LEE TAMAHORI (Director)
GARY GOLDMAN (Screenwriter, Executive Producer)
JONATHAN HENSLEIGH (Screenwriter)
PAUL BERNBAUM (Screenwriter)
NICOLAS CAGE (Producer, Cris Johnson)
NORM GOLIGHTLY (Producer)
TODD GARNER (Producer)
ARNE L. SCHMIDT (Producer)
GRAHAM KING (Producer)
JASON KOORNICK (Executive Producer)
BENJAMIN WAISBREN (Executive Producer)
DAVID TATTERSALL, BSC (Director of Photography)
WILLIAM SANDELL (Production Designer)
CHRISTIAN WAGNER (Editor)
SANJA MILKOVIC HAYS (Costume Designer)
MARK ISHAM (Music)

FILMMAKERS BIOS

LEE TAMAHORI (Director) most recently directed “XXX: State of the Union.” He previously guided the international boxoffice success “Die Another Day,” the 20th installment of the legendary James Bond film series.

Director LEE TAMAHORI

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Tamahori entered the film business as a sound man and assistant director before moving into directing. He became an award-winning commercial director and helmed several episodes of “The Ray Bradbury Theatre” and the series “Thunderbox” on television before making an auspicious feature film director debut with “Once Were Warriors” in 1993. The stark contemporary depiction of New Zealand's native Maori population won many international film festival awards, and several mainstream film assignments followed, including “Mulholland Falls,” “The Edge” and “Along Came a Spider.”

GARY GOLDMAN (Screenwriter, Executive Producer) has been involved in a string of Hollywood blockbusters noted for their quality and originality. He was the final writer of “Total Recall” (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, directed by Paul Verhoeven), and the director’s script doctor on Joe Eszterhas’ famous screenplay “Basic Instinct” (starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone), which went on to become the highest grossing film worldwide in the year of its release.

Goldman optioned the short story “Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick and then, together with Ronald Shusett, wrote the first three drafts of the screenplay and executive produced the film, which was directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Cruise. Goldman repeated that achievement with “Next”: he optioned another Philip K. Dick short story, “The Golden Man,” wrote the screenplay on spec, and then teamed with Nicolas Cage and Saturn Films in bringing the package to Revolution Studios.

A native of New Orleans, Goldman graduated from Brandeis University and studied filmmaking at NYU and the UCLA graduate program of film production. He directed two awardwinning documentaries on Louisiana subjects: “Degas in New Orleans,” which was invited to the Cannes Film Festival, and “Yes, Ma’am,” which won first prize at the American Film Festival in New York.

Goldman started his feature film career as apprentice to the great French director Louis Malle on “Pretty Baby.” He followed this with a two-year term as production and development executive with producers Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver. Goldman then sat down (with his partner David Weinstein) to write his first screenplay, “Big Trouble in Little China,” which was directed by John Carpenter and starred Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall.

JONATHAN HENSLEIGH (Screenwriter) has a prolific output as a screenwriter and director of old-school action/adventure films. Before he began his career in film, Hensleigh was an attorney in Manhattan. He started his career writing episodes of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” for George Lucas on ABC. He went on to write “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” (1995), which was reconceived from his original spec script “Simon Says.” He followed that with “Jumanji” (1995) and “The Saint” (1997).

After that he enjoyed a long working friendship with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with whom he has collaborated on many projects since 1996, including “The Rock” (1996), “Con Air” (1997) and the remake of “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000). “Armageddon” (1998), written from his original idea, was the second time Hensleigh had the highestgrossing film worldwide at the box office. The first was “Die Hard: With a Vengeance.”

He made his directorial debut in 2004 with the Marvel character “The Punisher,” which he also wrote. His next film, “Welcome to the Jungle,” will be released in fall 2007. Hensleigh has been working on a “Punisher 2” script, which will go into production once he and the film’s star Thomas Jane have an opening in their respective schedules.

PAUL BERNBAUM (Screenwriter) most recently wrote the screenplay for Focus Features’ “Hollywoodland.”

In addition, he has a number of scripts in development, including: “Counter-Clockwise,” with Jennifer Aniston producing/starring; “The Day I Turned Uncool,” with Adam Sandler producing/starring; HBO Films’ “The Warden” and Misher Films’ “Wild Ride.”

NICOLAS CAGE (Producer, Cris Johnson) See bio in About the Cast section.

NORM GOLIGHTLY (Producer) is the President of and Partner in Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Films.

Hailing from Canada and Florida, Golightly attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, Golightly served as a writer, director and actor in the Mask and Wig Club, the university’s all-male comedy troupe. Over 100 years old, Mask and Wig is the country’s oldest comedy ensemble.

Golightly began his motion picture industry career at CAA. He subsequently worked as a development executive with actor/writer/director Ben Stiller. He joined Saturn Films in 1997 as Vice President of Creative Affairs. He became President of Saturn in January 2001.

The first production for Saturn Films was the highly acclaimed “Shadow of the Vampire,” for which Willem Dafoe earned an Academy Award® nomination as Best Supporting Actor and Ann Buchanan and Amber Stiley earned Academy Award® nominations for Achievement in Make-up. “Shadow of the Vampire” marked Cage’s first endeavor as a Producer and Norm Golightly served as an Associate Producer on the film.

Golightly and Saturn also produced: “The Life of David Gale,” directed by Alan Parker, starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet (Co-Executive Producer); “Sonny,” the directorial debut of Nicolas Cage, which starred James Franco and Mena Suvari (Producer); “Lord of War” written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto and Bridget Moynahan (Producer); “The Weather Man” directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis (Executive Producer); “Ghost Rider” directed by Mark Steven Johnson starring Cage and Eva Mendes (Executive Producer); “The Wicker Man” directed by Neil LaBute, starring Cage, Ellen Burstyn and Kate Beahan (Producer); “World Trade Center” directed by Oliver Stone starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena and Maria Bello (Executive Producer); and “The Dresden Files” for the Sci Fi Network starring Paul Blackthorne (Executive Producer). Golightly, 33, currently resides in Los Feliz with his dog, Marino. In his spare time, he is an avid traveler, golfer and scuba diver.

Golightly has also spent a number of years volunteering as a mentor to inner-city youth via the Fulfillment Fund.

TODD GARNER (Producer) is a veteran producer and Hollywood creative executive with a unique gift for creating and nurturing mainstream, commercial motion pictures. In various capacities throughout his career, Garner has developed, overseen, executive produced or produced more than 100 movies, many of them major hits for their respective studios. Formerly a founding partner of Revolution Studios, Garner founded Broken Road Productions in summer 2005.

Producer TODD GARNER (left) and NICOLAS CAGE (right) watch a scene replay on the set of "Next"

Known for his strong relationships with top actors, directors and writers, Garner has numerous projects in various stages of post-production, production, pre-production and development through Broken Road. He recently produced “Zoom” and “Are We Done Yet?,” a sequel to the smash comedy hit “Are We There Yet?” starring Ice Cube.

Garner joined Revolution as a partner in May 2000. He was responsible for overseeing all aspects of development and production for the company’s motion pictures during its remarkable first five years. Garner oversaw such hit Revolution films as “Black Hawk Down,” “Hellboy” and “Daddy Day Care,” and developed and served as executive producer on films like “XXX,” “Anger Management,” “Radio,” “13 Going on 30,” “The Forgotten” and “Are We There Yet?.”

Prior to joining Revolution Studios, Garner served as Co-President of the Walt Disney Company’s Buena Vista Motion Picture Group. Among the highly successful films he oversaw were “Pearl Harbor,” “Remember the Titans,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Con Air,” “Coyote Ugly” and “The Waterboy.” Prior to that post, Garner was Executive Vice President (1998-99) of Buena Vista Motion Picture Group. He began his 10-year association with Disney as a Creative Executive at Touchstone Pictures in 1990 and was subsequently promoted to Director of Production, Vice President of Production (1995-96) and Senior Vice President of Production (1996-98).

Prior to joining Disney, Garner worked at Paramount Pictures in finance. He began his professional career as a freelance editor with credits on several commercials and music videos.

A graduate of Occidental College, Garner lives in Brentwood, California.

ARNE L. SCHMIDT (Producer) most recently produced “XXX:State of the Union.” Schmidt’s line up of executive producing credits include the critically acclaimed “Big Fish” starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup and Jessica Lange under the direction of Tim Burton. He also recently executive produced Randall Wallace’s Vietnam War epic “We Were Soldiers” and “XXX” starring Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson.

Born in Cleveland, Schmidt graduated from UCLA and was accepted into the Directors Guild of America’s training program. He worked up the ranks and became an assistant director working on numerous films with some of Hollywood’s most revered directors including John Schlesinger on “The Day of the Locust,” Michael Cimino on “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” Richard Attenborough on “Magic”, Samuel Fuller on “The Big Red One,” Francis Ford Coppola on “One From the Heart,” Wim Wenders on “Hammett,” Karel Reisz on “Who’ll Stop the Rain?,” John Milius on “Red Dawn,” Michael Crichton on “Runaway” and Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker on “Airplane!” Schmidt went on to production manage several films, including John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Pretty in Pink.”

Since 1986, when he produced “RoboCop,” directed by Paul Verhoeven, Schmidt has gone on to produce Danny DeVito’s “Throw Momma From the Train,” “The Great Outdoors,” “The Package,” “Awakenings,” “The Butcher’s Wife,” “Stay Tuned,” “Josh and S.A.M.,” “Little Giants,” “Chain Reaction” (which was based on his original story) and William Friedkin’s “Rules of Engagement. “

GRAHAM KING (Producer) has emerged as a formidable producer of both major motion pictures and independent features. At the 2007 Academy Awards®, King won a Best Picture Oscar® for the ensemble crime thriller “The Departed.”

A winner of four Academy Awards® including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, “The Departed” marked King’s third collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. In 2004, he produced Scorsese’s widely-praised Howard Hughes biopic “The Aviator” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, for which King earned an Academy Award® nomination and won a BAFTA Award for Best Picture. He was also honored by the Producers Guild of America with a Golden Laurel Award for Producer of the Year.

King had earlier been a co-executive producer on Scorsese’s epic drama “Gangs of New York” starring DiCaprio, Daniel Day- Lewis and Cameron Diaz.

Under King’s first-look producing deal with Warner Bros. Pictures., he produced the Academy Award®-nominated “Blood Diamond” as well as ‘The Departed.” King has a wide range of films in various stages of production and development with Warners including “Shantaram,” a Warner Bros., Infinitum Nihil and Plan B production to star Johnny Depp, “Sasha’ Story: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy,” also with Infinitum Nihil, and “The Adventures of Hugo Cabret” with Scorsese attached to direct, just to name a few.

King is President and CEO of Initial Entertainment Group, one of Hollywood’s leading independent film companies that acquires, produces or co-produces films for the worldwide market. Under the Initial Entertainment banner, King served as an executive producer on such films as “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” produced by and starring Jodie Foster; Michael Mann’s biographical drama “Ali” starring Will Smith in the title role, and Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar®- winning ensemble drama “Traffic.” King went on to executive produce the television miniseries “Traffic,” for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Miniseries. Apart from the company’s own independent productions, which currently includes “The Young Victoria” produced with Scorsese and starring Emily Blunt, Initial Entertainment Group fosters projects with some of the industry’s leading creative talents, including Johnny Depp and his company, Infinitum Nihil.

A native of the United Kingdom, King moved to the United States in 1982 and, soon after, joined the international distribution department at Twentieth Century Fox. In 1987, King moved into international sales before forming Initial in 1995.

JASON KOORNICK (Executive Producer) became the first producer involved in the film “Next” when, along with screenwriter Gary Goldman, he optioned the short story “The Golden Man” by Philip K. Dick in 2003.

Koornick grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts before attending the University of Vermont in Burlington. He graduated in 1993 and spent the next decade working as a journalist for various local newspapers and regional magazines. During that time he created a website and online community devoted to the life and work of Philip K. Dick, which he continues to maintain at www.philipkdickfans.com. The project caught the attention of the Dick estate, who were impressed enough with his efforts that they agreed to partner on a film adaptation of “The Golden Man.”

Koornick worked closely with Goldman during the development of the screenplay and subsequent sale to Revolution Studios. His other projects currently in development include a biopic of Dick, a historical epic about Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe and a handful of independent films. He continues to work in the music business producing roots music for various record labels. He directed and produced the concert documentary of the 2004 High Sierra Music Festival entitled “Hitting the High Notes,” which was released nationally by CMH Records in May 2005.

BENJAMIN WAISBREN (Executive Producer) is the Managing Director of Virtual Studios, LLC, a business involved in the global production and distribution of major motion pictures.

He also co-manages the Structured Finance strategies of Stark Investments, a global multi-asset class manager with over $9 billion of equity capital under management. He led Stark’s entry into the motion picture business by forming Virtual Studios, LLC, which then formed IEG Virtual Studios with Initial Entertainment Group (Los Angeles) and Virtual Films with Wild Bunch (Paris), and entered into co-financing production deals with Warner Bros. Pictures, as well as unrelated independent production deals.

Waisbren is also on the Board of Directors of Wild Bunch, S.A., the motion picture distributor and sales company based in Paris, and is the Executive Producer on “V for Vendetta,” and such other recent films as “Poseidon,” “The Good German,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Blood Diamond,” “300,” “First Born,” “Gardener of Eden,” “Nancy Drew,” “Duane Hopwood” and “Scoop.”

Prior to joining Stark Investments, he was a Managing Director of Salomon Brothers Inc. in New York, in the Investment Banking Department, and before that he was a partner at the Chicago Law Firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook.

DAVID TATTERSALL, BSC (Director of Photography) was most recently director of photography on “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” “XXX: State of the Union” and “The Matador” starring Pierce Brosnan. His work will next be seen in “Spring Break in Bosnia” starring Richard Gere. He began his career as a cinematographer before becoming the director of photography for television’s ”The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” in 1992. He went on to work on such major productions as “Moll Flanders,” “The Wind in the Willows,” “Con Air,” “Soldier,” “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” “The Green Mile,” “Vertical Limit,” “The Majestic,” “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” “Die Another Day” and “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.”

WILLIAM SANDELL (Production Designer) garnered an Academy Award® nomination and the British Academy Award for his design work on Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander.”

Sandell began his career in films as an art department assistant on Martin Scorcese’s “Mean Streets.” He assisted the art department in various capacities on a number of Roger Corman-produced films before becoming art director on Jonathan Demme’s “Fighting Mad” in 1975.

As a production designer, he has contributed to the look of such films as “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden,” “Serial,” “Blood Beach,” “Airplane II:The Sequel,” “The Wild Life,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “RoboCop,” “Big Business,” “Nothing But Trouble,” “Total Recall,” “Newsies,” “Hocus Pocus,” “The Flintstones,” “Outbreak,” “The Glimmer Man,” “Air Force One,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Deep Blue Sea,” “Dr. Dolittle 2,” and “The First 20 Million.” Most recently, Sandell designed the production for “Poseidon,” filling Warner Bros.’ soundstages with some of the largest sets ever designed.

CHRISTIAN WAGNER (Editor) has a roster of high octane action films to his credit, including “Domino,” directed by Tony Scott, starring Kiera Knightly; “The Island,” directed by Michael Bay, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson;”The Amityville Horror,” directed by Andrew Douglas, starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George; “Man On Fire,” directed by Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning; “Die Another Day” (for which Wagner has the distinction of being the first American editor on a James Bond film), directed by Lee Tamahori, starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry; “Spy Game,” directed by Tony Scott, starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt; “Mission: Impossible II,” directed by John Woo, starring Tom Cruise; “The Negotiator,” directed by F. Gary Gray, starring Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey; “Face/Off,” directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage; “The Fan,” directed by Tony Scott, starring Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes; “Fair Game,” directed by Andrew Sipes, starring William Baldwin and Cindy Crawford; “Bad Boys,” directed by Michael Bay, starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith; “Chasers,” directed by Dennis Hopper, starring Tom Berenger; “True Romance,” directed by Tony Scott, starring Christian Slater; and “Hero and the Terror,” directed by William Tannen and starring Chuck Norris.

SANJA MILKOVIC HAYS (Costume Designer) designed the cutting-edge costumes for director Rob Cohen’s “The Fast and the Furious,” as well as “XXX.” The Yugoslavian-born designer most recently worked on “XXX: State of the Union,” “Taxi,” “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “2 Fast 2 Furious.”

Milkovic Hays has also created the wardrobe for such other motion pictures as “Big Fat Liar,” “Along Came a Spider” (her first film for director Lee Tamahori), “Mission to Mars,” “Star Trek: Insurrection,” “Blade,” “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag,” “Spaced Invaders,” “Buried Alive” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” She was also assistant costume designer of three fantasy/science fiction films, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” plus two blockbusters from director Roland Emmerich, “Stargate” and “Independence Day.”

MARK ISHAM (Music) was born in New York City on September 7, 1951. His mother was a violinist and his father taught music and history, so he began studying classical piano, trumpet and violin from an early age. He began his music career as a trumpet player in the Oakland and San Francisco Symphonies and went on to play in various rock and jazz bands. In his early twenties, Isham branched out into electronic music, building a reputation as a synthesizer programmer, although trumpet remained his primary instrument, and he established a career as a classical trumpeter, jazz stylist, solo instrumentalist and rock guest artist with such high-profile bands as the Rolling Stones. He is in constant demand as a trumpeter and has appeared as a guest musician on the last two Joni Mitchell albums and several Van Morrison records.

Isham garnished critical acclaim for his debut album as a solo artist on “Vapour Drawings” and went on to release two more albums, “Castalia” and ”Tibet,” for which he received Grammy nominations. His album “Miles Remembered: The Silent Way Project” was awarded Best Jazz Album in 1999 by the London Times and is a reinterpretation of the late ’60s music by Miles Davis. Isham is one of Hollywood’s most prolific film composers, with a career spanning two decades and over 50 film and TV credits beginning with his debut film, 1983’s “Never Cry Wolf,” “The Hitcher,” “Point Break,” “Little Man Tate” andthe Academy Award®-nominated “A River Runs Through It,” as well as television scores such as “EZ Streets,” for which he received an Emmy Award. Isham’s most recent film scores are “Freedom Writers,” “Bobby,” “Invincible” and “The Black Dahlia.”