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LAST CHANCE HARVEY
STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS DUSTIN HOFFMAN & EMMA THOMPSON
DIRECTED BY JOEL HOPKINS
NOMINATED FOR 2 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Dustin Hoffman
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Emma
Thompson
Release Date: February 26, 2009
Running Time: 93 minutes
Rating: PG (Mild coarse language)
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SYNOPSIS
Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) and Emma Thompson (Sense
and Sensibility) reunite in Last Chance Harvey, a heartfelt romance that celebrates new
beginnings - at any age. The film is written and directed by Joel Hopkins (Jump Tomorrow).
The supporting cast includes Dame Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain, Gosford Park),
Liane Balaban (Definitely Maybe, Happy Here and Now), James Brolin, (Traffic, Catch Me If
You Can), Kathy Baker (The Jane Austen Book Club, Edward Scissorhands) and Richard
Schiff (“The West Wing”). John de Borman (Serendipity, The Full Monty) is Director of
Photography, with Jon Henson (The Wind In The Willows, I Could Never Be Your Woman)
as Production Designer, Natalie Ward (Death At A Funeral, Breaking And Entering) as
Costume Designer, and Marilyn Macdonald (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Good Shepherd)
as Make-up and Hair Designer. Producers are Tim Perell and Nicola Usborne. Jawal Nga is
Executive Producer.
New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on the verge of losing his dead-end
job as a jingle writer. Warned by his boss (Richard Schiff) that he has just one more chance
to deliver, Harvey goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter’s (Liane Balaban)
wedding but promises to be back on Monday morning to make an important meeting - or
else.
Harvey arrives in London only to learn his daughter has chosen to have her
stepfather (James Brolin) walk her down the aisle. Trying to hide his devastation, Harvey
leaves the wedding before the reception in hopes of getting to the airport on time, but misses
the plane anyway. When he calls his boss to explain, Harvey is fired on the spot.
Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate
(Emma Thompson), a sensitive, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics.
Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone
calls from her smothering mother (Eileen Atkins), is touched by Harvey, who finds himself
energized by her intelligence and compassion.
The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly
transform one another’s lives.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Writer and director Joel Hopkins’ quirky and original feature film debut Jump
Tomorrow charmed critics on both sides of the Atlantic and won him the 2002 BAFTA Award
for Most Promising Newcomer. It also attracted the attention of Academy Award winning
actress Emma Thompson, who was intrigued enough to sit down with Hopkins to discuss
working together on a future project.
“She said she liked my work and I’m obviously a big fan of hers,” says Hopkins. “So I
went away and thought of an idea for a character she could play. That was the beginning of
this character Kate, who I just knew that Emma would be perfect for.”
For producer Nicola Usborne, the film was a great collaboration between the stars
and their director, and ultimately a very personal film for Hopkins. “He came up with the idea,
he wrote it, he developed this great relationship for Kate and Harvey. He grew up in London
but spent a lot of time in America and I think it’s not a coincidence that this film is about an
American in London as sort of a fusion of Joel’s two worlds.”
According to Tim Perell, who also produced Jump Tomorrow with Usborne, it was the
writer-director’s utter lack of cynicism that caught Thompson’s eye. “She was interested in
doing some kind of love story and Joel is one of these very people who sees the world in a
very warm, rosy way. I don’t know if it’s that he’s completely naïve or he just lacks that irony
gene that the rest of us all seem to have. But I think that’s one of the things that Emma really
responded to in him. There is such warmth coming out of everything he does. He wrote such
a richly detailed character that she responded positively to it.”
Hoffman and Thompson worked previously together, for the first time, on Stranger
Than Fiction. “We only had a couple of scenes together in that film,” says Hoffman. “We
used to walk the streets, learning our lines. We’d try to say them so people would think we
were really just having a conversation that they were eavesdropping on. We really liked each
other and responded to the way each other works. So at the end of the shoot, we said
someday maybe we’ll get to make a movie together where we have bigger parts. And then
she called me back in about a year. She’d met Joel Hopkins and he wrote something and I
read it and we thought, wonderful - we can work together.”
“Dustin and I knew that we had chemistry,” says Thompson. “That is just something
that happens sometimes - but not as often as you’d like. When Joel contacted me and asked
if I had any thoughts about Last Chance Harvey, I said this would really suit me and Dustin
down to the ground. If you make it specifically for him, I think this could work.
“Normally these things never work,” adds the actress. “It all sounds lovely somebody who’s written his second script for two specific actors. It sounds like a no brainer,
but it never gets made. It’s only because Dustin agreed to do it and agreed to do it for a lot
less than he would normally be paid that it happened.”
The project actually came together very quickly, according to producer Perell. “Emma
read the first draft of the script within twenty-four hours and sent an email saying ‘love it love
it love it, let’s do it, can I send it to Dustin.’ You don’t say no to that.’
“I frankly thought it would just disappear into the ether,” says Perell. “But about fortyeight hours later she forwarded an email from Dustin with his very positive response. This
was pretty much the first draft of the script and they all had notes and Joel kept tinkering
away on it, but we essentially had the kinds of commitments we needed from Emma and
Dustin to move forward in record time.”
Perell took the script to Robert Kessel of the recently formed studio Overture Films.
“We all felt a certain amount of allegiance to Robert,” he says. “He’s been a fan of Joel’s for
many years. In fact, he was on the jury when Joel’s NYU short film won the grand prize. The
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response from Overture was incredibly encouraging and so we just pursued the relationship
with them.”
For Hopkins, the opportunity to explore the idea of a more mature love affair between
two very different characters was irresistible. “I think slightly older characters are just so
much more interesting,” says the filmmaker. “They’ve experienced so many more things and
they’ve got so much more baggage, which is good. Baggage is always interesting.”
Hoffman concurs: “I think one of the things that happens when a marriage fails is that
you realize you don’t know what you think you know. You knew that this person was the one
for you - or you thought you did - and it shatters your belief system and you shut down. What
makes this film interesting is that these are two people who are no longer in the flush of
youth. They’ve been so pained by the expectation of what they thought they were going to
have, that they very much do not want to get involved with each other and I think that gives
the film tension.”
As Thompson points out, “In fact, I think, falling in love when you’re older is
devastating. It’s an enormous thing to happen, especially when you don’t think it’s going to
come your way. Both of these characters in some way or other have resigned themselves.
Not without effort, not without still wanting to work and do good things and have an
interesting life. They still want all that, but the opportunities seem to be just out of their reach.
“I want to see people who I actually believe to exist, who are vaguely like me, falling
in love,” she adds. “People who aren’t perfect, who aren’t so beautiful that anyone would go
for them. You don’t see love stories about that, you just see very beautiful people falling in
love with each other and I’m just bored, I’m bored witless. I don’t care about them!”
Thompson says she based her performance on real women she knows who just
haven’t found the right person. “It doesn’t really matter what the age is,” she says. “It’s just
not quite being able to find to find that connection - and not from want of trying. Kate does
try. But it’s only somebody like Harvey who just happens into her life and won’t give up that
makes her let her defenses down.”
Thompson, an Oscar -winning screenwriter herself, says she usually cautions against
writers directing their own material. “But Joel had written and directed Jump Tomorrow,
which I really loved and so I knew he was more than capable of directing his own script. For
a young man on his second movie to be directing a movie legend like Hoffman is
extraordinary. I don’t think Joel had ever worked with an actor who found their way towards
the lines in quite such a unique fashion.”
Hopkins admits he learned something new every day on this shoot. “It’s been a pretty
humbling experience, but amazing fun. I got very used to watching the actors but then
suddenly I’d see them on the monitor, and I’m like, oh my God, that’s Dustin Hoffman and
Emma Thompson and I’m directing them!”
“Kate and Harvey are at similar sticky points in their lives when they more or less
collide,” Hopkins explains. “There aren’t many more chances. I think Dustin’s character is
feeling the clock ticking and he’s looking for a chance to reshape things. He had decided his
fate was this one thing and suddenly he gets this shot of energy that he’s determined to
make the most of.”
Hoffman observes that Hopkins is the kind of director who visualizes every shot
before he ever sets foot on set but still allows improvisation. “He recognized the energy
Emma and I have together and he was responsive to it,” says the actor. “We didn’t know the
way the scenes would go. Sometimes we would see a scene that he had written and say to
him, ‘We don’t think we have to say all of these lines, to make the scene work.’ I think Joel
liked it.”
Working with two extraordinarily gifted and experienced players, says Hopkins, made
him reconsider some of his preconceived notions about the film. “I learned that I actually
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have a better sense of what I’m after than I thought I did. It allows me to hopefully be a bit
freer ultimately, because I know I do have a quite good sense of what the essence of each
scene is. The flipside is that I can probably be a bit precious with it and say, ‘That’s not how I
wrote it.’ The challenge was to be open to what’s happening and to realize when what’s
happening on set is better than what I wrote.”
Tim Perell observes that everyone involved with Last Chance Harvey, from the stars
to the studio, took a leap of faith in putting the project in the hands of a sophomore director.
“Joel’s first movie was a million dollar movie with great actors, but no movie stars and a very
small crew,” says the producer. “This is a huge jump for him. None of us knew what it was
going be like. He’s done an extraordinary job and he’s had a lot to deal with. He’s made a
movie with a studio for the first time, with an enormous crew and a lot of money on the line.
He’s had two major movie stars that have needed him through this movie and he’s been able
to manage them and support them and give to them in a way that has shown up on screen in
a great way. You can see the connection Dustin and Emma have with Joel and the trust that
they have in him up there on the screen.”
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CASTING LAST CHANCE HARVEY
“I think it’s true when they say directing is mostly getting your casting right,” says
Hopkins. “I got it right and I didn’t need to do much more. I’m just there to tell them where to
stand.”
Having Hoffman and Thompson onboard made it easier for filmmakers to assemble a
stellar supporting cast, says producer Nicola Usborne. “When you have Dustin and Emma
you can attract a lot of fantastic actors.”
Hopkins’ rule for identifying the right actors for the film was simple: “I think I wrote it
on a Post-it note, ‘No baddies in this movie.’ I wanted everyone to have three dimensions, at
least, and not be caricatures. We got this great start obviously with Dustin and Emma, but
each role has a key part to play and you must keep up the strength in casting all the way
through the film. We ended up with an embarrassment of amazing talent. We have great
actors playing crucial roles that could so easily be black and white characters that you just
write off.”
Perell agrees: “We were so lucky with the casting, so lucky. Richard Schiff as
Harvey’s boss, Marvin, was a revelation. Kathy Baker is a dream and James Brolin is exactly
who Joel originally conceived for the part. We felt so lucky to convince him somehow to
come over to London for two weeks and do this. Liane Balaban is just a huge, huge
discovery.
“Eileen Atkins is perfect for the role of Kate’s mother, Maggie,” continues the
producer. “She and Emma do actually kind of look alike and there’s this phenomenal
chemistry between them. Again, it comes back to the Joel Hopkins view of the world. There
is an enormous amount of warmth and humor, but also a certain amount of frustration as
well.”
Those nuanced performances proved invaluable in quickly conveying the two main
characters’ histories and complex emotional states. “We didn’t have a lot of time for back
story for each and every character. In the wedding sequences, we really have to see
Harvey’s past very economically painted and when you have this level of actors, they really
help you achieve that.”
Hopkins concurs, adding, “I can do a bit with the writing, but when you get solid
actresses like Kathy and Eileen, they help to make these smaller parts really come to life.
They all made their roles more than I wrote. I learned new stuff about the characters each
day because they knew them better now than I did.”
With Hoffman and Thompson he says, “The best thing for me to do is to give them a
lot of freedom and be there when they need me.”
Producer Perell was fascinated by the difference between the two stars’ acting
techniques. “Emma couldn’t be more different in terms of her process than Dustin. She has a
calmness and a groundedness that’s just extraordinary to watch. When she comes in, she’s
clearly thought an enormous amount about what she’s doing, about every inch, every word
that she has to say. And she’ll do it as many different ways as is needed, but it seems sort of
effortless with her.
“Whereas with Dustin you see the machinery at work, he’s very naked with his
process,” observes Perell. “He has this completely sprawling mind, but nothing escapes him.
Every detail is examined, is questioned, is analyzed, is processed and what’s really most
fascinating is that you see him processing it and he’s processing it as Harvey, not as Dustin.
It elevates the performance. It elevates all of us, but you definitely cannot relax, you cannot
sit back. Things will be questioned, so you always need to know why and where and how.”
Thompson says it’s working with Hoffman that is effortless. “We both work in the
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same way in the sense that we want to be completely real, completely spontaneous. You
can only do that with a limited number of people. The fact is, I don’t care what his process is,
we just get on set and play. Dustin is such a consummate artist. Every single moment has to
be found and made and newly minted.”
“Emma and I have done character roles all our acting lives,” Hoffman points out.
“This time, we wanted to do something very close to ourselves.”
“Emma can be sitting on a bus by herself, as she is in one of the scenes here,”
Hoffman continues. “She just puts her head against the glass and there is an essence of
such vulnerability. In life there’s a lot of time when we’re really alone and don’t want to be.
She just has that in her in her soul and it’s extraordinary how she shares that with us.”
Hoffman and Thompson have as much in common as they do in contrast, according
to Usborne. “Both Dustin and Emma have this facility with comedy and drama, and they can
move so lightly between the two. There are some very, very funny moments in the film, and I
don’t think they detract from the sort of truth and honesty of the emotion.
“At the beginning of the script, Harvey does things that make the audience question
him, and yet there is something about Dustin Hoffman and the way he plays this part that
makes you really believe in him and feel for him,” says the producer. “You never lose that
sympathy for him even though you might think some of his choices have not been correct.
As soon as you see him on camera you completely sympathize with him. I don’t know what it
is about his face or his body language that just allows you to be aligned with him, almost no
matter what he’s doing.”
James Brolin, who plays Harvey’s ex-wife’s current husband, is “as manly as any
man can be,” says Perell, “He’s got this amazing shock of white hair, he’s incredibly tall, and
undeniably handsome. There’s something very imposing about him, so when Harvey arrives
at the rehearsal dinner and we reveal his ex-wife with James Brolin, again your heart just
breaks for poor Harvey, because this is what he’s got to go up against.”
Brolin says few many romantic pictures work as well as this one does. “First of all,
Joel writes good material. He works from a very sweet and definite position. He believes that
no matter how far the chips are down and luck is gone, there’s no such thing as, ‘That’s it.’”
Brolin was also impressed with Hopkin’s soft spoken assurance as a director. “You
quietly bring your chair closer to him so that you can hear him better, rather than back off
and say okay, okay, okay I’ll think about that.”
Harvey’s estranged daughter is played by up and coming young Canadian actress
Liane Balaban. “When I first read the script, I knew it was such a beautiful, thoughtful story
that it really needed to be told. What was touching to me was the real honest human kind of
damage that all the characters have, especially Harvey. He’s honest and real and not that
likeable. He’s made the kind of mistakes in his life that a lot of people have, so I think many
people can identify with the estrangement and families going astray, being alone in life,
facing really difficult odds.”
She describes working on the film as “the best acting school in the world. Dustin
examines everything and he asks himself if every moment is true to life, so he really brings
himself to the character. He also likes to play around; he likes to improvise a little bit, which
is exciting and kind of scary.”
Daniel Lapaine, who plays Liane’s bridegroom, signed up solely on the strength of
the cast. He had never even seen the full script. “Often in these Hollywood films, they’re
quite secretive about letting people see the scripts,” he says. “I’d only seen my scenes, but
when I heard that Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson were in it, it would have been pretty
hard to say no.”
Lapaine says he’s delighted with that decision. “I’m working with Dustin Hoffman,” he
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says. “I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that. He raises your game and makes you
better. I couldn’t give more of a compliment to him than that.”
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PARIS ON THE THAMES
The London of Last Chance Harvey will surprise some people who know the city
well–or think they do. Rather than set the action against such familiar landmarks as Big Ben
and Buckingham Palace, the filmmakers give viewers an insider’s perspective of the English
capitol. As Harvey and Kate get to know each other, they wander the streets in a series of
impromptu walking tours that showcase London as a city to fall in love with - and in.
“It’s a very romantic city,” says born-and-bred Londoner Emma Thompson. “It’s full of
incredible nooks and crannies and views and vistas. I actually get quite homesick for
London, so coming back was a pleasure. The picture is a bit of a valentine to the city.”
The pair’s walks take them all over the city, from the courtyard of the immense 16th
century palace Somerset House at dawn to the south side of the Thames in the late
afternoon sun.
By painting a picture of the city through Harvey’s eyes, where everything looks new,
Hopkins was able to depict London in a way it has never been seen onscreen. “This is a
more elegant side of London than is typically featured in films,” says the director. “I definitely
wanted to capture the excitement of being in a city you’ve known quite well, but have been
away from and are looking at with fresh eyes.”
Achieving that freshness in one of the oldest and most photographed cities in the
world was a challenge, says production designer Jon Henson, who has worked on numerous
London shoots. “We were constantly looking for new places, or places we have seen before
but are looking at in a different way. In the end, it was a process of choosing the right
elements. Joel wanted to have an international-looking London, so it wasn’t the sights of
London so much, but something that could be London, could be Prague, could be Paris. We
felt that looking at the older elements in the city would be more romantic.”
“It really does feel like you’re walking along the Seine in Paris,” says Tim Perell of the
couple’s strolls along the Thames. “The Southbank Center and the whole walk along there
really is modern London. And you can see across the river to old London, to St Paul’s
Cathedral and all these old great English buildings. Then in the background are all these
huge cranes and you see where London is going. It’s just one of the most spectacular places
in London, I think.”
In fact, the image of “London as Paris” was the film’s guiding visual philosophy. “It
wasn’t meant to be a picture postcard or something that you might see in a tourist book, but
a very romantic backdrop for two people falling in love,” says producer Nicola Usborne. “We
wanted to make a film about two people getting to know each other and falling in love over a
weekend in a sort of iconic London.”
“There’s a lovely scene where Harvey’s waiting for Kate outside her evening class
and we found this autumn grass that was about six-feet high just gently blowing in the wind,”
he says. “We sat Harvey in front of this. He’s quite a wistful character anyway and he’s
constantly in thought. The image of him in front of this grass was just glorious. We latched
on to all the autumnal colors of that scene and started to develop those throughout the film.”
Hoffman credits Hopkins and cinematographer John de Borman for helping him to
see London in a new light. “They really did find the romance that’s in London. The locations
were very carefully picked by people who really knew the city. I’d been to London many
times in the last thirty years but I’d never seen some of those locations.”
That visual approach to the setting carried over to the lead characters, according to
Perell. “We really wanted Dustin and Emma to look sexy and beautiful. You don’t often see
people of that age looking beautiful and sexy onscreen, and that was a really important
component of it. Emma wears a green uniform throughout, but we had it tailored and fitted
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so that it actually makes her look really sexy.”
What the filmmakers did not want was “a sugar-coated romantic comedy,” says
Perell. “As much as I enjoy those movies, that wasn’t right for this story. But it wasn’t a small,
independent British movie either. Our audience is sophisticated, so it had to have a certain
look and beauty to it. We needed something that was incredibly elegant, that looked really
beautiful and rich but authentic, like the performances, real, but with a sheen to it.
London also provided the filmmakers with what they feel was an ideal crew. “They all
really genuinely responded to the script,” says Hopkins. “You could just tell that everyone
seemed to get something out of the script and it felt like we were all trying to make the same
movie.”
Director of photography John de Borman has shot everything from gritty
independents like Hideous Kinky to slick Hollywood romances including Shall We Dance.
That range made him the perfect choice for this film, says Perell. “We knew Joel was going
be sucked into the world of the actors and we wanted somebody who could be a real rock for
Joel and help him through the coverage. John is also someone that Dustin and Emma could
see behind the camera and be reassured that there was someone on hand with his degree
of wisdom and experience.”
Hopkins says he depended on de Borman’s expertise from day one. “I told John ‘This
is a big step up for me. I’m working with A-list actors and I’ve never done that before. I’m
nervous and I need you to really be in charge of the shots.’”
The writer-director admits, though, “When it comes down to it, I’m bit of a control
freak, so when Dustin and Emma didn’t need me, I had to go somewhere.”
The film, says production designer Henson, is split into three worlds. “You have
Harvey’s world, Kate’s world and then Harvey’s daughter’s world. Harvey is very tired, his
job’s a dead end job. We went for lots of beige and dusty colors, dated furniture. All the stuff
we used in his recording studio is very old fashioned. His world is out of date in contrast to
what we see in his daughter’s world, which has lots of reflection, lots of expensive fabrics.
It’s much glossier. Kate’s world is incredibly natural and down to earth. There’s a contrast
and juxtaposition there that that hopefully is quite dynamic.”
“Last Chance Harvey is a very romantic film,” says Nicola Usborne. “We watch two
people who had given up on love find it again, and I think we believe that they will continue
with that love. It’s not that there won’t be hiccups along the way, but I do think you leave this
film with a sense of hope and optimism and romance. We always joke that Joel can’t make a
film with a sad ending. He has a very romantic spirit.”
Thompson says the point of the film is very simple. “It’s about love. It’s about human
connection. It’s about two people allowing themselves to love at a time of life where it might
not be the easiest option. For Harvey, you know it’s his last chance. And possibly, very
possibly, it is for Kate. Yes, she’s got her life, she does her thing, she looks after her mum,
and she’s very good at it all. Maybe she’ll write that book and maybe, maybe, maybe. Then
something happens to illuminate her life.”
The character of Harvey and his emotional dilemma came from a very personal point
of reference for Hoffman. “I just played what my life would be like if I had not met my wife
Lisa, who I’ve been with for about 34 years,” he says. “That wasn’t hard to do, because after
that first real love affair fractures, you really do feel love’s just not meant for you.”
As a woman still in her 20s, Liane Balaban found the movie enormously inspiring.
“This is an adult love story about people with life experience. It’s not your typical boy meets
girl boy loses girl. There’s so much more going on and the relationship between them is so
much more complex and interesting than a lot of the relationships you see in other movies.
“I think it’s saying that you always have a chance, that there’s never a situation that
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you can’t try to make better,” says the actress. “Even when you think you’re at the end of
your rope, there’s always a little more.”
“I’m not interested in twenty-somethings falling in love,” Joel Hopkins says. “They’re
not ready. This kind of relationship isn’t often depicted, but it’s fascinating in a way that
twenty-somethings can’t be. It takes time to become fully realized people and I guess that it
has taken these two people a long, long time to do that. But now, they’re ready to fall in
love.”
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ABOUT THE CAST
DUSTIN HOFFMAN (Harvey Shine) is a two-time Academy Award winner and
seven-time nominee whose arrival in Hollywood helped usher in a new and revitalized
approach to filmmaking, Dustin Hoffman continues to add singular performances to a career
rich with characters that have obliterated the line previously dividing the archetypes of
"character actor" and "leading man."
Hoffman caught the world's attention for his role as Benjamin Braddock in Mike
Nichol's Academy Award nominated film, The Graduate. Since then, he has been nominated
for six more Academy Awards for diverse films such as Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Tootsie (a
film he also produced through his company, Punch Productions), and Wag the Dog. Hoffman
won the Oscar in 1979 for his role in Kramer Vs. Kramer and again in 1988 for Rain Man.
Hoffman will lend his voice to the animated feature, The Tale of Despereaux for
Universal Pictures. The Tale of Despereaux is adapted from Kate DiCamillo's children's book
and co-stars Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Tracy Ullman, Robbie Coltraine and Justin
Long. The Tale of Despereaux will be released on December 19, 2008.
Hoffman was last heard as the voice of "Shifu" in the box office hit, Kung Fu Panda
for DreamWorks Animation, which co-stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu and Ian
McShane. Kung Fu Panda was released on June 6, 2008 and has grossed over $625 million
worldwide.
His other film credits include: Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Stranger Than
Fiction, Perfume, Meet the Fockers, Finding Neverland, I Heart Huckabee’s, The Lost City,
Racing Stripes, Runaway Jury, Little Big Man, Straw Dogs, Papillon, All the President's Men,
Marathon Man, Straight Time, Agatha, Ishtar, Dick Tracy, Billy Bathgate, Mad City, Hero,
Sleepers, Sphere, American Buffalo, Hook, and Outbreak.
On stage, Hoffman has had an equally impressive career. His first stage role was in
the Sarah Lawrence College production of Gertrude Stein's "Yes is for a Very Young Man."
This performance led to several roles Off Broadway, such as "Journey of the Fifth Horse," for
which he won the Obie, and "Eh?", for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Best Actor.
His success on stage caught the attention of Mike Nichols, who cast him in "The Graduate."
In 1969, Hoffman made his Broadway debut in Murray Schisgal's "Jimmy Shine." In 1974,
Hoffman made his Broadway directorial debut with Schisgal's "All Over Town." In 1984,
Hoffman garnered a Drama Desk Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Willy Loman in the
Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman" which he also produced. In addition to starring in
the Broadway production, a special presentation aired on television and Hoffman won the
Emmy Award. Additionally, Hoffman received a Tony Award Nomination for his role as
Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" which he reprised from his long run on the London
Stage.
As a producer, Hoffman produced Tony Goldwyn's feature film A Walk on the Moon
starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. He executive
produced "The Devil's Arithmetic" which won two Emmy Awards.
Hoffman was born in Los Angeles and attended Santa Monica Community College.
He later studied at the Pasadena Playhouse before moving to New York to study with Lee
Strasberg.
Hoffman serves as the chair of the Artistic Advisory Board for the newly constructed
Eli and Edythe Broad Stage Theater, which opened on September 20, 2008. This intimate
499-seat state-of-the-art theater provides a much-needed performance facility for Santa
Monica College and the surrounding community.
EMMA THOMPSON (Kate) is one of the world’s most respected talents for her
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versatility in acting as well as screenwriting. In 1992, Thompson caused a sensation with her
portrayal of Margaret Schlegel in the Merchant-Ivory adaptation of EM. Forster’s Howard’s
End. Sweeping the Best Actress category wherever it was considered, the performance
netted her a BAFTA Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Award, New York Film Critics Award,
Golden Globe and Academy Award. She earned two Oscar nominations the following year
for her work in The Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father. In 1995, Thompson’s
adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee, won the Academy
Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. For her performance in the film she was honored with a
Best Actress award from BAFTA and nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy
Award.
In 2006, Thompson co-starred, to critical acclaim, with Dustin Hoffman and Will
Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction for director Mark Forster. In 2004, she brought to the screen
JK Rowling’s character of Sybil Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for
director Alfonso Cuaron, and in 2007, she reprised the role in Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix, for director David Yates. In 2004, Thompson appeared in her own adaptation of
Nanny McPhee, directed by Kirk Jones. She recently completed the screenplay for the
sequel, Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang, and will again star in the title role when
production begins in Spring 2009.
Thompson was born in London to Eric Thompson, a theatre director and writer, and
Phyllida Law, an actress. She read English at Cambridge and was invited to join the school’s
long-standing Footlights comedy troupe, which elected her Vice President. While still a
student, she co-directed Cambridge’s first all-women revue “Women’s Hour,” made her
television debut on BBC-TV’s “Friday Night, Saturday Morning” as well as her radio debut on
BBC Radio’s “Injury Time.”
Throughout the 1980’s Thompson frequently appeared on British TV, including widely
acclaimed recurring roles on the Granada TV series “Alfresco,” BBC’s “Election Night
Special” and “The Crystal Cube” (the latter written by fellow Cambridge alums Stephen Fry
and Hugh Laurie), and a hilarious one-off role as upper-class twit Miss Money Sterling on
“The Young Ones.” In 1985, Channel 4 offered Thompson her own TV special, “Up for
Grabs” and in 1988 she wrote and recorded her own BBC series called “Thompson.”
She continued to pursue an active stage career concurrently with her TV and radio
work, appearing in “A Sense of Nonsense” touring England in 1982, the self-penned “Short
Vehicle” at the Edinburgh Festival in 1983, “Me and My Girl” first at Leicester and then
London’s West End in 1985, and “Look Back in Anger” at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury
Avenue in 1989.
Thompson’s feature film debut came in 1988, starring opposite Jeff Goldblum in the
comedy The Tall Guy. She then played Katherine in Kenneth Branagh’s film-directing debut
Henry V and went on to star opposite Branagh in three of his subsequent directorial efforts,
Dead Again (1991), Peter’s Friends (1992), and Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
Thompson’s other film credits include Junior (1994), Carrington (1995), and The
Winter Guest (1997). She has also starred in three projects directed by Mike Nichols:
Primary Colors (1998) and the HBO telefilms “Wit” (2001, in a Golden Globe-nominated
performance) and “Angels in America” (2002, Screen Actors Guild Award nomination,
Golden Satellite Award nomination, Emmy Award nomination). Also in 2002, she starred in
Imagining Argentina for director Christopher Hampton and Love Actually for director Richard
Curtis. The latter film netted Thompson a number of accolades, including Best Actress in a
Supporting Role at the 2004 Evening Standard Film Awards, a nomination for Best
Supporting Actress at the 2004 BAFTA Awards, Best Supporting Actress at the 2004 London
Film Critics Circle Awards, Best British Actress at the 2004 Empire Film Awards and a
nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 2004 Golden Satellite Awards. She also
voiced Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet for Disney.
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EILEEN ATKINS (Maggie) is highly respected around the world for her distinguished
career on stage and screen. She shared a SAG Award for Best Ensemble with her co-stars
from the cast of Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001) and her supporting role in The Dresser
(1983) earned her a BAFTA nomination. Created Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in
1990, Atkins was raised to Dame Commander in 2001. She was recently seen in Lajos
Koltai’s Evening, with Meryl Streep.
Born in London, Atkins was a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
She made her first appearance in London as Jaquenetta in “Love’s Labours Lost” for Robert
Atkins at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park. Seasons in repertory followed, including two
years with the RSC at Stratford-upon-Avon. She went on to work at the Old Vic, where her
roles included the Queen in “Richard II,” Miranda in “The Tempest,” and Viola in “Twelfth
Night” in 1962.
Feature film credits include The Dresser, Equus, and the role of Mrs Bentley in Let
Him Have It, directed by Peter Medak. She appeared opposite Jack Nicholson in Mike
Nichols’ 1994 feature Wolf. Atkins co-starred in Jack and Sarah for director Tim Sullivan;
The Avengers, directed by Jeremiah Chechnick; Stephen Daldry’s The Hours, with Nicole
Kidman; and Robert Altman’s multiple award-winning Gosford Park, playing the role of Mrs
Croft. In 2002, Atkins appeared in American Girl, directed by Dennie Gordon, and Anthony
Minghella’s Cold Mountain.
Among Atkins’ other film credits are Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, Robert Towne’s Ask The
Dust, The Queen Of Sheba’s Pearls, written and directed by Colin Nutley, The Feast Of The
Goat, directed by Luis Llosa and the independent film Scenes Of A Sexual Nature, directed
by Ed Blum.
Atkins’ numerous television credits include leading roles in “The Three Sisters,” “The
Heiress,” “Olive and The Letter,” and the title roles in “Major Barbara,” “The Duchess of
Malfi,” “Electra,” “The Lady From The Sea,” and “The Jean Rhys Woman.” She played John
Osborne’s mother in “A Better Class Of Person” (Granada Television), Mrs Morel in the BBC
Television adaptation of “Sons And Lovers,” Stella Kirby in “Eden End” (Yorkshire
Television) and Tamara in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of “Titus
Andronicus.” Atkins appeared in “Smiley’s People,” “The Burston Rebellion,” and “Breaking
Up,” all for BBC TV. She co-starred with Lee Remick and Dirk Bogarde in the BBC telefilm
“The Vision.”
In 1991, Atkins portrayed Mrs Pankhurst in Oyster Television’s “In My Defence”
series before starring opposite Brian Cox in “The Lost Language of Cranes,” a Screen Two
telefilm written by Sean Mathias and directed by Nigel Finch. In 1993, Atkins played Mrs
Maitland in “The Maitlands,” directed by Lindsey Posner and produced by Simon Curtis for
the BBC Performance series. She played Judith Starkadder in Stella Gibbons’ “Cold Comfort
Farm,” directed by John Schlesinger for the BBC. She starred as Jane Murdstone in Peter
Medak’s “David Copperfield” and played the role of Emily in “Women Talking Dirty.” She also
appeared in BBC’s “Sleepers” and “Love Again,” “Bertie & Elizabeth” for Carlton and “The
Lives of Animals” for BBC4.
Recent TV credits include “Waking The Dead” and “Miss Marple: Towards Zero.” She
will next appear in “Cranford” and “Ballet Shoes” for the BBC.
In the contemporary theatre, Atkins’ credits include “Semi Detached” with Laurence
Olivier, “Exit The King” with Alec Guinness, and “The Restoration of Arnold Middleton.” She
won the 1965 Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her performance as Childie in
“The Killing Of Sister George,” and made her New York debut in this play. She returned to
New York in 1967 to appear in “The Promise.”
In 1968 she appeared in “The Cocktail Party” at Chichester, which subsequently
transferred to the West End and in Peter Gill’s “The Sleepers Den” at The Royal Court
Theatre Upstairs.
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Atkins won a Variety Club Award for her role as Elizabeth in Robert Bolt’s “Vivat!
Vivat! Regina” at the 1970 Chichester Festival and later at the Piccadilly Theatre, a
performance she repeated in New York.
Other London theatre credits include the title roles in “Suzanna Andler” at the
Aldwych Theatre, “St Joan” at the Old Vic and “Medea” at the Young Vic. She played Nell in
“Passion Play” for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych, presented an evening
of TS. Eliot’s poetry at the Lyric Theatre and appeared in “Exclusive” at the Playhouse
Theatre, directed by Michael Rudman.
At the National Theatre, Atkins played Hesione in John Schlesinger’s acclaimed
production of “Heartbreak House” and leading roles in productions of “Cymbeline” and
Pinter’s “Mountain Language.” She received an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in
Peter Hall’s production of “The Winter’s Tale” and was nominated for an Olivier Award for
Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Hanna Jelkes in Tennessee Williams’ “The
Night Of The Iguana,” directed by Richard Eyre at the Lyttleton Theatre. She played Gunhild
Borkman opposite Paul Scofield and Vanessa Redgrave in the hugely successful “John
Gabriel Borkman,” again directed by Richard Eyre.
In 1989, Atkins received great critical acclaim when she appeared as Virginia Woolf
in her one-woman show “A Room Of One’s Own” at the Lamb’s theatre in New York, where
she received the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance and a special citation in a
practically unanimous vote from the New York Drama Critics Circle. She then took the show
on a short nationwide tour of the US. including a season at the Westwood Center in Los
Angeles. She also recreated the role for Thames television in a version filmed on location at
Girton College, Cambridge, the venue of Mrs Woolf’s original lecture. Most recently, she
revived the play at the Hampstead theatre.
In 1992, Atkins premiered her own play, “Vita and Virginia,” at the Chichester Festival
Theatre, playing Virginia Woolf opposite Penelope Wilton’s Vita Sackville West. The show
played a season at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End.
She has appeared many times on the American stage, where her credits include “As
You Like It” at Stratford, Connecticut; “The Duchess of Malfi” at the Mark Taper Center, Los
Angeles; “Mary Barnes” at the Long Wharf Theatre, Connecticut and the title role of “Prin” at
the Manhattan Theatre Club. Her last appearance on the New York stage was starring in
“Indiscretions (Les Parents Terribles),” directed by Sean Mathias, at the Ethel Barrymore
Theatre.
Atkins appeared in Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” with Maggie Smith at the
Haymarket, directed by Anthony Page. She played The Woman in the RSC’s “The
Unexpected Man” opposite Michael Gambon, a role for which she won an Olivier Award for
Best Actress. Atkins went on to enjoy success with this role on Broadway. Atkins appeared
with Corin Redgrave in “Honour” at the National Theatre, directed by Roger Michell, for
which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress. She appeared on Broadway in William
Nicholson’s “Retreat From Moscow,” for which she received a Tony nomination. In 2005,
Atkins appeared as Meg in Harold Pinter’s play “The Birthday Party” at the Duchess Theatre,
London, directed by Lindsay Posner. 2006 saw her play Sister Aloysius in “Doubt,” which
enjoyed a successful run on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater and was directed by Doug
Hughes.
In 2007, Atkins appeared at the Almeida Theatre as Bridget in “There Came Gypsy
Riding” by Frank McGuinness, directed by Michael Attenborough. She begins 2008 with a
revival of “The Sea,” playing Louise Rafi in Jonathan Kent’s production at the Theatre Royal
Haymarket.
LIANE BALABAN (Susan) made a major splash with her debut in the lead role of
Alan Moyle's New Waterford Girl. For her performance, Balaban received a Special Jury
Citation at the 24th Annual Toronto International Film Festival and a Canadian Comedy
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Award nomination.
Variety described Balaban’s performance opposite Kevin Pollack in Gary Yates'
critically acclaimed Seven Times Lucky as "unforgettable." She recently starred in the
miniseries “Above & Beyond,” directed by Sturla Gunnarson and co-starring Richard E Grant
and completed the pilot Abroad, both for the CBC.
Recent projects include “St Urbain’s Horseman,” based on the novel by Mordecai
Richler, and Definitely, Maybe, written and directed by Adam Brooks for Working Title/
Universal Pictures, with Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Derek Luke and
Isla Fisher. Other upcoming films include One Week opposite Joshua Jackson and You
Might As Well Live with Michael Madsen and Clark Johnson.
Balaban’s previous film credits include leading roles in John L'Ecuyer’s Saint Jude;
Jeremy Podeswa's After the Harvest opposite Sam Shepard; Bart Freundlich's World
Traveller with Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup and Michael Almereyda's Happy Here and
Now with David Arquette and Ally Sheedy.
JAMES BROLIN (Brian), recipient of an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards, is
one of television’s best-known, most popular stars. His wide-reaching acting credits range
from tightly written dramas to large-scale action-adventures. Though he has worked
extensively in all genres, Brolin is best known for his starring role in two long-running series:
“Marcus Welby MD.,” which earned him an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
Series, and the immensely popular drama “Hotel.” He co-stars with Richard Gere in The
Hunting Party and is set to begin Oliver Stone’s Pinkville, starring Bruce Willis.
Brolin also starred in the action-adventure “Extreme” and the Western serial drama
“Angel Falls.” His long-form work includes “Trapped,” the highest rated telefilm of its season,
and the CBS mini-series “And The Sea Will Tell.” He also hosted the ABC primetime wildlife
reality series “The World Of Discovery” and guest starred on the NBC hit drama series “West
Wing.” His work in “The Reagans” earned him Emmy and Golden Globes nominations for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or Television Movie.
The actor guest-starred in Lifetime’s “Widow on the Hill” opposite Natasha
Henstridge and USA Network’s “Category 7: The End of The World.” He has completed
production on the A&E telefilm “Wedding Wars.”
Brolin’s feature-film career blends box-office blockbusters and prestigious smaller
independent productions, stretching back to 1962 when he made his motion picture debut in
Take Her, She’s Mine with James Stewart and Sandra Dee. After a number of parts in other
movies, Brolin landed a starring role opposite Jacqueline Bisset in a remake of Pickup on
South Street called The Cape Town Affair. He has starred in such major films as West
World, directed by best-selling author Michael Crichton, Capricorn One and The Amityville
Horror, one of the highest grossing independent films of all time. He produced and starred in
the critically acclaimed independent film Cheatin’ Hearts, and also starred in Allison Anders’
well-received drama Gas Food Lodging.
Some of Brolin’s more recent feature film work include a co-starring role in Steven
Soderbergh’s Traffic, a leading role in Master of Disguise, alongside Dana Carvey, a
supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom
Hanks, and a commanding part in Denzel Washington’s Antwone Fisher Story. Brolin also
appeared in MGM’s A Guy Thing, starring opposite Julia Stiles, Jason Lee, and Selma Blair.
Other credits include Gable and Lombard, Lies and Alibis opposite Selma Blair and
American Standard, which he also produced.
Brolin has established himself as a director of dramatic series television, taking on
several episodes of “Pensacola: Wings Of Gold” (which he also executive produced and
starred in), in addition to several episodes of “Hotel” and an episode of the ensemble
Western series “The Young Riders.” Brolin’s feature film directorial debut, My Brother’s War,
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in which he also starred, took home a Best Film award from the Hollywood Film Festival.
KATHY BAKER (Jean) won three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and the
Screen Actor’s Guild Award for her work on the CBS television series “Picket Fences.” She
also received a 2003 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in the TNT
feature “Door To Door,” which garnered multiple Emmy Awards and an AFI Creative
Ensemble Award. Baker also was nominated for back-to-back Emmys for her guest
performances on “Touched by an Angel” and “Boston Public.”
Baker continues her role in the hit Jesse Stone franchise for CBS starring Tom
Selleck. Her character was introduced in “Jesse Stone: Sea Change” and will reappear in
the upcoming fifth and sixth installments “Jesse Stone: Thin Ice” and “No Remorse.” She
also stars in the upcoming independent features Miss Nobody and Shades of Ray.
Baker has also recently appeared in a guest starring role on “Grey’s Anatomy” and
has an upcoming guest arc on “Saving Grace.” Last season, Baker completed a pilot for
CBS called “Babylon Fields,” co-written and directed by Michael Cuesta and also starring
Ray Stevenson and Amber Tamblyn. Her other television credits include a guest arc on
“Nip/Tuck,” a series regular role on “Boston Public,” “Picking Up, Dropping Off,” Spike Lee’s
Showtime feature “Sucker Free City,” “Sanctuary,” “Ten Tiny Love Stories,” “Things You Can
Tell Just By Looking At Her,” Showtime’s “Ratz,” the CBS mini-series “Shake, Rattle & Roll:
An American Love Story,” the TNT series “Bull,” “Lush Life,” “Not in This Town,” the Hallmark
Hall of Fame movie “A Season For Miracles” and “The Image.”
Baker made her film debut in The Right Stuff (1983). She has appeared in the
remake of All The King’s Men, directed by Steven Zaillian, the independent feature Nine
Lives, directed by Rodrigo Garcia and the critically-acclaimed Cold Mountain as well as 13
Going on 30, Fathers and Sons, Assassination Tango and The Glass House. For the
Academy Award-winning film The Cider House Rules, Baker shared a Screen Actor’s Guild
Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture.
She also had a starring role in the recent Sony Pictures Classics’ feature The Jane Austen
Book Club, starring opposite Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman and Hugh Dancy.
Other feature film credits include Inventing the Abbotts, To Gillian on Her 37th
Birthday, Mad Dog and Glory, Jennifer Eight, Article 99, Edward Scissorhands, Street Smart
(National Society of Film Critics’ Best Supporting Actress Award), Clean and Sober,
Jacknife, Dad, Mister Frost and A Little Inside.
A veteran of the stage, Baker originated the role of May in Sam Shepard’s “Fool for
Love,” and, at the playwright’s request, took the part to New York along with co-star Ed
Harris. The move resulted in a prestigious Obie Award for Baker. During the following year,
Kathy continued to work on other successful stage productions such as “Desire Under the
Elms” and “Aunt Dan and Lemon.” She returned to the stage in 2006 in a South Coast
Repertory production of the Tracy Letts play “A Man From Nebraska,” which was directed by
William Friedkin.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
JOEL HOPKINS (Writer/Director) won a BAFTA (Carl Foreman Award) for his first
feature, Jump Tomorrow, which was financed by Film Four. The film premiered at Sundance,
won the Audience Award at Deauville Film Festival, and was nominated for five British
Independent Film Awards. He has written scripts for production companies including Tiger
Aspect, Tiny Dancer, The Film Consortium and Working Title.
Hopkins grew up in London and, after receiving a BA in Fine Art, attended the MFA
Film program at New York University. His thesis project, Jorge, won the Wasserman Award
and the inaugural Richard Vague Award. He currently resides in New York and London and
has two young children.
TIM PERELL (Producer) was named one of Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch in
2007 and was awarded the Axium Producer’s Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. He is
the president of Process, a production company based in New York City. Recent credits
include John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, which premiered in official selection at Cannes,
and Trust the Man, starring Julianne Moore, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy
Crudup, which was released by Fox Searchlight. Perell also produced The Myth of
Fingerprints, I’m with Lucy, The Opportunists, Jump Tomorrow and World Traveller. Perell’s
recent projects include The Rebound starring Catherine Zeta Jones, written and directed by
Bart Freundlich, and World’s Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams, written and directed by
Bobcat Goldthwait.
Acclaimed musical artists such as Bright Eyes and Scissor Sisters have turned to
Process to produce their music videos. The company also has produced four films over the
last three years for the Oxygen Network, the most recent becoming the highest-rated
program in the network’s history. Process is currently developing films with Miguel Arteta,
David Jacobson, Bart Freundlich and John Cameron Mitchell.
NICOLA USBORNE (Producer) produced Jake Kornbluth’s The Best Thief in the
World, which was developed at the Sundance Institute, premiered in competition at the
Festival, and won the Maryland Producers’ Award. She has worked with Joel Hopkins for the
last 10 years. Among other projects, she produced Joel’s Jorge and Jump Tomorrow, for
which Usborne received a BAFTA award. She is a former recipient of the Mark Silverman
Producing Fellowship from Sundance.
Usborne has worked for many years as a Vice President for Scholastic, the
worldwide children’s media company based in New York, developing video game and
Internet businesses.
JAWAL NGA (Executive Producer) founded New York City-based film production
company Tiny Dancer Films in 2003. He recently produced Married Life staring Pierce
Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper. This is the second film Nga
has produced for director Ira Sachs. The first, Forty Shades of Blue, won the 2005 Sundance
Film Festival’s Dramatic Grand Jury prize.
Tiny Dancer Films is currently developing Justin Haythe's (Revolutionary Road)
adaptation of Michael Ignatieff's novel Charlie Johnson In The Flames, and Into The Great
Wide Open, which director Matthew Galkin has adapted from Kevin Canty's novel.
Nga was raised in Tripoli, Libya and London. He graduated from New York
University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1996.
JOHN DE BORMAN (Director of Photography) has worked with some of the
leading talents in the film and television industry. He was nominated for a BAFTA TV award
for his work on Bharat Nalluri’s 2006 Golden Globe nominated miniseries “Tsunami: The
Aftermath.” In 2000, he won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best
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Technical/Artistic Achievement for his body of work, particularly that year’s feature film
Hideous Kinky, directed by Gillies MacKinnon.
De Borman recently shot Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, starring Frances
McDormand and Amy Adams. Other recent feature film credits include Oliver Parker’s Fade
to Black; Tara Road, Pure and Trojan Eddie, all for Gillies MacKinnon; director Nigel Cole’s
A Lot Like Love and Saving Grace; director Peter Chelsom’s Shall We Dance, Serendipity
and The Mighty; Tommy O’Haver’s Ella Enchanted; Daisy Von Scherler Mayer’s The Guru;
and Peter Cattaneo’s international hit The Full Monty.
In 2001, De Borman was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best
Cinematography for Matthew Almereyda’s Hamlet.
ROBIN SALES (Editor) has edited an eclectic mix of historical drama and modern
fable, including most notably Chris Noonan’s Miss Potter, Niall Johnson’s Keeping Mum,
Gaby Dellal’s On a Clear Day, Peter Howitt’s Johnny English, Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy and
Career Girls, Po Chih Leong’s The Wisdom of Crocodiles and John Madden’s Mrs Brown.
After considerable television editing experience through the 1980’s and early ‘90s, including
“A Year in Provence” and many of the Richard Sharpe dramas, Sales made his film-editing
debut with Swann, in 1996.
JON HENSON (Production Designer) recently lent his considerable talents to
Brothers of the Head for directors Lou Pepe and Keith Fulton, produced by Simon Channing
Williams; Amy Heckerling’s I Could Never be Your Woman, starring Michelle Pfeifer; Rachel
Tallalay’s Wind In The Willows and John Crowley’s Boy A, starring Peter Mullan.
Henson originally trained and worked as an actor in the 1980’s but went on to study
Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art. After leaving college he co-founded Art Effects,
a design company specializing in design for television dramas and commercials. After nine
years, he left the company to work independently.
In 1999, Henson designed his first feature, Beautiful People, directed by Jasmin
Disdar. Since then he has worked on both film and television projects including Esther Kahn,
for French director Arnaud Desplechin and starring Summer Phoenix and Ian Holm; the
award–winning television film “Kid In The Corner,” directed by Bille Eltringham; This Is Not A
Love Song, again for Bille Eltringham; Never Never, directed by Julian Jarold; Gillies
McKinnon’s Pure, starring Keira Knightley; and Mark Brozel’s “Macbeth,” for which Henson
won an RTS Award for Best Production Design.
NATALIE WARD (Costume Designer) most recently completed Mark Herman’s The
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, due for release in 2008. Before that she worked on Roger
Michell's Venus, starring Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips. Ward also designed costumes for
the Michell’s Enduring Love and The Mother.
Ward’s feature credits include Frank Oz's Death at a Funeral; Anthony Minghella’s
Breaking and Entering; Mikael Håfström's 1408, starring John Cusack and Samuel L
Jackson; Derailed, starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Anniston; and Michael Winterbottom's
films Code 46, 24-Hour Party People and Wonderland.
Ward also designed costumes for Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy and Damien
O'Donnell's Heartlands. She worked in the wardrobe departments of Bridget Jones's Diary,
The Beach, Notting Hill, Elizabeth and I Want You.
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