MORTAL ENGINES (2018) About The Director and Cast
Director CHRISTIAN RIVERS,and cast HERA HILMAR, ROBERT SHEEHAN, HUGO WEAVING, and STEPHEN LANG
Director CHRISTIAN RIVERS , HERA HILMAR (Hester Shaw), ROBERT SHEEHAN (Tom Natsworthy), HUGO WEAVING (Thaddeus Valentine), and STEPHEN LANG (Shrike)
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CHRISTIAN RIVERS (Directed by) won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong in 2006. Rivers also took home a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award and a Saturn Award for the same film in the same year. Other awards collected by Rivers include a quartet of VES awards in Visual Effects related categories for his work on The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and King Kong.
In 1992, Rivers garnered his first film credit as a storyboard artist on Dead Alive, the splatter cult classic from Peter Jackson. Earlier, he had sent a letter to Jackson, with drawings enclosed, expressing his interest in working in film. Jackson immediately saw his potential and gave the school leaver a job as his storyboard artist. Rivers has continued to work as a storyboard artist with Jackson over the last 25 years, filling this role on all of his films. As the process has evolved away from the more traditional pencil and paper boarding, Rivers has also lead the charge in the pre-visualization process as a supervisor.
Rivers is an all-rounder when it comes to film, having worked at both Weta Workshop and Weta Digital during his career. A multi-disciplinary artist, Rivers has lent his hand to drawing, sculpting, physical and special effects, and as an assistant art director. In visual effects, he has honed his skills as a conceptual designer, animation director and a visual effects supervisor. On The Hobbit films he stepped up as a second unit director on Smaug and Journey and took the same role a couple of years later on Pete's Dragon.
As well as working on all of Jackson's films, Rivers was also credited on Contact, The Water Horse and The Warrior's Way.
Rivers collaborated with writer Guy McDouall on his directorial debut for his short film Feeder. Feeder has screened at film festivals around the world and picked up an award for Cinematography at the Show Me Shorts Film Festival in 2016.
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HERA HILMAR (Hester Shaw) is already firmly established as one of today's most celebrated Nordic actors and is fast becoming one of the most exciting and sought-after talents in film and television.
Hailing from Iceland, but undertaking her training at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, Hilmar earned international recognition when she was selected as a European Film Promotion Shooting Star at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival for her lead role in Life in a Fishbowl-a drama comprised of three tales about three people who have a lasting effect on each other. She claimed Iceland's most prestigious film accolade, an Edda Award, for her performance; an honor which would be bestowed on her again in 2017 for her role in Baltasar Kormakur's The Oath, which earned her a second Actress of the Year Award.
In 2017, Hilmar was seen in An Ordinary Man, which also starred Ben Kingsley. Brad Silberling's drama follows a war criminal in hiding who forms a relationship with his only connection to the outside world-his maid, portrayed by Hilmar. That same year, Hilmar starred alongside Michel Huissman and Josh Harnett in Joseph Ruben's The Ottoman Lieutenant, a war drama that centered on the relationship of an idealistic American nurse and a Turkish officer during World War I. Earlier this year, she was seen in The Ashram, which also starred Melissa Leo, Sam Keeley and Kal Penn.
Hera was introduced to international audiences in Joe Wright's 2012 Oscar-nominated Anna Karenina. Tom Stoppard's adaptation of the classic Leo Tolstoy story of 19th century Russian high society tells the story of St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina as she enters a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky.
She went on to take a leading role in Starz's hit historical fantasy Da Vinci's Demons, opposite Tom Riley and Laura Haddock. Running across three series, the show follows Leonardo Da Vinci during his early days in Florence, as a young artist, inventor and dreamer, trying to change his future.
In 2016, Hilmar starred in Ian Bonhote's action-thriller Alleycats alongside Josh Whitehouse and John Hannah. Later that year, she returned to television in the Discovery Channel mini-series Harley and the Davidsons. Based on a true story, this biographical story charts the birth of the iconic bike, the Harley-Davidson, during a time of great social and technological change beginning at the turn of the 20th century.
Her other notable film credits include Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate, and the 2014 festive family-comedy Get Santa with Rafe Spall, Jim Broadbent and Warwick Davis. Hilmar has also been featured in Ridley Scott's television mini-series World Without End.
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ROBERT SHEEHAN (Tom Natsworthy) is one of the most intriguing young actors working today. Over the next year, his versatility and range will be evident in several highly anticipated film and television projects. On May 4, Sheehan starred opposite David Tennant in Dean Devlin's thriller Bad Samaritan.
In 2016, Sheehan produced and starred in Charles Henri Belleville's independent feature Jet Trash as a hedonistic backpacker opposite Sofia Boutella, Osy Ikhile and Craig Parkinson. Sheehan's filmography also includes David Blair's The Messenger with Joely Richardson, Moonwalkers with Rupert Grint and Ron Perlman, and Gren Wells' The Road Within, in which he stars as a man with Tourette syndrome opposite Dev Patel and Zoe Kravitz. Additional credits include Duncan Jones' Mute, Devlin's Geostorm, the Italian holocaust drama Anita B., The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Killing Bono with Ben Barnes, Season of the Witch with Nicolas Cage and Perlman, and Cherrybomb with Grint.
Sheehan recently appeared on the second season of Genius: Picasso. Sheehan plays Carles Casagemas, a Spanish art student and poet who was one of Picasso's closest friends.
Sheehan is currently shooting The Umbrella Academy, a live-action series based on the popular graphic novels by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Ba for Netflix.
The story follows the estranged members of a dysfunctional family of superheroes known as the Umbrella Academy as they work together to solve their father's mysterious death while coming apart at the seams due to their divergent personalities and abilities. Ellen Page co-stars with Sheehan, who plays Klaus, a drug addict and disarming pleaser who is seemingly everyone's friend, but will rob you blind without thinking twice.
In 2017, Sheehan co-starred in the second season of Sky Atlantic's acclaimed Arctic thriller Fortitude, alongside Dennis Quaid, Michelle Fairley, Parminder Nagra, Richard Dormer and Luke Treadaway. Set in the Arctic town of Fortitude, season two explores explosive events that include a fresh murder that rocks the community and plunges it into turmoil.
Sheehan first received wide acclaim and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award nomination for Misfits, the E4 drama that follows five juvenile offenders engaged in community service who develop superpowers following a lightning storm. For the first two seasons, Sheehan starred as sarcastic, witty Nathan Young, a young criminal who attains immortality after the storm. Misfits received the BAFTA Award for Drama Series for its premiere season.
He later starred for three seasons in RTE's acclaimed crime drama Love/Hate, directed by David Caffrey. Sheehan portrayed Darren Tracey, a young criminal who returns to Dublin after fleeing to Spain to avoid gun possession charges. Upon his return, Darren's brother Robbie is released from prison and shot outside a newsstand. Catastrophic events ignite tension among the drug gang, family and friends, and the community must grapple with the consequences. Sheehan was twice nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role by The Irish Film & Television Academy for his work in the series. Love/Hate is currently available on Netflix.
In 2008, Sheehan landed the role of BJ, an elusive male prostitute in Red Riding, Channel 4's adaptation of David Peace's cult-noir novels set in Yorkshire during the 1970s and 1980s. The BAFTA Award-winning trilogy (directed by Julian Jerrold, Academy Award winner James Marsh and Anand Tucker), features Sheehan alongside Andrew Garfield, Rebecca Hall, Michelle Dockery, Sean Bean, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine and Peter Mullan. In the U.S., IFC released Red Riding theatrically.
Sheehan's television credits also include Me and Mrs. Jones (BBC); the ABC telefilm The Borrowers, directed by Tom Harper and which starred Christopher Eccleston and Stephen Fry; the miniseries Young Blades; ITV's Rock Rivals; and Foreign Exchange.
On stage, Sheehan most recently starred as Richard III in The Wars of the Roses at the Rose Theatre Kingston, a gripping distillation of four of Shakespeare's history plays, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, one of the world's great Shakespearian interpreters. A spectacular theatrical event not seen since it was first produced at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 by Peter Hall and John Barton, The Wars of the Roses explores one of the most tumultuous and intriguing periods of British history-the 15th century conflict between the Houses of York and Lancaster for the throne of England. A tale of feuding families, murderous kings and adulterous queens, scheming and betrayal, revolts and battles, The Wars of the Roses chronicles the final struggle for power in medieval England. Previously, Sheehan starred on London's West End Theatre in John Crowley's 2011 production of J.M. Synge's comedy The Playboy of the Western World at The Old Vic.
Born in County Laois, Ireland, Sheehan landed his first professional gig in Aisling Walsh's feature Song for a Raggy Boy at age 14.
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HUGO WEAVING (Thaddeus Valentine) has enjoyed an enormously varied and successful career in film, theater and television.
Weaving has won numerous awards, including three Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Actor in Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof; The Interview, for which he also won Best Actor at The Montreal World Film Festival; and Little Fish. In 2011, he was an inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award winner for his performance in Oranges and Sunshine. In 2015, he won his second AACTA award for The Dressmaker. In 2016, he won another for his work in Hacksaw Ridge, and followed this up in 2017 with another for Seven Types of Ambiguity.
Weaving is also well known for his roles in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, as Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy, as Elrond in The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and as V in V for Vendetta. Other films include Last Ride, Captain America, Cloud Atlas, Mystery Road, The Mule and Strangerland. Most recently he can be seen in Australian series Seven Types of Ambiguity and Patrick Melrose.
His many theater appearances include the Sydney Theatre Company productions of Hedda Gabler and Uncle Vanya (both enjoying successful U.S. tours in 2006 and 2011 respectively, the latter earning him a Helen Hayes Award), Macbeth, Endgame and Waiting for Godot with a London season in 2015.
He has also voiced characters in several highly successful films, including Babe, Happy Feet and Transformers.
In 2013, he was jury president of the Sydney Film Festival.
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STEPHEN LANG (Shrike) is an actor renowned for his performances on stage, screen and television.
On film, Lang is perhaps best known for his role as Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's seminal film Avatar. Lang is reprising that role in Cameron's several sequels, which began filming in 2017. In 2016, he starred to critical acclaim as The Blind Man in writer-director Fede Alvarez's hit thriller Don't Breathe.
Recent film roles include Braven, opposite Jason Momoa, and director Scott Cooper's Hostiles, opposite Christian Bale. Lang's extensive film credits include Band of Robbers, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Tombstone, Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, Public Enemies, White Irish Drinkers, Christina, A Good Marriage, Manhunter, Band of the Hand and Conan the Barbarian.
Lang is also an award-winning playwright. He received the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2016 Phoenix Film Festival for his performance documentary Beyond Glory, which tracks the 10-year odyssey behind his acclaimed solo performance piece about eight Medal of Honor recipients. The documentary was executive produced and presented by Lightstorm Entertainment principals, James Cameron and Jon Landau, and was acquired for distribution by Gravitas Ventures. Beyond Glory, the play itself, has received the NEA Chairman's Medal for Distinguished Service, and the Bob Hope Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which honors Lang's accurate portrayal of the American fighting man.
On television Lang portrayed fan favorite Waldo in the first two seasons of AMC's genre-bending martial arts series Into the Badlands. His television credits include regular roles on Steven Spielberg's Terra Nova and Michael Mann's classic Crime Story, as well as celebrated portrayals of Babe Ruth in NBC's biopic Babe Ruth and Happy in Death of a Salesman, with Dustin Hoffman.
His extensive work on the New York stage includes A Few Good Men, The Speed of Darkness, Defiance, Death of a Salesman, The Guys, Hamlet and 101 performances at The Roundabout Theater of his solo play Beyond Glory, which he continues to tour around the country. Theater awards and nominations include Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Joseph Jefferson, Helen Hayes and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
Lang is actively involved in the organization originally founded by his father in 1963, the Eugene M. Lang Foundation. Major giving by the foundation is directed to programs, projects and organizations that honor the founder's values. Accordingly, the foundation prioritizes giving to programs and organizations that are demonstrably creative in concept and excellent in substance; that elevate people's spirits, goals and capacities above the level of basic needs, primarily through opportunities for meaningful education, participation in the arts and civic activity, and enhanced health education and social services; and that promote inventiveness and entrepreneurship. Foundation grant-making is also informed by the needs and conditions of local and global communities and the effectiveness of the organizations and programs chosen for support. Their support currently includes funding to a number of community colleges for their DACA students to access legal representation and a partnership with Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC). IJC has developed an amazing model that is ripe for replication nationwide as a way to provide immigrants with top-notch representation, in which the organization trains new lawyers to provide specialized and high-quality legal assistance, and pairs the lawyers with community based organizations in (to date) New York City, Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut and Texas. Since 2015, IJC has been sending lawyers to the Texas border to provide assistance to detained Central American mothers and children, and has lawyers on the ground there now trying to keep families together.
A longtime member of the Actors Studio, Lang holds Honorary Doctorates from Swarthmore College and Jacksonville University.
