RED SPARROW (2018)  About the Crew

Over the past two decades, Francis Lawrence has captivated audiences around the world with his creative body of work. A director and producer of film, music videos, and television, Lawrence has established himself as a longstanding artistic visionary that can not only cater to any demographic, but is also able to understand and convey the visions of some of the world’s most influential artists.

ABOUT THE CREW

FRANCIS LAWRENCE (Director)

Over the past two decades, Francis Lawrence has captivated audiences around the world with his creative body of work. A director and producer of film, music videos, and television, Lawrence has established himself as a longstanding artistic visionary that can not only cater to any demographic, but is also able to understand and convey the visions of some of the world’s most influential artists.

Lawrence most recently directed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, the fourth and final installment of the hugely popular Hunger Games franchise. The film, released in November 2015 by Lionsgate, grossed over $650 million worldwide and starred Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Julianne Moore. Previously, he directed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 , which was released by Lionsgate in November 2014 and grossed over $750 million worldwide. Lawrence also directed the second installment of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , which was released in November 2013 and earned over $850 million worldwide.

Lawrence made his feature film debut in 2005 with Constantine , based on the Hellblazer comic book, starring Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. That was followed up by the 2007 hit movie, I Am Legend , a science fiction-horror-action-disaster film adapted from the Richard Matheson novel of the same name, starring Will Smith. In 2011, Lawrence directed Water for Elephants , based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen and starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz.

Lawrence is also a noted music video director, having won a GRAMMY® (Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"), Latin Grammy (Shakira, “Whenever Whatever”), and multiple VMA awards. He has worked with artists such as Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Aerosmith, Janet Jackson and many others. Francis has also directed commercials for many high profile clients including The Gap, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, L’Oreal, Bacardi, McDonald’s, Disneyland, Oldsmobile, Covergirl, and Maybelline.

Lawrence is also experienced in the world of television. In 2008, he served as director and executive producer on the pilot and several episodes of the acclaimed series Kings . In 2011, he directed the pilot episode of FOX's Touch, featuring Kiefer Sutherland, which he continued on as executive producer for both seasons of the show.

Lawrence is currently in development on a number of projects including a film based on Homer’s epic The Odyssey for Lionsgate, Neverwhere and House of Thieves both for Mark Gordon Company and The Last Duel for Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8.

Lawrence was honored with the Director of the Year Award at CinemaCon 2015.

JASON MATTHEWS (Author)

Jason Matthews is a retired officer of the CIA’s Operations Directorate. Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations and engaged in the clandestine collection of national security intelligence, specializing in denied-area operations. Matthews conducted recruitment operations against Soviet-East European, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean targets. As Chief in various CIA Stations, he collaborated with foreign partners in counter proliferation and counterterrorism operations. He is the author of the books Red Sparrow , Palace of Treason , and The Kremlin’s Candidate .

JUSTIN HAYTHE (Screenwriter)

Justin Haythe is an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Born in London, he is a graduate of The American School in London and Middlebury College. He earned his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. His debut novel, The Honeymoon , was longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. He wrote The Clearing directed by Pieter Jan Brugge, starring Helen Mirren and Robert Redford. His adaptation of Revolutionary Road was released in December 2008, and was nominated for a USC Scripter Award as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also worked on the films Snitch , The Lone Ranger and A Cure for Wellness and the forthcoming Bohemian Rhapsody .

PETER CHERNIN (Producer)

Peter Chernin is the CEO of The Chernin Group (TCG), which he founded in 2009.

Through Chernin Entertainment, TCG’s entertainment production company, Chernin has produced a string of box office hits, including the global blockbuster features Rise of the Planet of the Apes , Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes , which re-launched the franchise for a new generation, the Oscar® nominated drama Hidden Figures from director Ted Melfi, the original musical The Greatest Showman , action comedies The Heat and Spy , Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children , drama The Mountain Between Us, adventure comedy Snatched, sci-fi thriller Oblivion , dramedy St. Vincent , and crime drama The Drop . Upcoming films Chernin produced include Red Sparrow directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Tolkien directed by Dome Karukoski and starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins, Underwater starring Kristen Stewart, and the animated feature Spies in Disguise with Will Smith and Tom Holland lending their voices for the lead characters. Chernin serves as an executive producer on FOX’s hit television comedy New Girl . Chernin Entertainment previously produced Fox’s “Ben and Kate” and “Touch.”

TCG’s assets also include CA Media, an Asia-based media investment company; Otter Media, a venture formed with AT&T to invest in and launch global over-the-top video services, which oversees a portfolio of businesses including Fullscreen, Ellation, Gunpowder & Sky, and Hello Sunshine; and strategic investments in U.S.-based technology and media companies including Pandora, SoundCloud, Headspace, Flipboard, Scopely, Medium, and Barstool Sports.

Prior to starting TCG, Chernin served as President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, and Chairman & CEO of the Fox Group. Chernin sits on the Boards of American Express, serves as Co-Chair of UC Berkeley’s Board of Visitors, and is a senior advisor to Providence Equity Partners. He is Chairman and Co-Founder of Malaria No More, a non-profit dedicated to ending deaths due to malaria. Chernin holds a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley.

JENNO TOPPING (Producer)

Jenno Topping is the President of film and television at Chernin Entertainment.

She recently produced and oversaw the development of feature films Hidden Figures , the Oscar® nominated drama directed by Ted Melfi and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe; The Greatest Showman, the original musical starring Hugh Jackman; War for the Planet of the Apes , the third installment in the global hit franchise; The Mountain Between Us starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet; Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children directed by Tim Burton; Spy directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy; Snatched starring Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn; St. Vincent starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy; The Drop starring James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy; Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates starring Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza; Exodus directed by Ridley Scott and starring Christian Bale; and The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, which was the highest grossing comedy of 2013.

Upcoming films Topping produced and oversaw include Red Sparrow directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence; Undewater starring Kristen Stewart; Tolkien , directed by Dome Karukoski and starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins; and the animated feature film Spies in Disguise , with Will Smith and Tom Holland lending their voices for the lead characters.

Topping oversees Chernin Entertainment’s television slate, which includes Fox’s Emmy®-winning hit comedy New Girl . Previous series from Chernin Entertainment include Fox’s Ben and Kate and Touch .

Topping’s other credits include Country Strong starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw; Catch and Release , written and directed by Susannah Grant and starring Jennifer Garner; and the Charlie’s Angels movies.

Topping previously served as an executive for HBO Films, where she supervised the Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning films, The Late Shift (Kathy Bates) and Rasputin (Ian McKellan and Alan Rickman) in 1995.

DAVID READY (Producer)

David Ready is the Executive Vice President of Film at Chernin Entertainment. At Chernin Entertainment, Ready most recently produced Red Sparrow with director Francis Lawrence, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, and Matthias Schoenaerts for 20th Century Fox. Previously, he oversaw the development and production of The Mountain Between Us, the survival romance starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet which was released in October 2017, and executive produced and oversaw the development of 2016’s summer comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, starring Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, and Aubrey Plaza. He is currently producing Tolkien , directed by Dome Karukoski and starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins for Fox Searchlight.

Ready began his executive career on the Warner’s lot in 2004, joining Jerry Weintraub Productions as a Director of Development. There, he worked on projects such as the Ocean’s Eleven franchise and Tarzan .

In 2006, Ready segued to Di Bonaventura Pictures as a Vice President, just as the company was going into production on the first of the Transformers films. Ready worked on the first three films, as well as developed and co-produced the 2010 action-comedy Red, and executive produced its 2013 follow-up, Red 2. Other credits with di Bonaventura include executive producing the 2012 thriller Man on A Ledge and 2013's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

A Boston native and graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, David Ready began his career in the mailroom at Industry Entertainment in 2001.

STEVEN ZAILLIAN, (Producer)

Steven Zaillian is an American screenwriter, director, film editor, and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and has also earned Oscar nominations for Awakenings , Gangs of New York and Moneyball . He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009 Austin Film Festival and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 2011. Zaillian is the founder of Film Rites, a film production company.

JO WILLEMS (Director of Photography)

Jo Willems, ASC,SBC was born and raised in a small town near Antwerp in Belgium. He studied film in Brussels but quit in his third year. At 21 he moved to London and continued his studies at the London Film School. His career started as a cinematographer on music videos. He soon met long term collaborator David Slade with whom he made the film Hard Candy in 2003. It won Best Film and Audience Award at the Festival of Sitges and Jo won the Best Cinematography award at the Festival of Fantastical film in Malaga. It was both their first film.

In 2000, having won a green card through the diversity visa program he moved to Los Angeles. He continued to work in music videos and commercials and met director Francis Lawrence. In 2012 Francis offered Jo the opportunity to shoot the pilot episode for Touch with Kiefer Sutherland. Francis and Jo have worked together since on three films in The Hunger Games series and Red Sparrow .

Jo has shot a wide range of subjects and styles from Hard Candy to Rocket Science, Limitless , 30 Days of Night , Hunger Games and the tv show American Gods .

He always treats each story and each film as a new beginning and strives to find a visual style that supports and fits the story. Red Sparrow was a particularly satisfying film to delve into; a spy story in Eastern Europe. Jo lives in Los Angeles with his wife Karen, from Dublin, and a commercial producer. Their daughters were both born in Los Angeles.

MARIA DJURKOVIC (Production Designer)

Production designer Maria Djurkovic’s diverse body of work showcases her keen attention to period detail and a distinct perspective on the global landscape.

Djurkovic recently reunited with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy director Tomas Alfredson for The Snowman . Filmed entirely in Oslo and rural Norway, The Snowman stars Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson as investigators charting the re-emergence of a serial killer following the first snowfall of the winter season.

For Stephen Gaghan’s Gold , starring Matthew McConaughey, Djurkovic created a gold prospecting facility in the wilds of Indonesia, and re-created early 1980s New York City.

Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash brought Djurkovic and actors Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, and Dakota Johnson to a remote villa on the Italian coast. A Bigger Splash was met with critical praise upon its debut at the Venice Film Festival in 2015.

Djurkovic was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Art Director’s Guild Award for Morten Tylden’s The Imitation Game , starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Tomas Alfredson’s widely acclaimed adaptation of John LeCarre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy garnered BAFTA and Art Director’s Guild nominations, and a European Film Award for Djurkovic’s design. Djurkovic also received Art Director’s Guild Award nominations for Stephen Daldry’s beloved The Hours and Billy Elliot .

Djurkovic’s additional production design credits include Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair ; Christine Jeffs’s Sylvia ; Woody Allen’s Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream ; Phyllida Lloyd’s blockbuster Mamma Mia! ; Peter Howitt’s Sliding Doors ; Brian Gilbert’s Wilde ; The Invisible Woman for director Ralph Fiennes; and Benjamin Ross’s The Young Prisoner’s Handbook .

For television, Djurkovic earned an Emmy nomination for HBO’s “RKO 281,” starring Liev Schreiber and directed by Benjamin Ross.

In 2016, Djurkovic proudly accepted an honorary fellowship from Oxford University’s Worcester College, Djurkovic’s alma mater. In 2002, Djurkovic was honored with the Women in Film and Television Technical Achievement Award.

ALAN EDWARD BELL (Editor)

Film editor Alan Edward Bell A.C.E., is best known for his work on (500) Days of Summer , Water For Elephants , The Amazing Spiderman , and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2. Alan’s resume spans over twenty eight years of post-production experience and includes a long list of credits in editorial as well as visual effects. He resides in New Hampshire with his wife and three children.

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (Music By)

James Newton Howard is one of the film industry’s most versatile and honored composers, with a career spanning over thirty years and encompassing more than 130 film and television projects.

His myriad film credits include the Oscar-nominated scores for Defiance , Michael Clayton , The Village, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides, and My Best Friend’s Wedding , as well as Oscar- nominated songs for Junior and One Fine Day . Howard also received Golden Globe nominations for his scores for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of King Kong and Defiance, as well as the aforementioned songs.

In addition, Howard won the 2009 Grammy Award for the score of The Dark Knight , co- composed with Hans Zimmer, and received Grammy Award nominations for music from Blood Diamond and his song from One Fine Day . He also won an Emmy for the theme to the Andre Braugher series Gideon’s Crossing, and received four additional Emmy nominations for the Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events , the HBO film, All The Way , and for the themes to the long- running series, ER, and the Ving Rhames series, Men . In 2008, World Soundtrack Award named him Film Composer of the Year for his work on the films Charlie Wilson’s War , Michael Clayton and I Am Legend .

His success reflects the experiences of a rich musical past. Inspired by his grandmother, a classical violinist, he began his studies on the piano at age four. After studying at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and at the USC School of Music as a piano performance major, he completed his formal education with orchestration study under legendary arranger Marty Paich.

Though his training was classical, he maintained an interest in rock and pop music, and it was his early work in the pop arena that allowed him to hone his talents as a musician, arranger, songwriter and producer. He racked up a string of collaborations in the studio and on the road with some of pop’s biggest names, including Elton John; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Barbra Streisand; Earth, Wind and Fire; Bob Seger; Rod Stewart; Toto; Glenn Frey; Diana Ross; Carly Simon; Olivia Newton-John; Randy Newman; Rickie Lee Jones; and Chaka Khan.

In 1985, he was offered his first film, Head Office , and he quickly knew he had found his calling. He has since created the scores for a broad range of films, recently including Roman J. Israel, Esq., Detroit, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, all four installments of The Hunger Games franchise, Concussion, Nightcrawler and Maleficent. His long list of credits also include Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy, Salt, Water For Elephants, Batman Begins , Collateral , Snow Falling on Cedars , Outbreak , The Village, Hidalgo , Peter Pan , Wyatt Earp, Lady in the Water, The Sixth Sense , Unbreakable , Freedomland, Treasure Planet, Signs, Falling Down , Primal Fear , Glengarry Glen Ross , Waterworld , The Devil’s Advocate, Dave , and Pretty Woman among many others.

In addition to his contributions to film and television music, Howard has composed two concert pieces for the Pacific Symphony: I Would Plant a Tree , which debuted in 2009; and, more recently, his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra , which premiered in 2015, featuring renowned violinist James Ehnes.

Howard has been honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the 2016 BMI ICON Award. Howard recently completed a 15 European city tour in November and December 2017 - The 3 Decades of Music for Hollywood concert production was a celebration of career highlights with music, spoken word and video. His upcoming projects include Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and the next installment of the Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

TRISH SUMMERVILLE (Costume Designer)

Trish Summerville is a three-time Costume Designer Guild winner for the films Gone Girl , The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo . In 2017, Trish received Emmy and Costume Designer Guild nominations for her work on the HBO pilot for Westworld and has won three Music Video Producer Association awards for Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin videos.

Trish recently wrapped Red Sparrow for director Francis Lawrence starring Jennifer Lawrence. Also, she recently designed the costumes for Dark Tower starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey for Sony.

Along with Trish winning the Costume Designer Guild award for Excellence in Costume Design for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , she also won the Saturn Award for Best Costume and Costume Designer of the Year at the Style Awards. In association with this project, Trish launched a clothing line through Net-a-Porter. The collection, called Capitol Couture, featured 16 pieces inspired by her work in Catching Fire , and it sold out immediately.

Trish is a longtime collaborator with acclaimed director David Fincher, having worked with him on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl . Trish also designed the costumes for David Fincher’s Nike Commercial “Fate” for which she won a Costume Design Award for Best Commercial.

Trish’s additional credits include the Showtime pilot Ray Donovan and the ABC series Wasteland . Trish also works extensively in commercials and music videos and has worked on campaigns for Apple, Chevy, Diet Coke, Gap, Heineken, Nike, Tanqueray and Volkswagen. When not working in film, Trish consults for red carpet appearances and tours for musicians.