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Filmmakers Bios
Judd Apatow (Written and Directed by, Produced by) made his feature directorial
debut with the 2005 summer box-office smash The 40-Year-Old Virgin, starring
Steve Carell. Slated for this summer is his next turn as a producer, Superbad,
starring Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen and Bill Hader.
Apatow recently produced the upcoming Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson,
and the summer 2006 hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring
Will Ferrell. He is the executive producer of the independent film The TV Set,
a scathingly funny look at the television industry, starring David Duchovny and
Sigourney Weaver.
He was the executive producer of Kicking & Screaming, starring Will Ferrell,
and he produced Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, starring Ferrell, Christina
Applegate and Paul Rudd.
Apatow co-wrote the screenplay for the remake of Fun With Dick and Jane, starring
Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni. He made his feature film debut as a co-writer
and executive producer on the comedy Heavyweights. He also served as a producer
on the dark comedy The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller and starring Jim Carrey
and Matthew Broderick.
On the small screen, Apatow served as an executive producer of the critically
praised, award-winning series Freaks and Geeks, which debuted in 1999 and for
which he also wrote and directed several episodes. He created and was executive
producer of the series Undeclared, which was named one of Time magazine's 10
best shows of 2001.
Previously, Apatow worked as a writer, director and producer on the award-winning
and widely acclaimed series The Larry Sanders Show, starring Garry Shandling.
For his work on the show, he earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding
Writing for a Comedy Series and received five consecutive Emmy Award nominations
for Outstanding Comedy Series. In addition, The Larry Sanders Show brought Apatow
two Cable ACE Awards for Best Comedy Series and a Writers Guild of America WGA
Episodic Comedy Award nomination for an episode he co-wrote.
Born in Syosset, New York, Apatow aspired at an early age to become a professional
comedian. While still in high school, he created a radio show and began interviewing
comedy personalities he admired, including Steve Allen, Howard Stern and John
Candy. Inspired, he began performing his own stand-up routines by the end of
his senior year.
Following an appearance on HBO's Young Comedians special, Apatow eventually stopped
performing in favour of writing and went on to co-create and act as executive
producer of The Ben Stiller Show, for which he earned an Emmy for Outstanding
Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program.
Shauna Robertson (Produced by) is currently in production on The Pineapple Express,
starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, set for release by Columbia Pictures in
summer 2008. Slated for this summer, after the release of Knocked up, is Superbad,
starring Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. Superbad is directed
by Greg Mottola for Columbia Pictures.
Previously, Robertson produced the summer breakout smash The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
The film garnered more than $100 million at the domestic box office and made
a confirmed star of Steve Carell. Prior to that, she was executive producer of
the box-office hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The Will Ferrell comedy,
which was produced for less than $25 million, went on to gross more than $85
million domestically.
In another successful teaming with Ferrell, Robertson produced the surprise smash
Christmas hit Elf, directed by Jon Favreau and co-starring Zooey Deschanel, James
Caan and Bob Newhart. She also served as a co-producer on Jay Roach's Meet the
Parents, starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. In 1997, Robertson partnered
with Roach to form Everyman Pictures. Under the Everyman banner, she worked on
such notable film projects as the mega-hit comedy Austin Powers: International
Man of Mystery and its blockbuster sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged
Me, as well as Mystery, Alaska and the adaptation of Douglas Adams' novel The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
A native of Toronto, Canada, Robertson moved to Los Angeles in 1992, where
she immediately gravitated to the thriving comedy feature film community. She
worked for Mike Binder Productions on Crossing the Bridge and Indian Summer;
Damon Wayans' production company, Wife ‘n' Kids, on Blankman; and the
Zucker Brothers on High School High.
Clayton Townsend (Produced by) is one of the film industry's most-respected hands-on
and creative producers, having shepherded motion pictures in every genre from
pre-production through post-production around the world.
Townsend was most recently executive producer of Justin Lin's action film The
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; Judd Apatow's bawdy comedy The 40-Year-Old
Virgin, starring Steve Carell and Catherine Keener; and Iain Softley's voodoo
thriller The Skeleton Key, starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt and
Peter Sarsgaard.
Among his many other credits, Townsend served as executive producer on the Jerry
Bruckheimer-produced/Joel Schumacher-directed Bad Company, starring Anthony Hopkins
and Chris Rock, and the MGM comedy Heartbreakers, starring Sigourney Weaver,
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Gene Hackman.
Previously, he continued a long-time collaboration with director Oliver Stone
as producer of the hit football epic Any Given Sunday. Townsend had a long-standing
association with the filmmaker for 12 years on 8 films. He served as associate
producer on Talk Radio, Born on the Fourth of July and The Doors; co-producer
on JFK and Heaven & Earth; and producer on Natural Born Killers, Nixon and
U Turn.
For these films, Townsend utilized his considerable logistical and organizational
skills on locations as diverse as Thailand, the Philippines and the furthest
reaches of the Navajo reservation, assisting Stone in recreating a wide range
of historical and contemporary events.
Townsend's other producer credits include Abel Ferrara's The Blackout and Where's
Marlowe?, directed by Daniel Pyne. In addition to feature films, Townsend has
produced several high-profile television pilots for CBS Paramount Television
over the years, including the 2003 telefilm Homeland Security.
Townsend entered the motion picture business in 1979, when he joined the production
team of Warner Brothers' Paul Simon film One Trick Pony. He segued into a position
as location manager on such features as The Loveless, Beat Street, 9 1/2 Weeks,
A Chorus Line and Angel Heart. He was the production manager on Legal Eagles,
A New Life, Three Men and a Baby, Homeboy and Jacob's Ladder before beginning
his association with Stone.
Evan Goldberg (Executive Producer) grew up in Canada with his long-time writing
partner Seth Rogen, where they wrote their first screenplay when they were 13.
After moving to Los Angeles, Goldberg became a writer on the final seasons of
Sacha Baron Cohen's cult hit, Da Ali G Show.
Under the direction of Judd Apatow, Goldberg is executive producer of Knocked
up, alongside Rogen. They are continuing on to executive produce their first
screenplay, Superbad, which comes out this summer. Currently, the two are in
production on their latest script, The Pineapple Express, in which Rogen will
also star.
Eric Edwards (Director of Photography) most recently shot the films First Snow,
Quietness of Copper, How to Deal and the summer 2006 blockbuster The Break-Up.
His film credits also include Crossroads, Another Day in Paradise, My Own Private
Idaho, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and To Die For. Other films Edwards shot include
James Mangold's Cop Land, David O Russell's Flirting with Disaster and Larry
Clark's Kids.
Edwards got his start as a cinematographer on low-budget feature films and music
videos for artists such as Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Paul
Simon, Alanis Morrisette, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, Lyle Lovett and Michael
Jackson.
Jefferson Sage (Production Designer) grew up in Reno, Nevada. He studied theatre
arts at The College of William & Mary, where he first became interested in
scenery design. He went on to earn an MFA degree in set and lighting design from
New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Sage began a career as a freelance
designer in theatre and opera in New York City and elsewhere. Between designing
shows for small theatres in the city and for regional companies, Sage also served
as an assistant to designers working on Broadway productions.
Sage eventually found an opportunity to work as an assistant art director in
feature films. This soon became a new career path, and Sage worked on such notable
projects as Malcolm X, A Bronx Tale and The Abyss. Later, as an art director
in New York and elsewhere, he worked on such films as Analyse This, Donnie Brasco,
One True Thing and The Bone Collector, among many others.
Having relocated to Los Angeles with his family in 1999, Sage began a career
in television as the production designer for the cult hit series Freaks and Geeks;
this afforded Sage his first chance to work with writer/director/producer Judd
Apatow. Sage subsequently served as the production designer on the television
series Undeclared (on which he continued his collaboration with Apatow) and,
more recently, The Bernie Mac Show.
In 2005, Sage returned to the world of feature film as the production designer
for The TV Set, for writer/director Jake Kasdan (Zero Effect, Orange County),
another directing alumnus of Freaks and Geeks.
Sage is currently standing by to begin pre-production on a feature project,
co-written by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan, titled Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox
Story. The comedy tells the story of fictional rock-and-roller Dewey Cox over
the course of his 60-plus years as an "icon" of 20th-century popular
music. The project stars John C Reilly in the title role.
Brent White (Editor) previously worked with Judd Apatow on the hit films The
40-Year-Old Virgin and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, as well as on the
television series Freak and Geeks and Undeclared.
Currently, White serves as editor on the hit ABC series Desperate Housewives.
He received an Emmy award nomination for his work as part of the editing team
for the 2002 Academy Awards. His other television credits as an editor include
such long-form projects as Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years,
Dean Koontz's Mr Murder, The Patron Saint of Liars and Critical Choices.
Craig Alpert (Editor) previously worked with Judd Apatow on the hit film The
40-Year-Old Virgin. Currently, Alpert serves as editor on another Apatow production,
The Pineapple Express. Some of his other credits as an editor include Borat:
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
and Meet the Fockers.
Debra McGuire (Costume Designer) most recently served as costume designer on
Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, starring Steve Carell, and Mike Judge's futuristic
comedy Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. She also designed the ‘70s-themed
costumes for Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Knocked up marks
her sixth collaboration with Apatow, which began on the television series Freaks
and Geeks, followed by Undeclared.
McGuire completed a 10-year run as the trend-making costume designer on the hit
sitcom Friends. McGuire earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Costume Design
for a Series for her work on the popular show. She has recently designed for
numerous television shows, including Crossing Jordan, Quintuplets and Life As
We Know It.
In 2001, the Costume Designers Guild nominated McGuire for Excellence in Costume
Design for Television - Period/Fantasy for her work on Freaks and Geeks.
For the big screen, McGuire has also designed the costumes for the romantic comedy
Just Married, starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. Her other film credits
include Jake Kasdan's Orange County, Larry David's Sour Grapes and the independent
film SF.W., starring Reese Witherspoon.
In addition to her on-screen work, McGuire has her own line of upper-end handbags,
shoes and clothing and also designs her own jewellery line and apparel on the
Home Shopping Network. She also owns Debra McGuire Atelier, a private couturier
in Santa Monica, California.
Jonathan Karp (Music Supervisor) has been working in film music for 12 years.
After years of working as a music editor, he decided that combining the field
of music supervision along with music editing would allow an even more immersive
and creative experience on each project.
Karp first worked with Judd Apatow in 1999 on the television series Freaks and
Geeks, and followed up the critically acclaimed show with Apatow's directing
debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Some of the projects that he has recently been involved with are The Assassination
of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Break-Up, The Life Aquatic With
Steve Zissou, I Heart Huckabees, Starsky & Hutch, Punch-Drunk Love, Old School,
Magnolia and Zoolander.
Karp also co-produced the I Heart Huckabees soundtrack with composer Jon Brion
and co-produced the soundtrack to Starsky & Hutch. Recently, Karp restored
and mixed the final recordings of Marc Bolan for release in the UK. and Europe
as "T-Rex: The Final Recordings."
Loudon Wainwright's (Music by) biography is best given in his own words. "After
the war, I came home with my bride, Martha. My parents had sex, and nine months
later I was born - albeit almost backwards.
My youth was spent in Westchester County, New York, and Beverly Hills, California.
I remember being particularly happy when we lived in Southern California. However,
there was romantic agony. I had a tremendous crush on Liza Minnelli, who happened
to be a classmate of mine in the third grade.
In 1956, the family moved back east to Westchester. That year, I bought my
first record - a 45-rpm single of ‘All Shook Up' by Elvis, and music
suddenly seemed terribly powerful and important. In 1961, I was sent away to
a boarding school in Middletown, Delaware, called St Andrew's (seen on screen
in Dead Poets Society), where my father had gone 20 years earlier. It's not
such a great idea to go to the same boarding school as your old man, especially
when you both have the same weird first name.
Incidentally, a few years later I wound up seeing my father's shrink - another
bad move. I started playing the guitar around 1960, and after seeing Bob Dylan
at the Newport Folk Festival in 1962, I acquired a brand-new musical role model.
I was unhappy at St Andrew's, but thank God for teenage rebellion - it can get
you through. I graduated in 1965, went on to drama school at Carnegie Mellon
in Pittsburgh, dropped out in 1967 and headed west to San Francisco - where all
the other long-haired lemmings were bound at that time.
Okay, so now I'm about 20 years old, and you'd think all that rebellion stuff
would be out of my system. But as Belushi used to say, ‘Nooooo....' I had
to get busted for pot. And not in a reasonable state like Vermont or Rhode Island,
but Oklahoma for God's sake. In jail, I was given a free haircut. Good old dad
flew in from London and bailed my ass out of jail, which of course is not a safe
place for any young man's ass to remain for any length of time.
Nevertheless, my time in the slammer (five days) changed my life. I had short
hair and had to get a job to pay the old man back. I worked a variety of jobs
- movie-house janitor, boatyard barnacle scraper and cashier/cook/dishwasher
at New York's first macrobiotic restaurant, the Paradox on East 7th Street. This
was also the time I started to write my own songs. Male singer/songwriters were
a happening commodity back then, and I was signed to Atlantic Records in 1969.
The first album came out in 1970, and the career's been up and down ever since.
If you were writing Wainwright's obituary today, you'd refer to 1972's ‘Dead
Skunk' (no. 1 in Little Rock, Arkansas, for six weeks) and my three appearances
on the M*A*S*H TV show in 1975 as Capt. Calvin Spalding, the singing surgeon.
Hopefully, you'd mention my two Grammy nominations for the albums ‘I'm
Alright' (1985) and ‘More Love Songs' (1986). And you'd remember and include
the fact that Johnny Cash recorded my song ‘The Man Who Couldn't Cry' for
his highly acclaimed 1994 album ‘American Recordings.' Undoubtedly, your
editor would remind you to say something about the BBC II TV show Loudon and
Co. and the topical songs I wrote for NPR and Ted Koppel's Nightline on ABC.
If and when you do write the obituary, I'm sure Virgin Records would be happy
to supply you with any photos you might require. You'll probably want to finish
off the piece with a quote from one of the fabulous songs that have appeared
on the 15 great albums I've made. How about this one from the most recent album ‘Grown
Man'?
‘He died on Monday where he lived; it happens to us all. Shot through the
air expecting nets, flight and then a fall.' - 'Human Cannonball,' 1995."
Joe Henry (Music by) is a singer, songwriter and recording artist, as well as
a Grammy-winning producer. Beginning with his debut in 1986, his critically acclaimed
albums are often described as if they were dark, genre-irreverent collections
of short stories set to music.
As a songwriter he has collaborated with artists as singular and disparate as
Madonna and avant-garde as jazz legend Ornette Coleman; and his role as producer
has found him in cahoots with such seminal figures as Solomon Burke, Elvis Costello,
Mavis Staples, Billy Preston and Allen Toussaint, as well as contemporary mavericks
Ani DiFranco, John Doe and Aimee Mann.
The songs and score for Judd Apatow's film Knocked up marks the first of a
projected series of collaborations with singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright.
Henry's own new album of original songs, "Civilians," (his 10th)
will be released by Anti-Records in September. |
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