THE UPSIDE (2019) About the Crew
Neil Burger, Jon Hartmere, Jason Blumenthal, Todd Black, Steve Tisch, Stuart Dryburgh, Mark Friedberg, Kasia Walicka Maimone, Naomi Geraghty, and Rob Simonsen
NEIL BURGER (Director), JON HARTMERE (Screenwriter), JASON BLUMENTHAL (Producer), TODD BLACK (Producer), STEVE TISCH (Producer), STUART DRYBURGH (Cinematographer), MARK FRIEDBERG (Production Designer), KASIA WALICKA MAIMONE (Costume Designer), NAOMI GERAGHTY (Editor), ROB SIMONSEN (Music By)
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
NEIL BURGER (Director) is an American film director, writer and producer. He is currently in pre-production on the film adaptation Shoot Like a Girl based on the memoir by Purple Heart Veteran Mary Jennings Hegar.
Burger’s feature directing credits include the 2014 hit Divergent , starring Shailene Woodley and Kate Winslet, which has grossed over $300 million worldwide; Limitless , starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro; and the critically acclaimed The Illusionist starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. He made his directorial feature debut with Interview With The Assassin , which he also wrote, winning the “Best Feature Film” category at both the Woodstock Film Festival and Avignon Film Festival, and receiving nominations for three Independent Spirit Awards. Burger also wrote and directed The Lucky Ones , starring Rachel McAdams and Tim Robbins.
On television, Burger directed and executive produced the first two episodes of “Billions,” the Showtime series starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. He also executive produced CBS’ television adaptation of “Limitless,” based on his film of the same name.
A graduate of Yale University
with a degree in fine arts, Burger resides in New York City with his family.
JON HARTMERE
(Screenwriter) has written scripts for Paramount,
Fox, Disney, Nickelodeon, Amazon
Studios, and Sesame Street Productions, and was a recurring "Field
Agent" on MTV's Punk'd.
JASON BLUMENTHAL (Producer) is partnered with Todd Black and Steve Tisch in Escape Artists, the successful production company behind such blockbusters as The Pursuit Of Happyness , The Equalizer and The Magnificent Seven .
Other films that Blumenthal has produced under the Escape Artists’ banner include Southpaw , starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Unfinished Business , starring Vince Vaughn, Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz, Hope Springs , starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, The Back-up Plan with Jennifer Lopez, Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123 , Seven Pounds , starring Will Smith, and Knowing and The Weather Man both starring Nicolas Cage.
Blumenthal’s most recent success The Equalizer 2 , released this past summer.
In 1990, after graduation from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, Blumenthal joined Wizan/Black Films, where he met Producer Todd Black. There, he was involved with the development and production of Iron Eagle II , Split Decisions , The Guardian , Short Time , Class Act , Wrestling Ernest Hemingway , Dunston Checks In , A Family Thing , and Bio Dome . They also executive produced Becoming Colette and Fire In The Sky .
Blumenthal became Senior Vice President of feature production at Mandalay Entertainment at the company’s inception in 1995. He managed such films as The Fan , Donnie Brasco , Seven Years in Tibet , Les Miserables , Wild Things , Gloria , and The Deep End of the Ocean . One of Mandalay’s biggest box office successes was I Know What You Did Last Summer , which was #1 at the box office for three weeks and grossed more than $130 million worldwide. It spawned the sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer .
In April 1998, Blumenthal and his partner, Todd Black, formed Black & Blu Entertainment, entering into a first look production deal at Sony Pictures Entertainment. In 2001, Black & Blu merged with the Steve Tisch Company to become Escape Artists while still maintaining their first look deal at Sony Pictures.
Currently shooting, are
two television series: “Our Lady, Ltd.” starring Sir Ben Kingsley to air on Epix, as well as partnering with M. Night
Shyamalan on “Servant,” for Apple’s upcoming streaming service.
TODD BLACK (Producer) is one of Hollywood’s most respected producers having worked with many of the top talent in the industry, both in front and behind the camera. With Director Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer 2 marks their fourth collaboration. The other three include The Equalizer , Southpaw and The Magnificent Seven .
Among Black’s numerous credits as a producer are The Pursuit of Happyness , which earned Will Smith an Academy Award® nomination as “Best Actor,” The Taking of Pelham 123 , directed by Tony Scott, Hope Springs , starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, and Sex Tape , starring Cameron Diaz. Other noteworthy producing credits for Black include Knowing and The Weather Man , both starring Nicolas Cage, and Seven Pounds , starring Will Smith.
Black’s long-time collaboration with Denzel Washington began when he brought Antwone Fisher , the screenplay he developed for ten years, to the Academy Award® winner. Washington decided not only would he star in the film, but he would also direct the touching drama, cementing their partnership as producer and director. When Washington stepped behind the camera to direct The Great Debaters , Black was again his producer. That movie went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for “Best Drama.” In addition, both Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters earned the Producer Guild’s “Stanley Kramer Award.”
His most recent films with Denzel Washington include the critically acclaimed Roman J. Israel, Esq , which garnered Washington a “Best Actor” Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the title role, and Fences , Washington’s third time directing. Fences went on to win Screen Actor Guild Awards for both Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, as well as nabbing a “Best Actress” win for Viola Davis at the Academy Awards®, as well as a nomination for “Best Picture” for Black. Action-blockbuster, Equalizer 2 , marks their most recent collaboration.
Black entered the business as a casting associate after attending USC’s School of Theater. Shortly after getting out of school, he produced a “Disney Sunday Night Movie” that aired on television. Black next went on to produce Fire In The Sky for Paramount Pictures and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway for Warner Bros.
In 1995, Black became President of Motion Picture Production at Mandalay Entertainment where he managed Donnie Brasco , Seven Years In Tibet , I Know What You Did Last Summer , and Wild Things , to name a few. A few years later, he teamed with producer Jason Blumenthal to create Black & Blu Productions.
In 2001, Black and Blumenthal joined Steve Tisch, producer of Risky Business and Forest Gump , among others, to form Escape Artists which has a first-look production deal with Sony Pictures. Their first film, which Black personally oversaw throughout the filmmaking process, was A Knight’s Tale , starring Heath Ledger.
Escape Artists has gone on to make movies that have grossed more than $1,000,000,000 at the worldwide box office. These films include mega hits The Pursuit Of Happyness , The Equalizer , and The Magnificent Seven .
Black just recently wrapped
production on Troupe Zero
with Amazon Studios, starring Viola Davis, Allison Janney, McKenna Grace and Jim
Gaffigan. Currently shooting, are two television
series: “Our Lady, Ltd.” starring Sir Ben Kingsley to air on Epix, as well as
partnering with M. Night Shyamalan on
“Servant”, for Apple’s upcoming streaming service.
STEVE TISCH (Producer) is an Academy Award® winning producer, partner at Escape Artists Productions, Chairman, Executive Vice President and Co-Owner of the New York Football Giants, and a committed philanthropist. He is the only person with both an Oscar® and a Super Bowl ring, winning “Best Picture” for Forrest Gump in 1994, and receiving two Super Bowl rings as Chairman of the Giants for Super Bowls XLII and XLVI.
For more than four decades, Steve has successfully produced compelling stories in film and television, from the critically acclaimed television movie, “The Burning Bed” starring Farrah Fawcett, to Risky Business , the sleeper hit that helped launch Tom Cruise’s career. Other film credits include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels , American History X , Snatch , The Pursuit of Happiness , Seven Pounds , The Taking of Pelham 123 , The Back-Up Plan , Hope Springs , The Equalizer , Southpaw and The Equalizer 2 . On the television side, Escape Artists is in production on their first two straight-to-series shows. “Servant,” in collaboration with M. Night Shyamalan, which will be one of Apple’s wide-releases for their upcoming streaming service – as well as “Our Lady, ltd.,” starring Ben Kingsley with EPIX/MGM.
Steve has been involved with the New York Giants since his father, Preston Robert Tisch, purchased 50 percent of the franchise in 1991. In 2005, Steve was named Executive Vice President, and with the passing of his father, he assumed the additional title of Chairman. Steve worked closely with John Mara, President and CEO of the Giants, on the planning and construction of MetLife Stadium, which was completed in the spring of 2010 and ranked as the number one grossing stadium in the world in 2012. Steve also helped win the successful bid to bring Super Bowl XLVIII to MetLife Stadium in February 2014. Tisch and Mara were named “Best NFL Owners” by Forbes in 2011.
Tisch is also active in philanthropy, generously contributing his time and resources to a variety of organizations in arts, health and education. Recognizing the value of storytelling and its ability to increase dialogue and understanding, Steve made a transformative gift to Tel Aviv University, elevating its Department of Film and Television into a full school, now named The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television. The school has won top prizes at film festivals around the world and is Israel’s leading institution of film and television studies. It is ranked by The Hollywood Reporter among the top 15 international film schools for three years in a row. Tisch was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Tel Aviv University in 2016.
Tisch made a leadership gift to the David Geffen School of Medicine for the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program, the single largest donation from an individual to a medical center for a concussion-related initiative. The gift creates the first U.S. fellowship to train pediatric neurologists who specialize in sports concussions, and establishes the world’s most sophisticated research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment program for concussions and brain injuries with a particular emphasis on young athletes.
Steve is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is a founding Trustee of The Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, is on the Board of Advisors of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University and previously served on the board of the Sundance Institute.
Tisch
resides in both Los Angeles and New York City.
STUART DRYBURGH (Cinematographer) is a British born, New York based cinematographer. His credits include The Painted Veil , Aeon Flux , Bridget Jones’ Diary , Analyze This , The Portrait of a Lady , Once Were Warriors , The Piano and An Angel at My Table .
Dryburgh was born in the UK in 1952 and migrated with his family to New Zealand in 1961, where he spent most of his childhood and young adult life. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Auckland University in 1977.
He started out working on early NZ films such as Middle Age Spread and Good-Bye Pork Pie and Smash Palace . He was employed as a gaffer from 1979 – 1985, working on many NZ and international feature films and commercials. From 1985 on he has worked only as a cinematographer, at first shooting short films, music videos, and tv commercials.
In 1989, he shot the 3-part TV miniseries “An Angel at My Table” for director Jane Campion. This led to another Dryburgh/ Campion collaboration, The Piano . For this film, he was nominated for an Academy Award® for “Best Cinematography” in 1994.
His next project, ultimately his last in New Zealand for many years, was Once Were Warriors with New Zealand director Lee Tamahori.
In 1994 Dryburgh shot his
first US feature film, The Peres Family
, for
director Mira Nair, and moved
permanently to the US in 1996. Dryburgh’s recent credits include The Great Wall
, Alice Through The Looking Glass
, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
, among many others.
MARK FRIEDBERG (Production Designer) sees the worlds he creates through a prism of his work as a Fine Artist and his background as an American History major. He married his passions for both film, painting and social impact by cutting his teeth as a production designer on a series of influential low-budget movies that came about during the indie film movement of the early ‘90s.
Friedberg’s work on small but noteworthy endeavors such as Alexandre Rockwell’s In the Soup (Audience Award at Sundance) and Maggie Greenwald’s The Ballad of Little Joe earned great attention, leading to Friedberg’s collaboration with a variety of filmmakers, ranging from industry stalwarts Mel Brooks ( The Producers , 2005), and Garry Marshall ( Runaway Bride , New Year’s Eve ), to independent mavericks like Mira Nair ( The Perez Family , Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ), Ang Lee ( Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk , The Ice Storm , Ride with the Devil ), Todd Haynes ( Far From Heaven ), Jim Jarmusch ( Paterson , Coffee and Cigarettes , Broken Flowers ), Wes Anderson ( The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou , The Darjeeling Limited ), Julie Taymor ( Across the Universe ), and Charlie Kaufman ( Synedoche , New York ).
Friedberg’s most recent films include Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and Todd Phillip’s’ Joker Movie.
Other films designed by Friedberg include Julie Taymor’s imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest , shot on location in Hawaii and on stage in Brooklyn; Jodie Foster’s The Beaver , costarring Foster and Mel Gibson; and the romantic comedy Morning Glory , starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams, and directed by Roger Michell.
Friedberg won the Emmy® Award for “Outstanding Art Direction” for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO mini-series “Mildred Pierce,” starring Kate Winslet and directed by Todd Haynes.
Friedberg's feature film credits include Ava Duvernay’s Selma starring David Oyelowo and Darren Aronofsky’s epic Noah , starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins.
He also designed The Amazing Spiderman II
for Sony which was to date the largest film ever shot in New York.
KASIA WALICKA MAIMONE (Costume Designer) received an Excellence in Period Film nomination from the Costume Designers Guild for her work on Bennett Miller’s acclaimed
Capote in 2006. In 2013, she was again nominated for her designs for Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom .
Walicka Maimone reteamed with Miller on Foxcatcher , starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, as well as on the award-winning Moneyball. Recent credits include Ready Player One by Steven Spielberg and The Quiet Place by John Krasinski.
Her additional credits include Deepwater Horizon , Bridge of Spies , Black Mass , A Most Violent Year , directed by J.C. Chandor, and St. Vincent , directed by Theodore Melfi, Infinitely Polar Bear , The Adjustment Bureau ; The Switch , with Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston; Little Manhattan ; Jesus’ Son ; The Opportunists ; HBO’s “Hysterical Blindness” and “Songcatcher.” She also designed the costumes for Ang Lee’s BMW short, “Chosen;” Mira Nair’s segment India from “September 11;” and “Amelia,” a look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart.
Her opera projects include Philip Glass’ Les Enfants Terribles and The Sound of a Voice .
Walicka Maimone has also
participated in elaborate experimental theater pieces by Robert Woodruff ( Oedipus Rex
) and Richard Foreman ( Maria del Bosco
and King
Cowboy Rufus Rules the
Universe
). She has also
collaborated with choreographers Susan Marshall, Twyla Tharp, Donald Byrd and David Dorfman.
NAOMI GERAGHTY
(Editor) has had a varied career in film and
television. She is known for her work as an editor on Hotel Rwanda
and In America
. The Upside
is her
fourth film with Neil Burger, having cut The Illusionist
, The Lucky Ones
and Limitless
. She has also been an editor on TV shows such as David Simon’s “Treme,”
“Bloodline” for Netflix and Showtime’s “Billions”
where she is about to make her debut as a director.
Since the early 2000s, ROB SIMONSEN (Music By) has worked on an expansive list of film soundtracks, among them Love, Simon (2018), Nerve (2016), Foxcatcher (2014), The Way, Way Back (2013), The Spectacular Now (2013) and Jason Reitman’s forthcoming The Front Runner (2018). There’ve been collaborations, too, notably with Mychael Danna Ð including 500 Days Of Summer (2009) and contributions to Life Of Pi (2012) and Moneyball (2011), as well as earlier outings under the name Frozen Light, encouraged by Keith Kenniff (Helios, Goldmund) on turn of the century website electronicscene.com . But Simonsen’s been biding his time since an early age, quietly nursing the artistic flights of fancy in which he’d step out from behind the screen. When the stars finally aligned, he knew, these would seem rather less fanciful.
In 2013, Simonsen founded The Echo Society, a Los Angeles-based non-profit artist collective, with a number of acquaintances and friends, including Ð in its early days Ð Ryan Lott (Son Lux). The collective seeks to create connections within the Los Angeles arts community, while bringing both orchestral and electronic music to new audiences. “It was born out of a desire to get together with like-minded people, to inspire each other and create something that excites us.” They began setting up an annual show, at first working separately on their compositions, and later collaborating, all the time encouraging one another artistically .
Up next for Rob is his long-awaited solo debut with a record entitled Reveries , which is indicative of the record’s chimerical nature. The album is an elegant, affecting collection which puts the piano Ð though not just any piano Ð in the spotlight, furnishing it with blissful embellishments, both electronic and analogue. “It’s quite the return to my roots,” Simonsen says, “sitting and improvising, having it be emotive and cathartic. I didn’t sketch anything in advance, nor come at it from an intellectual perspective. It started by chasing a feeling while recording.” The album will be released by Sony Music Masterworks in early 2019.
