BLOCKERS (2018) Cast & Crew
DirectorKay Cannon, and cast Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, John Cena, and Kathryn Newton
CAST & CREW
KAY CANNON (Directed by) makes her feature-film directorial debut with Blockers. Cannon received rave reviews for her debut screenplay Pitch Perfect, and she wrote and co-produced the hit follow-up Pitch Perfect 2 and the recent Pitch Perfect 3.
Cannon served as the executive producer, creator and show-runner of the Netflix series Girlboss, based on Sophia Amoruso's best-selling autobiography, which starred Britt Robertson.
Cannon got her start at such venerable comedic training grounds as The Second City, The iO West Theater and The ComedySportz Theatre. While writing and performing around Chicago, she met Tina Fey, a fellow Second City alumna, and the two became fast friends. Then, when the former Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" co-host began 30 Rock, she sought out like-minded, funny peeps to join the writing staff and turned to Cannon, who happily accepted.
Cannon worked her way up from staff writer to supervising producer on 30 Rock. She's a three-time Primetime Emmy-nominated writer, twice for Outstanding Comedy Series and once for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She has also won three Writers Guild of America Awards as well as a Peabody, all for her work on 30 Rock.
Cannon also served as a co-executive producer on New Girl, a consulting producer on Cristela and co-produced the hit feature Baby Mama.
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Making Variety's 2016 "Power of Young Hollywood" list and winning two Young Artist Awards, KATHRYN NEWTON (Julie) can effortlessly shift between comedic and dramatic roles. Her talents range from the soundstage to the golf course-this 20-year-old actress continues to ascend on the leader-board.
Newton is currently in production as the female lead in Legendary's Pokémon film titled Detective Pikachu, based on the titular character. Award-winning actor Ryan Reynolds will be the voice of the animated Pokémon, Pikachu, and Netflix's The Get Down star Justice Smith will also star.
Newton is also working alongside Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts and Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges in Ben Is Back. The drama will follow a charming yet troubled Ben Burns (Hedges) who returns home to his unsuspecting family one fateful Christmas Eve. Newton will play Ivy Burns, the 17-year-old sister, described as a beautiful singer, who loves her brother but does not trust that he can be better.
Newton can be seen starring in the BBC/PBS miniseries Little Women as the iconic character Amy March opposite Emily Watson and Angela Lansbury, which premiered in December 2017. She will also be seen starring on The CW's Supernatural-spinoff pilot Wayward Sisters, where she will reprise her role as cured werewolf-turned-hunter Claire Novak.
Newton most recently starred opposite Golden Globe Award- and Academy Award-winning actresses Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman as Witherspoon's rebellious teenage daughter, Abigail, in HBO's Golden Globe Award- and Primetime Emmy Award-winning drama Big Little Lies.
On the big screen, Newton can be seen in two critically acclaimed films, Greta Gerwig's Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated comedy Lady Bird, and the Golden Globe Award- and Academy Award-winning crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri opposite Golden Globe Award and Academy Award-winner Frances McDormand.
Previous credits for Newton include CW's Supernatural, AMC's Mad Men, AMC's Halt and Catch Fire and CBS' Bad Teacher. Other credits include CBS' Gary Unmarried and Paramount's Paranormal Activity 4 for which she won Young Artist Awards in both for her roles as daughter Louise Brooks and teen Alex Nelson, respectively.
Born in South Florida, Newton began her acting career at age 4. Newton is also an avid golfer and was recently featured in Golf Digest, which recognized her as "The Best Golfer in Hollywood." Having helped her Southern California high school golf team win three league championships, Newton hopes to launch her own tournament where adults and child players pair to raise money to encourage more young people to get into the game. Newton currently resides in Los Angeles.
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LESLIE MANN (Lisa) recently wrapped production on Robert Zemeckis' Untitled Marwen Project with Steve Carell and Diane Kruger, which will be released by Universal Pictures on November 21, 2018. Mann will also contribute her voice to The Croods 2, the sequel to DreamWorks' hit animated feature, which will be released in 2020.
Mann last starred in Taylor Hackford's The Comedian alongside Robert De Niro, which was released in January 2017. In 2016, Mann starred alongside Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson and Alison Brie in Christian Ditter's How to Be Single.
In 2014, Mann starred alongside Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton in Nick Cassavetes' The Other Woman. That same year, Mann continued her voice performance work while reprising her role as Linda in the animated blockbuster Rio 2. Her previous voice performances include the Oscar-nominated ParaNorman and DreamWorks' Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
In 2012, Mann's standout performance opposite Paul Rudd in Judd Apatow's This Is 40 garnered her a Critics' Choice Movie Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy. The movie reunites the characters from award-winning blockbuster Knocked Up, with Mann and Rudd reprising their roles from the earlier film.
Her other feature films include Vacation, The Bling Ring, The Change-Up, I Love You Phillip Morris, 17 Again, Big Daddy, Little Birds, George of the Jungle, Timecode, She's the One, Stealing Harvard, Drillbit Taylor, Orange County, Funny People and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
A native of Southern California, Mann studied acting with The Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio and The Groundlings improv troupe. One of her first big breaks was Ben Stiller's The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. While shooting the film, she met her future husband Apatow, which marked the beginning of their creative professional partnership.
Mann and Apatow are longtime supporters of the nonprofit organization 826LA. Founded by Dave Eggers, the organization provides free tutoring and literacy programs to students. Additionally, Mann and Apatow have been honored with the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program's "Children's Choice Award" for their philanthropic contributions to support children, and their families, who are dealing with pediatric cancer. The couple has also been honored by The Fulfillment Fund at their annual benefit gala.
Mann, Apatow and their two daughters currently reside in Los Angeles.
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JOHN CENA (Mitchell) is an actor, producer, host, entrepreneur and WWE Superstar.
Cena voices the titular role of Ferdinand the Bull in Ferdinand, the Oscar-nominated film based on the iconic children's book, released Christmas 2017. That same year, he starred in Doug Liman's action-thriller The Wall, which also starred Golden Globe Award-winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He was honored as "Action Star of the Year" at last year's CinemaCon for his role in the movie. Cena will next be seen as the antagonist Agent Burns in the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee. The movie will be released by Paramount on December 21, 2018.
Cena has received much attention for his role opposite Amy Schumer in Universal Pictures' hit comedy Trainwreck, directed by Judd Apatow. He can also be seen in the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler film Sisters, and in a cameo role for the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home, produced by Adam McKay and Ferrell. He reprised his role in Daddy's Home 2, released November 2017. In summer 2017 he also appeared in HBO's mockumentary Tour de Pharmacy, which starred Andy Samberg.
In 2016, Cena served as host and executive producer of American Grit, Fox's military-inspired competition series. The second season premiered in June 2017. Additionally in 2016, Cena hosted the ESPYs, the Teen Choice Awards and Saturday Night Live.
In 2017, Cena hosted the Kids' Choice Awards for Nickelodeon. Due to high ratings, he was asked and accepted the hosting duty for 2018. The award show airs live on Nickelodeon on March 24. As part of a continued relationship with Nickelodeon, Cena is executive producing a kids competition show, Keep It Spotless, to air March 26. He will also voice Baron Draxum, the villain in the new animated Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to air on Nickelodeon later in 2018.
Additionally, this year Cena will executive produce and voice Robo in the animated series Dallas & Robo for YouTube Red, premiering early 2018. Also, he frequently co-hosts the 9 a.m. hour of TODAY.
Cena devotes much of his time working on behalf of numerous charitable causes. He is Make-A-Wish's most requested wish granter of all time and the only celebrity to grant almost 600 wishes. He is also committed to Susan G. Komen and has helped raise more than $1.6 million for breast cancer research and awareness. Cena is a longtime supporter of the U.S. military, recently recognized by USO-Metro as the recipient of their 2016 Legacy of Achievement Award. He recently starred in Ad Council's Love Has No Labels campaign, "We Are America" to further the message of acceptance and love for all communities across the United States. He joined Rotary's "End Polio Now" campaign in 2017 as a celebrity ambassador and interviewed Bill Gates in 2017 about his work on eradicating polio.
Cena has proven himself to be a powerful marketing force. He is the face of Crocs' "Come As You Are" campaign that celebrates the uniqueness of individuals of all ages around the world. He is the voice of Ernie the Elephant for Wonderful Pistachios' biggest advertising campaign ever, and he stars in Hefty's national campaign. He is an ambassador for Cricket Wireless, and his video, The Unexpected John Cena Prank, has been viewed more than 17 million times. The follow-up video, John Cena Reacts, had over 100 million views on Facebook alone in the first week. Cena is a brand ambassador for Tapout, which is the official fitness and training partner of WWE. As the face of the WWE and a 16-time world champion, Cena combines his athleticism, charisma, strong work ethic and genuine personality to make him one of today's brightest stars.
Cena is a powerhouse on social media with 45 million Facebook fans, making him the most popular active U.S. athlete on Facebook. He is also one of the most followed athletes on Twitter and Instagram with 11 million and 8.5 million followers, respectively.
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IKE BARINHOLTZ (Hunter) is quickly becoming one of the most sought after comedians, writers and actors in the comedy world. He was most recently seen in David Ayer's Bright, and in in Peter Landesman's political-thriller Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. He is currently in postproduction on The Oath, in which he stars, writes and makes his directorial debut. Barinholtz recently starred in the final season of Hulu's The Mindy Project, which he also served as a writer and producer on in past seasons.
Most recently, Barinholtz was seen in 20th Century Fox's Snatched, which starred Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn; Universal Pictures' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, where he reprised the role of Jimmy; Warner Bro's Suicide Squad; and in Universal Pictures' Sisters, which also starred Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. Additionally, he wrote the action-comedy Central Intelligence with his writing partner David Stassen which came out last summer. Barinholtz and Stassen are also reteaming to write an untitled basketball comedy for Universal Pictures which will star Poehler.
Previously, Barinholtz was a series regular on FOX's Mad TV for five seasons, and had recurring roles on HBO's Eastbound and Down and FX's The League. He has also appeared on Weeds and Children's Hospital. He was the star and co-creator of the Spike TV pilot Mega Winner and is an alumnus of Amsterdam's Boom Chicago.
Barinholtz's additional feature credits include Neighbors, Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie and the indies Shrink, Lock and Roll Forever and Inventing Adam.
