a rooftop, Pierce-Roberts worked closely with the production designer to light the scene naturally. “Kalina had done a drawing to show how she was going to decorate and what kind of lights she was planning to use,” he notes. “I was able to use most of her practicals as a light source. It made it prettier and a lot more romantic, and in fact, they lit most all of the background action and the extras. It worked quite well.”

“We have three weddings in this movie,” explains Weiland. “Each wedding had to have its own theme. Obviously, the last one was the most important. We wanted it to feel free, so we shot it in the open air and we shot it at night. It takes place in New York with a beautiful skyline. It’s beautifully lit and there are great light effects – it’s incredibly romantic. You want people to leave feeling that the scene was not only a feast for the eyes, but a feast for the heart.”

A major collaboration on the film was that between the film’s two costume designers. Penny Rose was responsible for the American portion of the film, and Rebecca Hale took over once the company arrived in the United Kingdom.

Laughs Weiland, “When I think of it, I did some terrible things to Patrick: I had him naked and in a mini-kilt.”

“The truth is,” says Rose, “we’re just there to help the actor en route to the look they’ll have in the film. We don’t superimpose on them. An actor wraps himself in what we give him and then they become the character. It’s really all in the actor.

“Michelle’s character needed to have a progression from the beginning of the film until the end so that she became more glamorous,” she continues. “I think it’s also relevant that, as an art restorer, she probably doesn’t earn a lot of money, so we tried to avoid doing high, high fashion. In the beginning she’s quite ‘girl-next-doorish’ and then a little more chic as we went along.”

“For a wedding to a member of the Scottish aristocracy,” explains Rose, “you can assume that it will be a very fancy affair. The Scottish wedding would be almost royal in its glamour. We gave Hannah a very glamorous silk, taffeta, and organza gown. I saw a wedding dress in a magazine called Vogue Sposa. I contacted them in Italy and they put me in touch with Atelier Aimee, a shop that had just opened in New York. The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Vera Wang.”

Contrasting with the glamorous dress Hannah wears for the Scottish wedding is the simple, elegant dress she wears to marry Tom, designed by Selia Yang.

Rebecca Hale was charged with costuming the UK portion of Made of Honor. “For over a month, Penny and I talked about what she was doing,” she says. “We had to make the divide between Scotland and America very obvious.”

According to Hale, she and Rose initially discussed not having any tartans until the wedding. “Generally, Scottish people aren’t dressed head-to-toe in tartans or kilts. They’re used for weddings and ceremonials. But I spoke with Paul about it. He had always wanted the Scottish people to look almost ‘alien’ to the Americans, and to show the difference between the two cultures, we did it that way. We both felt that for the arrival of Hannah’s family and wedding party, we should put Colin’s entire family in the McMurray tartans, tweeds, and plus-twos, which are the britches they wear.”

What Hale discovered through her research was that during the day, the men would wear tweeds, rather than a tartan. One of the Scottish members of her team went up to the North and discovered an amazing little shop with hundreds of thick fabrics in the back. “You don’t find fabric like that anymore,” Hale says. “And for me it was the most fascinating. The Harris tweed is made up there and it is specially fabricated for each family.”

For the McMurray tartan, Hale and Ivanov looked at about 80 different Murray clan tartans before choosing a very subtle one that is predominantly green with a little bid of red and blue. “We went to the House of Bruar, an enormous mall-like place, where they make kilts. One of the women there was married to the butler of a local man. It’s in that type of small talk that you find out what people wear and how they wear it.”

The tartan selected for Patrick Dempsey’s character is called a Royal Stewart. Says Hale, “It’s a military tartan – it’s what the pipers wear. When people think of tartans, it’s the Royal Stewart that they generally are thinking of.”

For the Highland Games sequence, Hale says, “Paul said one word – medieval. Because I’ve worked with him a lot and know that he likes to play upon people’s sense of humor, I got it immediately. We rented a lot of the costumes from theaters, because it’s a more imaginative form of costuming. We found fabulous pig’s-head masks and cockrels and jester’s costumes at the Royal Shakespeare Company.” Her greatest challenge for the sequence turned out to be dressing the 250 extras in various types of renaissance dresses, pantaloons, and exotic headgear.

Adding to the merriment for the Americans was the terminology used on British film sets – not to mention the few Celtic words they picked up on Skye. Carpenters are chippies; electricians are sparks; bairn are children in Scotland; and detours are deviations throughout the British Isles.

 

ABOUT THE CAST

PATRICK DEMPSEY (Tom), two-time Golden Globe nominee and 2006 SAG nominee for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama, can currently be seen on ABC-TV’s hit medical drama, “Grey’s Anatomy.” “Grey’s Anatomy” won the 2007 Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama as well as the 2007 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. The show also received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007 for Outstanding Drama Series as well as a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series - Drama. Although he is perhaps best known as the unlikely heartthrob of such classic ‘80s nostalgia films such as Can’t Buy Me Love and Loverboy, Dempsey has grown into a mature actor and a talent that Hollywood continues to recognize. He most recently starred in the blockbuster hit Enchanted, opposite Amy Adams, and in Richard LaGravenese’s Freedom Writers, opposite Hilary Swank.

Dempsey nabbed an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Aaron Brooks, Sela Ward’s psychologically unbalanced brother, in the critically acclaimed television program “Once & Again.” In 2004, Dempsey co-starred in the highly-acclaimed HBO production, “Iron Jawed Angels,” opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston.

Other theatrical films include Sweet Home Alabama, Scream 3, With Honors, Outbreak, Hugo Pool, The Treat, The Palace Thief, Heaven Help Us, Happy Together, Some Girls, Coupe De Ville, Run, Mobsters, and In the Mood.

In 2003, Dempsey made a memorable guest appearance on NBC’s hit show, “Will & Grace,” as Will’s love interest. Additionally, Dempsey starred in the NBC-TV movie based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” opposite Ben Kingsley. He also appeared in the television miniseries “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” with Michael Caine. He co-starred with Oliver Reed in the biblical epic “Jeremiah.” Other television movies and miniseries include: “JFK: Reckless Youth,” “A Season in Purgatory,” “Blood Knot,” “The Right to Remain Silent,” “In a Shallow Grave,” and “Blonde.”

Dempsey was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. He first appeared onstage as David in the San Francisco production of “Torch Song Trilogy.” Other early stage work included “On Golden Pond” for the Maine Acting Company; the international touring production of “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” which was directed by Gene Saks; and “The Subject Was Roses” at the Roundabout Theatre in New York. He recently took to the stage in The Pasadena Playhouse run of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” starring as Algernon Moncrieff.

In addition to acting, Dempsey is an avid racing enthusiast and has participated in the Panoz Series and the Pro Miata series. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Jillian, and their three children Talula, Sullivan and Darby.

 

Rising star Michelle Monaghan (Hannah) continues to be one of the most sought-after young actresses in Hollywood.

Monaghan most recently starred in Gone Baby Gone with Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman, in The Heartbreak Kid, opposite Ben Affleck and in Mission: Impossible III, opposite Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman for director J.J. Abrams.

Prior to that, she burst onto movie screens and received rave reviews for her performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, in which she starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer for writer/director Shane Black. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She then joined Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, and Sissy Spacek in North Country for director Niki Caro.

Other films include Perfume, It Runs in the Family, Winter Solstice, The Bourne Supremacy, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Monaghan will next star in and serve as executive producer of Trucker which will world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this spring.† She also stars in the upcoming Eagle Eye for DreamWorks opposite Shia LaBeouf.

 

Originally brought up in Elgin, Scotland, KEVIN McKIDD (Colin) began acting as a member of the Moray Youth Theatre. He then went on to study Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. While at the university, McKidd became involved with the college's Bedlam Theatre. Later, he decided to give up on engineering and dropped out of the university to pursue his acting career full-time.

In 1994, McKidd landed the leading role in the stage play "The Silver Darlings," produced by the Wild Cat Theatre Company. It was only a matter of time before McKidd made his screen debut as the vicious gangleader Malky Johnson in Gillies Mackinnon's Small Faces. His next role was as Tommy, the tragic, gentle giant in Trainspotting.

Most recently McKidd starred in the lead role of NBC’s critically acclaimed series “Journeyman.” He also recently starred as Lucius Vorenus in the television series "Rome." His recent feature films include The Last Legion, Hannibal Rising, Kingdom of Heaven, De-Lovely, and Nicholas Nickleby.

 

KATHLEEN QUINLAN (Joan) is noted for her ability to consistently deliver honest and inspired performances on film, television and the stage -- an actress who strikes a true balance between critical and popular acclaim.

Quinlan most recently starred opposite Chris Cooper in Breach for Universal Pictures. In Home Sweet Home, which had its premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Quinlan plays a mid-life crisis Mom on the verge of divorce who finds “enlightenment” through tap dancing. She also starred in A Civil Action alongside an ensemble cast that includes John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, and John Lithgow. Adapted from Jonathan Harr’s non-fiction bestseller by writer/director, Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and based on the true story of a 1981 Woburn, MA court case, Quinlan played the leader of a group of eight families involved in a corporate class action suit who have lost their children to leukemia due to the dumping of an industrial solvent into the water supply.

Quinlan received Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Academy AwardsÆ and Golden GlobesÆ for her touching, heartfelt portrayal of Marilyn Lovell, the wife of astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howard’s box-office smash, Apollo 13.

She followed with her starring role opposite Kurt Russell in Jonathan Mostow’s action-thriller Breakdown, as well as George Miller’s Zeus & Roxanne, Paul Anderson’s Event Horizon, Michael Lehman’s My Giant, and John Duigan’s independent drama, Lawn Dogs, in which she portrayed the mother of a 10-year-old (Mischa Barton) who discovers friendship with a local eccentric (Sam Rockwell) who mows the lawns of her well-to-do neighborhood. Lawn Dogs premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.

Among her numerous performances was her indelible performance as Patricia Kennealy, the seductive witch who captivated Jim Morrison (played by Val Kilmer), in Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Other motion picture credits include Trial By Jury, opposite Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Armand Assante; Clara’s Heart, opposite Whoopi Goldberg; Blake Edwards’ Sunset, with James Gardner and Bruce Willis; the Joe Dante-directed segment of Twilight Zone – The Movie; Riki Shelach’s The Last Winter; Bob Mandel’s Independence Day; Sunday Lovers and Hanky Panky, both opposite Gene Wilder; Stanley Kramer’s The Runner Stumbles; Gilbert Cates’ The Promise, with Beatrice Straight; her critically acclaimed performance as a schizophrenic patient in Anthony Page’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; Jerry Jameson’s Airport ’77; Daniel Petrie’s Lifeguard, opposite Sam Elliott and Anne Archer, and her screen debut in George Lucas’ American Graffiti, with Ron Howard and Cindy Williams.

On television, Quinlan appeared in a special episode of “CSI Las Vegas,” as well as working once more with her “Family Law” writers David Shore and Lawrence Kaplow on “House.” Quinlan starred in the telefilm “In the Lake of the Woods” opposite Peter Strauss, as well as the critically acclaimed “Stolen Children,” “Trapped,” the HBO film “Dreams Lost and Found,” and CBS’s “Children of the Night.”

On stage, Quinlan appeared in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. She received a Theater World Award in 1978 for her performance in Joseph Papp’s Public theater production of “Taken In Marriage.” Her other stage credits include “Uncommon Women and Others” and “Accent on Youth.”

Born in Pasadena, California and raised in Mill Valley, California, Quinlan trained as a gymnast and diver in school.

 

Academy AwardÆ winner SYDNEY POLLACK (Thomas Sr.) returns to acting once again, as he has periodically during his long and distinguished career. Among his acting assignments, he has appeared in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Robert Altman’s The Player, Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her, Steven Zaillian’s A Civil Action, Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes, and, most recently, his own UN thriller, The Interpreter.

Pollack has directed 20 films, which have received a total of 46 Academy AwardÆ nominations. Pollack himself has been nominated three times, winning the Best Director Oscar for Out of Africa, which won seven Academy AwardsÆ, including Best Picture. Pollack won the 1982 New York Film Critics Award for his film Tootsie. He has won the Golden Globe for Best Director twice, as well as the National Society of Film Critics Award, the NATO Director of the Year Award, and prizes at the Brussels, Belgrade, San Sebastian, Moscow and Taormina Film Festivals. Most recently, he was presented the Directors Guild of America John Huston Award by the Artists Rights’ Foundation.

In 1985, Pollack formed Mirage Productions. Under that banner, he has produced films, including Presumed Innocent, The Fabulous Baker Boys, White Palace, Major League, Dead Again, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Sense and Sensibility, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000, Anthony Minghella became a full partner in Mirage Enterprises.† Together under that banner, they produced Iris, The Quiet American, Cold Mountain, Breaking and Entering, and Michael Clayton.

Pollack is a founding member of the Sundance Institute, the Chairman Emeritus of the American Cinematheque, a sustaining founder of the Artists’ Rights Board of the Director’s Guild and on the Board of Directors for the Film Preservation Board and the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation.

 

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Director PAUL WEILAND began his career in 1973 as a copywriter at London advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners. He worked briefly for the Alan Parker Film Company before setting up the Paul Weiland Film Company in 1980. The company now represents eleven directors both in the UK and America and is responsible for award winning commercials for clients including Hamlet Cigars, Heineken, British Telecom, Levis 501, Carlsberg, Walkers, and Coca-Cola. In 1988, he was voted top UK commercials director in Campaign’s Top 100 League Table for his past 10 years work.

In 1987, Weiland turned his attention to drama and directed Anthony Minghella’s “The Storyteller: The Three Ravens,” starring Miranda Richardson and John Hurt for Jim Henson Productions. He went on to direct two additional projects for Jim Henson Productions: in 1989, “Living With Dinosaurs” with Michael Maloney and Juliet Stevenson, which won an Emmy Award for Best International Children’s Program, and in 1990, “The Storyteller: Daedalus & Icarus,” starring Michael Gambon and Derek Jacobi.

In 1991, Weiland directed episodes of the Rowan Atkinson hit television series “Mr Bean” and the charming “Bernard and the Genie,” a BBC Christmas special, starring Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award.

He followed this by taking the helm of City Slickers II – The Legend of Curly’s Gold, starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Jon Lovitz, and Jack Palance. In 1997, he directed the romantic comedy Roseanna’s Grave, starring Jean Reno and Mercedes Reuhl. The film won the Houston Film Festival Grand Award for Best Feature Film.

In 1999, he directed Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, and Kate Moss in Blackadder Back & Forth.

While developing and directing feature films, Weiland continued to direct commercials. He has been recognized many times by the Design and Art Direction Awards and the British Television Advertising Awards (BTA). He also received the Best TV Commercial of the year (Schweppes), the Grand Prix de Press at Cannes (Heineken), as well as a BAFTA and a BTA Award for Best Cinema Commercials (Fosters).

In 1993, he won the BTA Chairman’s Award for his outstanding contribution to the industry. From 1994 to 1997, The Paul Weiland Film Company took the BTA Award for the Most Successful Production Company. In 1997, the company was voted Campaign’s top production company of the year and was ranked second top production company in the world. In 2002, at D&AD’s fortieth anniversary ceremony, the company received the President’s Award.

In 2003, Weiland set up Contagious, a company to develop and produce film projects in partnership with David Barron. In 2005, he directed Sixty Six, a Working Title feature based on his own life story.

 

ADAM SZTYKIEL (Story by, Screenplay by) graduated from USC’s School of Cinema-Television in 2000. He sold Made of Honor, which is his first feature film credit, as a spec script in 2003.

 

Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan (Screenplay by) wrote and directed the films Can't Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats. They have also written numerous screenplays, including A Very Brady Sequel, and the upcoming 99 Problems, Leap Year, and Sisters of Mercy, with Will Smith set to star.

 

NEAL H. MORITZ (Producer) is one of the most prolific producers working in Hollywood today, with a wide range of film and television projects to his credit. Founder of Original Film, a feature film and television company, Moritz is currently in postproduction on several features, including the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise. His most recent feature films include the hit film Vantage Point, which opened #1 in February, and the April release Prom Night.

Moritz also recently produced the blockbuster I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, and this past summer’s successful comedy Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. His other recent credits include Click, starring Adam Sandler; Gridiron Gang, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. For television, he is an executive producer on the acclaimed drama series “Prison Break.”

After Moritz established Original Film in 1997, the company’s first self-financed feature was the 1999 hit Cruel Intentions, a modern take on the classic novel Dangerous Liaisons, starring Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. The 1999 teen drama grossed more than $75 million at the box office and is considered a cult favorite among those who came of age at the time of its release.

Moritz then produced The Skulls, which marked one of five collaborations with director Rob Cohen. The two have also teamed on the blockbusters The Fast and the Furious and xXx, both starring Vin Diesel; Stealth, starring Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel and Josh Lucas; and the HBO movie “The Rat Pack,” which earned 11 Emmy Award nominations.

With more than 35 movies to his credit, Moritz’s producing credits also include the smash hit romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey; The Fast and the Furious sequels; the Denzel Washington thriller Out of Time; the motorcycle actioner Torque, starring Ice Cube; S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell; The Glass House; the Jack Black comedy Saving Silverman; the action comedy Blue Streak, starring Martin Lawrence; and Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones.

Moritz has also made a number of teen films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, which spawned a successful sequel; Urban Legend; the college comedy Slackers; and Not Another Teen Movie, a spoof of the very teen-film genre he helped to create. Prior to that, the first major feature film he produced was 1992’s Juice, starring Omar Epps and the late Tupac Shakur.

A graduate of UCLA with a degree in economics, Moritz went on to earn a graduate degree from the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.

 

CALLUM GREENE (Executive Producer) has worked on a variety of acclaimed independent movies and is renowned for his ability to bring projects to the big screen under any circumstance. He was nominated twice by the IFP in 2004 for Happy Here and Now, which won the audience award at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, and Homework, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance the same year.

Most recently, Greene served as executive producer of Columbia’s hit feature Vantage Point. Previously, he served as co-producer on Columbia’s Marie Antoinette, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He also line-produced Emilio Estevez’s Bobby, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, as well as director-writer-producer Sofia Coppola’s Academy AwardÆ winner, Lost in Translation.

Other producing credits for Greene include such independents as Thumbsucker; The Beautiful Country; Second Best, which premiered at Sundance; and The Next Best Thing. He also produced the acclaimed television movies “Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story,” starring James Woods; and “3 A.M.,” starring Danny Glover, Michelle Rodriguez and Pam Grier. In addition, Greene has produced numerous documentaries, including This So Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs The Late Henry Moss, featuring Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson and Sam Shepard.

Greene began in Europe as a producer and stage manager of theater before enrolling in the Masters program at Columbia University in 1995. The following year, he was awarded the Arthur Krim fellowship to encourage his producing abilities. He went on to co-produce such features as Long Time Since, The Farmhouse and In The Weeds, as well as line-producing Better Living, Hostage and Hamlet.

Greene is currently executive producing Everybody’s Fine for Radar Pictures. The film stars Robert De Niro and is directed by Kirk Jones.

 

TANIA LANDAU (Executive Producer) joined Original Film five years ago. She has since overseen such projects for the dynamic company as the 2006 successful comedy Click, as well as executive producing the recent hit Vantage Point.

The British native came to Los Angeles in the mid-1990s. Landau first worked at New Line Cinema under Michael De Luca, and later teamed with producer Mark Gordon, for whom she helped set up Casanova, starring Heath Ledger.

 

Executive Producer AMANDA LEWIS is Executive Vice President of Development at Original Films. She was a co-producer on the company’s blockbuster hit, S.W.A.T., starring Colin Farrell, Samuel Jackson and L.L. Cool J., on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and on Gridiron Gang, staring The Rock. Amanda is executive producing the upcoming Fast and Furious which reunites Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

Lewis grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in English. Prior to joining Original Film, she worked at the ICM talent agency in New York and Los Angeles.

 

In 2002, MARTY ADELSTEIN (Executive Producer) left the Endeavor Agency, which he helped found.† Adelstein represented clients such as David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal," "The Practice") and Bonnie and Terry Turner ("3rd Rock from the Sun," “That ‘70s Show”), among others.

Immediately thereafter, Adelstein struck a television deal with 20th Century Fox. Since then, he has produced fourteen pilots, with "Still Life," "The Help," "Tru Calling" and "Point Pleasant" going to series.† His series "Prison Break" was a breakout hit for Fox in the fall of 2005.

Of Adelstein's feature endeavors, Black Christmas, written and directed by Glen Morgan and Jim Wong, was released in December 2006 by Dimension. Adelstein is also set to produce The Experiment, written and directed by Paul Scheuring who created Prison Break.”

Adelstein continues his deal with Fox Studios, for whom he is developing several drama and comedy pilots for the 2008 season.

 

AARON KAPLAN and SEAN PERRONE (Executive Producers) founded Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment in 2000. The company has a first-look producing deal with Sony-based Escape Artists. Their first feature film, You, Me and Dupree, was released in 2007. They are currently in production on Summit Entertainment’s Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage for director Alex Proyas.

 

Ryan Kavanaugh (Executive Producer) is the principal of Relativity Media, LLC, a financing, consulting and production company that structures slate financing for both major studios and independent production entities and who, according to Seth Lubove of Bloomberg News, “is one of the pre-eminent middlemen between hedge funds and Hollywood.”

Kavanaugh creates business and financial structures for a number of studios, production companies and producers, and has introduced over $8 billion of capital to these structures over the years. Current deals and clients include Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers, Marvel, Atmosphere Entertainment MM, Marvel, French distributor/sales agent Exception Wild Bunch among others. Most recently, Kavanaugh closed an extensive four-year co-financing partnership between Relativity Media and Universal Pictures. Through the agreement, Relativity Capital, a newly announced partnership between Relativity Media and Elliott Associates, L.P., will co-finance a significant portion of Universal's release slate through 2011.

In a significant milestone for the entertainment finance industry, in 2007 Kavanaugh created a wholly owned subsidiary, Relativity Media Holdings I LLC, which has concluded an agreement with Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking on a co-financing package for approximately 45 studio films over the next five years. Under this subsidiary, a co-financing deal with Sony was established called Beverly Boulevard. With this deal, Relativity will co-invest in approximately 75% of Columbia's films, under a five-year revolving credit facility.

Jill Goldsmith of Variety wrote of Kavanaugh: “His co-financing deals are the most successful ever in Hollywood. He’s been amazingly proactive, and is the envy of many on Wall Street involved in the business.”

Kavanaugh has created a number of other unique financing packages, including Gun Hill Road I and Gun Hill Road II, which provide discrete and separate funds for both Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures, marking the first time two studios received funding from the same source, resulting in a total of 44 films in various stages of production and release. In addition, Kavanaugh facilitated a $528 million multi-picture, co-financing arrangement for Warner Bros. Pictures as well as a $525 million financing deal for Marvel Enterprises. Kavanaugh also structured and raised a 120 million Euro acquisition, production and distribution fund for Exception Wild Bunch S.A., the French distribution and sales company founded by former Studio Canal management. In January 2008, Relativity Media announced the formation of the wholly-owned subsidiary, Relativity Capital, which is to be a principal investor in major media transactions, including studio slates, the Relativity Media Single Picture Business, library acquisitions, and other media-related cash flow investments. Elliott Associates, L.P, a New York- based hedge fund with $10 billion in assets under management, will be working with and providing financing to Relativity Capital In these media transactions.

Kavanaugh also runs Relativity Media’s “single picture business,” wherein the company finances, produces and distributes an average of one film per month. The Relativity Single Picture business was set up to offer “studio quality product to the independent world" and has so far committed over $400 million to a slate that includes the following projects: 3:10 to Yuma ($55M budget) starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale for director James Mangold; The Bank Job ($22M budget) starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows, and directed by Roger Donaldson; the upcoming The Forbidden Kingdom ($55M budget) in which Jet Li and Jackie Chan star together for director Rob Minkoff; The Untouchables ($67M budget) starring Academy AwardÆ winners Nicolas Cage and Benicio Del Toro and directed by Brian De Palma; and Without Remorse, based on the Tom Clancy best seller.

Prior to his work with Relativity, Kavanaugh started a venture capital company at the age of 22, and during such time raised and invested over $400 million of equity to a number of venture and private equity transactions.

 

 

Director of Photography TONY PIERCE-ROBERTS, BSC was born in Birkenhead, England, where he lived until the age of 11, when he immigrated with his parents to Central Africa. On an impulse, he left school to join the Central African Film Unit, where he found he enjoyed making game films and doing freelance work for visiting film crews, including units for the BBC.

Within five years, Pierce-Roberts went to London and joined the BBC, beginning as an assistant cameraman. He has won two BAFTA awards for Best Film Cameraman, for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and for Caught on a Train. Among his work in television dramas have been several distinguished films, including “A Voyage Round My Father,” “The Good Soldier,” and “Homeless.” His first feature film, Moonlighting, directed by Jerzy Skoliomowski, was followed by P’tang Yang Kipperbang, part of David Puttnam’s “First Love” series.

Made of Honor is Pierce-Roberts’ second project with Paul Weiland, after collaborating with the director on Time for Blackadder, which was shown in the theater outside the Millennium Dome during the year it was open.

Pierce-Roberts began a long collaboration with Merchant Ivory productions when he shot Slaves of New York. For his work on A Room With a View, Pierce-Roberts received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography and The London Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement, as well as BAFTA and OscarÆ nominations. He also received great personal acclaim for his cinematography on the Merchant Ivory productions Howards End (for which he received OscarÆ, BAFTA and ASC nominations for Best Cinematography) and The Remains of the Day (for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography). He later collaborated with James Ivory on the films Surviving Picasso and The Golden Bowl.

His feature credits include A Private Function, A Tiger’s Tale, Out Cold, White Fang, The Dark Half, Splitting Heirs, The Client, Disclosure, Jungle 2 Jungle, and Paulie: A Parrot’s Tale, Haunted, and AstÈrix et ObÈlix contre CÈsar.

Pierce-Roberts’s most recent credits include J’aurais votre etre un danseur for Alain Berliner; director Irwin Winkler’s films Home of the Brave and De-Lovely; and Lights 2: Return of the Shadow for Marcus Dillstone.

Among the additional films he has photographed are Julian Fellowes’ Separate Lies; Doom, for Andrzej Bartkowiak; and Underworld for Len Wiseman. Prior to that he shot The Importance of Being Earnest for Oliver Parker, Dinotopia for Marco Brambilla, The Trench for William Boyd and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang for Stewart Sugg.

 

Production Designer KALINA IVANOV was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. Together with her family, she escaped the communist regime in 1979 and landed in New York.

Ivanov's design philosophy is to immerse herself in the script, fully embody the characters and reveal their history through color, texture, and architecture in a visually original way.

She has brought this sensibility as a production designer and visual consultant to 26 films, including Little Miss Sunshine, Smoke, Uptown Girls, Swimfan, Chapter 27, Brown Sugar, Household Saints, and The Manchurian Candidate, among others.

Ivanov also designed the upcoming films Raving, written and directed by Julia Stiles, and My Sassy Girl, directed by Yann Samuel.

She has also contributed as a storyboard artist to over 30 films, including The Silence Of The Lambs, Quiz Show, The Horse Whisperer, and The Brave One, among others.

Ivanov received her BFA from NYU/TSOA Design Department and her

MFA from NYU/TSOA Graduate Film School. She graduated with honors from both.

Ivanov’s design work has been exhibited in Lincoln Center.

 

Editor RICHARD MARKS, A.C.E. has received four Academy AwardÆ nominations for his works on Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and James L. Brooks’ As Good As It Gets, Broadcast News, and Terms of Endearment.

Marks most recently co-produced and edited Brooks’ Spanglish. Other editing credits include Timeline, Riding in Cars with Boys, What Planet Are You From?, You've Got Mail, Father of the Bride, Dick Tracy, Pretty In Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Max Dugan Returns, Pennies From Heaven, The Last Tycoon, The Godfather Part II, Bang The Drum Slowly, Little Big Man, and Jumpin' Jack Flash, on which he also served as associate producer.

In addition, he co-produced As Good As It Gets and Say Anything and was associate producer on I’ll Do Anything.

 

Costume Designer PENNY ROSE was nominated for both the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Costume Designers Guild for her work on director Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She also designed the costumes for the third film in the trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, as well as Verbinski’s The Weather Man.

Most recently, she designed the costumes for St. Trinians, starring Rupert Everett, Emily Watson and Colin Firth, as well as the blockbuster comedy Wild Hogs, directed by Walt Becker and starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy.

Rose had received a previous BAFTA nomination for her work on director Alan Parker’s acclaimed screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical, Evita, starring Madonna and Jonathan Pryce. Rose is a long-time collaborator of Parker’s and has designed costumes for three of his other films: The Road to Wellville, Pink Floyd: The Wall, and The Commitments.

Rose’s additional credits include King Arthur, The Sleeping Dictionary, Neil Jordan’s The Good Thief, Just Visiting, Entrapment, and Disney’s hit remake of The Parent Trap, directed by Nancy Meyers. †Earlier in her career, she designed costumes for Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible and has twice worked with Academy Award winning director Lord Richard Attenborough, on Shadowlands and In Love and War. †Her resume also includes Christopher Hampton’s Carrington, Vincent Ward’s Map of the Human Heart, Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero, Pat O’Connor’s Cal, Marek Kanievska’s Another Country, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Quest for Fire.

Rose was trained in West End theatre and began her career there and also in television, designing for commercials where she first met such directors as Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne, Ridley and Tony Scott and Hugh Hudson. †She was born and raised in Britain, and is fluent in French and Italian.

 

RUPERT GREGSON-WILLIAMS (Music by) has scored a wide variety of film and television projects. Most recently, he has composed the scores to Adam Sandler's Click and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, as well as the animated films Bee Movie and Over the Hedge. For his work on Bee Movie, he was nominated for an Annie Award and an award from the International Film Music Critics Association. He is currently completing work on Adam Sandler’s next films, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Bedtime Stories.

In 2004, Gregson-Williams collaborated with Andrea Guerra to compose the score for the acclaimed true-life drama Hotel Rwanda, for which the composers won the European Film Award. He more recently contributed to the scores of the OscarÆ-winning animated feature Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Antoine Fuqua's live-action epic King Arthur.

Gregson-Williams has also created the scores for such feature films as the teen comedy What a Girl Wants, starring Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth; the biographical comedy-drama The Night We Called it a Day, starring Dennis Hopper and Melanie Griffith; Brad Mirman's crime-comedy Crime Spree, starring GÈrard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel; Nick Hurran's Plots With a View, starring Brenda Blethyn and Alfred Molina; Peter Hewitt's Thunderpants, starring Simon Callow; Nick Hurran's Virtual Sexuality; and GeneviËve Jolliffe's Urban Ghost Story. He has also collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer on a number of animated and live-action features.

 

NICK ANGEL (music supervisor) was the director of A&R at Island Records from 1990 to 1999. He was responsible for the signings of P.J. Harvey, Pulp, The Orb, Talvin Singh, and Apache Indian amongst others. Since 1999, Nick has been the Music Supervisor at Working Title Films. His films include Definitely Maybe, Atonement, The Golden Age, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, About a Boy, Love Actually, Bridget Jones Diary, Pride & Prejudice, Ali G Indahouse and Billy Elliot.

 

 

“ACADEMY AWARDÆ” and “OSCARÆ” are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

 

 

 

 

InformaciÛn de ProducciÛn

En Made of Honor, la comedia rom·ntica de Columbia Pictures, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) disfruta de una buena vida: es sexy, exitoso y sabe que siempre puede contar con Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), su mejor amiga y la ·nica mujer constante en su vida. Es el escenario perfecto hasta que Hanna viaja a Escocia por trabajo durante seis semanas… y Tom se siente sorprendido al darse cuenta lo vacÌa que es su vida sin ella. Resuelve que a su regreso, le propondr· matrimonio pero queda atÛnito cuando se entera que ella se ha comprometido con un atractivo y adinerado escocÈs y que planea mudarse a Escocia. Cuando Hanna le pide a Tom que sea su “dama” de honor Èste acepta a desgano… pero sÛlo para intentar cortejarla y deteber la boda antes que sea demasiado tarde.

Columbia Pictures presenta, en sociedad con Relativity Media, una producciÛn de Original Film, una pelÌcula de Paul Weiland, Made of Honor. La pelÌcula tiene como protagonistas a Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kathleen Quinlan, y Sydney Pollack. Dirigida por Paul Weiland. Producida por Neal H. Moritz. El guiÛn es de Adam Sztykiel y Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont. La historia es de Adam Sztykiel. Los Productores Ejecutivos son Callum Greene, Tania Landau, Amanda Lewis, Marty Adelstein, Aaron Kaplan, Sean Perrone, y Ryan Kavanaugh. El Director de FotografÌa es Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC. La DiseÒadora de ProducciÛn es Kalina Ivanov. El Editor es Richard Marks, A.C.E. La DiseÒadora de Vestuario es Penny Rose. La m·sica es de Rupert Gregson-Williams. La SupervisiÛn Musical es de Nick Angel.

Made of Honor todavÌa no tiene clasificaciÛn de la Motion Picture Association of America. Para m·s informaciÛn sobre clasificaciones, por favor visite www.filmratings.com. La pelÌcula ser· estrenada en salas a nivel nacional el 2 de Mayo del 2008.

 

SOBRE LA PELÕCULA

En la comedia rom·ntica de Columbia Pictures Made of Honor, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) finalmente se ha dado cuenta que la mujer de sus sueÒos es la que siempre ha estado a su lado: su mejor amiga, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). Pero justo cuando est· listo para hacerle la gran pregunta, Hanna se compromete con otro hombre – el escocÈs Colin (Kevin McKidd) – y queda completamente descolocado cuando Hannah le pide que sea su dama de honor. Viendo la oportunidad que tiene de acercarse a la futura novia y cortejarla antes que sea demasiado tarde, Tom acepta el ofrecimiento. Cuando Hanna comienza a darse cuenta que Tom, despuÈs de todo, puede llegar a ser una opciÛn de matrimonio, ella tendr· que decidir entre casarse con su mejor amigo o con el hombre que se lo pidiÛ primero.

“La decisiÛn de Hannah no es para nada f·cil,” cuenta Neal H. Moritz, productor de Made of Honor. “Tanto Tom como Colin son buenos tipos, ambos tienen sus mÈritos.”

“En el fondo, Made of Honor maneja el viejo concepto de que uno no ve el amor cuando lo tiene justo enfrente a sus narices,” dice el director Paul Weiland. “Tom es un hombre muy atractivo que consigue mujeres f·cilmente, pero que nunca se compromete. Cuando Hanna conoce a alguien m·s, se da cuenta no sÛlo que va a perder a su mejor amiga, sino que adem·s est· enamorado de ella y no se habÌa dado cuenta de ello hasta ahora. Todo el tiempo habÌa tenido frente suyo su pastel y la posibilidad de comÈrselo y de pronto, alguien vino y se lo llevÛ.”

“Desafortunadamente, Tom descubre demasiado tarde que Hanna es su verdadero amor,” cuenta Dempsey. “Hannah cree en el amor verdadero y en el matrimonio, mientras que Tom hasta este punto, ha sido un mujeriego con serios problemas relativos al matrimonio. Tom tuvo un montÛn de oportunidades, tiempos desperdiciados, pero Hanna ha estado a su lado todo el tiempo. Sin embargo, ahora se la han arrancado de su lado y su ·nica oportunidad es ir a Escocia como su dama de honor y tratar de ganarla de vuelta.”

Monaghan destaca “Me encantÛ la historia y todos los que estaban involucrados y realmente quise ser parte de este proyecto. La extraÒa coincidencia es que era una situaciÛn por la que yo habÌa pasado: cuando me casÈ, mi dama de honor fue un hombre que hasta el dÌa de hoy sigue siendo mi mejor amigo.”

Desde el primer momento, Moritz querÌa hacer la pelÌcula con Patrick Dempsey. “Cuando el guiÛn llegÛ a nosotros, nos encantÛ el concepto,” recuerda Moritz. “Nos pareciÛ una gran idea para una comedia rom·ntica. He sido un seguidor de Patrick Dempsey desde que hizo Can’t Buy Me Love, y luego estuvo en una de mis pelÌculas, Sweet Home Alabama. Desde entonces, Èl ha llegado a representar algo – no cualquiera podrÌa interpretar al Dr. McDreamy. Patrick puede interpretar lo rom·ntico y lo pÌcaro y uno lo seguir· queriÈndo. Por supuesto, Èl fue la primera persona con quien hablamos para el papel de Tom.”

“Patrick fue absolutamente perfecto para este papel,” cuenta Weiland. “Siempre me ha impresionado su habilidad para hacer tantas cosas diferentes. Resulta una combinaciÛn muy excitante cuando Michelle y Èl est·n juntos. Ella est· tan llena de vida y adem·s tiene un sentido del humor igual al de Èl.”

Por su parte, Dempsey se sintiÛ atraÌdo al papel por la oportunidad de darle la vuelta a la picardÌa “Tom lo tiene todo, hasta el momento que Hanna se compromete – y ahÌ se da cuenta que su aparente vida perfecta no es nada sin ella,” cuenta Èl. “Realmente lo quita de lugar cuando se vuelve evidente que puede llegar a perderla, Èl est· dispuesto a cambiar toda su vida con tal que ella se quede con Èl. Pienso que esa es una historia satisfactoria – sÈ que muchos tipos que andan rondando por ahÌ, hubiesen deseado ser m·s inteligentes y m·s lanzados, para no dejar ir a aquella que se fue.”

Con Dempsey a bordo, Moritz se puso en campaÒa para buscar a la persona perfecta para que dirija la pelÌcula. Un colega le sugiriÛ que vea una pelÌcula llamada Sixty Six, dirigida por Paul Weiland. Moritz lo hizo, le encantÛ, se encontrÛ con Weiland y lo contratÛ.

“Paul tiene una gran sensibilidad para la comedia y adem·s conoce las sutilezas que existen en el romance y en las relaciones,” cuenta el productor. “Es realmente capaz de traer verosimilitud a una historia.”

“En el fondo soy tambiÈn un rom·ntico de alma,” concede Weiland, “asÌ que una comedia rom·ntica es algo que siempre quise hacer. Tom al comienzo de la historia es un discapacitado emocional pero hacia el final es capaz de confesar su verdadero amor. Me gustÛ que fuese desde la perspectiva masculina ya que casi siempre en las pelÌculas es la chica la que termina con el corazÛn roto. °Da gusto ver que le pase al sexo opuesto!”

Dempsey cuenta, “Una de las cosas que hizo que este proyecto fuese tan placentero fue el hecho de trabajar con Paul. En varios pasajes surgieron cosas de ·ltimo momento que fuimos capaces de dar forma con un poco de improvisaciÛn. El pasar a travÈs de ese proceso y descubrir donde se encuentra el humor es muy desafiante y divertido, y al mismo tiempo, Paul siempre lo mantuvo a un nivel terrenal.”

Un ejemplo perfecto de esto es una escena donde Tom, en su mejor personificaciÛn de “dama de honor,” acompaÒa a Hanna a elegir los diseÒos de su vajilla de porcelana y de plata. Recuerda Weiland, “LeÌ en alg·n lado que Patrick sabÌa hacer malabarismos, asÌ que sugerÌ que hiciese malabarismo con los enormes platos chinos. Estuvo increÌble durante varios ensayos. Pero, Ley de Murphy mediante, tirÛ todos los platos en la primera toma pero estuvo perfecto en el resto de ellas.”

“Esa idea surgiÛ la maÒana que est·bamos filmando esa escena,” cuenta Dempsey. “Paul me preguntÛ si sabÌa hacer malabares y cuando le dije que sÌ, me dice, ‘øPor quÈ no lo intentamos con los platos?’ Le dije que no habÌa hecho malabarismo hacÌa un buen tiempo, pero igualmente construimos esa escena al rededor de esa nociÛn. Y ello cambiÛ completamente la din·mica de toda la escena.”

Hannah, la mujer que Tom descubre que es – adem·s de su mejor amiga – el amor de su vida, es interpretado por Michelle Monaghan. “Hannah realmente no se lo toma muy enserio a Tom,” dice ella. “Ella tiene sentido del humor y se divierte con todas las historias que le cuenta sobre sus aventuras. Pero lo cierto es que ella realmente siente algo por Tom, pero nunca se deja llevar por eso. No ve la posibilidad de una relaciÛn seria y comprometida, porque Èl no cree en el matrimonio y ella sÌ, con todo su corazÛn. Es esa vieja situaciÛn donde la gente no aprecia a esa otra persona que tiene al lado, hasta que esta deja de formar parte de sus vidas.”

Dempsey disfrutÛ por entero del proceso de actuar junto a Monaghan. “Nos reÌmos un montÛn,” cuenta. “Lo que hace que sea tan divertida es que es una actriz muy valiente – va a todas.”

Seg·n el productor ejecutivo Callum Greene, “Made of Honor es una historia muy dulce y atrapante, con dos actores que son un placer de ver. Pienso que esa es la clave. Tanto Patrick como Michelle son dos actores muy talentosos y se entrelazaron juntos muy bien. Te hacen reÌr y son completamente atrapantes.”

Monaghan dice que Paul Weiland trajo a Made of Honor la mezcla exacta de humor y emociÛn, de bufonadas y sofisticaciÛn. “Adoro absolutamente a Paul,” dice ella con una gran sonrisa. “Me hizo sonreÌr y reÌr como una tonta todos los dÌas – simplemente disfrutaba del hecho de estar cerca de Èl y de ser dirigida por Èl. Tiene una hermosa sensibilidad que no sueles encontrar en tu tÌpico director de comedias rom·nticas; Èl trae algo ·nico a la pelÌcula, una visiÛn y un tono europeo.”

Kevin McKidd, quien interpretÛ el papel principal en “Rome” de HBO y m·s recientemente protagonizÛ “Journeyman” de la NBC, toma la tercera arista dentro del tri·ngulo amoroso en Made of Honor: el escocÈs Colin, quien se enamora de Hanna luego de un torbellino de pasiÛn de seis semanas. Weiland cuenta, “Buscaba a alguien que no fuese demasiado obvio para el papel de Colin. QuerÌa un tipo serio – fuerte y apasionado. No podÌa ser alguien a quien los espectadores odien de inmediato, ya que debÌa ser un adversario que estuviese a la talla de Tom. Colin tambiÈn es adinerado, pero tiene mejores modales, es m·s sincero. Parece ser la clase de hombre que Hanna siempre ha estado esperando – fuerte, que siempre est· ahÌ para ella sin importar las circunstancias.”

McKidd dice, “A primera vista, Colin es el hombre perfecto. Es dueÒo de un castillo fant·stico. Es el dueÒo de unas fant·sticas tierras en Escocia. …l es muy distinguido y su familia ha sido dueÒa de una famosa destilerÌa de whiskey escocÈs durante generaciones. Es casi de la nobleza – de una muy selecta y antigua familia.”

El actor admite que el papel representÛ una ruptura con los cl·sicos papeles que suele interpretar. “Al comienzo me sentÌ un poco nervioso, ya que siempre he hecho pelÌculas m·s serias e intensas,” cuenta Èl. “En Made of Honor, trabajÈ junto a Patrick, un gran actor que ha estado en gran cantidad de comedias y en muchas pelÌculas rom·nticas. Tiene un gran don de salir con cosas ahÌ en el momento y ser muy gracioso. Yo me sentÌa nervioso, pero Èl realmente me hizo sentir muy confortable.

Con estas dos estrellas, Monaghan dice que el entrar al papel de Hanna fue pan comido. “Fue muy sencillo el sentirme asediada por estos dos hombres. Tanto Patrick Dempsey como Kevin McKidd son extremadamente encantadores. øQuÈ tan malo puede ser para una actriz actuar en ese ambiente?”

Un momento memorable para McKidd fue cuando el escocÈs aprendiÛ a volcar en el aro una pelota de basketball. “En una de las primeras versiones del guiÛn, mi personaje jugaba golf, lo cual para un escocÈs es algo natural. Cuando lo cambiaron por basketball, pensÈ, ‘°Caramba, esto no est· bien!’ La buena noticia es que tengo buena coordinaciÛn visual, asÌ que al menos podÌa atrapar la pelota. Afortunadamente, al momento de filmar Èsta escena se estaba transmitiendo gran cantidad de basketball por televisiÛn. °Eso sumado a un gran coordinador de dobles y la magia del cine, me transformaron en una estrella de las volcadas! “

Otro momento fortuito surgiÛ cuando Weiland descubriÛ que McKidd tenÌa una bella, aunque nunca desarrollada, voz para el canto. Para una escena donde inicialmente estaba previsto en el guiÛn que Colin debÌa recitarle a su futura esposa un poema de Robert Burns durante una gran cena en el castillo de la familia, al final terminÛ cantando una tradicional canciÛn escocesa, “Love is Like a Rose,” para no dejar ning·n ojo sin l·grimas en todo el set – tanto en el elenco como en el resto del equipo.

“Colin sin ninguna duda sorprende completamente a Hannah,” resalta Monaghan. “Ella ha estado esperando a su prÌncipe azul y piensa que lo ha encontrado en Colin. …l es algo nuevo y fresco e inesperado y amoroso. Juro que cuando Kevin cantÛ ‘Love is Like a Rose,’ mi corazÛn se derretÌa en cada toma. …l es realmente muy amoroso - °Y ese acento! Cupido la ha dejado atrapada entre estos dos hombres.”

Alrededor de las tres estrellas, los realizadores eligieron a un par de veteranos actores para que interpretasen a los padres: Sydney Pollack interpreta al pap· de Tom, y Kathleen Quinlan interpreta a Joan, la mam· de Hannah.

“Sydney y Kathleen son actores de inmenso calibre,” agrega Moritz. “Ambos tienen varias escenas con Patrick y Michelle que le agregan a la historia una sensaciÛn de peso y credibilidad. Fue una gran decisiÛn de Paul elegir a Èstos actores que son capaces de elevar las escenas de forma tremenda.”

“He conocido a Sydney durante un largo tiempo,” cuenta Weiland, “y de hecho, tengo otro proyecto que su compaÒÌa est· produciendo. Resulta muy gracioso verlo interpretar al padre de Tom, pero tengo que admitir, que el tenerlo en la pelÌcula me trajo un gran temor por el proyecto ya que b·sicamente… °tenÌa que dirigir a uno de los m·s famosos directores del mundo! Pero Èl apoyÛ muchÌsimo y realmente estuvo muy divertido.

“Me sentÌ honrado por el hecho que Kathleen Quinlan aceptase hacer de Joan, la mam· de Hanna,” contin·a Weiland. “No es un papel muy grande, pero es uno importante, porque es ella la que ve que tal vez su hija estÈ cometiendo un error al casarse con Colin. Pero al mismo tiempo no se siente muy segura de Tom. Aunque a Joan le gustan los aspectos m·s libertinos del personaje de Patrick, y siente un gran afecto por Èl, no estoy muy seguro de si quiere que su hija se case con Èl. Tal vez sea el tÌpico caso de que nunca nadie va a ser lo suficientemente bueno para su hija, pero creo que Joan siempre sintiÛ que Hanna podÌa m·s. Joan termina d·ndose cuenta que Tom es la parte m·s importante dentro de la vida de Hanna – y no se puede conseguir un mejor candidato que Èse.”

 

 

 

FILMANDO EN ESCOCIA

Cuenta el productor Neal H. Moritz que desde el principio los realizadores tenÌan la intenciÛn de filmar el clÌmax de Made of Honor en Escocia, donde el mismo est· ubicado. “Simplemente no hay forma de construir los sets o encontrar locaciones que hagan justicia a los lugares donde filmamos,” dice Èl. “El estar en ese bello ambiente ayuda tremendamente a la pelÌcula y tambiÈn le permite a los actores imbuirse realmente de quienes son y que se supone que deberÌan estar haciendo. Da un aire de credibilidad – y hace que la magia ocurra.”

“Escocia se convierte definitivamente en un personaje de la pelÌcula,” cuenta Patrick Dempsey. “Cuando est·s ahÌ puedes sentir la diferencia. El agua, el paisaje – es tan bello y no se parece a ning·n otro lugar. Y la gente del lugar fue genial – no pude entender una sola palabra de lo que decÌan, pero son muy, muy cariÒosos.”

La compaÒÌa filmÛ en el Castillo Dunvegan ubicado en la isla de Skye durante cinco dÌas. Aunque deben haber no m·s de 12,000 personas viviendo en toda la isla de Skye, la producciÛn de Made of Honor llegÛ con un equipo de 250 personas, un elenco de 25 y 300 extras. “Nos dividimos en alrededor de 50 hoteles, hostales y pensiones. El que haya resultado todo bien fue una asombrosa hazaÒa,” dice el productor ejecutivo Callum Greene.

Se cuenta que el castillo Dunvegan, una fortaleza ubicada en un idÌlico lugar al lado de un lago, es el castillo habitado m·s antiguo del norte de Escocia que viene siendo por siete siglos de la familia MacLeod. Y contin·a siendo el hogar ancestral de los MacLeod. Fue en las extensas tierras del castillo que se filmaron los Juegos de las Highlands asÌ como una conmovedora escena entre Hanna y Tom.

Paul Weiland recuerda, “Ves detr·s tuyo pasando unos campos el castillo Dunvegan y parece una fantasÌa, es una fiesta para los ojos. Para mÌ, el efecto visual de la pelÌcula tiene que ser parte de todo el paquete. Pienso que muchas comedias rom·nticas son filmadas de un modo plano y aburrido. QuerÌa que esto tuviese textura. QuerÌa crear un mundo donde todo el que lo viese pensase, ‘No me molestarÌa vivir ahÌ.’”

Kevin McKidd que fue criado al este de Escocia estaba feliz por tener la oportunidad de trabajar en su tierra natal. “Cuando el sol brilla en Escocia, es el lugar m·s bello del mundo,” destaca Èl. “Pienso que es espectacular el mostrar a los espectadores que Escocia realmente es un lugar muy rom·ntico y m·gico. No se podrÌa inventar esto en ning·n otro lugar del mundo.”

La compaÒÌa se encontrÛ con un pequeÒo milagro mientras estuvieron en Skye. Teniendo que filmar gigantescas tomas en exteriores con cientos de extras, no cayÛ una sola gota de lluvia – a pesar de filmar en un ·rea que tiene un promedio de 60 a 80 pulgadas de lluvia por aÒo. Ninguno de los locales lo podÌa creer. Y mientras Skye se mantenÌa seco, al otro lado de la frontera en Inglaterra no paraba de llover.

En lo que respecta a la secuencia de los Juegos de las Highlands, Moritz cuenta, “Es una tradiciÛn escocesa que cuando alguien se va a casar, el novio debe ganar los Juegos de las Highlands para asÌ ganarse el derecho de tomar por esposa a la novia. Y Tom est· tratando de demostrar su valÌa dentro de unos juegos que ning·n norteamericano ha jugado antes, como son el lanzamiento Caber y el tiro de la Roca Braemar, asÌ como un vil juego de la cuerda.”

“QuerÌa darle a la escena mucho sabor,” cuenta Weiland. “Se supone que los Juegos de las Highlands deben ser divertidos, con todos vestidos con sus tradicionales faldas y vestimentas de la era renacentista, pero Tom se lo toma muy enserio, creyendo que si vence a Colin en algunos de los eventos y sale victorioso de los juegos, tendr· una oportunidad de ganarse a Hanna. Por supuesto que las cosas no resultan como Èl esperaba.”

Mientras filmaban en Skye, la producciÛn hizo unas tomas en el diminuto trasbordador que cruza el Sound of Sleat, que conecta Kylerhea con Glenelg. Yendo atr·s hasta por lo menos el aÒo 1695, el trasbordador es el servicio m·s antiguo registrado dentro de la historia de Skye.

 

SOBRE LA PRODUCCI”N

Ayudando a Weiland a llevar Made of Honor a la pantalla est·n el cinematÛgrafo Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC y las diseÒadoras de vestuarios Penny Rose y Rebecca Hale, habiendo todos ellos colaborado previamente junto al director, asÌ como la diseÒadora de producciÛn Kalina Ivanov, quien habÌa diseÒado el aÒo pasado el inesperado Èxito Little Miss Sunshine.

Ivanov cuenta que la imagen de la pelÌcula est· definida por cada uno de los personajes. “Coloco una paleta de color muy especÌfica, ya que siento que el color es emociÛn,” dice ella. “Cuando leo un guiÛn, tengo emociones muy claras sobre cuales son los colores de los personajes. Trato de llevar esa paleta a travÈs de toda la pelÌcula. Cada personaje tiene su propio arco narrativo al igual que mis colores. Ellos tambiÈn cuentan una historia.

Inicialmente cuando se acercaron a ella para la pelÌcula, Ivanov creÛ en su website una galerÌa de im·genes para que Weiland mirase. En una reuniÛn posterior con el director y productor, se dieron cuenta que ambos tenÌan visiones muy similares sobre los personajes, el humor y la elegancia del guiÛn.

“Una de las cosas que me atrajeron,” cuenta Ivanov, “fue la oportunidad de crear dos mundos diferentes. Uno, es el mundo muy contempor·neo de Tom. …l es un hombre muy adinerado y creativo. El otro es el mundo tradicional escocÈs basado en aÒos de tradiciÛn y fortunas que vienen de hace siglos. Era por un lado, el nuevo dinero de Nueva York que tiene onda, est· de ·ltima moda y es vibrante, contra el m·s bien viejo, serio y anticuado dinero de Escocia.

“Una de las cosas de las que me siento m·s orgullosa fue el encontrar el loft que fue usado como el hogar de Tom en Los ¡ngeles,” contin·a Ivanov. “Encontramos un lugar que tenÌa la mejor estructura que se pudiese imaginar, con techos muy altos y en varios niveles. Fueron dos lofts puestos juntos. Me di cuenta que echando una pared podÌamos f·cilmente conectar los dos espacios y llegar a tener el m·s hermoso estilo neoyorquino de arquitectura.”

“Era como una vasija vacÌa que me permitiÛ crear un estilo para el personaje de Tom. Adem·s querÌa crear una fluidez dentro del todo. ConstruÌ una gran cantidad de estantes para libros, una biblioteca completa que cubrÌa todo el cuarto. Esto hizo que el cuarto fuese m·s acogedor y c·lido y dando una sensaciÛn de creatividad y corazÛn. Debido a que Èl es un adinerado soltero, quise crear lo ·ltimo en tecnologÌa, asÌ que tambiÈn diseÒÈ una biblioteca de DVDs con forma curva con escaleras met·licas a los costados de la biblioteca. TambiÈn creÈ lo ·ltimo en cocinas para solteros, un hermoso y atrapante espacio que probablemente nunca haya sido usado antes, y un gran estante para vinos.”

Con mucha suerte, luego de crear el espacio, Ivanov encontrÛ un edificio en Nueva York cuya parte exterior hacÌa juego con las ventanas del interior del loft en L.A.

Cuando llegÛ el momento de crear los sets escoceses, Ivanov se volcÛ a la historia. “La inspiraciÛn para la secciÛn escocesa de la pelÌcula fue la cl·sica tela escocesa de la familia que se ve en la pelÌcula,” cuenta ella. “La tela escocesa tenÌa un verde muy lindo, un poco de azul, y un poco de rojo que la atravesaba, asÌ que reservÈ el color rojo hasta que lleg·semos a Escocia. Para la boda en Escocia, hicimos la mayorÌa de los arreglos florales con rosas rojas, adem·s del tradicional brezo escocÈs, que fue nuestro azul y verde.”

Aunque el castillo Dunvegan representa en la mayorÌa de las tomas el exterior del hogar de Colin, Ivanov destaca que el encontrar locaciones para los interiores no fue tan f·cil. “Se usÛ mucha magia cinematogr·fica para crear ese castillo. Usamos 4 o 5 estructuras para lograr que sea lo que busc·bamos,” cuenta ella. “Visitando castillos y leyendo libros sobre la arquitectura escocesa, una de las cosas que me di cuenta es que todos los castillos tienen muchas capas, agregadas a lo largo de la historia. Si el original fue construido en el siglo XIII, un techo completamente nuevo de la era Tudor pudo haber sido agregado en el siglo XV, y luego en el siglo XVIII quiz·s realizaron una remodelaciÛn y rehusaron el primer empapelado de la pared y luego en el siglo XIX llegÛ la plomerÌa. AsÌ que en cada castillo hay una gran cantidad de diferentes visiones. Quiz·s el primer piso se vea como del siglo XIII pero quiz·s el segundo piso sea completamente del siglo XIX o XX.”

Entre los castillos ingleses y escoceses que forman el interior del hogar McMurray, est·n el castillo Broughton, cerca de Oxford, Inglaterra, que cuenta con una gran sala de piedra, muy tradicional de la arquitectura escocesa.

Sin embargo, el segundo piso de Broughton no funcionaba para los propÛsitos de los realizadores. AsÌ que se usÛ un tercer castillo, Dorney Court, para los cuartos m·s Ìntimos. Al colocar piedras falsas sobre la madera y ladrillos de los pasillos para que hiciese juego con la piedra del castillo Broughton, los cuartos resultaron justo lo que los realizadores estaban buscando.

En algunas tomas de exteriores, el hogar de Colin es representado por otro castillo escocÈs, Eilan Donan, que est· ubicado sobre una saliente rocosa en las aguas del lago en Skye. “Al final se convirtiÛ en una especie de cubo de Rubik, el juntar todas las piezas y el hacer que todas mantuviesen la misma sensaciÛn escocesa que habÌamos visto en nuestra primera investigaciÛn,” destaca Ivanov. “°Pero esa es la magia que los diseÒadores de producciÛn deben realizar!”

El cinematÛgrafo Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC, quien cuenta en su haber con dos nominaciones a los Premios de la AcademiaÆ, tuvo la misiÛn de iluminar Made of Honor. A diferencia de muchas comedias rom·nticas, Made of Honor fue filmada de un modo muy exuberante y hermoso, incluyendo mucha profundidad.

“Paul fue muy especÌfico de que no querÌa que la pelÌcula se viese demasiado brillante. No querÌa lo que Èl llama ‘iluminaciÛn de comedias,’” dice Pierce-Roberts. “QuerÌa que se viese real y creÌble.”

El encontrar y luego iluminar el loft de Tom fue otro desafÌo para el director de fotografÌa. “El loft que Kalina encontrÛ para Tom me pareciÛ fabuloso,” explica. “Era enorme, pero muy difÌcil de iluminar ya que estaba 15 pisos arriba. Las ventanas tenÌan una hermosa forma hemisfÈrica que se encuentra en muchos de los m·s antiguos lofts de Nueva York, asÌ que eso funcionÛ bastante bien.

Para una escena de la boda ubicada en una terraza, Pierce-Roberts trabajÛ de manera muy cercana con la diseÒadora de producciÛn para iluminar la escena de modo natural. “Kalina habÌa hecho un dibujo para mostrar como iba a decorar y que tipo de luces planeaba usar,” destaca. “Fui capaz de usar la mayorÌa de sus luces como fuente de iluminaciÛn. Lo hizo m·s bonito y mucho m·s rom·ntico, y de hecho, iluminaron toda la acciÛn del fondo y a los extras. FuncionÛ bastante bien.”

“Tenemos tres bodas en esta pelÌcula,” explica Weiland. “Cada boda tenÌa que tener su propio tema. Obviamente, la ·ltima es la m·s importante. QuerÌamos que se sintiese libre, asÌ que filmamos afuera y de noche. Se lleva a cabo en Nueva York con un bello horizonte de fondo. Est· bellamente iluminada y hay espectaculares efectos de iluminaciÛn, es increÌblemente rom·ntica. Uno quiere que la gente salga sintiendo que la escena no solo fue una fiesta para los ojos sino tambiÈn para el corazÛn.”

Una gran colaboraciÛn dentro de la pelÌcula fue la que se armÛ entre las dos diseÒadoras de vestuarios de la pelÌcula. Penny Rose fue la responsable de la parte norteamericana de la pelÌcula, y Rebecca Hale tomÛ la posta una vez que la compaÒÌa llegÛ al Reino Unido.

Weiland se rÌe, “Cuando pienso en ello, le hice unas cuantas cosas terribles a Patrick: lo hice salir desnudo y en una mini falda.”

“La verdad es,” dice Rose, “que simplemente estamos ahÌ para ayudar al actor en su imagen que tendr· dentro de la pelÌcula. No les sobre imponemos nada. Un actor se envuelve con lo que le damos y luego ellos se convierten en el personaje. Realmente todo pasa por el actor.”

“El personaje de Michelle necesitaba tener una evoluciÛn desde el principio de la pelÌcula hasta el final haciÈndola a ella m·s glamorosa,” contin·a. “tambiÈn pienso que es relevante que siendo una restauradora de arte, probablemente ella no gana mucho dinero, asÌ que tratamos de evitar de hacer alta, alta costura. Al principio ella es m·s como ‘la chica de al lado’ y luego se hace m·s chic a medida que la pelÌcula avanza.”

“Para el casamiento de un miembro de la aristocracia escocesa,” Rose explica, “puedes imaginar que va a ser un asunto muy fino. El casamiento escocÈs iba a estar casi a un nivel de la realeza en su glamorosidad. Le dimos a Hanna una seda muy glamorosa, tafet·n y un vestido largo de organdÌ. Vi un vestido de novias en una revista llamada Vogue Sposa. Me puse en contacto con ellos en Italia y me contactaron con Atelier Aimee, una tienda que habÌa recientemente abierto en Nueva York. Los vestidos de las acompaÒantes de la novia son de Vera Wang.”

Contrastando con el glamoroso vestido que Hanna usa para el casamiento escocÈs est· el m·s simple y elegante vestido que usa para casarse con Tom, diseÒado por Selia Yang.

Rebecca Hale tuvo la misiÛn de encargarse de los vestuarios de la parte del Reino Unido de Made of Honor. “Durante m·s de un mes, Penny y yo hablamos sobre lo que ella estaba haciendo,” cuenta. “DebÌamos hacer que la divisiÛn entre Escocia y NorteamÈrica fuese obvia.”

Seg·n Hale, ella y Rose hablaron sobre no tener nada de tela escocesa hasta la boda. “Generalmente, los escoceses no est·n vestidos de la cabeza hasta los pies con tela escocesa o faldas. Son usadas para casamientos y ceremonias. Pero hablÈ sobre ello con Paul. En todo momento Èl habÌa querido que los escoceses se viesen casi como ‘extraterrestres’ para los norteamericanos para mostrar la diferencia entre las dos culturas, y lo hicimos de ese modo. Ambos sentimos que para la llegada de la familia de Hanna y en la fiesta del casamiento, debÌamos tener a toda la familia de Colin vestidos con la tela escocesa de los McMurray, los tejidos de lana y bombachotes, que son los pantalones que ellos usan.”

Lo que Hale descubriÛ a travÈs de su investigaciÛn es que los hombres a lo largo del dÌa, usan la tela de lana m·s que la tela escocesa. Uno de los miembros escoceses de su equipo fue m·s hacia el norte y descubriÛ una increÌble pequeÒa tiendita con cientos de gruesas telas en el fondo. “Ya no se encuentra m·s ese tipo de tela,” cuenta Hale. “Y para mi fue lo m·s fascinante de todo. La tela de lana Harris se hace all· arriba y se prepara de manera especial para cada familia.”

Para la tela escocesa de los McMurray, Hale e Ivanov miraron al rededor de 80 telas escocesas de diferentes clanes de los Murray antes de elegir una que era predominantemente verde con unos pocos trazos de rojo y azul. “Fuimos a la Casa de Bruar, una especie de tienda gigantesca donde hacen las tradicionales faldas escocesas. Una de las mujeres de ahÌ estaba casada con el mayordomo de uno de los personajes locales. Es en esa clase de pequeÒas conversaciones que te enteras quÈ es lo que la gente usa y como lo usan.”

La tela escocesa seleccionada para el personaje de Patrick Dempsey es conocida como Royal Stewart. Hale cuenta, “Es una tela escocesa militar – es la que usan los gaiteros. Cuando la gente piensa en tela escocesa, es principalmente la Royal Stewart la que se les viene a la cabeza.”

Para la secuencia de los Juegos de las Highlands, cuenta Hale, “Paul dijo una palabra – medieval. Debido a que en el pasado ya he trabajado mucho con Èl y sÈ que le gusta jugar con el sentido del humor de la gente, lo entendÌ de inmediato. Alquilamos gran cantidad de disfraces de los teatros ya que son una clase de vestuario m·s imaginativo. Encontramos en la CompaÒÌa Real de Shakespeare fabulosas m·scaras de cabezas de chancho y vestuarios de bufones.” Su desafÌo m·s grande para la secuencia resultÛ ser el vestir a los 250 extras en diversos tipos de vestidos renacentistas, pantalones y exÛticos tocados para la cabeza.

Agreg·ndole a los norteamericanos m·s diversiÛn, estaba la terminologÌa usada en los sets cinematogr·ficos brit·nicos – sin mencionar unas cuantas palabras cÈlticas que lograron entender mientras estuvieron en Skye. Los carpinteros son “chippies;” los electricistas son “sparks;” los niÒos son “bairn” en Escocia; y desviaciones son “detours” a lo largo de las Islas Brit·nicas.

 

 

 

SOBRE EL ELENCO

En 2006 PATRICK DEMPSEY (Tom), ha sido nominado dos veces a los Globos de Oro y tambiÈn a los SAG como Mejor Actor de Serie de TelevisiÛn. Actualmente puede ser visto en la serie de temas mÈdicos de gran Èxito de ABC, “Grey’s Anatomy.” La serie “Grey’s Anatomy” ganÛ el Globo de Oro en 2007 a la Mejor Serie Dram·tica de TelevisiÛn como asÌ tambiÈn el SAG 2007 por Mejor InterpretaciÛn Coral en Serie dram·tica. El show tambiÈn recibiÛ nominaciones para los premios Emmy en 2006 y 2007 por Mejor Serie Dram·tica, como asÌ tambiÈn en 2005 una nominaciÛn para los Globos de Oro a la Mejor Serie de TelevisiÛn Dram·tica. A pesar de que el actor es tal vez m·s conocido como el rompecorazones de pelÌculas cl·sicas de la dÈcada de los ’80 como Can’t Buy Me Love y Loverboy, Dempsey se ha convertido en un actor maduro y un talento que Hollywood contin·a apreciando. M·s recientemente protagonizÛ el Èxito de taquilla Enchanted, junto a Amy Adams, y la pelÌcula de Richard LaGravenese, Freedom Writers, junto a Hilary Swank.

Dempsey fue nominado a los premios Emmy por su interpretaciÛn de Aaron Brooks, el hermano desequilibrado mental de Sela Ward, en el aclamado programa de televisiÛn “Once & Again.” En 2004, Dempsey co-protagonizÛ la muy aclamada producciÛn de HBO, “Iron Jawed Angels,” junto a Hilary Swank y Anjelica Huston.

Otros crÈditos cinematogr·ficos del actor incluyen: Sweet Home Alabama, Scream 3, With Honors, Outbreak, Hugo Pool, The Treat, The Palace Thief, Heaven Help Us, Happy Together, Some Girls, Coupe De Ville, Run, Mobsters, y In the Mood.

En 2003, Dempsey realizÛ una memorable apariciÛn como artista invitado del show de gran Èxito de la NBC, “Will & Grace,” como la pareja de Will. Asimismo, Dempsey protagonizÛ la pelÌcula de televisiÛn de NBC basada en la novela de Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment,” junto a Ben Kingsley. TambiÈn apareciÛ en las miniseries de televisiÛn “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” con Michael Caine. TrabajÛ junto a Oliver Reed en la Èpica bÌblica “Jeremiah.” Entre otras pelÌculas de televisiÛn y miniseries se pueden citar: “JFK: Reckless Youth,” “A Season in Purgatory,” “Blood Knot,” “The Right to Remain Silent,” “In a Shallow Grave,” y “Blonde.”

Dempsey naciÛ y creciÛ en Lewiston, Maine. Su primera apariciÛn en los escenarios fue interpretando a David en una producciÛn de San Francisco de “Torch Song Trilogy.” Entre sus otros primeros trabajos en el teatro se pueden citar: “On Golden Pond” para Maine Acting Company; la producciÛn itinerante internacional de “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” que fue dirigida por Gene Saks; y “The Subject Was Roses” en el Teatro Roundabout de New York. Recientemente trabajÛ en The Pasadena Playhouse en la obra “The Importance of Being Earnest,” interpretando a Algernon Moncrieff.

Adem·s de la actuaciÛn, Dempsey es un gran entusiasta de las carreras de carros y ha participado en las Series de Panoz y en las Pro Miata. Actualmente vive en Los ¡ngeles, California, con su esposa, Jillian, y sus tres hijos Talula, Sullivan y Darby.

 

La ascendente estrella Michelle Monaghan (Hannah) contin·a siendo una de las jÛvenes actrices m·s solicitadas de Hollywood.

Monaghan recientemente protagonizÛ Gone Baby Gone con Casey Affleck y Morgan Freeman; The Heartbreak Kid, junto a Ben Affleck y Mission: Impossible III, junto a Tom Cruise y Philip Seymour Hoffman para el director J.J. Abrams.

Con anterioridad, ella dio el salto a la pantalla grande y recibiÛ excelentes crÌticas por su interpretaciÛn en Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, en donde actuÛ junto a Robert Downey Jr. y Val Kilmer para el guionista/director Shane Black. La pelÌcula se estrenÛ mundialmente en el Festival de Cine de Cannes. Luego ella formÛ equipo con Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, y Sissy Spacek en North Country para el director Niki Caro.

Entre sus otras pelÌculas podemos citar: Perfume, It Runs in the Family, Winter Solstice, The Bourne Supremacy, y Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Monaghan prÛximamente protagonizar· y ser· la productora ejecutiva de la cinta Trucker que tendr· su estreno mundial en el Festival de Cine de Tribeca esta primavera. TambiÈn est· rodando la pelÌcula Eagle Eye para DreamWorks junto a Shia LaBeouf.

Criado en Elgin, Escocia, KEVIN McKIDD (Colin) comenzÛ la actuaciÛn como miembro del Moray Youth Theatre. Luego estudiÛ IngenierÌa en la Universidad de Edinburgh. Mientras cursaba sus estudios, McKidd comenzÛ a tomar clases en el Teatro Bedlam. Luego, decidiÛ dejar la ingenierÌa y salir de la universidad para dedicarse exclusivamente a la actuaciÛn.

En 1994, McKidd obtuvo el papel principal en la obra "The Silver Darlings," producida por Wild Cat Theatre Company. Fue solamente una cuestiÛn de tiempo antes de que McKidd realizara su debut en la gran pantalla donde interpretÛ a Malky Jonson, el lÌder de una sanguinaria banda, en la pelÌcula de Gillies Mackinnon, Small Faces. Su prÛximo papel fue como Tommy, el tr·gico y dulce gigante en Trainspotting.

Recientemente, McKidd interpretÛ el papel principal de la aclamada serie de NBC, “Journeyman.” TambiÈn encarnÛ a Lucius Vorenus en la serie de televisiÛn "Rome." Sus otras pelÌculas recientes incluyen: The Last Legion, Hannibal Rising, Kingdom of Heaven, De-Lovely, y Nicholas Nickleby.

 

KATHLEEN QUINLAN (Joan), quien se destaca por su habilidad para sistem·ticamente realizar interpretaciones honestas e inspiradas en cine, televisiÛn y teatro, es una actriz que consigue un perfecto equilibrio en la aprobaciÛn de la crÌtica y del p·blico en general.

Recientemente Quinlan protagonizÛ junto a Chris Cooper Breach para Universal Pictures. En Home Sweet Home, que fue estrenada en el Festival de Cine de Sundance en 2007, Quinlan interpreta una madre en crisis de la mitad de su vida, que est· a punto de divorciarse y que encuentra “iluminaciÛn” en el tap dancing. TambiÈn protagoniza A Civil Action junto a un elenco que incluye a John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, y John Lithgow. La pelÌcula es una adaptaciÛn de la novela de no ficciÛn que fue best seller de Jonathan Harr realizada por el guionista/director, Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List) y basada en la historia real de un caso jurÌdico de 1981 en Woburn, MA, donde Quinlan interpreta al lÌder de un grupo de ocho familias que perdieron a sus hijos de leucemia causada por el vertido de un solvente industrial en el suministro de agua y que est·n involucrados en una demanda corporativa.

Quinlan obtuvo nominaciones como Mejor Actriz de Reparto de los Premios de la Academia Æ y de los Globos de Oro Æ por su conmovedora y sentida interpretaciÛn de Marilyn Lovell, la esposa del astronauta Jim Lovell en la taquillera pelÌcula de Ron Howard, Apollo 13.

La actriz continuÛ desarrollando su carrera con un papel protagÛnico junto a Kurt Russell en el thriller de acciÛn de Jonathan Mostow, Breakdown, como asÌ tambiÈn en las peliculas: Zeus & Roxanne de George Miller, Event Horizon de Paul Anderson, My Giant de Michael Lehman, y el drama del cine independiente de John Duigan, Lawn Dogs, en donde ella interpreta a la madre de una niÒa de 10 aÒos (Mischa Barton) quien entabla amistad con un excÈntrico (Sam Rockwell) quien trabaja como cortador de cÈsped en su acomodado barrio. Lawn Dogs fue estrenada en el Festival de Cine de Sundance en 1998.

Entre sus numerosas interpretaciones se destaca su memorable papel como Patricia Kennealy, la seductora bruja que cautiva a Jim Morrison (interpretado por Val Kilmer), en la cinta de Oliver Stone, The Doors. Otros crÈditos en cine incluyen: Trial By Jury, junto a Joanne Whalley-Kilmer y Armand Assante; Clara’s Heart, junto a Whoopi Goldberg; la pelÌcula de Blake Edwards, Sunset, con James Gardner y Bruce Willis; el segmento dirigido por Joe Dant de Twilight Zone – The Movie; The Last Winter de Riki Shelach, Independence Day de Bob Mandel, Sunday Lovers y Hanky Panky, ambas junto a Gene Wilder; The Runner Stumbles de Stanley Kramer; The Promise de Gilbert Cates, con Beatrice Straight; su aclamada actuaciÛn de esquizofrÈnica en I Never Promised You a Rose Garden de Anthony Page, Airport ’77 de Jerry Jameson; Lifeguard de Daniel Petrie, junto a Sam Elliott y Anne Archer, y su debut en el cine en la pelÌcula de George Lucas, American Graffiti, con Ron Howard y Cindy Williams.

En televisiÛn, Quinlan apareciÛ en un episodio especial de “CSI Las Vegas,” como asÌ tambiÈn trabajando nuevamente con los guionistas de “Family Law” David Shore y Lawrence Kaplow en “House.” Quinlan trabajÛ en el telefilm “In the Lake of the Woods” junto a Peter Strauss, como asÌ tambiÈn en las aclamadas por la crÌtica “Stolen Children,” “Trapped,” la pelÌcula de HBO “Dreams Lost and Found,” y “Children of the Night” de CBS.

En teatro, Quinlan trabajÛ en “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” en el Ahmanson Theater de Los Angeles. RecibiÛ el Premio Theater World en 1978 por su interpretaciÛn en la producciÛn de Joseph Papp, “Taken In Marriage.” Sus otros crÈditos en teatro incluyen “Uncommon Women and Others” y “Accent on Youth.”

Nacida en Pasadena, California, y criada en Mill Valley, California, Quinlan se entrenÛ como gimnasta y buceadora durante el colegio.

 

El ganador del Premio de la AcademiaÆ SYDNEY POLLACK (Thomas) volviÛ a la actuaciÛn una vez m·s, como lo ha realizado periÛdicamente durante su larga y distinguida carrera. Entre sus actuaciones memorables se pueden mencionar las pelÌculas: Husbands and Wives de Woody Allen; The Player de Robert Altman, Death Becomes Her de Robert Zemeckis, A Civil Action de Steven Zaillian, Eyes Wide Shut de Stanley Kubrick, Changing Lanes de Roger Michell y, recientemente, su propio thriller, The Interpreter.

Pollack ha dirigido 20 pelÌculas, que han recibido un total de 46 nominaciones para los Premios de la AcademiaÆ. El mismo Pollack ha sido nominado tres veces, ganando el Oscar al Mejor Director por Out of Africa, que ganÛ siete Premios de la AcademiaÆ, incluyendo Mejor PelÌcula. En 1982 Pollack ganÛ el premio de los CrÌticos Cinematogr·ficos de New York por su pelÌcula Tootsie. Ha logrado dos Globos de Oro como Mejor Director, como asÌ tambiÈn el Premio de la AsociaciÛn Nacional de CrÌticos Cinematogr·ficos, el premio Nato al Director del AÒo, y galardones en los festivales de cine de Bruselas, Belgrado, San Sebasti·n, Mosc· y Taormina. Recientemente, ha obtenido el premio John Huston del Sindicato de Directores de AmÈrica entregado por la FundaciÛn de los derechos de los artistas.

En 1985, Pollack formÛ Mirage Productions y con ella produjo pelÌculas como Presumed Innocent, The Fabulous Baker Boys, White Palace, Major League, Dead Again, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Sense and Sensibility, y The Talented Mr. Ripley. En 2000, Anthony Minghella se convirtiÛ en un socio pleno de Mirage Enterprises.† Juntos realizaron la producciÛn de Iris, The Quiet American, Cold Mountain, Breaking and Entering, y Michael Clayton.

Pollack es miembro fundador del Instituto Sundance, presidente EmÈrito de la American Cinematheque, y fundador patrocinador de la Junta de derecho de los Artistas del Sindicato de Directores y es miembro de la Junta de Directores de la Junta de ConservaciÛn Cinematogr·fica y de la FundaciÛn de Cine y TelevisiÛn.

 

SOBRE LOS REALIZADORES

El director PAUL WEILAND comenzÛ su carrera en 1973 como redactor en la agencia de publicidad de Londres, Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners. TrabajÛ en un breve perÌodo para la CompaÒÌa de FilmaciÛn de Alan Parker antes de fundar la CompaÒÌa de Cine Paul Weiland en 1980. La compaÒÌa ahora representa a once directores tanto de Gran BretaÒa como de Estados Unidos, y es responsable de premiados comerciales para clientes tales como Hamlet Cigars, Heineken, British Telecom, Levis 501, Carlsberg, Walkers, y Coca-Cola. En 1988, fue elegido como el director de comerciales m·s importante de Gran BretaÒa en la Tabla de los Top 100 de Campaign, por sus 10 aÒos de trabajo.

En 1987, Weiland girÛ su atenciÛn hacia el drama y dirigiÛ la pelÌcula de Anthony Minghella, “The Storyteller: The Three Ravens,” protagonizada por Miranda Richardson y John Hurt para Jim Henson Productions. Luego dirigiÛ dos proyectos adicionales para Jim Henson Productions: ein 1989, “Living With Dinosaurs” con Michael Maloney y Juliet Stevenson, que ganÛ el Emmy como Mejor Programa Internacional para NiÒos y en 1990, “The Storyteller: Daedalus & Icarus,” protagonizado por Michael Gambon y Derek Jacobi.

En 1991, Weiland dirigiÛ varios episodios de las exitosas series de televisiÛn de Rowan Atkinson “Mr Bean” y de la encantadora “Bernard and the Genie,” un especial de Navidad de la BBC, protagonizado por Lenny Henry y Rowan Atkinson, que nominada para el Royal Television Society Award.

ContinuÛ dirigiendo de City Slickers II – The Legend of Curly’s Gold, protagonizado por Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Jon Lovitz, y Jack Palance. En 1997, dirigiÛ la comedia rom·ntica Roseanna’s Grave, protagonizado por Jean Reno y Mercedes Reuhl. La pelÌcula ganÛ el Gran Premio a la Mejor PelÌcula en el Festival de Cine de Houston.

En 1999, dirigiÛ a Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, y Kate Moss en Blackadder Back & Forth.

Mientras desarrollaba y dirigÌa pelÌculas, Weiland continuÛ dirigiendo comerciales. Ha sido reconocido varias veces por el Design and Art Direction y por la British Television Advertising Awards (BTA). TambiÈn ha ganado el premio al Mejor Comerical de TV del aÒo (Schweppes), el Grand Prix de Press en Cannes (Heineken), como asÌ tambiÈn un BAFTA y un BTA por Mejor Comercial de Cine (Fosters).

En 1993, ganÛ el Premio Chairman entregado por la BTA por su excelente contribuciÛn a la industria. De 1994 a 1997, The Paul Weiland Film Company obtuvo el premio de la BTA a la CompaÒÌa de ProducciÛn M·s Exitosa. En 1997, la compaÒÌa fue votada como la compaÒÌa de producciÛn m·s importante del aÒo de la Tabla de Campaign, y fue clasificada como la segunda mejor compaÒÌa de producciÛn del mundo. En 2002, en la 40_ ceremonia del aniversario de D&AD, la compaÒÌa recibiÛ el Premio Presidente.

En 2003, Weiland formÛ Contagious, una compaÒÌa para desarrollar y producir proyectos de pelÌculas en asociaciÛn con David Barron. En 2005, dirigiÛ Sixty Six la cinta basada en su propia historia.

 

ADAM SZTYKIEL (Historia, GuiÛn) se graduÛ en 2000 de la Escuela de CinematografÌa y TelevisiÛn de la USC. VendiÛ Made of Honor, que constituye su primer crÈdito en un largometraje, como un guiÛn especial en 2003.

 

Harry Elfont & Deb