Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "Son of the Mask"

Movie : Son of the Mask

- Notes provided by New Line Cinema - SON OF THE MASK More mischiefmore mayhem.more magic.The Mask is back! A decade after the legendary Mask of Loki wreaked havoc on the life of an unsuspecting adult in New Line Cinema's hit The Mask, the magical mask finds its way into the possession of a young father in the family comedy Son of the Mask. Just as aspiring cartoonist Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) gets over his fear of parenthood with the birth of his new son Alvey, he quickly finds himself in over his head as his new baby is born with the Mask's spectacular powers. Further complicating matters is the family's jealous dog, who turns the household upside down and sparks a comical kid-versus-canine battle for control of the Mask. But unbeknownst to them all, the mischievous Norse god Loki (Alan Cumming) has come looking for his Mask, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back. Directed by Lawrence Guterman (Cats & Dogs), Son of the Mask stars Jamie Kennedy (Malibu's Most Wanted, The WB's "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment"), Alan Cumming (Spy Kids; X2: X-Men United), Traylor Howard (Me, Myself and Irene) and Bob Hoskins (Last Orders), and features the eye-popping visual effects work of Industrial Light & Magic and Tippett Studios. Written by Lance Khazei, the film is produced by Erica Huggins and Scott Kroopf, with Beau Marks and Mike Richardson serving as the executive producers. Stephen Jones is co-producer. Son of the Mask (rated "PG" by the M.P.A.A. for "action, crude and suggestive humor, and language") will be released in theaters nationwide on February 18th, 2005. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION The initial concept for Son of the Mask possessed no shortage of components that would appeal to a filmmaker, including an established back story, the opportunity to dream up a world in which visual effects can quite literally stretch the boundaries of reality, and the chance to create a film which would appeal to the whole family. But for director Lawrence Guterman, it was another aspect of the story that most captured his attention - the way the film dealt with the universal issues of parenting. "My wife and I had three children over three years, so I was attracted to the notions in the movie - how do you cope with raising babies and raising toddlers?" says Guterman. "And the big 'what if' factor- what would happen if suddenly this baby had powers and could get up and sing and dance and do things that no baby could ever do? How would you deal with that? We have a lot of fun with that in the movie." Guterman was also inspired by the near-endless possibilities that the special powers of the Mask afforded him as a filmmaker. "After Tim wears the mask to his company Halloween party he comes home to his wife-nine months later Alvey is born-but with extraordinary powers. Those developmental milestones babies go through, like mimicking, speaking first words, asserting themselves through hitting and banging stuff become comically exaggerated into moments like the baby's head turning into a balloon, the baby singing, and the baby stretching his arms ludicrously long to hammer the bad guy. He suddenly has an adult awareness that no 8-month old could have, and the absurdity of it makes him a fun character." An ability to convey the baby's unique abilities on screen was one of the main reasons that producers felt Guterman was the right choice for the director's chair. "From the time that Larry first got involved in the script, he really had a sense of what the physicality of baby Alvey was going to be like," says producer Erica Huggins. "Coming from the world of animation, Larry is incredibly visual. He starts at a completely real place and then goes to the cartoon version." Guterman also excelled at conveying his unique vision for the film to the rest of the crew. "Larry has a very unique process that requires everything to be articulated and manipulated and dealt with through conceptual art," continues Huggins. "He knew exactly what he was making and was able to take what was in his mind's eye and show everybody what he was looking for - there was no question he was making a comedy and there was no question that every scene had to have something in it that was funny." Ensuring the comedic aspects of the film were far from the only challenge that the filmmakers faced when it came time to bring Son of the Mask to life. "When I first read the script, I was stunned because it was a very, very complicated movie," says executive producer Beau Marks. "You had visual effects, creature effects and prosthetics all the way through it. And then you had animals - we have a dog as a main character. And to top it off, the main character in the film is a baby - a 9-month-old baby who has to perform very particular tasks." The script called for an enormous amount of challenging visual effects work, including the complete creation of a digital, photo-realistic baby. Son of the Mask was the first film to undertake such a challenge and it proved to be one of the production's most daunting tasks. "My initial conversations with Larry were about feasibility," says visual effects supervisor James E. Price. "We had this great script and a very funny story. But it only worked if the digital baby worked, because the character had to do all these outlandish actions - and those actions had to be believable. Initially we talked about whether or not that would be achievable." Once Price and Guterman came to the conclusion that they could pull off the ambitious effects plan, their conversation turned to the tone of the film. SON OF THE MASK PRODUCTION NOTES PAGE 2 "One of the most important things for Larry was that the viewer get drawn into this very typical scene of a family dealing with a new baby, and then suddenly have their whole world turn upside down as the baby inherits the properties of the Mask," continues Price. "So we began to talk about how, with effects, we could create those changes in the story and have them deliver the most dramatic impact as possible. We discussed how best to suddenly choreograph the baby dancing from a normal baby to the Mask baby, how to dramatize Tim's awareness of the change in the baby, and how to communicate that to the viewer." Ultimately, one of the biggest inspirations for the film's presentation of the Mask's effects came from the classic cartoons that so many of the effects creators grew up watching. "One of the main story points was that the baby learn from some of the actions he uses to befuddle his dad and he learns from watching television, from watching some of the classic cartoons that we all grew up with," says Price. "So the images in these cartoons began to really influence, or really became the style that the baby was going to use in his actions later in the film." But transforming classic animation into new "reality" was no easy task. "One of our biggest challenges was how to translate essentially 2-D animation and those gestures into a 3-D environment - it's not as simple as you might think because when you look at those cartoons you see that the characters do a lot of very outlandish things," says Price. "There was a lot of squashing, stretching and very rapid movements that we couldn't create in the real world. Our challenge was to find out how to keep that extreme energy in the film but make it believable to a viewer who is in a real world environment." Making things more difficult, the production team had to walk a fine line between cartoonish hijinks and going too far. "One of the things we found was that in incorporating some of those very dramatic, very extreme gestures that are in the cartoons into live action, we had to walk a very fine line because in some cases it became grotesque," said Price. "If you distort the baby too much, it's not funny or appealing. It's not a cute baby anymore. We had to find very specific poses and very specific actions that kept the baby cute and appealing, but at the same time showed off a more wild cartoony side to the baby." Although the effects used in Son of the Mask brought with them their share of challenges, the end result is a unique film which offers plenty of things audiences have never seen before. "Nobody's ever done this before, nobody's ever tried to make something as real as we wanted to make the baby look," says producer Erica Huggins. "We didn't just create a CG baby; we wanted a real baby in front of the camera. There's nothing as magical as seeing a baby look into the lens of a camera and smile or cry or have that glint in their eyes. You cannot reproduce the cuteness of a real baby. So the challenge for visual effects was to take something that exists in this world and to match it exactly." Visual Effects Supervisor James E. Price adds, "I think the average moviegoer is going to be thrilled at what they see because the change is so dramatic. You often don't know what to make of it when you first see it. Even I was shocked, because it's not something that you would expect to see. We were able to create some images that people haven't seen before these very cartoony actions that we have in our memories from watching cartoons as children. Except now we're seeing it in real life." The cartoon imagery extended to the artwork and characters for Animagine, the company where Tim Avery works. Larry Guterman relates how one key set piece came to be - "the statue of Lincoln with mites in his head at the reception area is based on a cartoon show the fictitious company has celled 'Lincoln's Mites.' It was originally going to be called 'Einstein's Mites,' about the mites that live in Einstein's head and give him romantic advice. But we couldn't get the rights to use Einstein's image from his estate, so we had to settle with the public domain figure of Lincoln." When Guterman relayed this story to comedian/actor Steven Wright, who portrays the head of Animagine, Wright found the story extremely intriguing, odd and funny." "Which is what you might expect from that master of the dry delivery," adds Guterman. While the effects used in Son of the Mask were a tough challenge, casting the film proved to be a much easier task as the filmmakers knew from the outset that Jamie Kennedy was the man for the role of Tim Avery. "Right from the beginning we wanted Jamie Kennedy to play Tim," says producer Erica Huggins. "He felt so fresh, and from his TV show "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" we knew he could do physical comedy, which was a big part of the film. There's a lot of reacting to the baby doing crazy things. And Jamie seemed like he could show us physically what it's like to be tormented by a baby who has super-human powers." Kennedy knew exactly what he was getting himself in to. "I knew this movie was going to be a challenge because it's always difficult to work with babies and dogs, let alone both." For Kennedy, the movie ultimately comes down to a story about facing your fears. "Tim's biggest fear in the movie is becoming a father, so this is a movie about a guy who's not sure he wants to be a father, and who's scared of that," he says. "But when he puts the Mask on he is able to become a very confident, caring, responsible dad. I can relate to what Tim's going through even though I'm not married." It didn't take long for director Lawrence Guterman to realize that Kennedy was right for the role. "Jamie has this natural sympathy, you want to hug the guy," he says. "No matter how apprehensive he may be about his baby, you can understand what he's going through and you really want to see the baby win him over." Kennedy was also drawn to the film by the opportunity to work opposite Alan Cumming, who plays Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, who has been sent by his father Odin to retrieve the Mask. Cumming loved the possibilities of the role. "Loki was a wonderful role to play because he changes into so many different people and has lots of disguises," says Cumming. "It was quite fun to look forward to playing any one of a number of crazy characters. What struck me immediately was what a great role it was." Lawrence Guterman says it was obvious on set that Cumming was having a blast in the role. "Alan just chews up the scenery as the villain," he says. "He takes those great moments and really milks them." Cumming also found the story's father-son dynamic interesting. "I liked the parallel that was drawn between the two stories - Tim and Alvey, and Loki and Odin - and the message of how important it is to have a good open relationship with your offspring," says Cumming. Taking on the role of Loki's father, Odin, is veteran British actor Bob Hoskins. Although Hoskins had fun with the role, he found the necessary special-effects makeup to get into character slightly less enjoyable. "It was murder!" said Hoskins. "Odin is supposed to be blind, so I had to wear this little thing over one eye. Then the other eye was covered by something with a tiny hole in the middle and it was like looking through a blue pebble. And that costume weighed a ton! By the end of the day I felt a little bit faint." Traylor Howard, best known for her role on TV's "Two Guys and a Girl" (and who will next be seen co-starring in the USA Network series "Monk"), jumped at the opportunity to play Tonya Avery, a role that was very different from anything she had played before. In particular, Howard was drawn to the relationship between her character and Tim. "In the beginning of the movie you see that these two people are really in love and they have a great time together, but they're just at that point where they really want different things, and they're both feeling the pressure," says Howard. "I'm this career woman; I'm basically more successful than he is. And then when I do get pregnant, he's completely freaked out. But then by the end of the movie, because he has to fight for his son, he realizes how much he loves him and how he wants a family. He wants to be the protector. And he realizes he doesn't need the Mask to do that; that he's a great father and a great husband. By the end of the movie, I think I look at him differently and we're all happier because of it." Director Lawrence Guterman has high praise for Howard's work in the film. "Traylor really anchors the movie in reality, but she's also very funny and has a great sense of comic timing," he says. Having assembled a cast of actors whose talents meshed incredibly well, the filmmakers then turned their attention to casting two of the most challenging roles in the film - that of the baby Alvey and his nemesis, the Avery's dog. Australian casting director Christine King was given the task of finding the perfect twins, no easy feat considering baby Alvey is the centerpiece of the film. Twins were crucial to the film due to the child labor laws limiting the working hours of a child or baby. "I went to the Multiple Births Association and they were really helpful," says Dawkins of the extensive search for just the right twins. "We even rang around maternity wards and asked them if they knew of any twins that were born in the last six to eight months!" Dawkins thorough search eventually led her to Liam and Ryan Falconer. Their personalities and amazingly expressive faces made them the perfect baby Alvey. "We spent a long time talking to Liam and Ryan's parents because they had to be able to handle having their children on a film set for quite a few months," says producer Erica Huggins. "That was going to take some time and they needed to be fairly relaxed about us working with their children. It was also going to take up a good chunk of their time as they needed to be with us throughout. But the parents were very relaxed about the whole thing and were incredibly supportive." The babies' co-star Jamie Kennedy was also impressed with their debut performance. "The babies, incredibly, didn't really cry very much - they were easy-going and very cute!" he says. "Their parents were equally fantastic and pretty open to letting us try new things." The babies may have been easy-going, but that didn't necessarily mean that from time to time the crew had to adapt to their world. For a scene where Alan Cumming's character Loki needs to sneak in to the baby's room, the filmmakers actually required the baby to be asleep on a set filled with fifty craftspeople, as well as numerous lights and equipment. In order to not throw a wrench in the shooting schedule, the parents brought the sleeping baby to the set to the sound of Dean Martin's "Lullabyes" being crooned over a speaker on the set. As Larry Guterman recalls, "aside from that music, you could hear a pin drop as we gently dollied the camera over and over again to get multiple takes with the sleeping baby in the foreground, Alan Cumming sneaking around in the background, and Dean Martin's soothing voice wafting over the set. Alan was a great sport about playing second banana to a sleeping 6-month old!" Producer Erica Huggins was astonished by what the production was able to achieve with baby Alvey. "There were times when we thought that we'd never be able to get a certain shot, that we would have to augment it with visual effects," she says. "But time and time again, we were able to throw out the visual effects and use the real baby. The baby was just magical. We were very, very lucky. But try to imagine how insane it looked with all of us trying to make the baby happy and trying to make the baby look in a certain direction! It took hours of hard work!" In addition to Baby Alvey, one of the other main players is the Avery family dog. "The dog, Bear, was wonderful and the good news was that the babies loved him, which was very helpful," says Huggins. "Whenever we had an upset baby, we could bring the dog in and the baby was instantly happy again." Trainer Steve Berens spent weeks with Bear training him, scene by scene. "Movie trainers will just call out the basics: sit, stand, lie down, stay, things like that," he says. "From there you have to break the scenes down and start adding some unique behaviors so it all goes smoothly when the scene is being filmed. So Bear trained very specifically in advance. And when the dogs are trained like that in advance they're pretty responsive." "Bear did great," Berens continues. "Considering the fact that it was his first film, he did really well. He had some bad days here and there. But then again it could have been me, not him, having a bad day!" Jamie Kennedy spent a lot of time working with Bear prior to filming so that he and the dog could bond. "The scenes I had with Bear were very complicated so I thought the better we knew each other, the better it would work on the day," says Kennedy. "He was such a bright little dog - usually it was me that got it wrong on the day, not him!" Despite the challenges of working with dogs, babies and an incredible amount of complicated visual effects, the team behind Son of the Mask ultimately managed to pull things together and create what should be a lasting piece of fun family entertainment that quite literally has something for everyone. "We've got babies, dogs, special effects, prosthetics, huge action pieces, huge dance numbers, and huge costume changes," says Jamie Kennedy. "This movie's just got a little bit of everything." ABOUT THE CAST Jamie Kennedy (Tim Avery) An actor with a unique view and offbeat sensibility, Jamie Kennedy skyrocketed to fame with a groundbreaking performance and scene-stealing rants in Wes Craven's Scream and Scream 2, for which he won a Blockbuster Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor/Horror. His portrayal of Randy Meeks, the video-store-clerk-turned-horror-hero with a knack for pop culture, secured him a place in the annals of horror movie history. He then went on to work with some of Hollywood's biggest names, including George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, and Will Smith. Most recently, Kennedy was seen on the big screen in his starring role in the Warner Bros. film Malibu's Most Wanted. The film, which he also co-wrote, is based on the fictional Malibu rapper Brad Gluckman, one of the characters Kennedy created and often portrayed on "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment." Kennedy's next film project is the animated feature Robots, out this March, with Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Drew Carey, and Robin Williams. Kennedy also conquered the book market with the release of his autobiography WannabeA Hollywood Experiment in the summer of 2003. In the book, Kennedy shares his good and bad times, from his boyhood in Philly to his current Hollywood experiences. A television auteur as well, Kennedy triumphed on the WB when he created the hit show "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" which debuted on the network in January 2002. Kennedy was writer, producer, and star of the series, portraying a myriad of characters each week during the show's three seasons. This March, Kennedy will be returning to television as the co-creator and executive producer on the upcoming series "Living with Fran" starring Fran Drescher, also for The WB. As a teenager growing up near Philadelphia in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Kennedy got a taste of Hollywood working as an extra in Dead Poets Society. A year later, he moved out to Los Angeles at age 18 and began performing improvisational comedy and stand-up at open-mike nights. After much dues-paying, Kennedy got his first big break in 1996 with the role of Sampson in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Soon after, he was a breakout star of Scream and next appeared as a street hustler in James L. Brooks' As Good As It Gets. The roles continued and in 1999 Kennedy co-starred in the Persian Gulf War movie Three Kings, directed by David O. Russell and starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. That same year, he starred as a wannabe cinematographer opposite two of his biggest idols, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, in the comedy Bowfinger. In Boiler Room, Kennedy teamed up with Ben Affleck, Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel to expose the dark side of Wall Street. Amassed in a short time, Kennedy's expansive list of movie credits also includes Enemy of the State opposite Will Smith and Gene Hackman; Bait starring Jamie Foxx and David Morse; Max Keeble's Big Move; The Debtors with Randy Quaid and Michael Caine; Starf*cker; Clockwatchers; Bongwater; and The Specials with Rob Lowe and Thomas Haden Church, a film which Kennedy also produced. Kennedy currently resides in Los Angeles. Alan Cumming (Loki) Tony Award winner Alan Cumming has had an eclectic career that has included many outstanding performances in theater, feature films, stand-up comedy and writing and directing for film and television. His unforgettable portrayal of the Emcee in the Broadway musical of Cabaret was one of the most celebrated performances of recent years. In addition to a Tony Award, his performance also won him the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World and the New York Public Advocate's Awards. For the original London production Cumming received an Olivier Award nomination. Cumming's upcoming films include the following: Showtime's Reefer Madness, a tongue-in-cheek musical comedy adaptation of the 1936 classic anti-marijuana propaganda film; Ant Bully, an animated feature from Warner Bros.; and the independent films, Neverwas, opposite Aaron Eckhart and Ian McKellan, and Eighteen. Cumming will next segue into production on the independent films Bam Bam and Celeste. Cumming recently starred as 'Nightcrawler' in the worldwide smash hit X2: X-Men United. He also reprised his role as 'Floop' in the third installment of the highly successful Spy Kids franchise. Other credits include Julie Taymor's Titus; Eyes Wide Shut opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman; Plunkett and Macleane; The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas; Nicholas Nickleby; Company Man; Josie and the Pussycats; Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion; Investigating Sex; Buddy; Emma opposite Gwyneth Paltrow; Goldeneye; Circle of Friends; Black Beauty; Second Best; Get Carter; Urbania for director John Matthew and Prague, for which he received Best Actor Honors at the Atlantic Film Festival. Cumming also co-produced, co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the National Board of Review honored film, The Anniversary Party, with Jennifer Jason Leigh. The ensemble cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly. On television Cumming has guest-starred on Frasier, Third Rock from the Sun and Sex and The City as well as hosting Saturday Night Live. He also starred as the sinister 'Rooster' in the ABC-TV musical production of Annie, a telefilm that received record ratings and 11 Emmy nominations , and in the TNT re-make of the classic romantic comedy, The Goodbye Girl. In theatre, Cumming made his West End debut in 1988 at the Royal Court in The Conquest of the South Pole and was nominated Most Promising Newcomer in that year's Olivier Awards. He went on to win an Olivier Award for Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Royal National Theatre in 1991 and was nominated again the following year for his performance in La Bete at the Lyric Hammersmith. In total, Cumming has been nominated for a record four Olivier Awards. In 1993 Cumming won rave reviews for his performance as Hamlet in London's Donmar Warehouse production, as well as a TMA Best Actor Award and a Shakespeare Globe Award nomination. In addition to his acting work, Cumming is also a published author. His first novel, Tommy's Tale, was published by Harpers Collins in America and Penguin in the UK. Bob Hoskins (Odin) Bob Hoskins is one of England's most visible actors and has frequently appeared in American films as well. Among his best-known are Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; Cotton Club; Mermaids; Nixon; and Maid in Manhattan. Born in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, Hoskins left school at 15 with dreams of an acting career. He supported himself with odd jobs (including working in a circus as a fire eater) before gaining regular employment as a working actor on stage and in British television. American viewers first noticed him as the lead in the original British miniseries of Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven. Hoskins made his motion picture debut in John Byrum's Inserts which was produced by Davina Belling and Clive Parsons in 1975, but his breakthrough was in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1987). For that film he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor, and won a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe, a Cannes Film Festival award, and awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics, the London Film Critics, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. Among his other film credits are The Long Good Friday; Brazil; A Prayer for the Dying; The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne; Shattered; Hook; The Inner Circle; Michael; 24 7: Twenty Four Seven; Cousin Bette; Felicia's Journey; Enemy at the Gates; The Last Orders; and the upcoming Vanity Fair; Beyond the Sea; Stay; and Elizabeth Rex. He has also starred as two twentieth-century dictators in the TV miniseries Noriega: God's Favorite and Mussolini: Decline and Fall of Il Duce as well as Winston Churchill in the CBS live broadcast television movie World War II: When Lions Roared. Hoskins directed himself in the film Rainbow and wrote, directed and starred in The Raggedy Rawney. He also produced and starred in the 1996 film Secret Agent, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad. He has just finished producing Mrs. Hendenson Presents with Norma Heyman, starring Judy Dentch. Traylor Howard (Tonya) Most recently, Traylor Howard was seen on CBS's Bram and Alice with Alfred Molina. Traylor's feature credits include Me, Myself and Irene with Jim Carrey and Renee Zellweger. She also appeared opposite Norm McDonald and Chevy Chase in the MGM feature Dirty Work and in the Indy feature Confessions of a Sexist Pig. Howard starred in Two Guys and a Girl for ABC, with Ryan Reynolds and Richard Ruccolo, as 'Sharon', the guys' best friend. An Orlando, Florida native, Howard's first exposure to acting was appearing in commercials while in High School. She later graduated from Florida State University with a degree in communications and advertising and a minor in English. She appeared in over thirty national commercials before winning the role of 'Joy' on the NBC comedy series Boston Common. Steven Wright (Daniel Moss) Academy Award Winner Steven Wright is a prototype comedian that many others continually try to follow. One of four children, Wright was raised in Burlington, MA. Upon graduating from Emerson College and holding a bevy of odd jobs, Steven attended an "open mike" audition and became a regular performer at Ding Ho's Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, MA. It was during this time, in August of 1982, that Steven got his big break and was booked for his first "Tonight Show" appearance. The king of late night enjoyed the performance so much he invited Steven to appear again within a week, a rarity on "The Tonight Show." His back-to-back appearances helped put his fledgling career into high gear. The comic soon found himself performing his off-beat routines on "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with David Letterman," and numerous trips back to "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Wright expanded his comedy career to include comedy albums, film and television appearances. His 1986 debut album, I Have A Pony, earned him a Grammy nomination. In 1988, Steven starred in his first HBO Special "On Location: Steven Wright". In 1989, Steven was honored with an Academy Award for Best Short Film for his film entitled "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings" in which he starred and co-wrote. Other stars of the film included "Roseanne's" Laurie Metcalf and British comedian, Rowan Atkinson. In September of 1990, Steven starred in his second stand-up special for HBO called "Wicker Chairs and Gravity." The special included stand-up from The Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and a short film shot on location in New York and New Jersey. Steven has been seen in numerous films. Most recently, he starred in Coffee and Cigarettes, directed by Jim Jarmusch. Other films include Desperately Seeking Susan, Mike Meyers' So I Married An Axe Murderer, and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Steven starred with John Cleese and Jack Palance in New Line's animated film, The Swan Princess as the voice of Speed, the turtle. He also has done memorable cameos in such films as Albert Brooks' The Muse starring Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, and Jeff Bridges, Half-Baked, starring Dave Chappelle, and was a featured voice in Babe 2: Pig in the City. Steven wrote, directed and stars in a short film called "One Soldier" that was screened at numerous film festivals and can be seen on the Independent Film Channel. The film is the story of a man intrigued by the unanswerable questions of life. Steven Wright is a regular guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". Steven Wright continues touring the U.S., Canada and overseas. The website, www.stevenwright.com, features Steven's paintings, a song written and performed by Steven, written pieces, stand-up and film clips, tour dates and chat rooms. Kal Penn (Jorge) This year is proving to be Kal Penn's most successful one yet. Kal recently finished tackling his first lead as "Kumar" in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle alongside John Cho. Kal has three more features due out in 2005. First up, A Lot Like Love alongside Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet. Next up is Media 8 Entertainment's Man About Town with Ben Affleck and Jerry O'Connell. Also, he is about to star in the new film The Namesake based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair. Lastly, Kal will begin shooting Vegas Baby. Kal will also be in the last six episodes ever of highly exclaimed hit drama "Six Feet Under" playing Lauren Ambrose's love interest. Kal is also making a name for himself on the indie film circuit. He plays "Bobby" in Victory Productions Arrangement and El Camino Pictures Sueno. He can also be seen in 2003's American Made and is currently shooting Dancing In Twilight with Mimi Rogers and Erik Avari. In February, Kal will begin shooting Searching For Sara in Jaisalmer, India in which he will play "Amar" opposite Justin Theroux and Emmy Rossum. Kal will forever be remembered for his hilarious role as "Taj" opposite Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid in the comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder. In addition, Kal starred in Love Don't Cost A Thing, and urban re-make of the 80's hit comedy Can't Buy My Love, alongside Christina Milian and Steve Harvey. Kal was also seen in Malibu's Most Wanted opposite Jamie Kennedy. Kal's additional fea- ture film credits include Eros Entertainment's American Desi and Tom Huang's Freshman. After his supporting role in the Emmy Award winning HBO Films comedy Express: Aisle To Glory (1999), Kal went to work on episodes of "Spin City," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and the Steve Harvey Show." During the 1999-2000 TV season, Kal was a series regular on the ABC/Touchstone pilot "Brookfield" produced by the Shepard-Robin Company. During the 20012002 TV season Kal had guest spots on "NYPD Blue," "The Agency," "Angel" and "That's Life." Kal was born and raised in New Jersey, which allowed him to train extensively in theatre all over the metropolitan New York area. His most memorable experiences include working with the George Street Playhouse, The Atlantic Theatre Company, The New Jersey Governor's School of the Arts and Rutger's University Summer Arts Institute. When Kal graduated from the Freehold Regional High School District's Performing Arts High School, he was accepted into the prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California Los Angeles. During his time at UCLA, Kal continued to build his body of work in film and television both inside and outside of the classroom. Kal currently resides in Los Angeles. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS Lawrence Guterman (Director) Larry Guterman made his feature film directorial effort with the 2001 summer blockbuster comedy, Cats & Dogs, released by Warner Bros. This unique blend of live action, computer animation and animatronic puppetry, creating a convergence of technology never before seen on the screen won both critics and audiences alike. The film grossed over $200 million worldwide. Utilizing more than 27 dogs and 33 cats, in addition to the live action characters and voice talent (Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, Tobey Maguire, Sean Hayes, Alec Baldwin, Michael Clarke Duncan and Susan Sarandon), the film focused on a supposed age old rivalry between cats and dogs to "rule the world." In addition, Guterman and his producing partner Holly Rawlinson have several projects in development at their producing shingle Orange Grove Entertainment, including Backbone Entertainment's hot property Death, Jr. which they will co-produce as a feature with the management company Circle of Confusion. The film is a potential directing vehicle for Guterman. Known to Hollywood filmmakers as one of the most talented and inventive directors in the business, Guterman graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Physics. While at Harvard, he served as editor and illustrator for the humor magazine, The Harvard Lampoon, and during his summers, he studied animation at the highly regarded Sheridan College of Art in Toronto. Later, Guterman relocated to Los Angeles and worked in computer graphics, as a script reader at Joel Silver's company and in production development for Melinda Jason at Columbia. In 1995, he graduated from the Master's program in filmmaking from the University of Southern California School of Cinema where he paid his tuition by teaching undergraduate physics. While at USC, Guterman sold 2 scripts - one to Paramount and one to TriStar, and he caught the attention of Robert Zemeckis and HBO by co-writing a script for an episode of "Tales From The Crypt", which so impressed Zemeckis that he planned to direct it himself. From the money he acquired from selling these feature scripts, Guterman financed his 1995 Master's thesis "Headless!", a 35-minute, 35mm black comedy (about a former academic investigating a fad for collecting shrunken heads), starring Eddie Albert, which quickly made the "agent circuit" after winning rave reviews at USC's First Look Festival and being awarded the grand jury prize at the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival. (Other directors who have received this honor include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Lynch, Jonathan Demme and the Coen brothers). With "Headless!", Guterman won an introduction to Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who hired him to direct the DreamWorks/Microsoft Corporation's first live action CD-Rom, a game based on the "Goosebumps" series, which starred Jeff Goldblum and Isabella Rossellini. The "Goosebumps" CD-Rom received rave reviews and led to his involvement in the production of Antz. Guterman spent 2 years working on Antz in Palo Alto at Pacific Data Imaging (PDI) (where he had previously interned). He is credited with directing several memorable sequences from the movie, including "The March to Battle with the Termites" and the "Patton Speech." After completing production on Antz, Guterman became involved with the project, Curious George, at Imagine, which he was attached to direct. He worked closely with Ron Howard in developing the project during 1998 and 1999, but the film never went into production due to executive changes at the company. In March of 1999, Guterman first read the script for Cats & Dogs and worked with the writers in developing the project for about a year. Early on, he directed an impressive test scene involving live action and special effects, which helped push Warner Bros. to green light the project. Cats & Dogs was a reinvention of the spy thriller. It was "Babe meets The Matrix," "Men In Black With Your Pet." Guterman was fascinated with the concept of reinventing the techno-thriller genre from the point of view of canines and felines and with creating never-before-seen images of domesticated animals battling it out for superiority right under our noses (doing kung fu, flying remote control attack planes, etc.) with the suburban household as the ultimate battlefield. The film was a unique convergence of technologies including live action, puppetry and animation. The puppeteers involved in Cats & Dogs were from the Henson Creature Shop and visual effects were done by Mill Film, Ltd. in London, Tippet Studios in Berkeley and Rhythm & Hues in Los Angeles. Raised in Montreal and Toronto, Guterman first became interested in visual storytelling and making films as a child, and he made his first short film when he was in the 8th grade. Later, as a senior at Harvard, he made a 15-minute film as a project for a documentary film course and became hooked on directing as a career. Some films that have been very influential to him include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future Dr. Strangelove and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Combining exhilarating escapist entertainment with heart and a good dose of satiric wit was what Guterman set out to capture in Son of the Mask. Marrying live action with computer-generated images gave him the boundless possibilities to achieve it. Erica Huggins (Producer) Erica Huggins (executive vice president, production) was with Radar Pictures and its precursor, Interscope Communications, for over a decade. While at Radar her credits included, Merchant- Ivory's Le Divorce starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts and How to Deal starring Mandy Moore. She also helped develop several of their projects including the second feature in the highly successful Jumanji franchise; Soldier Field, to be executive-produced by Joe Carnahan (Narc) and co-star Ray Liotta; a remake of the Oscar-nominated Everybody's Famous; Jimmy Fallon's (Saturday Night Live) big-screen debut Tanguy; and Widow's Broom and Zathura, both based on children's books by award-winning Jumanji and Polar Express author Chris Van Allsburg. Huggins first came to Interscope's attention more than a decade ago when she was working as a film editor on one of the company's productions. Her credits included John Waters' classics Hairspray; Crybaby; Serial Mom; and Academy-Award-winning director Michael Cimino's The Sicilian and Desperate Hours. Interscope was in search of executives with a non-traditional background to bring a fresh perspective to the development and production process and offered Huggins a position as in-house producer. At Interscope, Huggins produced What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr., which earned an Oscar for its groundbreaking visual effects; Boys, starring Winona Ryder; and the critically acclaimed Gridlock'd, starring Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth. In 2004 Imagine Entertainment hired Huggins as Senior Vice President of Motion Pictures where she currently is in post-production on Flightplan, Disney's airborne thriller starring Jodi Foster and directed by Robert Schwentke. Huggins graduated Hampshire College with a dual degree in Anthropology and Documentary Film. She spent a year in Japan and China, researching her thesis and teaching at Kobe College. Scott Kroopf (Producer) Scott Kroopf is President of the Motion Picture Group at Intermedia, where he oversees a large slate of films in development at least two of which are scheduled to start production in 2005; Basic Instinct II, with Sharon Stone reprising the roll that made her an international box office superstar and Terminator 4, the latest film in one of the industry's most popular and successful franchises. Prior to joining Intermedia Scott was President and COO of Radar Pictures, which he formed four years ago with Ted Field. At Radar Kroopf had assembled a slate of over 25 active projects embracing a wide range of styles and featuring some of the finest filmmakers working today. Most recently, Kroopf produced The Last Samurai, directed by Ed Zwick and starring Tom Cruise, Merchant-Ivory's Le Divorce, starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts and The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel. Kroopf also supervised the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Kroopf and Field built Radar on the foundation of the former Interscope Communications, where Kroopf was responsible for the production of over 50 films in 14 years including Jumanji, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Pitch Black, Runaway Bride, Very Bad Things, Gridlock'd, Mr. Holland's Opus, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Cocktail, Three Men and a Baby and Outrageous Fortune. At Interscope Kroopf started as an in-house producer and development executive and eventually became President of the company. Before joining Interscope, Kroopf was Executive in Charge of Production for Embassy Pictures from 1982 to 1985, where he was involved in the development and production of Stand by Me, The Sure Thing and A Chorus Line. He began his motion picture production career at Robe-Ackerman, a commercial/television/documentary production company. Beau Marks (Executive Producer) Beau Marks credits include Where the Money Is directed by Marek Kanievska for USA Films as co-producer; Anaconda as co-producer and second unit director and Judge Dredd as producer. He has worked on four films directed by John McTiernan - Medicine Man as line producer; The Hunt for Red October as unit production manager and second unit director; Die Hard as associate producer and second unit director and Predator as associate producer and first assistant director. Beau Marks is a member of the Directors Guild of America, as was his father and grandfather. Mike Richardson (Executive Producer) Mike Richardson is the President/CEO and founder of Dark Horse Entertainment, for which he created The Mask, TimeCop, and many other properties. He has produced numerous projects for film and television, including Hellboy, The Mystery Men, and Barb Wire. He is also is the President and Publisher of Dark Horse Comics, the award-winning international publishing house he founded in 1986. In 2004, his company entered the world of mainstream publishing with the launch of M Press, The new imprint's initial offering, "Shanghai Diary," reached bookstores in September to unanimous critical acclaim. Mike owns a successful pop culture retail chain, Things From Another World, stretching from Universal's City Walk in Los Angeles to his hometown in Milwaukie, Oregon. Mike has written numerous comics series, as well as co-authoring Comics Between the Panels and Blast Off, two critically acclaimed books about pop culture. When not in Los Angeles he lives with his wife, Karie, and their three daughters in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Lance Khazei (Screenwriter) Based on his original pitch, Son of the Mask reinvents the Mask franchise in Lance Khazei's feature writing debut. Khazei has also sold his screenplay Romantic Comedy to Bob Cooper's Landscape Entertainment and MGM. Khazei is a co-producer on the project. In television, Khazei has created and developed original programming for MTV, Disney, Dreamworks, Klasky Csupo, Jim Henson Productions, and NBC Studios. A cartoonist, Khazei is currently partnering with Wang Films animation to produce "Crayos," a prime time animated show Khazei created and designed. Khazei was nominated for an Emmy in animation writing for a series of Disney shorts voiced by Robin Williams. Khazei has written for sketch and late night comedies including John Leguizamo's "House of Buggin" and Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect." Before his creative work in the entertainment industry, Lance Khazei earned a B.A. from Harvard College, worked for City Year, a domestic urban peace corps, and founded Biomonitor Group, a company which writes, produces and "monitors" bios for entertainment industry professionals. Born in Boston, Khazei grew up in New Hampshire and now resides in Los Angeles where he enjoys the hobby of building tiny bottles inside model ships in bottles. Greg Gardiner (Director of Photography) Greg Gardiner most recently worked on New Line Cinema's box office hit Elf. His other recent feature film credits include Biker Boyz for Dream Works SKG; Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black 2 for Sony Pictures and Jake Kasdan's Orange County for Paramount Pictures. He also photographed the WWII prisoner of war drama To End All Wars, with Director David Cunningham, and Steven Gyllenhall's Homegrown. Gardiner won the Best Cinematography Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival for the independent feature, Suture, directed by David Siegel and Scott McGehee. Malcolm Campbell (Editor) Malcolm Campbell's credits as editor include the smash hit Scary Movie 3 for Dimension Films; Shanghai Knights starring Jackie Chan for Touchstone Pictures; Stealing Harvard for Revolution Studios; Keeping the Faith directed by Edward Norton for Spyglass Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures; Superstar; My Favourite Martian; Home Alone 3; Nothing to Lose; Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls; Richie Rich; Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2; Nothing But Trouble; Coming to America; Real Men; Spies Like Us; Trading Places and An American Werewolf in London. Leslie Dilley (Production Designer) Academy Award winning Production Designer Leslie Dilley most recently worked on Cold Creek Manor directed by Mike Figgis and starring Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid. Other film credits as Production Designer include The Abyss for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Achievement in Production Design; Pay it Forward starring Kevin Spacey; Men of Honour starring Robert De Niro; Inspector Gadget; Deep Impact for DreamWorks SKG; Diabolique; How to Make an American Quilt; Casper and The Peacemaker for DreamWorks SKG, starring Nicole Kidman and George Clooney. Dilley's credits as Art Director include Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark both of which won him an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction/Set Direction; An American Werewolf in London directed by John Landis Legend directed by Ridley Scott; Never Say Never Again; Superman; Alien and The Empire Strikes Back, both for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Mary Vogt (Costume Designer) Mary Vogt's most recent project was Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Her other credits include Men in Black; Men in Black 2; Inspector Gadget; Nick of Time; Hocus Pocus; Batman Returns; The Hard Way; Crazy People and Stakeout. James E. Price (Visual Effects Supervisor, 2nd Unit Director) James E. Price has been a filmmaker since childhood, when he made animated movies with his father's 8mm camera. He obtained a degree in Computer Science in the late 1980s and began his career in visual effects shortly thereafter. He has served as Visual Effects Supervisor on such films as The Time Machine; Disney's The Kid; Enemy of the State; Bicentennial Man and Air Force One. In addition to his work on feature films, he has also created visual effects for commercials, stereoscopic movies, and large format (Imax/Omnimax) films. Randy Edelman (Composer) With his scores for such films as Shanghai Noon, The Skulls, The Whole Nine Yards, Passion Of Mind, EDtv, 6 Days / 7 Nights, Anaconda, For Richer or Poorer, Daylight, Dragonheart, Diabolique, The Quest, Angels in the Outfield, The Mask, The Indian in the Cupboard, While You Were Sleeping, Beethoven's 2nd, Gettysburg, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Last of the Mohicans, The Distinguished Gentleman, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Ghostbusters II, Citizen X, Beethoven and My Cousin Vinny, it may be easy to forget that Randy Edelman is also a first-class songwriter, having penned numerous classics for the Carpenters, Barry Manilow, the Fifth Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears and other musical greats. As a solo artist, Edelman himself has released over a dozen albums internationally. He has performed as a solo artist in such renowned concert halls as the London Palladium, the Drury Lane Theatre and the Royal Festival Hall. He has also appeared on television across the United States, England, Ireland, Japan, Australia and Scandinavia. Edelman's most recent contributions to film include scores for Surviving Christmas, Connie and Carla, Gods & Generals, Shanghai Nights, XXX, National Security, Black Knight, Corky Romano, Panda: The China Adventure, Who is Cletis Tout?, Osmosis Jones. His upcoming films include Miss Congeniality II and Stealth. In light of his current success, there is little doubt that Edelman's evolution from performer to composer has been aided by his skill as a hit-maker. A native of Teaneck, New Jersey, Randy Edelman developed a love for music in a family with few musical leanings -- his father a CPA, his mother a teacher. A student of the classics, Edelman preferred the pop genre, playing piano by ear and writing original songs by age 14. Attending the University of Cincinnati as a pre-med major, Edelman nonetheless knew he'd rather study cadenzas than cadavers. Forging a reputation as an arranger for local bands, he was soon hired by the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, to orchestrate songs for King Records. In 1970, Edelman headed to New York and was hired by then-music executive Tony Orlando as a staff writer for CBS. Work as a musician continued -- a highlight for Edelman came as keyboardist for the Broadway production of "The Boyfriend." Earning work as an arranger and conductor, Edelman began to record his own music to mass acclaim. With over a dozen solo records to follow, his career had found its roots. In 1972, after relocating to Los Angeles, Edelman's talents caught the attention of the Carpenters, who recorded two of his songs and made him their opening act. His appeal proved eclectic when Edelman also toured with the grand Mother of Invention, Frank Zappa. Meanwhile in England, his own records had caused a flurry of excitement, catapulting the singer/songwriter to cult status with live concerts and multiple television appearances in Great Britain, while back in the States his music was being recorded by the likes of Patti LaBelle, Olivia Newton John, Bing Crosby, Nancy Wilson and Barry Manilow, who made a hit with Edelman's "Weekend in New England." He also made numerous U.S. TV appearances as a solo artist on such popular shows as Merv Griffin and many others. Lending his prolific skills to the realm of television, Edelman began to score such series as "Ryan's Four," "Maximum Security," "Mr. Sunshine" and "MacGyver." Edelman acknowledges that years spent in recording studios as a musician and arranger has taught him how to adapt as a film composer, a trait he has found invaluable. Enjoying the creative latitude afforded him by film work, he admits the only drawback may be the accelerated pace demanded by the medium -- besides the perennial conflict of choosing between "popular" and "important" films. Regardless of the project, the composer continues to orchestrate everything himself, sequencing electronic passages and collaborating with directors to achieve the desired sound. Though now removed from the spotlight of being a celebrated singer/songwriter, Randy Edelman continues to address his worldwide audiences through the medium of film. His music for Gettysburg and his NFL Sports Theme were heavily featured in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In fact, Edelman was honored with an Emmy Award for his contribution to NBC's coverage of the Games. He currently has his biggest hit to date with Nelly's smash single "My Place" from the multi-platinum Suit, recently nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy. He also received his honorary doctorate degree in Music from the University of Cincinnati last June Official Web Site: http://www.sonofthemask.com/ Back to main movie page Showing Today at: Click here for other showings