Production notes, photos and promotional video © 2006 Warner Bros. Pictures
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Superman Returns marks the major motion picture debut of actor BRANDON ROUTH (Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman). Born Oct. 9, 1979, in Des Moines, Iowa and raised in nearby Norwalk (about 100 miles south of Woolstock, the hometown of TV’s original Superman, George Reeves), the 6’3” actor was a high school athlete who swam and played soccer, as well as starring in several theatrical productions. He attended the University of Iowa for one year before heading to Hollywood to pursue acting. Routh got his first major role on a 1999 episode of the short-lived ABC sitcom Odd Man Out, and also made an appearance on Gilmore Girls in 2000. He earned steady work on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, originating the role of Seth Anderson from 20012002. His subsequent primetime credits include guest starring roles on the CBS crime drama Cold Case, the hit NBC sitcom Will & Grace and Fox’s brief-lived Oliver Beene. Prior to Routh’s casting as Superman, Warner Bros. Pictures had spent over a decade developing a plan to re-launch the franchise. When director Bryan Singer came aboard, he insisted that a fresh face be cast in the tradition of film’s most famous Man of Steel, Christopher Reeve. Routh, then 25, was tapped by Singer after extensive casting calls in the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia. Impressed by his resemblance to the comic book icon and finding the actor’s humble Midwestern roots a perfect fit for the hero’s all-American persona, Singer anointed Routh as the next screen Superman. KATE BOSWORTH (Lois Lane) has made the seamless transition from a young Hollywood starlet to one of today’s hottest leading ladies. She recently graced the screen in Kevin Spacey’s Beyond the Sea, portraying Sandra Dee opposite Spacey as Bobby Darin. At 14, she made her feature film debut in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer. Her other credits include Robert Luketic’s Win a Date with Tad Hamilton; John Stockwell’s Blue Crush; Wonderland opposite Val Kilmer; Roger Avary’s Rules of Attraction and the Jerry Bruckheimer feature Remember The Titans, starring Denzel Washington. She also recently made a cameo appearance in Bee Season, starring Richard Gere. She garnered acclaim on the small screen with her television debut in the series Young Americans. Displaying astonishing versatility with a wide range of films, JAMES MARSDEN (Richard White) has quickly carved out a distinctive place in Hollywood. Marsden most recently rocked the silver screen in X-Men: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner, Marsden reprised his role as 'Scott Summers/Cyclops' in the hugely successful franchise based on the Marvel comic book series. Marsden is currently in production on Kevin Lima's Enchanted opposite Susan Sarandon, Amy Adams, Idina Menzel and Patrick Dempsey. Enchanted is a romantic fable, mixing live action with CGI animation. Also due for release are two independent films, 10th and Wolf and The Alibi. 10th and Wolf stars Marsden as a member of the crew who accepts a deal to serve in the military instead of going to jail for his involvement in a mob hit. The Alibi tells the story of Ray Elliott, played by Steve Coogan, who runs a successful business providing alibis for men and women who cheat on their spouses. Marsden plays Wendall Hatch, a man who murders his girlfriend while on a clandestine weekend get-away. Selma Blair, John Leguizamo and Rebecca Romijn also star. Marsden was also recently seen starring in Merchant Ivory's Heights. Also starring Glenn Close and Elizabeth Banks, the film follows a photojournalist who is forced to come to terms with a complicated relationship in her life. Marsden stars as the woman's fiancé. Recent films also include the Nick Cassavetes romantic drama The Notebook, with Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Joan Allen, and Ryan Gosling; and the blockbusters X-Men and X2 with Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin and Ian McKellen. Additional film credits include the thriller Disturbing Behavior with Katie Holmes and Nick Stahl, Davis Guggenheim's Gossip opposite Kate Hudson, Tony Piccirillo's 24th Day, Francine McDougall’s Sugar and Spice with Mena Suvari and Marley Shelton, and Interstate 60 with Gary Oldman, Chris Cooper, Ann Margaret, Amy Smart, and Christopher Lloyd. His notable television roles include Glen Floy on the final season of the Emmy-award winning series Ally McBeal. Marsden currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. FRANK LANGELLA (Perry White) continues to enjoy an extraordinary career that has spanned more than five decades on stage and in film and television. His versatile talent is evidenced by his numerous honors and awards, including induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame (2003); two Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, three Obies, Two Outer Critics Circle Awards, The Drama League Award, The National Board of Review Award, The CableACE Award, two Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy nomination. Langella’s numerous film credits include Good Night, and Good Luck, Lolita, The Ninth Gate, I’m Losing You, Dave, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Those Lips, Those Eyes, Dracula, The Twelve Chairs and Diary of a Mad Housewife, among many others. He will also be seen starring in Andrew Wagner’s Starting Out In the Evening in 2007. His Broadway credits include Match, Fortune’s Fool, The Father, Present Laughter, Amadeus, Hurlyburly, Passion, Seascape, Design for Living, Sherlock’s Last Case, Dracula, A Cry of Players and Yerma. Off-Broadway, Langella has starred in productions of Cyrano, After the Fall, The Old Glory-Benito Cereno, The White Devil, The Prince of Homborg, The Immoralist and Booth. His prestigious regional theatre credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Ring Round the Moon, The Devils, A Man for All Seasons, My Fair Lady, The Tooth of Crime and Scenes from an Execution. For television, his credits include HBO’s Unscripted Showtime’s Monkey House, HBO’s The Doomsday Gun, ABC’s The Beast, The Seagull (PBS) and Eccentricities of a Nightingale (PBS), among numerous others. EVA MARIE SAINT's (Martha Kent) distinguished film career began opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, for which she was honored with an Academy Award. She went on to star in several other memorable movies, including A Hatful Of Rain, That Certain Feeling, Raintree County, Exodus, North By Northwest, All Fall Down, The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, Grand Prix, The Stalking Moon, Loving, Nothing In Common and I Dreamed Of Africa. The actress grew up in Delmar, New York and attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio, planning to become a school teacher. Trying out for a school play on a dare, she won the leading role and changed the direction of her life. The university has honored her with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree and renamed its main campus theatre The Eva Marie Saint Theatre. Upon graduation from Bowling Green, she went to New York City and studied at The American Theatre Wing and with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio. Launching her career during the golden age of live television, Ms. Saint was Emmy-nominated for several memorable TV presentations and moved to Broadway in The Trip to Bountiful, receiving the Drama Critics Award and Outer-Circle Critics Award for her performance. Director Elia Kazan saw her in the play and cast her in On The Waterfront. In television, Ms. Saint’s first Emmy nomination was for Philco Playhouse. She sang the role of Emily in the live TV musical adaptation of Thorton Wilder’s Our Town with Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman, winning another Emmy nomination. Her third Emmy nod came for the Hallmark Hall Of Fame presentation of Taxi, and a fourth nomination came for the mini-series How the West Was Won. In 1990, on her fifth Emmy nomination, she won the coveted award for the mini-series People Like Us. Her many other TV appearances include playing Cybill Shepherd’s mother on the Moonlighting series, The Titanic mini-series, Time To Say Goodbye?, The Klooster Family Story, Jackie’s Back, Fatal Vision, When Hell Was In Session, The Last Days Of Patton, The Achille-Lauro Affair, Best Little Girl In The World, Where’s Jimmy, My Antonia and Open House. She also starred in four memorable holiday specials, A Christmas to Remember, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Breaking Home Ties and Papa’s Angels. In addition to The Trip to Bountiful, she starred on the New York stage in The Lincoln Mask and Duet for One, and on major stages across America. Ms. Saint and her husband, director Jeffrey Hayden, produced the PBS television documentaries Primary Colors: The Story of Corita, which she narrated, and Children in America’s Schools with Bill Moyers. Ms. Saint recently co-starred in the feature film Because of Winn-Dixie with Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson and Dave Matthews, directed by Wayne Wang, and in Don’t Come Knocking with Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, directed by Wim Wenders. PARKER POSEY (Kitty Kowalski) received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her work in Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for her work opposite Shirley MacLaine in Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay. She also received a Special Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival for her performance in The House of Yes. Posey’s additional film credits include Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail, Wes Craven’s Scream 3, The Anniversary Party, Clockwatchers, Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Suburbia; three films with Hal Hartley (Amateur, Flirt and Henry Fool); and three films with Christopher Guest (Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind). Upcoming films include The Oh in Ohio; Christopher Guest’s For Your Consideration and Hal Hartley’s Fay Grim. On stage, Parker most recently received a Lucille Lortell Award for her work in David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, and a Lucille Lortell Award nomination for Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July. She also starred in the Los Angeles premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Four Dogs and a Bone, and starred on Broadway in Elaine May’s Taller Than A Dwarf. A dynamic young actor, SAM HUNTINGTON (Jimmy Olsen) is poised to become one of Hollywood's breakthrough stars. At age nine, Sam began his career on stage at the prestigious Peterborough Players in his native New Hampshire. He performed over four seasons in such roles as Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, opposite James Rebhorn. Huntington just wrapped principal photography on Fanboys opposite Kristen Bell, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, and Jay Baruchel. Huntington stars as Eric, a car salesman who drives across the country with his three buddies to honor the last wish of their dying friend – to watch Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch before the movie's worldwide release. Huntington's other memorable roles include playing Jam in Detroit Rock City opposite Edward Furlong, Ox in Not Another Teen Movie, Dinkadoo Murphy in Thomas Hayden Church's Rolling Kansas, and Mimi Siku in Jungle 2 Jungle opposite Tim Allen and Martin Short. KAL PENN (Stanford) is becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors. He is perhaps best known for his MTV Movie Award-nominated performance as Kumar in the indie hit Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. His more recent film credits include the drama, The Namesake, based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair; the comedy feature Vegas Baby; Mike Binder’s Man About Town, with Ben Affleck; Sueño, starring John Leguizamo and Elizabeth Pena; A Lot Like Love, with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet; Dancing in Twilight, with Mimi Rogers and Erik Avari; Arrangement, starring Lisa Ray; Love Don’t Cost a Thing, with Nick Cannon, Christina Milian and Steve Harvey; the festival-winning political indie drama American Made; Malibu’s Most Wanted, opposite Jamie Kennedy; Van Wilder, starring as ‘Taj’ opposite Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid and Tim Matheson; the cross-cultural romantic comedy American Desi; director Tom Huang’s Freshmen; and the Emmy-winning HBO Films comedy Express: Aisle to Glory. Kal’s next scheduled project is the action film, Crash Bandits, with Hayden Christensen, directed by John McTiernan, to be shot in South Africa this summer. Penn’s notable television appearances include episodes of Spin City, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Steve Harvey Show. During the 1999-2000 TV season, he was a series regular on the ABC/Touchstone pilot Brookfield, and during the 2001-2002 TV season, he had guest spots on NYPD Blue, The Agency, Angel and ER. Penn has also appeared in several shorts created by The Lonely Island, a filmmaking collaborative formed by SNL writers Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer. Penn was born and raised in New Jersey which allowed him to train extensively in theatre across the New York metropolitan 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 Rutgers University Summer Arts Institute. When he graduated from the Freehold Regional High School District’s Performing Arts High School, Penn was accepted into the prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California Los Angeles. During his time at UCLA, he continued to build his body of work in film and television both inside and outside of the classroom. Penn currently resides in New York City. Since childhood the theatre has been KEVIN SPACEY’s (Lex Luthor) primary allegiance with roles beginning in junior high school and leading to Broadway. He trained at the Juilliard School of Drama and made his NY stage debut in Joseph Papp’s Central Park production of Henry IV, Part I. His breakthrough came when director Jonathan Miller cast Spacey as the ne’er-dowell son, Jamie Tyrone in the 1986 Broadway production of Eugene O’Neil’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, starring Jack Lemmon, which also played the Haymarket Theatre in London. Other favorite roles include Treplov in The Seagull (Kennedy Center); Ben in National Anthems (Long Wharf/Old Vic); Paul in Barrie Keefe’s Barbarians (SoHo Rep); Athol Fugard’s Playland (Manhattan Theatre Club). For his performance as Uncle Louie in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, he won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1991. His close association with Jack Lemmon continued as they shared the screen in George Steven’s Jr.’s The Murder of Mary Phagan, Gary David Goldberg’s Dad and David Mamet’s screen adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, co-starring Al Pacino, Ed Harris and Alec Baldwin. Ten years ago cinema audiences discovered Spacey in three distinct performances: as Buddy Ackerman in George Huang’s Swimming With Sharks; Verbal Kint in Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects; and John Doe in David Fincher’s Se7en. He has continued to build an impressive body of work with such films as L.A. Confidential, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Negotiator, Hurlyburly, Looking for Richard, The Big Kahuna, K-Pax, The Shipping News, The Life of David Gale and American Beauty. Many of these performances have won him nominations and awards, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for The Usual Suspects and Best Actor for American Beauty, for which he also received the Screen Actors Guild and British Academy’s BAFTA Award for Best Actor. In 1998 he returned to the stage in Eugene O’Neill’s classic The Iceman Cometh, directed by Howard Davis. The production originated at London’s Almeida Theatre and later transferred to the Old Vic Theatre and onto Broadway, where it played a sold-out acclaimed run. For his performance as Hickey he was nominated for the Tony Award and won the Evening Standard and the Laurence Olivier Award as Best Actor. His work on television has included seven episodes of the crime-drama series Wiseguy and the film Darrow for PBS. He made his directorial debut with the Miramax film Albino Alligator starring Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise, Faye Dunaway and Viggo Mortensen. He most recently directed and starred as Bobby Darin in the film Beyond the Sea opposite Kate Bosworth. His role earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. He was also nominated for a Grammy for the soundtrack. Spacey formed Trigger Street Productions in 1997, which produced The Iceman Cometh as well as the off-Broadway production of Lee Blessing’s Cobb at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Trigger Street’s feature films include The Big Kahuna starring Danny DeVito; The United States of Leland, starring Don Cheadle and Ryan Gosling; and The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang which just won the Slamdance Film Festival and Best Actor and Best Director at the Aspen Comedy Festival. A new arm of the company, Trigger Street Independent, just produced Bernard and Doris starring Susan Sarandon, Ralph Fiennes, and directed by Bob Balaban; and Mr. Gibb with Timothy Daly. This summer director Robert Lukedic will begin production on 21, based on Ben Mezerick’s book Bringing Down The House, the true story of MIT students who learned the art of card counting and took Vegas for millions. Currently they have just wrapped on the comedy-adventure Fanboys. In November 2002, Spacey and business partner Dana Brunetti launched TriggerStreet.com, a web-based filmmaker and screenwriter community; an interactive site for the purpose of discovering and showcasing new and unique talent. Budweiser sponsors the site with Real Networks and in just three years the site has achieved over 150,000 active members from around the world, with the top ten finalists in the short film competition having been given screenings at the Tribeca, Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals among many others. Spacey is now serving as the artistic director of The Old Vic Theatre in London, where in the first 18 months of operation this new theatre company has produced Cloaca, which he directed; Ian McKellen starring in the hit Panto Aladdin; Dennis McIntyre’s National Anthems with Mary Stuart Masterson, directed by David Grindley; The Philadelphia Story, with Jennifer Ehle, directed by Jerry Zaks; Richard II, directed by Trevor Nunn; Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, which was a collaboration between British and Iraqi actors and musicians and Arthur Miller’s Resurrection Blues, with Maximilian Schell and Matthew Modine, directed by Robert Altman. He will next appear at the Old Vic this September in Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, which will reunite him with director Howard Davis and the design team behind The Iceman Cometh. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS From the 1993 feature Public Access, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, to the Super Hero franchise X-Men, BRYAN SINGER (Director – Producer – Story By) has infused his award-winning films with richly drawn characters and a bold visual style. He first gained widespread attention in 1995 with the mystery/thriller The Usual Suspects, which was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Picture and starred Benicio Del Toro, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack and Kevin Spacey, whose performance garnered an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. The film’s screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie, also received an Oscar for his original screenplay. The Usual Suspects was the first project produced by Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions, a motion picture, television and video game production company he formed in 1994. Bad Hat Harry Productions has produced or co-produced all of Singer’s films as well as the highly successful television series House, the upcoming feature length documentary Look, Up in the Sky!: The Amazing Story of Superman and the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries The Triangle, which premiered in December 2005. Singer’s third feature film was the critically acclaimed Apt Pupil, which was adapted from a Stephen King novella and starred Academy Award nominee Sir Ian McKellen. Singer then followed with two wildly successful films – the summer 2000 blockbuster, X-Men, and the even more successful 2003 sequel, X2: X-Men United. With X2, he reunited the all-star cast of X-Men that included Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen and Rebecca Romijn. Singer helmed the adaptation with a keen awareness of the 40-year-old comic franchise's legion of admirers. Comic fans and new audiences overwhelmingly embraced his vision, which seamlessly fused the science fiction and action/adventure genres. X2 was the first feature film in history to simultaneously open on screens worldwide on such a grand scale (93 territories) and to date the X-Men franchise has grossed over $1 billion worldwide. Singer also directed the pilot for and executive produces the Emmy Award-winning television series House. Currently airing, House received five 2005 Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama and Outstanding Writing - Drama, the latter of which was won by writer/creator/executive producer David Shore. The series also received two Golden Globe nominations this year, winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama (Hugh Laurie). House has been a mainstay in the top 10 shows for much of its first and second seasons, averaging 19 million viewers each week. The series also now airs in several international markets. MICHAEL DOUGHERTY (Screenplay and Story) is a writer and director making a name for himself in a diverse range of genres. Prior to collaborating on Superman Returns, Dougherty and his writing partner Dan Harris co-wrote the blockbuster film X2: X-Men United (2003), also directed by Bryan Singer. The critically acclaimed sequel starred Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Halle Berry and has grossed more than $415 million worldwide. Based on that screenplay, Dougherty was named as one of Variety’s top 10 screenwriters to watch. In addition to his feature film work, Dougherty is also an accomplished animator and illustrator. His award-winning animated films have appeared on MTV, SCI FI Channel, Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, and G4-TV, while his morbid illustrations are published as greeting cards by Nobleworks. Future film projects include an adaptation of the best-selling novel I, Lucifer, which Dan Harris is slated to direct; and Trick or Treat, a horror film that will mark Dougherty’s directorial debut, with Bryan Singer producing. In addition, with Harris and Bryan Singer, Dougherty is writing a year’s worth of the Ultimate X-Men comic books and the Superman Returns prequel comic books. A graduate of New York University’s film program, Dougherty was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Los Angeles. DAN HARRIS (Screenplay and Story) is a writer/director with a diverse range of projects. Harris recently made his feature film directing debut with Imaginary Heroes, a funny and poignant coming-of-age story which was written by Harris and starred Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch and Michelle Williams. The film had its world premiere as a Gala Presentation at the 29th Toronto International Film Festival and opened in Winter 2005 after being given a special recognition for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review. In addition to Superman Returns, Harris and his writing partner Michael Dougherty cowrote the blockbuster X2: X-Men United (2003) at the age of 22 for director Bryan Singer, an assignment offered to him after the director read the screenplay for Imaginary Heroes. X2 starred Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Halle Berry and has grossed more than $415 million worldwide. In the same year, he was honored as one of Variety’s top 10 screenwriters to watch. On the horizon is I, Lucifer, a film that Harris will be directing in London this summer based on the best-selling novel which he adapted with Michael Dougherty. In addition, with Dougherty and Bryan Singer, Harris is writing a year’s worth of the Ultimate X-Men comic books and the Superman Returns prequel comic books. Recently, Harris’s photography has twice been published by New York fashion and arts landmark Visionaire and he was honored to be a part of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Portfolio in 2005. Before he received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, Harris’s short film Urban Chaos Theory won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the NoDance Film Festival, and the following winter, his short film, The Killing of Candice Klein, played to rave reviews at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Harris was raised in Pennsylvania. When he was a 17-year-old production assistant, he was accidentally hit with a tennis ball thrown by Woody Allen. He has wanted to be a filmmaker ever since. With a maverick style, visionary sensibilities and singular filmmaking instincts, JON PETERS (Producer) has been responsible for bringing to the screen some of the most beloved and successful films of all time, from A Star is Born to Flashdance to the Batman franchise. A native of California’s San Fernando Valley, the Italian / Indian American entered the industry through unconventional means – as one of Hollywood’s most successful hairdressers. His career in this industry led to his entrée into another – the movie industry. Forging a powerful bond with Barbra Streisand at the cusp of her phenomenal entertainment career, Peters became her manager and produced the 1976 hit A Star is Born, starring Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. The film grossed over $100 million at the box office and garnered four Oscar nominations, winning the award for Best Song with Evergreen. Peters also produced a string of best-selling albums for Streisand as well as the Main Event which also starred Streisand. Additionally, Peters produced the haunting thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars and the cult classic Caddyshack starring Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. In 1982, Peters joined with Peter Guber; a perfect complement to Jon’s cowboy way, to form the dynamic film company Guber-Peters, which produced a string of hits, including Vision Quest, The Witches of Eastwick, Missing and the blockbuster Flashdance. Guber-Peters was also responsible for producing such socially conscious films as The Color Purple, Gorillas in the Mist, A Few Good Men and Rain Man (which was the recipient of the Best Picture Oscar in 1988), before going on to produce the highly successful Batman franchise. Peters also had a hand in the rediscovery of Spider-Man, which was later produced by his longtime friend, Laura Ziskin. In true Hollywood tradition, Guber and Peters were memorialized in the industry chronicle Hit and Run. Sony purchased the Guber-Peters Company in 1989 and the pair was retained to run Columbia Pictures but Peters soon left to form his own production company; Peters Entertainment. His new venture produced such films as Money Train, My Fellow Americans, Rosewood, The Wild, Wild West and the powerful biopic Ali, starring Will Smith as Mohammad Ali. Ali garnered several Oscar bids as well as gaining significant recognition from the NAACP and other African-American organizations. Today Peters, a devoted father of four, is channeling his “nothing is impossible” outlook into various philanthropic causes and organizations. Ever mindful of his many blessings and in furtherance of his “being of service” ethos, he is determined to direct his efforts towards giving back to a world which has rewarded him so richly. During a visit to New York, Peters happened upon a copy of the Superman comic book, The Death of Superman, which led him to investigate the film rights. Superman Returns is the culmination of a production odyssey that took more than 10 years to achieve. GILBERT ADLER (Producer) most recently executive produced the Warner Bros. Pictures hits Constantine, starring Keanu Reeves, and the hugely successful Starsky & Hutch, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Adler, a multiple award winner, has served as writer, director, producer or executive producer on such popular films as Ghost Ship, Thirteen Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood (which Adler directed and co-wrote). His television credits include directing episodes of the series Charmed and the recent series of Fantasy Island. For five years, he served as producer, director and writer on HBO’s groundbreaking Tales from the Crypt, during which the show won numerous awards. Adler also served as producer on the HBO film Double Tap and created, produced, directed and wrote HBO’s enigmatic series Perversions of Science. CHRIS LEE (Executive Producer) is the former President of Production for TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures. During his tenure as an executive in Hollywood, Lee has supervised such Academy Award-winning films as Jerry Maguire, Philadelphia and As Good As It Gets. Lee’s other noteworthy hits include My Best Friend’s Wedding, Legends of the Fall, The Fisher King, The Mask of Zorro and The Patriot. As a producer, Lee made the groundbreaking CGI feature Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the action hit SWAT and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Lee is also a producer on the upcoming comedy-drama, One Foot to Heaven (“Ji quan bu ning”) helmed by acclaimed Chinese director Chen Da Ming, and will be distributed by the Huayi Brothers (Kung Fu Hustle, Warriors of Heaven and Earth). Superman Returns marks Lee’s second collaboration with Bryan Singer, having served as the executive at TriStar for Singer’s Apt Pupil. Raised in Hawaii, Lee founded the University of Hawaii’s Academy for Creative Media (ACM), a new school which is dedicated to providing a digital platform through movies, computer animation, and video games for indigenous storytellers from throughout the Pacific Rim. Designed as an economic catalyst for Hawaii’s growing intellectual property industry, the ACM recognizes the transformation of entertainment media through technology, emphasizes global popular culture, and focuses on attracting digital technology, software creation and interactive programming companies to the state of Hawaii. Lee is also the executive producer of the animated series Heavy Gear, and produced music videos for artists including Janet Jackson, The Backstreet Boys, Faith Hill, Elton John and Destiny's Child. Lee graduated from Yale University with a degree in Political Science. His first job was with Good Morning America. He then worked with acclaimed director Wayne Wang as the assistant director and assistant editor for the film Dim Sum. Lee joined TriStar Pictures in Los Angeles as a script analyst, moving up the executive ranks to the post of President of Motion Picture Production and subsequently holding the same position at Columbia Pictures. Lee is a founding member of the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE). He was also named one of A Magazine’s “Most Influential Asian Americans,” has served on the board of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium in Washington, D.C. and was member of the Committee of 100. He is proud to have received numerous honors including the Justice in Action Award from the New York Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Visionary Award from East-West Players in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Chinese in the America's Role Model Award. THOMAS TULL (Executive Producer) is the Chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures, the production company which recently entered into a five-year, 25-picture deal with Warner Bros. The company reaped resounding success with their first joint effort, Batman Begins. In addition to Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, its current slate of Warner projects includes M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water, Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C. and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are. He has most recently been president and a director of The Convex Group, a media and entertainment holding company in Atlanta launched by WebMD founder Jeff Arnold that invests in new media networks. Tull executed M&A activity, including the acquisitions of content company How Stuff Works and content distribution platforms LidRock and FlexPlay. He developed the company’s relationships and partnerships with motion picture, music and videogame companies. Prior to Convex, Tull was a principal at the Southeast Interactive Technology Funds, the largest venture-capital IT fund in the Southeast. Tull grew up in Endwell in upstate New York. His first foray into Hollywood came when he was a partner at a North Carolina-based investment fund that specialized in media and technology. In 1996, he helped craft the deal creating Red Storm Entertainment which made games based on Tom Clancy's books. He relied on his experience as a venture capitalist to raise the initial capitalization for Legendary Pictures from a consortium of blue chip investors – ABRY Partners, Banc of America Capital Investors and AGI Direct Investments among them. Tull architected the unique structure of the company which was awarded the prestigious ‘Deal of the Year’ in the entertainment industry in 2005 by IDD Magazine. SCOTT MEDNICK (Executive Producer) is President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution of Legendary Pictures, the production company which recently entered into a five-year, 25-picture deal with Warner Bros. The company reaped resounding success with their first joint effort, Batman Begins. In addition to Superman Returns, Legendary’s current slate of Warner projects includes M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water, Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C. and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are. Mednick has been a leader in the entertainment, marketing and technology sectors for the last twenty-five years. He has been involved in the marketing for almost 200 films, including such varied titles as Jerry Maguire, Coal Miner’s Daughter, This Is Spinal Tap, X-Men and Dirty Dancing to name a few. He has also represented individual entertainment clients like Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Denzel Washington. Additionally, Mednick has created the logos for such Hollywood entities as Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures. He is also the former President and CEO of Peter Guber’s Mandalay Branded Entertainment. Prior to Mandalay, Mednick founded THINK New Ideas, Inc., a marketing and communications company for the Information Age which serviced the communications and interactive needs of major corporations like Oracle, Coca-Cola, Reebok, Sega, Time Warner, Sony, Pioneer Electronics, Disney, Chrysler and many others. As Chairman and CEO, Mednick oversaw the quintupling of THINK's billing and market cap within eighteen months of its initial public offering. In addition, the company was named as one of the top ten interactive agencies of the year by both Adweek Magazine and the Advertising Club of New York in just its first year of operations. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Mednick was invited to be a part of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities task force for Children and Youth at Risk under President Clinton, chaired by the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. He served for 15 years on the National Board of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Inner City Games Foundation and now sits on the board of directors of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s California All- Stars. Mednick served on the Board of Directors of Earth Day 1990 for which he also created the logo and communications materials. He is a founding member of the Board of ECO (Earth Communications Office), which mobilizes the entertainment industry on behalf of the environment. He also serves as a trustee of the University of Santa Monica. Mednick, a Boston native, has an M.A. in Applied Psychology and a B.F.A. in Graphic Design, and was named Print Art Director of the Year/West by Adweek Magazine. Mednick has had 4 pieces of his work selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Superman Returns reunites cinematographer NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL, ASC (Director of Photography) with director Bryan Singer and marks their fifth collaboration in ten years, which began with the now-classic The Usual Suspects in 1995. Sigel, along with writer-director Lisa Chang, recently directed and co-wrote The Big Empty, an adaptation of an Alison Smith story. The live-action short has played in over twenty five festivals, winning the Grand Prize at the USA Film Festival. Sigel also directed the HBO feature Point of Origin, starring Ray Liotta; as well as a first season episode of the hit television show House; and, with Pamela Yates, the documentary When the Mountains Tremble. Sigel began his career as an artist-in-residence at The Whitney Museum in New York. Initially a painter, he started making short films and soon gravitated towards cinematography. Since then, Sigel has enjoyed great success with many notable feature films, including The Brothers Grimm, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, Three Kings, X-Men and X-Men United, Brokedown Palace, Apt Pupil, Fallen, Blood and Wine, The Trigger Effect, Foxfire, The Usual Suspects (for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award), and Into the West. Among his many notable television credits are the pilots for the series The Wonder Years, Steven Bochco’s Cop Rock and Bryan Singer’s House. Sigel also photographed the landmark television film Roe vs. Wade and Edgar Scherick’s Home Fires, for which he received a CableACE Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of Photography. Among his many documentary credits are the Academy Award-winning Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements and the Oscar-nominated El Salvador, Another Vietnam. GUY HENDRIX DYAS (Production Designer) began his career in Tokyo working as an industrial designer for Sony under the supervision of the company’s legendary founder, Akio Morita. During that time, an exhibition of Guy’s work led to an invitation from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to join the film industry and become a part of their creative team in California. In 2003, Dyas was given the opportunity to production design his first film, X2: X- Men United, Bryan Singer’s highly anticipated sequel to X-Men. Since then Singer and Dyas have joined forces on several projects, with Superman Returns as their fourth collaboration. Dyas has also worked with renowned director Terry Gilliam and designed the sets for his period fantasy The Brothers Grimm, and he is currently recreating 16th century England for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which reunites actor Cate Blanchett and director Shekhar Kapur in the continuing story of Elizabeth I. Dyas’s other film credits include concept designer on The Matrix: Reloaded and Vanilla Sky; assistant art director on The Cell; and concept artist on Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, among others. Dyas graduated with a Master’s Degree from the Royal College of Art in London and has a BA in Architecture & Interior Design from the Chelsea School of Art and Design. Superman Returns reunites JOHN OTTMAN (Co-Editor, Composer) and director Bryan Singer, marking their sixth collaboration, beginning in 1988 with the short film Lion’s Den, which they co-directed and which Ottman edited as well. Ottman went on to serve as both film editor and composer for Singer’s Public Access, The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil and X2: X-Men United. In addition to his work as an award-winning editor, Ottman is one of the industry’s most respected and sought-after film composers, with credits that include Fantastic Four, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, House of Wax, Hide and Seek, Cellular, Gothika, Trapped, HBO’s Point of Origin, Eight Legged Freaks, Pumpkin, Bubble Boy, Lake Placid, Incognito and The Cable Guy. Ottman also directed, edited and scored the feature film Urban Legends: Final Cut. His awards include a BAFTA Award for Best Editing for The Usual Suspects; a Saturn Award for Best Music for The Usual Suspects; and a BMI Film Music Award for X2: X-Men United. Ottman received an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nomination for The Usual Suspects; an Emmy Award nomination for the score of the pilot episode of the 1998-99 TV series Fantasy Island; and a Saturn Award Best Music nomination for X2: X-Men United. He was most recently nominated for a Saturn for his work on Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. ELLIOT GRAHAM (Editor) most recently edited actor/director Bill Paxton’s The Greatest Game Ever Played. Superman Returns is Graham’s third collaboration with director Bryan Singer, having edited X2: X-Men United and the pilot episode of Singer’s Emmy-winning medical drama, House. Other feature film credits include director Stephen Norrington’s The Last Minute and various music videos for such artists as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. Graham attended New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, double-majoring in film and history. Superman Returns reunites costume designer LOUISE MINGENBACH with director Bryan Singer and marks their fifth collaboration in ten years, beginning with Singer’s 1995 film The Usual Suspects. Mingenbach’s feature film credits include Spanglish, Starsky & Hutch, The Rundown, X- Men and X2: X-Men United, K-PAX, Gossip, Apt Pupil, Permanent Midnight, Nightwatch, The Spitfire Grill, One Night Stand and The Usual Suspects. Her television credits include the series House and The Naked Truth. ****** Superman Returns (2006) Directed by Bryan Singer Cast (in credits order) Produced by |
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