AND
Richard Gere
Terrence Howard
Jesse Eisenberg
THE HUNTING
PARTY
Written and Directed by
Richard Shepard
Opens in theaters on September 7, 2007
Not Yet Rated by the MPAA
Running Time: 103 minutes
Press Contacts:
NY: Sara Finmann Serlen
646-862-3809
sara.serlen@weinsteinco.com
Regional: Lisa Giannakopulos
646-862-3810
lisa.giannakopulos@weinsteinco.com
LA: Liz Biber
323-207-3180
liz.biber@weinsteinco.com
International: Paula Woods
+ 011 44 207-494-6194
paula.woods@weinsteinco.com
THE HUNTING PARTY
Synopsis
“In war what you see, and what really happened, are sometimes two very different things.”
TV News reporter Simon Hunt (RICHARD GERE) and cameraman Duck (TERRENCE
HOWARD) have worked in the world's hottest war zones: from Bosnia to Iraq, from Somalia to
El Salvador. Together they have dodged bullets, filed incisive reports and collected Emmy
awards. Then one terrible day in a Bosnian village everything changes. During a live broadcast
on national television, Simon has a meltdown. After that, Duck is promoted and Simon just
disappears.
Five years later Duck returns to Sarajevo with rookie reporter Benjamin (JESSE EISENBERG)
to cover the fifth anniversary of the end of the war. Simon shows up, a ghost from the past, with
the promise of a world exclusive. He convinces Duck that he knows the whereabouts of Bosnia’s
most wanted war criminal “The Fox.” Armed with only spurious information Simon, Duck and
Benjamin embark on a dark and dangerous mission that takes them deep into hostile territory.
It’s the scoop of a lifetime but will they live to report it?
The film also features DIANE KRUGER and JOY BRYANT. Written and directed by Richard
Shepard (THE MATADOR) the movie is based on the Esquire article 'What I Did On My
Summer Vacation' by Scott Anderson. Financed by QED International and Intermedia, it is
produced by Mark Johnson (CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, RAINMAN) and Scott Kroopf (THE
LAST SAMURAI, RUNAWAY BRIDE) and executive produced by Bill Block (VANILLA
SKY, SMART PEOPLE) and Adam Merims (THE MATADOR, CASANOVA).
The team also includes Director of Photography David Tattersall (GREEN MILE, THE
MATADOR), Production Designer Jan Roelfs (ALEXANDER, WORLD TRADE CENTER),
and Costume Designer Beatrix Pasztor (VANITY FAIR, GOOD WILL HUNTING).
The film will be distributed internationally by QED International and released in the United
States by The Weinstein Company.
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THE HUNTING PARTY
About the Production
“Only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true”
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Mark Johnson, a producer at Intermedia, discovered
this firsthand when he met his friend Scott Anderson in October, 2000. Anderson, a well-known
journalist, had recently returned from Bosnia and wrote of his experiences there for Esquire
magazine. “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” was a classic if somewhat bizarre document
of war reportage: an adventurous road trip that was black comedy, cautionary tale and trenchant
political comment.
It told the story of Anderson and four other journalists who travelled to Bosnia earlier that year.
All five had worked as reporters in the Balkans during the war. Five years after the cessation of
hostilities, in the summer of 2000, they returned to Sarajevo. Over a night of swapping stories,
drinking beer and catching up they had an inspired, if somewhat harebrained, idea. Why not
track down and capture the war criminal Radovan Karadicz? With the help of a disaffected Serb
police officer, who believed the journalists were a CIA hit squad, the five set about tracking
down the most wanted man in Europe. Then the real CIA showed up.
After reading the Esquire article—and absorbing its movie potential—Johnson met with
Anderson and the other two US journalists John Falk and Sebastian Junger (Philippe Deprez and
Harald Doornbos completed the quintet) in Los Angeles. “They pitched me a story based on their
time in Bosnia,” says Johnson. “I loved the story. It had a great deal of humour and at that time it
also had elements of THE THIRD MAN. Johnson set the movie up at Intermedia, and hoped to
bring it to the screen.
“My brief at Intermedia was to look for more interesting, more independent-oriented movies,”
says producer Scott Kroopf. “So when I looked at the article I thought well this is great and it
really is a question of finding the right tone and the right film maker. Mark and I decided to look
for someone to develop the project.”
An executive at Intermedia, Alex Litvack suggested writer-director Richard Shepard. The New
Yorker had recently completed shooting THE MATADOR, a black comedy in which Pierce
Brosnan played an ageing hit man. It was a critical and popular hit, a witty combination of
drama, comedy and character study. “I had seen THE MATADOR which Richard had both
written and directed and felt very confident about what he could do,” says Mark Johnson.
“Interestingly enough in the interim he has also directed two very different television pilots—
CRIMINAL MINDS and UGLY BETTY—both of which were picked up and gone on to be
quite successful.” “We all saw THE MATADOR well before it was released and thought this is
perfect,” concurs Kroopf. “Not only is Richard a great writer but he did a fantastic job of
directing it and got this unbelievable performance out of Pierce Brosnan.”
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After the success of THE MATADOR, writer/director Richard Shepard was already juggling
with some new ideas. “I was really interested in making a movie set in a post-war city,” he says.
“It was interesting what was going on in Iraq and I was thinking that maybe I could shoot in
Baghdad. My wife said absolutely not. I was on the prowl for something like THE THIRD
MAN, which is one of my favorite movies. That was set in Vienna after World War II. I was
talking with several people about this concept.”
Mark Johnson and Scott Kroopf contacted Shepard, gave him the Scott Anderson article and
suggested that he might find it interesting. After all it shared many parallels with THE THIRD
MAN especially in its account of goings on in a post-war country. The difference was—this was
real and recent. Initially Shepard balked. “At first I was terrified because I did not know enough
about the subject or about Bosnia but they urged me to read it,” says Shepard. “That article was
so intriguing that I got interested. Then I said to Intermedia “Why don’t you send me to Sarajevo
and I’ll see for myself?’”
GOING TO BOSNIA
“There’s an old Bosnian saying that when a bottle of this stuff’s on the table, the devil’s in
the corner… laughing” – Duck
In late 2005 Shepard retraced the steps of Scott Anderson and his colleagues. He flew to
Sarajevo, stayed at the Holiday Inn (the war-time base for reporters) and journeyed north
towards the village of Celebici, hard by the border with Montenegro. This region was
sympathetic to Radovan Karadicz and was reputedly the place where the war criminal was holed
up in 2000. “In other words I basically went hunting for Karadicz,” says Shepard. “Being in
Bosnia and experiencing it in the way that those journalists did, I suddenly saw the movie. I
realized the potential of that article and that kicked me off to start writing it.”
The other part of the deal was that Shepard would direct as well as write. “On a movie that is a
little bit left of centre and not a straight action movie, it was important that I direct,” he says. “To
me writing the script and directing it was all part of the same process. I like to do it that way. The
more time I spent in Bosnia, in interviewing the journalists and people from the UN and NATO
to see what was really going on here, the movie came to me and I could visualize what it looked
like.”
Very quickly Shepard got the lie of the land. He spoke with members of the UN, war journalists
and survivors of the conflict in the Balkans. Then, using Scott Anderson’s article as the kick-off
point, he started writing his screenplay. This was not going to be a history lesson or a political
treatise: this was a story of three characters in search of themselves, a road movie set against the
backdrop of a country still reeling from the aftermath of a bloody war.
“What happened in Bosnia was terrible and you cannot gloss over the tragedy of that. But in
terms of my writing the movie I took certain liberties,” he says. “I created all new characters and
fictionalised some details to tell the story that I wanted to tell. But what happened to those guys
is all in there. The injustice done by the International Community who won’t catch these war
criminals is in there. In fact almost every element that seems made up in the screenplay is based
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on fact. I mostly just created the characters because the five journalists in real life are all about
the same age and have very similar personalities. I wanted to have three different age groups—an
older, a younger and a middle person—with all of them going through their own personal
journey through the course of the movie.”
In THE HUNTING PARTY the post-war landscape and situation provides the backdrop and
dramatic context for the character-driven story. “A good screenplay for me always comes down
to character,” says Mark Johnson. “You can have as much action and chasing around and
double-crossing or whatever but if it doesn’t involve characters that you have some sort of
empathy with or understanding for, then it all comes to naught. I thought that there were three
significantly strong characters in the movie, each one in search of something. Years ago I did
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM with Robin Williams which was the first film to deal with
Vietnam in that comic way. It was a very funny film and no one, not even the veterans, thought it
was disrespectful. I think that is similar to what we have done here. This is a very sly comedy
and yet there are moments in this film that are extremely heartbreaking.”
THE JOURNALISTS’ REACTION
“Just laugh at all their jokes and don’t stare at the midget” – Simon
Shepard’s script met with the unanimous approval of those who knew the terrain first-hand: Scott
Anderson and his fellow journalists. Anderson, a veteran of conflicts across the planet, realized
that the war in Bosnia and Croatia was different. “When we covered the Balkans we recognized
this absurdist quality to the whole region and what was going on,” he says. “As awful and
ghastly as the war was, there was also something ridiculous about it. As potentially dangerous as
it was, we all felt when we were doing it that we were caught up in some boyhood story that we
had. Every little boy probably dreams about getting mistaken for a spy and how cool that would
be.”
“I thought the script was terrific,” says Anderson. “Whenever you take a magazine article or
book or whatever and turn it into a script it’s going to be a very different thing but I think that
Richard Shepard captured a lot of the absurdity of what we experienced in real life when we
were on that story.
“Shepard also injected a lot of drama into the story and in some way many aspects of the whole
Balkan conflict are in there,” says Philippe Deprez. “This screenplay is very well written and
imagined.
“When I first read the screenplay I laughed out loud,” says John Falk. “I got that screenplay on
the first go and I really enjoyed it. I tried to write a screenplay once so I know what a bad one
looks like: as Richard’s screenplay was the direct opposite to mine I reckoned it must be really
good.”
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES?
“The UN, NATO, the CIA and every bounty hunter from here to Chuck Norris claim to be
looking for him” – Duck
The filmmakers of THE HUNTING PARTY were uniquely concerned about the perception of
their movie by the very peoples they were making their movie about.
While the film’s war criminal is Bosnian-Serb, this was not chosen out of an agenda to put down
the Serbs. The film is based on an actual event in which war reporters go searching for Radovan
Karadzic the most wanted war criminal in Bosnia. “For us to change the ‘ethnicity’ of the Fox,
just to be sensitive to the Serb population, would have been ridiculous,” says director Richard
Shepard. “If in real life the bad guy that the journalists were after was Croatian, he would have
been Croatian in our film.”
Shepard also is quick to point out that the Hague, the governing body on war crimes in the
Netherlands, has indictments on people from all of the ethnic classes of Bosnia—Serbs,
Muslims, and Croats. “Unfortunately, the war in Bosnia brought out the worst in many people.”
“The moral of THE HUNTING PARTY,” Shepard says “is not to point a finger specifically at
the bad guys portrayed in the film, but to look to the International community—the US, The EU,
the UN, and ask why they have not caught these wanted fugitives. It is an insult to the memory
of the genocide victims of Bosnia that these men have been on the run for over ten years.”
The local cast and crew of THE HUNTING PARTY was made up of members of the Bosnian,
Croatian and Serb filmmaking communities. “During the war Sarajevo was a city under siege,
but its residents, at least in the beginning did not separate themselves on ethnic lines. They were
Sarajevens first and foremost. That spirit continues to live on in the city, and is one of the main
reasons the city never fell to the Serbs during the war. It was extremely important to us that the
cast and crew of this film represent all of the ethnic arms of the region. It kept us honest, and
gave us every insight we could hope for.”
Some have questioned why Radovan Karadzic is not mentioned by name, and instead the main
antagonist is a character named Boghanovic, aka The Fox. “The real reporters were after
Karadzic,” Shepard says, “But I wanted the war criminal to talk and do things I know Karadzic
didn’t do. By making him fictionalized it gave me some wiggle room to make a ‘movie’, instead
of just a documentary. But the sad fact is, the things the Fox is accused of doing in my movie,
pales in comparison to what Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are accused by the Hague of doing in
real life.”
ON LOCATION
“Watch the land mine” – Duck (and Franklin)
At this stage Adam Merims, executive producer on THE MATADOR, was also on board. He had
previously worked with Scott Kroopf on BREACH and Richard Shepard asked him to read the
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screenplay. He joined the team in May 2006 and was part of the crucial decision as to where
THE HUNTING PARTY would be shot.
The filmmakers considered all the logical Eastern European locations including the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. But from early on a decision was made that the film
would be shot in Bosnia and Croatia. For Shepard and the producers this was vital to preserve the
authenticity of the screenplay. Sarajevo bookends the film while the rest of this road movie
travels through the countryside of Bosnia but was filmed in Croatia.
“We felt that because the story is set in the former Yugoslav Republic we wanted to shoot the
film there,” says Merims. “Obviously the beginning and end of the film had to be shot in
Sarajevo, an amazing place that you can’t replicate anywhere else. But the rest of the film is set
in rural Bosnia where there is no film infrastructure. So we based ourselves in Zagreb, where
there is an existing film community and some support, and from there we sourced our locations
which are all within an hour and a half radius of the city.”
After visiting the Balkans, there was no doubt in Richard Shepard’s mind that this was the only
place that he could shoot the picture. He was, in the words of Kroopf, “pretty fired up”. Both
Kroopf and Johnson considered the options. Michael Winterbottom had shot WELCOME TO
SARAJEVO in the city not long after the war so they figured the situation should be very safe in
2006. But there were still some anxious moments.
“We were nervous about shooting in Bosnia,” says Scott Kroopf. “The war was not that long ago
and we were aware the people there could still be very sensitive or angry about the conflict. To
our surprise it was really easy to shoot there. The people were incredibly polite. Maybe the story
of this movie and the idea that it’s bringing this war to light meant something to the people. We
got so much cooperation and good spirit from the locals in Sarajevo. The same thing has held
true for Croatia. Maybe there’s a little less infrastructure for film making but that didn’t cost us
any time at all.”
With Shepard as writer/director and Richard Gere and Terence Howard confirmed as principals,
Intermedia struck a deal with QED International to sell the movie internationally. The company
had been recently set up by Bill Block, an old friend of Scott Kroopf. "When I read the
screenplay I was immediately hooked," says Block. "THE HUNTING PARTY with its mixture
of human drama, comedy and adventure was just the type of project that QED International was
looking for. With stars of the international calibre of Richard Gere and Terrence Howard
attached it would have an immediate international appeal." Thus Bill Block was able to generate
the lion’s share of the financing through international sales. Then Intermedia approached the
Weinstein Company to be the distributors for the domestic market. "They had distributed THE
MATADOR and were gigantic fans of Richard Shepard," says Scott Kroopf. "They had been
diligently tracking this project in the hope that it might fall their way. They swooped and we had
our movie all put together.”
So the scene was set. A nine week shoot based in Sarajevo and in Zagreb, a cast to die for and a
bristling and original screenplay. “I write movies about people and THE HUNTING PARTY is
ultimately a movie about redemption,” says Shepard. “Richard Gere plays a character whose
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career fell apart during the war and he has suffered emotionally and professionally since then. He
gets a tip about where this war criminal is hiding and this journey is really a journey of
redemption for him. Terrence’s character sold out and went the opposite way so his story is
really about finding his true self again. And Jesse is a kid who thinks he knows everything but
really knows nothing and eventually he becomes a man. The backdrop is post-war Bosnia but the
movie is really about these three people, the journey they go through and their experience.”
THE CASTING STORY
“Well, what the f**k are we doing—writing for Travel & Leisure?” – Simon
“It is a dream situation for me as a filmmaker to have a cast as incredibly talented as Richard
Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg,” says Richard Shepard. “THE HUNTING PARTY
is a story about three guys and if the three actors playing them weren’t up to it then the whole
movie would fall apart. The thing is that we are essentially spending ninety minutes in a car with
these guys so you really have to like them.”
For Shepard and the film producers, the key to casting was that this movie was all about a trio of
characters: Simon, Duck and Benjamin. Of this unholy trinity, the most important individual was
Hunt. “Richard Gere was our first choice,” says Scott Kroopf. “We sent him the script and he
read it. Then he said ‘OK let me meet with Richard Shepard.’ So he met with him and said ‘OK,
I’m in’. This doesn’t happen that much so you know you have something special.”
Simon
“I’m going to do what any good journalist does when he gets to a new place—I’m
going to find a bar” – Simon
Richard Gere, a major Hollywood star, made his breakthrough in the epic and arresting Terence
Malick movie, DAYS OF HEAVEN. In the thirty years since he has appeared in some of
Hollywood’s most eye-catching movies including AMERICAN GIGOLO, AN OFFICER AND
A GENTLEMAN, PRETTY WOMAN and the Oscar winning musical, CHICAGO. He has also
been darker and more dangerous in INTERNAL AFFAIRS and UNFAITHFUL as well as
playing in such issue led movies like RED CORNER. His major box-office clout is matched by
his passion for worthwhile projects and with THE HUNTING PARTY his interest was piqued.
The actor and humanitarian had spent time in Kosovo and also visited other trouble spots
(Nicaragua, El Salvador, Kashmir and Tibet) in recent years.
“When I read THE HUNTING PARTY I thought that it was a terrific screenplay,” he says. “It
was beautifully written and conceived. It’s also a world that I know pretty well and although I
hadn’t been in Bosnia before, I had been in Kosovo during that crisis in the late 1990s. I was also
in Albania and Macedonia. So I knew some what first hand the drama that had been going on in
Yugoslavia so it was an area that I wanted to explore more, especially what happened to the
Bosnians. Richard wrote a screenplay that was also very exciting and very funny at times—
which I think allows you to go even deeper sometimes into the emotions if you can bring a
greater sense of humanity to it in that way.”
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For Richard Shepard, Gere was to bring the ideal combination of gung-ho adventure and worldweariness to the part of Simon Hunt. He is someone addicted to the adrenaline rush of his job.
“There’s something compelling about watching Richard Gere play a character that he hasn’t
quite played before,” says Shepard. “Simon Hunt is someone edgier, darker, a person with a bit
of fun and warmth but with complications.”
Simon Hunt is also a man in meltdown. This appealed to the actor. “Simon is a burnout,” says
Gere. “He is someone who cares deeply, someone who was at the top of his game throughout the
Eighties and Nineties at various conflicts throughout the world from El Salvador to Iraq to
Honduras to Nicaragua. Wherever it was happening, he was there. He was one of those guys you
would have seen on TV covering those spots. He was a TV commentator who was there from the
denouement, from the very beginning of the action, under fire for a lot of the time. That’s how he
lived and that was what he was. His job fitted his energy and then he had a burn out when he
loses it. He can’t quite get his life back together. So in this movie we see him trying to recapture
that time in his life when everything was in line, when everything was running smoothly. In a
way this is his last chance.”
To research the role of Simon, Gere met with Scott Anderson and a number of the other
journalists. He quizzed them about their experiences, looking for clues to his character. His bible
though was the screenplay and his main collaborator was the director, Richard Shepard. “The
script was so good but it’s the kind of script that is odd enough that the director really has to
bring something to it,” says Gere. “In this case the director wrote it as well so he was very clear
about what he wanted. It was obvious that Richard wanted a foundation of seriousness in this
movie but he also wanted to find the humor, to find the movie-making possibilities. There is a
kind of THIRD MAN temperament to this project so that it would be artistic but also
entertaining. I came on board and when Terrence came on board that was when I finally said,
yes, this will work. The chemistry between me and Terrence has to work or else there is no
movie there.”
War reporting can have a strange effect on a man and for Gere to understand Hunt, he had to
understand or at least empathize with this attitude: the gallows humor of the war reporter, of
people in similar life-or-death professions. “Cops have this certain philosophy and Simon Hunt
has that,” he says. “I spent time in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Tibetan areas, Kosovo and Kashmir,
in all kinds of situations that were certainly analogous to THE HUNTING PARTY and the only
way you can survive is by seeing the irony of your situation and also seeing the humor in it.
Otherwise you lose your humanity because you take such a down trip and go into a hole that is
almost impossible to get out of.”
Despite such defense mechanisms, Simon Hunt finally cracks. One final horror, one final straw
and one of the most feted war reporters in the business blows up on national television. After that
he becomes an unstable individual: a powder keg of emotion. “He’s an interesting character to
play because it’s all on the surface,” says Gere. “He’s irreverent and out of control and there are
very few rules left for this guy. In other words he has fallen about as low as you can fall but you
have to keep a thread of possibility in the guy, something that’s lurking there, at the same time
that he is totally outrageous. That’s a very fun balance to play for an actor.”
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In walking this tightrope, Gere sometimes deferred to Richard Shepard. The director offered a
sure and steadying hand. “He is very clear about what he wants but he’s also open to invention
and possibility all the time,” says Richard Gere. “It’s a pretty short schedule that we have for a
pretty big movie so he has to be absolutely clear on what he wants. Richard has designed the
picture with a certain rhythm in mind. Some scenes are a slower rhythm to allow us to speed up;
also when we speed up we have to be able to breathe a bit and bring it back down so that we can
rev up again and get into another kind of rhythm. So there is a music to THE HUNTING
PARTY just as there is in THE MATADOR, a film that showed us someone in command of their
material, someone with confidence.”
Gere also hit it off from the beginning with his co-stars, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg.
“We actually started with scenes where the characters were not getting along,” he says. “That
was an interesting way to start filming because Terrence and I didn’t know each other that well.
But I enjoyed Terrence. Bouncing off his acting we developed a certain male trust between us.
We didn’t have to be looking at each other all the time. That happens when people know each
other very well - they just let things go. Families do that, they don’t look at each other very much
and life passes. As for Jesse, I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part of Benjamin. He is
very professional, very committed and right there. He has done his homework and inhabits this
character completely.”
Duck
“Simon gave me balls I never knew I had. Of course, I got shot 4 times and Simon
never got so much as a scratch.” – Duck
2006 was a very good year for Chicago-born actor Terrence Howard. After a long time waiting
in the wings with stand-out performances in movies like MR HOLLAND’S OPUS and RAY he
was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as a rapper looking for a break in
HUSTLE AND FLOW and his other big movie, CRASH, in which he played a well-heeled film
maker, won the Oscar for Best Picture.
“I saw Terrence at the Sundance Film Festival,” says Richard Shepard. “My movie, THE
MATADOR, was there the same year of HUSTLE AND FLOW so I met him there and I
couldn’t believe it when his name was thrown into the ring for this movie. I thought ‘if we can
get him, let’s do it’.”
“Casting Terrence Howard was easy,” says Mark Johnson. “Everybody had seen him in
HUSTLE & FLOW and CRASH. Richard Shepard sat down with Terrence and talked about it
and he was just sure then that he was the right guy. And there’s something wonderful about
Richard, Jesse and Terrence together that goes way beyond the simple math of one plus one plus
one equals three.”
Before these readings and the discovery of the innate chemistry between the three leads, Howard
sat down and read through Shepard’s script. “When I first read the screenplay I thought, ‘this
could be fun’,” he says. “I also thought it could be dangerous because you are dealing with a
very sensitive, political subject. We have just gone down the road of truth and that is what I saw
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in the script—I saw these implications being addressed in what is courageous filmmaking so I
thought that I just got to try.”
Howard plays Duck: a gung-ho camera man who has seen action in all the world’s hot spots
alongside Simon Hunt but who has, since Hunt’s meltdown, climbed the ladder of the industry in
the safety zone of New York. “For nine years he has been running into wars everybody else is
running away from and he hasn’t got a weapon in his hand. What he has though is the weapon of
truth by having the camera there. Often his back is right where the action is taking place and he
has no one protecting him. It takes a lot of courage to do that. To have stepped away from that
for five years and then to be thrust right back into it again, having found a safe place, that is
strange.
Howard worked to get under the skin of his character and his profession. Richard Shepard
provided some invaluable insight as well as the real-life journalists and Howard’s own Croatian
bodyguard. “My personal bodyguard fought in the war and was injured,” he says. “Speaking
with him and with other local people was very revealing. These people put their passion and their
heart into the truth that we are trying to tell, where we ask the questions and hopefully somebody
has an answer. But it’s very complex.”
The opening sequences of THE HUNTING PARTY emphasize the ugliness of war but also show
how it was addictive for war journalists Simon and Duck. In reality this will never happen to
Terrence Howard. He says “I can appreciate the courage those journalists have and the risks they
take. But that is what makes acting fun. I’m playing someone that I could never imagine being in
real life. The explosions, the machine-gun fire and the bombs going off all make it seem so real.
It is certainly real enough for me.”
As for all the actors, shooting on location added its own mystery and inspiration. “Being in
Sarajevo you catch a whiff of what took place,” says Howard. “You see the reaction of the
people and you still see some of the damage on the buildings. It makes it easier as an actor to
believe in what you’re doing when the place you are at is actually the place where it happened.
We have been very fortunate as actors on this project because we didn’t have to make-believe.”
Howard was familiar with the outline of the Balkans conflict before starting work on the movie.
“We all had heard about it because some of my family is Muslim,” he says. “I had heard that
thousands of Muslim men and boys had been lined up and systematically murdered with no one
coming to their aid (the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995). What happened was appalling—
that the world community would stand by and watch helpless people being systematically
attacked and brutalized. I knew a little bit about it that I wanted to be part of telling its story.”
Helping Howard to tell that story was Richard Shepard. “Richard is one of those very special and
rare people that have the proverbial gift of the gab,” he says. “He can tell a story from a
particular vantage point that only angels may peer from. You cannot predict where his
screenplay is going and that is challenging to an actor. He shakes up your very centre and forces
you to create something new. Working with Richard Gere has been very similar. Here you have a
true icon who has worked his way up through many years and is lending his time and his talent
to move us through this process. All of these things make for a great project.”
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Benjamin
“You look young enough to be someone important’s son” – Simon
With Gere and Howard agreed, Shepard then set about finding the third and final part of his
crew: the callow rookie, Benjamin. Hundreds of auditions were conducted throughout the US
and Europe. “Jesse Eisenberg was one of the last people we saw for the part,” says Shepard. “But
he just had this character straight away. He found that character’s humor and humanity and
naiveté immediately. Jesse is an incredibly smart kid, much smarter than I was at his age. He was
able to bring an element to Benjamin that I never saw before and really grounded the character.
As much as we are with Simon and Duck on their journey we almost see the movie through
Jesse’s eyes because he is us, he is asking the questions that we want to ask - like what happened
here? What is going on? These are the things that make the story exciting.”
“Jesse Eisenberg was our unanimous favorite,” says Scott Kroopf. “We had all seen him in THE
SQUID AND THE WHALE and ROGER DODGER and thought he was a unique talent.
Richard Shepard was really specific about wanting to have someone who was actually 21 years
old, the real deal so that you saw this kid fresh out of college being taken into the heart of
darkness by these two seasoned veteran journalists and Jesse just proved to be the ideal guy.
When Eisenberg, a native New Yorker, heard about THE HUNTING PARTY, he was
immediately interested. Coincidentally on the day he read the screenplay he heard a news item
on the radio about a war criminal being sent from the Balkans to The Hague. But he reckoned he
might have blown his chances early on. “I made a video tape and sent it to the casting director,”
he says. “I got a call a week later saying that there was no way she was going to show that tape
to the director because it was not appropriate. Luckily they came to New York the week that they
were going to make their final decision. I was about 3 hours away filming a movie but I took the
train, did the audition and found out that day that I would get the part.”
Eisenberg has travelled extensively across the planet: sometimes to places with a dangerous
reputation. When he heard that THE HUNTING PARTY was going to be shot on location, his
friends expressed some anxiety. Was the war over? Were there landmines everywhere? “Of
course it’s not dangerous at all and I was quite excited to go to a place that is quite unique for
some Americans to travel to. My girlfriend was also excited because she knew she might get to
visit me.”
He read up on the war, spoke with a journalist friend in New York who has covered conflict
zones, read John Falk’s biography and spent time with Philippe Deprez. “I spent a lot of time
with him and once again he would also go after these stories, not for fame or finance, but just to
expose this story, often at his own expense and often compromising his own safety.’’ Ten days
before the shoot he arrived in Sarajevo to spend time with a friend of his who lives in the city.
All that knowledge and experience was channelled into the character of Benjamin, the rookie
war reporter.
“This is Benjamin’s first job overseas as a TV producer,” says Eisenberg. “He is both naive
about the history of the Balkans and the war and naive about producing in general. He is not the
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kind of reporter that Simon and Duck are, aggressively going after reports and risking their lives.
He is the opposite: his father is the network president so he has grown up in a cushy job. But his
experiences with Duck and Simon change him although he will probably still end up somewhere
in the middle of a cushy office job.”
During the shoot Eisenberg also liaised closely with Richard Shepard, exploring the character of
Benjamin. “When I first read the script I could tell that the writer Richard Shepard had a very
clear idea of how to execute this story,” he says. “Being on the set, not only confirmed my hopes
but exceeded them. I have never met a director as stylised as he is and as able to shoot in such a
unique way while maintaining the story that he tells so confidently. He also infuses a sense of
humour into subject matter that appears to be resistant to a humorous approach. And he
maintains respect for everybody involved. I feel very confident about being in this movie.”
So Shepard had three talented actors but the chemistry between them is what makes THE
HUNTING PARTY special. “When you have three people playing interesting parts and doing it
so well there’s a really good dynamic,” he says. “You could be the best writer in the world,
which I’m not, but if the actors are not making those lines sing, your movie smells. So when
really good actors take the material and make it come alive, it’s really impressive and makes for
a fun movie.”
The other alpha male is Franklin Harris: the big time anchor man with the news network and the
natural enemy of Simon and Duck. He is played by the seasoned character actor, James Brolin
(TRAFFIC, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN). In mid 2006 Brolin had an appointment with Richard
Shepard. “After I read the screenplay I rushed to a meeting to talk to him about it,” he says.
“Even though I am not in a lot of the film I think it is an important film. I think it is going to be
successful, it’s exciting, it’s a buddy movie and those are always welcome when they are well
done. It is so well written that I just feel lucky to be a part of it and to be here in Sarajevo, a town
that is beginning to blossom through its sad history.”
Looking for inspiration and a little insight into playing Franklin Harris was easy. All James
Brolin had to do was switch on the TV. “Every night you turn on the television, you see our
iconic anchormen,” he says. ”They are all different, but they all in some subtle way have the
same flavour about them. In a way it was fun to watch them and see what I could use for
Franklin. In these few scenes that I have with Richard Gere and Terrence Howard my character
is a threat to both of them. They don’t work for me but I can carve the direction of their future.”
THE HUNTING PARTY appealed to Brolin because it touched on so many bases. “For me this
is a great buddy movie,” he says. “It is fun as well as being very real, very dangerous and very
possible. This leads us to a terrific ending and also makes us want more of this story. Sometimes
after a movie you go home, go to bed and forget about it. But this is one of those movies that
provoke thoughts and discussions. I like that.”
Shepard auditioned women throughout Europe for the part of Mirjana, who appears in one of the
most critical scenes in the film. Shepard recalls that “months in, and hundreds of actresses later
I was watching a bunch of audition tapes sent by our casting people. This one actress popped out
of the bunch—she was real, and tough and so very believable, I was blown away that it was
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Diane Kruger. She was almost unrecognizable from TROY. Diane agreed with me that her
character should have no make up, her hair should be dirty and up, and she should wear some
sort of ugly eastern European sweatshirt. Diane's goal was the same as mine—to make this
character totally believable. It's a credit to her acting that it takes almost half the scene before
you even realize it's her. She loses herself so much in the part.”
German-born actress Diane Kruger (TROY, COPYING BEETHOVEN) plays Mirjana the
brutalised Serb woman who now makes a living through petty crime and gives insider
information to Simon and Duck. “When I first read the script I was immediately intrigued by the
story especially as it was based on true events,” says Diane Kruger. “I live in France so I
remember quite a bit about that particular war because it is very close to home. I just wanted to
be part of the project because it was such an interesting screenplay and the story needed to be
told. Mirjana has had a very tough life,” says Kruger. “She is still only in her early twenties and
has lived through a brutal war in which she has lost a lot and been abused. So it was a challenge
to play this character who had to become tough and has lost that sense of being a woman. She
now gets by through criminal activity.”
Croatian actress Kristina Krepela was cast as Marda, the young Muslim Bosnian woman that
Simon Hunt falls in love with during war-time. “I had seen THE MATADOR, loved the film and
googled the director” says Krepela. “I told my friends then that one day I hoped to work with
Richard Shepard. Six months after that he came to Croatia to make THE HUNTING PARTY.”
The character of Marda was someone Krepela could identify with as she too lived through the
war. “She is just an ordinary girl trying to make her life as normal as she can during the war,”
she says. “I too lived through the war. I was much younger than Marda but I remember that we
tried to continue living as if nothing extraordinary was happening. There is a scene in the movie
where there is a Hawaiian party in the hotel in Sarajevo and that reminded me very much of what
was actually happening in Bosnia at the time when we still went to cafés and discos during the
blackouts, playing loud music and partying. But outside the bombs were falling and you could
hear the sirens. I had lots of flashbacks about that part of my life while making this movie.
Marda is just trying to lead as normal a life as possible when she meets Simon Hunt. It was not
her intention to fall in love with him but she does.”
“One would think auditioning actresses to play the beautiful bikini clad girlfriend of Terrence
Howard would be a pretty fun job,” says Shepard, “but it was actually a haul—trying to find
someone who is both funny and sexy and would do this small, but critical part. I wish I could
take credit, but the actual casting idea of Joy was Harvey's (Weinstein) idea. He believed we
could get an excellent actress for the part, believed Joy was the one, and he sent me a bunch of
Joy's movies to watch to convince me. It didn't take much. For a movie where we spend an
inordinate amount of time in car with three sweaty guys, it literally is a breath of fresh air every
time we see Joy. She's funny and sexy and takes a small little part and completely runs with it.”
For Shepard it was important to cast many of the other parts, including that of the Fox and his
sadistic bodyguard, to many of the smaller local characters from a very talented indigenous
acting fraternity. “I wanted to cast local actors, people whose faces were not over-exploited in
America and who had not been seen internationally before,” he explains. “That is the great thing
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about shooting a movie on location because you can take really good actors who are well known
in their home country but not well known in the rest of the world. So that was very important in
terms of casting the Fox, the Nine-Fingered Man and all those other smaller parts. The important
thing was to get really excellent actors but also these local actors bring an authenticity to their
roles. That gives the film an extra and more real dimension.”
The other very real aspect was casting the original journalists in the movie. This happens in the
early reunion sequence in Sarajevo, four of the original journalists get to play war-time reporters
at the Holiday Inn. “I liked them and their characters” says Shepard “and as I was writing the
scene I felt that the actual journalists could pull it off. They agreed to do it and I think they had a
good time. It certainly gave it an authenticity having them do it. John Falk who has the majority
of the lines in that scene is really good and that was fun to capture on film. So he’ll probably get
his own TV series and end up getting fat and rich.”
With the casting complete, Shepard set about making his move. A buddy road movie, set against
the backdrop of a fraught post-war situation, but riddled with adventure and comic moments.
“People have asked “How can you make a movie set in Bosnia after the war about war criminals
and have humor in it?” says Shepard. “I think how can you make a movie like that and not have
humour in it, especially if the movie is about real people. After all they laugh, they cry and they
feel things too. These three guys have a great comic chemistry but it comes from a real place, a
dark gallows humour that you will find in a lot of war reporters.”
SHOOTING THE MOVIE
“Let’s go get us some war criminals!” – Duck
To write the screenplay Richard Shepard travelled to Bosnia. To make the movie he ensured that
his production designer, Jan Roelfs (GATTACA; WORLD TRADE CENTER) also made the
same trip. In terms of number of locations, THE HUNTING PARTY was going to be a big
movie. It also had to be real. So like Shepard, Roelfs too had to make the same pilgrimage to
Sarajevo and into the wild, mountainous countryside of Bosnia.
“For me that trip was an eye-opening experience,” says Shepard. “It was almost like stepping
into a time machine and going back in time to towns that don’t have telephones or running water
or other basic services. I wanted Jan to get that sense of realism – the faces, the feelings and the
texture of the place. The thing is that THE HUNTING PARTY is a movie in which three
characters are travelling throughout the country in a car so each place that they go to has to have
a visual look that is different from the place that they have been before. How do we do that?
How do we ensure audiences don’t get bored visually on the way? On a real road trip every day
brings a new experience and you are seeing something for the first time. That has a real power
and is something that we wanted to bring to the whole film.”
Dutch-born Jan Roelfs was very familiar with the reality of the Balkans conflict. “When I read
the script I felt an immediate and direct attachment to the story having grown up in Europe in
that time,” he says. “As a teenager I went on holidays to the former Yugoslav Republic so I knew
15
the country and the people and was amazed that this brutal war was happening in this country,
less than a thousand kilometres from Amsterdam. So when I read the screenplay I was interested
in working on the movie.”
Roelfs travelled to Sarajevo, checked into the Holiday Inn and then travelled into the countryside
towards the border with Montenegro. “That was my first real sense of the story in terms of where
it was set and what the area was like,” he says. “That trip gave me a very good starting point.”
Shepard briefed Roelfs on his priorities. Number one was realism. The story happens five years
after the war but there are flashbacks to the conflict itself and to other war zones. The story, told
from the perspective of the journalists, had to be imbued with a sense of danger and immediacy.
People are being shot, buildings are being destroyed and atrocities are being carried out. There is
no fantasy element at play here: this is a harsh and brutal war. It is the very real backdrop to the
interaction—sometimes comic, sometimes edgy—between the three main characters.
SHOOT TO THRILL
“The agency, I’m afraid to say, is completely humorless about these things” – Benjamin
“The city of Sarajevo is a real character in the movie so we had to shoot there and the rest of the
movie being in Croatia was equally important,” says Shepard. “Shooting in a real place makes
such a difference. Being away from home infuses everything: the way we shoot the movie and
the way the actors work. The actors can focus on what they are here to do and experience the
journey because they are going on a journey themselves.”
“When you are doing a road trip movie, which in a sense this is, the journeys along the way are
the movie in a way,” says Shepard. “If these places don’t feel unique and weird and scary, like
you are travelling to some place that you have never been before, then the movie doesn’t work.
We are on a journey with these guys and we are seeing it through their eyes. The look of the
film, working with Jan and David Tattersall, the Director of Photography, was to try and give a
sense of being really there. These are dark and mysterious and interesting places: but they are
real.”
“We have a very international production team,” says Mark Johnson. “Jan Roelfs our production
designer is Dutch and I worked with him once. He understands the world of THE HUNTING
PARTY and is very good at recreating it. In this case we were not imagining a world and
building it: we did the research, found out what it was like at that time and then found a way to
recreate it. He did that in a very no-nonsense, non-decorative way so there is a very functional,
almost utilitarian design to the movie. David Tattersall, our director of photography is British
and our costume designer, Beatrix Pasztor is from Hungary. So we are the United Nations of film
production.”
The accomplished Director of Photography, David Tattersall (STAR WARS: EPISODES I, II
AND III; DIE ANOTHER DAY) had also shot Shepard’s last movie, THE MATADOR. “He is a
great collaborator and partner in crime,” says Shepard. “He is far more experienced than I am.
He’s also a genuine artist and a gentleman and we had a lot of fun. On THE HUNTING PARTY
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we had been trying to do things differently from anything we have ever done before. We shot
handheld a lot of the time, moving at a very quick pace and doing things in a new way to give it
a more documentary style. We wanted a more lived-in feel, to make the movie seem as real as
we could. That was also why we were in the actual locations because we want to make the
audience feel that way too. That distinctive visual look, the mood you get from being in a place
that you have never been before, owes so much to David’s eye in THE HUNTING PARTY.”
Apart from Sarajevo, the movie was to be shot in Croatia (doubling for Bosnia) for logistical
reasons. That was not a problem. “The landscape, the surroundings, the details are very similar
because before the war it was just one country,” says Roelfs. “The difficult thing was that there
were specific requirements in the script for certain locations and also we had a very tight
shooting schedule and budget. So in statistical terms it all had to be found very close to Zagreb
where we were basing ourselves. There was no real big set build but there were lots of tiny sets
being built.”
This huge variety of little sets included New York City, Washington DC, Gaza, Sierra Leone and
Somalia. “There are interiors, there are exteriors, there are explosions, there is fighting, there are
tanks and there are burning buildings,” says Roelfs. “We even had to build a Muslim town in
Croatia because there are no Muslim towns in the country. We see towns in flashback sequences
that we had to build first and then destroy.”
Fortunately the locals were very supportive and cooperative: this was a movie they believed in
and wanted to be made. “We shut down villages, we closed off highways and we took over
towns,” says Roelfs. “We put bullet holes everywhere and tore up the tarmac. The army was very
helpful as they gave us tanks and jeeps and other vehicles so it has been a good experience in
that way.’’
STUNTS AND SPECIAL FX
“Putting your life in danger is living. The rest is just television.” – Simon
Some of the most complicated sequences involved recreating the early battle montage that sums
up the hectic and dangerous careers of Simon and Duck. They are seen dodging bullets and filing
bulletins from such bloody war zones as Somalia, Sierra Leone, Baghdad and Gaza. Shepard
shot each scene from the perspective of the war reporters - in other words the action is seen from
the point of view of Simon and Duck. In this way the action is secondary to their reactions, just
as the war story is a backdrop to the relationships of the characters.
For Roelfs recreating these locations required all the smoke, magic and suggestion of his craft.
“It’s about coming up with ideas of what represents Sierra Leone or what is the Gaza Strip or
Iraq” he says. “So we came up with ideas to tell that very quickly: it’s not complicated there are
always ways to find it. So, for example, we used a train yard in Zagreb to double up for the
conflict in Somalia.’’
He was supported by an expert Special Effects crew for what are technically the most complex
scenes of the movie. In particular there is a battle in a Bosnian village that took two days to
17
rehearse and prepare. “There are explosions, bullet hits, rifle fire and a myriad other things that
all had to work on cues and exact timing,” says Garth Inns, SFX co-ordinator. “In one scene
Duck gets up from behind a wall, goes to run down the street and we get a rocket hurtling
through the air and targeting a car that then explodes. This is all done on cue as Duck hits his
final mark which is a freeze frame. I had a conversation with Richard Gere about that scene. He
asked me, since he was in the front line, whether he would survive it. I promised him that he
would and he did. But the actors did not have stunt doubles: you see them doing their own
thing.”
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard did all their own stunts, under the direction of Richard
Shepard and the expert eye of stunt co-ordinator, Tom Delmar. “We had to design safety
measures around our leading men because in this film they are not doubled at all,” says Delmar.
“That in itself was quite a challenge but we managed to make it happen. Richard Shepard was
absolutely focused on what he wanted. He presented me with a number of storyboards and said
put your action into this which was rather new for me. But it was a very good way to work.”
Realism and subtlety ensured that the action was low-key but effective. “We didn’t want to turn
it into this silly Hollywood movie with humungous battle scenes and lots of computer-generated
extras,” says Shepard. “We wanted to keep it real even to those who actually experienced this
war. The first day we were shooting, we shot in ‘sniper alley’ in Sarajevo where people would
literally get shot trying to get water. While we were shooting that scene one of the production
assistants had to leave the set because it was so realistic to her, it was almost like a flashback,
and she couldn’t handle it. I took that as a compliment to Jan and everybody’s work that it
seemed that realistic.”
Although based in Zagreb for much of the shoot, the film studio in the city was not used except
in case of weather cover. For one scene a hotel in the middle of the city was converted into an
apartment in mid-town Manhattan. “With this movie I really want the audience to feel that they
are there, whether “there” is a New York apartment or Gaza or Somalia or Sierra Leone or
Bosnia,” says Roelfs. “I think the movie has a huge variety of looks and they all look real. I’m
very happy with that.”
The shoot may have been epic in the number of sets and logistical details but for Shepard this
was going to reflect his epic ambitions. THE HUNTING PARTY mixes genres: it is a drama, it
is a black comedy, it is a thriller, there is action, there’s sorrow, there’s light and there’s dark. “I
think people are desperately hungry for different movies that are not just one thing with a
predictable outcome,” says Shepard. “Hopefully you will not know how this movie ends and
you’ll be kept a little on edge. As a director you are shooting in difficult locations, sometimes
several hours to get there, and dealing with inclement weather. At the same time you’re trying to
keep the performances focused and ensure that the humour is not so broad that it hurts the movie.
It is a serious topic but hopefully it is a fun ride.”
DRESSED TO IMPRESS
“Simon, you’re the only guy I know who would borrow money to repay a debt that you
took to repay a debt” – Duck
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“The script intrigued me because it was written with a dark, cynical humour and as a costume
designer I was interested in doing a special costume for the three journalists, Simon, Duck and
Benjamin,” says costume designer Beatrix Pasztor.
Together with her assistant, Blanka Budak, Pasztor visited the Central Library in New York.
“We researched the war in the Balkans and also looked at the various images of war reporters,”
she says. “Then I researched wars from other countries like Sierra Leone and Somalia for the
montage sequence.”
To determine the journalists’ wardrobe they spoke with Philippe Deprez and the other reporters.
“Talking to the actual war reporters was very useful as it helped us to achieve in some respects a
semi-documentary style,” she says. “But also because there is a black humour going through the
movie there is this tension between the images – a contrast between the documentary style reality
and the characters themselves who have a sort of hyper reality. That is reflected in the movie and
particularly in the three main characters. They have a colour scheme that suggests their traits and
individuality.”
The fitting for the three lead actors took place in a single day in New York. It was a buzz of
activity, suggestion and innovation with Richard Shepard heavily involved. “We went through
each costume a number of times,” says Pasztor. “Richard ensured that it was historically
accurate and also he was involved in terms of the artistic elements, suggesting various colour
schemes that would reflect the moods of the movie as well as the principal characters.”
“We went for simple when dressing Simon. In the beginning he has a favourite shirt and a
favourite jacket. This jacket is an unusual color—a sort of turquoise blue that was suggested by
Richard Shepard. He wears the same pair of pants essentially throughout the film. For Simon
clothes are really functional. Khaki shirt, grey trousers but a distinctive jacket. He stayed very
simple in dress which is probably very true to war reporters because they don’t change clothes
that much as they are moving from place to place. Plus they also want to blend into the places
that they are working – for them their attire is a sort of camouflage.”
“Richard Shepard saw Duck as a more rock & roll character but Terrence came to the fitting and
started pulling out all these interesting pieces. In other words he started doing his own costume
design and styling. He had great ideas and wanted to wear a bandana. In the beginning of the
movie, where Duck is just starting out in his character, his look is very distinctive and gung ho
and later on he becomes much more business-like and corporate. When he arrives in Sarajevo
five years on he embarks on the trip wearing a ridiculous white outfit. Shepard liked that look
and it added to the comedy of the scenes.”
“Richard Shepard didn’t want Benjamin to look too nerdy. In the beginning he wears a skinny tie
and a striped shirt just like a college student. Later on he loses that image and wears a green polo
and blue corduroys so he is not so preppy any more.”
The gangsters were dressed in standard issue costume, what Pasztor calls “the tracksuit look.”
But the main baddies, including The Fox, stand out from the pack. “I saw the Fox as a composite
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of all these bad guys, part Radovan Karadicz but also other war criminals,” she says. “At first we
thought that he might have a bit of the Robin Hood character about him, someone who dressed
poorly even though he had a lot of money but we decided that he would dress well because he is
a peacock type of person, someone who likes to show off. That’s the man who ended up in the
movie in the end.”
“For his lieutenant, the Nine-Fingered Man, Shepard suggested an actor with red hair. So you
have this couple in the forest—the red-haired man and the Fox—so that was visually interesting.
Also the midget was unusual. It took a long time to get his outfit right. We tried a number of
things but we ended up with a salmon pink colour for him somehow. Richard Shepard always
pushed the envelope which was very good.”
Creating a unique look for the various scenes in the battle montage was closely allied to costume
and fitting the various warring factions whether Somali, Iraqi or Palestinian in a defining
wardrobe. “Those scenes were from different countries so Richard Shepard wanted each look to
be very distinctive,” says Pasztor. “Even if it isn’t the precise and correct uniform at least it looks
like it is from a different country. For example with the Somali forces we showed him various
photographs and he decided that the dominant colour was going to be red and orange. In another
country the rebels were in rain ponchos so they were dressed in blue. We wanted to differentiate
the factions using colors.”
For Pasztor, shooting the film on location in Croatia and Sarajevo had a profound impact on her
understanding and therefore her work. “Our assistant’s little sister was injured and her father was
killed in the war,” she says. “For her it was living through the whole experience again. But she
also knew that this was an important movie to make. Shooting it in Sarajevo really helped us to
get a sense of the reality of what the war was really like.”
*
*
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*
THE HUNTING PARTY
About the Cast
RICHARD GERE / Simon Hunt
Humanitarian, actor, and Golden Globe winner, Richard Gere is one of the most well-known and
respected actors of his generation, with roles in films such as: AN OFFICER AND A
GENTLEMAN, DAYS OF HEAVEN, AMERICAN GIGOLO, PRETTY WOMAN, FIRST
KNIGHT, and in the highly successful courtroom drama PRIMAL FEAR.
Earlier this year, Gere starred in Lasse Hallström's directed film THE HOAX. The film is based
on the true story of Clifford Irving (Gere) who sells his bogus biography of Howard Hughes to a
premiere publishing house in the early 1970s. The film costars Alfred Molina and Marcia Gay
Harden. Also he completed work on, THE FLOCK, about a hyper-vigilant federal agent who,
while training his young female replacement, has to track down a missing girl who he is
convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he is investigating. The film costars Claire
Danes and is set to be released Summer 2007.
Christmas of 2002, Gere sang and danced his way onto the big screen in the Academy Award
winning film adaptation of CHICAGO, playing the infamous lawyer Billy Flynn. In January of
2003, Gere won his first Golden Globe Award as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his
performance. The musical all-star cast includes Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma and Renee
Zellweger as Roxie Hart.
In 2004 Gere teamed up with, Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez to in the romantic comedy,
SHALL WE DANCE and in 2005, Gere was seen in the well respected film, BEE SEASON,
based on the book by the same name.
In 2001, Gere was seen in the critically acclaimed dramatic thrilled UNFAITHFUL, directed by
Adrian Lyne. The film, which also stars Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez, centers on a couple
living in the New York City suburbs whose marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife
indulges in an adulterous fling. Earlier that year Gere was seen playing a reporter drawn to a
small West Virginia town to investigate a series of strange events in the psychological thriller
MOTHMAN PROPHECIES opposite Debra Messing.
Born in Philadelphia, Richard Gere showed his artist ability at a young age, by playing a number
of instruments and writing music for high school productions. Gere won gymnastics scholarship
to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he was philosophy major. While at
school, Gere caught the acting bug and left college after 2 years to pursue acting, landing a lead
role of Danny Zuko in the London production of the rock musical “Grease” in 1973. After
spending full sessions with the Provincetown Playhouse and Seattle Repertory Theatre, he
performed in a number of New York plays, notably the title role in “Richard Farina: Long Time
Coming and Long Time Gone,” in addition to two plays by Sam Shepard, “Back Bog Beast Bait”
and “Killers Head.”
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His career was established with performances in the Broadway rock opera “Soon” and the New
York production of the British farce “Habeas Corpus.” Gere’s other theatre credits include the
Lincoln Center presentation of “A Midsummer Nights Dream” and London Young Vic Theatre
Production of “The Taming of the Shrew.” Gere returned to the Broadway stage in 1980 with
Bent, winning the Theatre World Award for his portrayal as a homosexual concentration-camp
prisoner.
Gere’s motion picture debut came in 1978 with Oscar-honored DAYS OF HEAVEN, for which
he received the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award. His subsequent films include
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR with Diane Keaton, BLOOD BROTHERS, John
Schlesinger’s YANKS, and AMERICAN GIGOLO. His next film was the 1982 blockbuster AN
OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, followed by BREATHLESS, BEYOND THE LIMIT, THE
COTTON CLUB, POWER, NO MERCY, and MILES FROM HOME.
In 1990, Gere was a box-office winner for his portrayal of a corrupt cop in INTERNAL
AFFAIRS and his starring role opposite Julia Roberts in the year’s top-grossing picture,
PRETTY WOMAN. This movie captured the nation’s heart, and won the People’s Choice
Award for Best Movie. The following year, he made a guest appearance in Japanese director
Akira Kurosawa’s RHAPSODY IN AUGUST. Additional film credits include the political
thriller RED CORNER, directed by Jon Avnet and in Michael Caton-Jones’ remake of THE
JACKAL.
Gere was also the first actor to agree to appear in AND THE BAND PLAYED ON, the HBO
adaptation of Randy Shilts book about the first five years of AIDS in America. Gere played the
role of a fictional choreographer.
In 2000 Gere starred in the box-office hit RUNAWAY BRIDE. In this romantic comedy, Gere
was reunited with his PRETTY WOMAN director Garry Marshall, and co-star Julia Roberts.
Also in 2000, Gere stared as a Dallas gynecologist who is surrounded by adoring women in DR.
T AND THE WOMEN directed by Robert Altman. The film also stars Helen Hunt, Liv Tyler,
Farrah Fawcett, and Kate Hudson.
Off screen, Gere is an accomplished pianist and music writer. He is also actively involved in
developing projects and has executive produced FINAL ANALYSIS, MR. JONES and
SOMMERSBY.
A student and friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gere has made numerous journeys
throughout India, Nepal, Zanskar and Tibet, Mongolia and China for over twenty years. He is an
accomplished photographer who has worked extensively within these regions.
His first book, Pilgrim, published in 1997 by Little, Brown and Company, is a collection of
images that represent his twenty-five year journey into Buddhism. With a foreword by His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, the book is Gere’s personal vision of this ancient and spiritual world.
An outspoken human rights advocate, Gere has done much to draw attention to the tragedy that
has been unfolding in Tibet under Chinese occupation.
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He is the founder of the Gere Foundation, which contributes to numerous health education and
human rights projects and is especially dedicated to promoting awareness of Tibet and her
endangered culture. The Foundation contributes directly to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the
Tibetan community-in-exile and to aid in the cultural survival of the Tibetan people. In 1987
Gere was the founding chairman of the Tibet House in New York. After leaving Tibet House in
New York in 1991, he became an active member of the Board of Directors of the International
Campaign for Tibet based in Washington D.C., and in 1996 became Chairman. Gere has
testified on Tibet’s behalf before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Congressional Human
Rights Caucus, the European Parliament, and House International Operations and Human Rights
Subcommittee.
Gere currently lives in New York with his wife Carey Lowell and their son Homer.
TERRENCE HOWARD / Duck
Crowned as the “Indie Film King” by Entertainment Weekly, Terrence Howard exploded onto
the Hollywood scene after delivering strong performances in a number of film and TV
productions. Last year alone he has multiple nominations including an Academy Award and
Golden Globe, and has received awards for Breakthrough Actor by the National Board of
Review, Movieline and Gotham Awards. He has also received the Rising Star Award from the
Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Renaissance Artist Award from the Diversity
Awards and the Career Achievement Award from the Chicago International Film Festival.
Called Sundance’s “newest golden boy” by New York Magazine after a record breaking year at
the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Terrence recently served as a drama juror at the 2006 festival.
Terrence started off 2005 with dynamic performances in Paul Haggis’ Academy Award winning
film CRASH and in John Singleton’s HUSTLE & FLOW. For his leading role in HUSTLE &
FLOW, Terrence received an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Image Award and Independent
Spirit Award nominations and won the Satellite Award for Best Actor. The song, which he
performs in the film, received a Critics Choice Award and was the first rap song ever to receive
an Academy Award. The cast also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best
Ensemble.
For the critically acclaimed CRASH, Terrence and the all-star cast including Sandra Bullock,
Don Cheadle, Thandie Newton and Matt Dillon received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best
Ensemble, was nominated for a Gotham award and swept up the Best Picture Oscar at the 2006
Academy Awards.
Keeping a powerful presence on the small screen as well, Howard was seen in the critically
acclaimed HBO film LACKAWANNA BLUES based on Tony Award-winning Ruben SantiagoHudson’s autobiographical play and directed by George C. Wolfe. The cast, which includes
Jeffrey Wright and S. Epatha Merkerson was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
Howard’s love for acting came naturally, through summers spent with his grandmother, New
York stage actress Minnie Gentry. He began his acting career on THE COSBY SHOW after
being discovered on a New York City street by a casting director. The chance encounter helped
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Howard break into feature films, and soon he was cast in such films as MR. HOLLAND’S
OPUS.
Some of Howard’s memorable performances are of scene-stealing characters such as Cowboy in
the Hughes brothers’ film DEAD PRESIDENTS and as Quentin in Malcolm D. Lee’s film THE
BEST MAN. The latter earning him a NAACP Image Award, Independent Spirit Award
nomination and a Chicago Film Critics Award nomination.
Terrence recently completed filming a thriller THE BRAVE ONE, which he stars opposite Jodie
Foster. He was recently seen as swim coach Jim Ellis in PRIDE co-staring Bernie Mac,
AUGUST RUSH with Robin Williams and Freddie Highmore and AWAKE with Jessica Alba
and Hayden Christensen. In the spring, Terrence will begin production on IRON MAN opposite
Robert Downey Jr., which is based off the famed comic-book series.
Howard was recently seen as swim coach Jim Ellis in PRIDE co-staring Bernie Mac. Terrence
will next be seen in the thriller THE BRAVE ONE, which he stars opposite Jodie Foster,
AUGUST RUSH with Robin Williams and Freddie Highmore and AWAKE with Jessica Alba
and Hayden Christensen. Terrence is currently in production on IRON MAN opposite Robert
Downey Jr., which is based off the famed comic-book series.
Other film credits include John Singleton’s crime drama ANGEL EYES, HARTS WAR, FOUR
BROTHERS, IDLEWILD and Jim Sheridan’s GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’.
A self-taught musician Howard plays both the piano and the guitar and he can be seen displaying
these musical talents opposite Jamie Foxx in 2004’s RAY for which they both earned a SAG
nomination. A promising songwriter, Howard’s lyrics are soon to be acquired by some of
today’s biggest artists.
JESSE EISENBERG / Benjamin
Jesse Eisenberg recently the independent film THE EDUCATION OF CHARLIE BANKS
which marks Fred Durst’s directorial debut and also stars Jason Ritter, Chris Marquette and Eva
Amurri. This film will premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Jesse gained recognition
for his role in Samuel Goldwyn Films THE SQUID AND THE WHALE in which he starred
opposite Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels. This film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best
Ensemble Cast and Jesse was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting
Male Actor in addition to being nominated for a BFCA Award for Best Young Actor. His other
credits include RODGER DODGER in which he starred opposite Isabella Rossellini, Campbell
Scott, Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals.
JAMES BROLIN / Franklin Harris
James Brolin, the recipient of an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards, is one of television’s
best-known, most popular stars. His wide-reaching acting credits range from tightly written
drama to big scale action-adventure. Brolin has also established himself as a director of dramatic
series television taking on several episodes of PENSACOLA: WINGS OF GOLD (of which he
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also executive produced and starred), in addition to several episodes of HOTEL and an episode
of the ensemble Western series THE YOUNG RIDERS. Brolin’s feature film directorial debut
MY BROTHER’S WAR, which he also starred, resulted in a Best Film award at the Hollywood
Film Festival.
While he has worked extensively in all television genres, Brolin is best known for his starring
role in two long-running series: MARCUS WELBY M.D., in which his role earned him an
Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series, and the immensely popular drama HOTEL.
Jim also starred in the action-adventure EXTREME and the Western serial drama ANGEL
FALLS. Jim’s long-term work includes TRAPPED, the highest rated telefilm of its season, and
the CBS mini-series AND THE SEA WILL TELL. He also hosted the ABC primetime wildlife
reality series THE WORLD OF DISCOVERY and guest starred on the NBC hit drama series
THE WEST WING.
James Brolin’s feature film career blends box-office blockbusters and prestigious smaller
independent productions, stretching back to 1962 when he made his motion picture debut in
TAKE HER, SHE’S MINE with James Stewart and Sandra Dee. After a number of parts in
other movies, Brolin landed a starring role opposite Jacqueline Bisset in a remake of PICKUP
ON SOUTH STREET called THE CAPE TOWN AFFAIR. He has starred in such major films as
CAPRICORN ONE; WEST WORLD, directed by best-selling author Michael Crichton; THE
AMITYVILLE HORROR, one of the highest grossing independent films of all times, and
GABLE AND LOMBARD. Brolin produced and starred in the critically acclaimed independent
film CHEATIN’ HEARTS, and also starred in Allison Anders’ well-received drama GAS FOOD
LODGING.
Some of his more recent feature film work includes a starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s
TRAFFIC, a leading role in MASTER OF DISGUISE with Dana Carvey for Sony/Revolution, a
supporting role in Spielberg’s CATCH ME IF YOU CAN with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom
Hanks, followed by a commanding role in Denzel Washington’s ANTWONE FISHER, along
with A GUY THING starring opposite Julia Stiles, Jason Lee, and Selma Blair.
James Brolin’s work in THE REAGANS earned him an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination
for the most Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or a Movie.
James Brolin completed principal photography on two feature films, THE ALIBI opposite Selma
Blair and AMERICAN STANDARD, which he also produced. He also guest starred in USA hit
drama MONK, Lifetime’s WIDOW ON THE HILL opposite Natasha Henstridge and starred in
USA Network’s CATEGORY 7: THE END OF THE WORLD. He completed production on the
A&E Network film WEDDING WARS and is currently filming the TV pilot ALL FALL
DOWN with Alyssa Milano.
LJUBOMIR KEREKEŠ / The Fox
A native of Varaždin, Croatia, Ljubomir Kerekeš has appeared in over 100 different roles since
beginning his acting career. His films include: HOW THE WAR BEGAN ON MY ISLAND,
THREE MEN OF MELITA ZGANJER, MADONNA, THE LAST WILL, HOLDING CO.,
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GOD FORBID A WORSE THING SHOULD HAPPEN, THE WITNESSES, SLEEP SWEET
MY DARLING, and LIBERTAS. His television projects include: STORMY SILENCES, A
FAMILY MATTER, OURS AND YOURS, GOLDEN JUG, and over 30 episodes of the series
BUMERANG.
Ljubomir has acted in a wide range of theater roles including Hashek, Raskolinikow, King Ubu,
Hamlet, Jedermann, Don Juan, Alceste-Misantrop and Henry IV. He won three Croatian Acting
Association Awards for the roles of Hashejk and Jedermann in theater, and for the role of Aleska
in the film HOW THE WAR BEGAN ON MY ISLAND. He was also awarded the Best Actor
Award twice at the Actors Festival in Vukovar, Vinkovci and Županja.
Ljubomir currently lives in Croatia and works at the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb.
KRISTINA KREPELA / Magda
Kristina Krepela was born in Croatia, and began her drama career at a young age. She spent 12
years in school training as a pianist and singer, before going on to the Academy of Dramatic
Arts, from which she graduated in 2003.
Kristina has appeared in the feature film LA FEMME MUSKETEER with Gerard Depardieu,
Nastassja Kinsky and Michael York. Her short films include POSTCARDS FROM CROATIA
which was shown at the Berlin Film Festival, and THE CHASE, produced by the Academy of
Dramatic Arts. In addition to film, Kristina has appeared on the television series LOVE IN THE
OFFSIDE as journalist Ivana Majdak. She has also been in commercials for Erste &
Steiermarkische Bank, Osjecko Beer, and HT-Mobile and American Express.
Kristina’s theater experience includes: “Big World Beauty,” “Entrapment,” “Brother Donkey,”
and “Our Town,” where her portrayal of Emily Webb earned her the Veljko Maricic Theater
Award for the Best Young Actress at the 11th Annual International Small Scenes Theater
Festival in 2004. Her other theater works includes: “Grizula,” “Motel Dark,” “Connected
Interests,” Jukebox Melita,” “The Seagull,” “Conquests of Norman,” “Mother Cravachon,”
“Myth Orestes,” “Asking Marriage” and “Twelfth Night; or What You Will.”
DIANE KRUGER / Mirjana
Diane Kruger returns to her role as Abigail Chase in NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF
SECRETS. She made her international screen debut in 2004 as the legendary Helen in Wolfgang
Petersen’s epic, TROY. Starring alongside Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, Kruger played the
woman whose face launched a thousand ships in the decade-long war between the kingdoms of
Greece and Troy. Eric Bana, Rose Byrne, Peter O’Toole and Julie Christie also starred in the
highly successful film.
Fluent in English, German and French, Kruger has recently distinguished herself in a series of
starring roles in notable international films. She recently starred as noted Quebecois director
Denys Arcand’s THE AGE OF DARKNESS. In South Africa, Kruger starred alongside Joseph
Fiennes and Dennis Haysbert in Bille August’s GOODBYE BAFANA, which recently
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premiered at the 57th Berlin Film Festival. The film is based on the true story of a white South
African racist whose life is profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for 20 years,
Nelson Mandela.
Kruger also starred in THE TIGER’S BRIGADE, a French film set in 1912 about the exploits of
France’s first motorized police brigade, as well as in Agnieszka Holland’s COPYING
BEETHOVEN, which concerned the relationship that developed between Ludwig van
Beethoven (Ed Harris) and his copyist (Kruger) as he was completing his Ninth Symphony.
FRANKIE, the story of a catwalk model’s decline and fall, premiered at the Edinburgh Film
Festival in August 2005. The film, directed by Fabienne Berthaud, stars Kruger as Frankie, the
model who is trying to valiantly forestall the inevitable fall of her modeling career. Kruger also
served as a co-producer on this French film.
In 2005, Kruger also starred in JOYEUX NOEL (Merry Christmas) for director Christian
Clarion. Filmed in Romania, France and Germany in three different languages, JOYEUX NOEL
is set during World War I and is based on a true story about a truce reached on Christmas Eve.
Kruger played one half of a famous German opera duo who is reunited with her husband on
Christmas Eve in order to sing for the Crown Prince of Germany. She performed the role in her
native German language. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film, a Golden Globe Award in the same category, a British Academy of Film and
Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, and three Cesar Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars).
In addition to NATIONAL TREASURE and TROY, Kruger was also seen in 2004 opposite Josh
Hartnett in the thriller WICKER PARK, directed by Paul McGuigan. The previous year, she
starred for French director Cedric Klapisch in his noir thriller NI POUR, NI CONTRE.
Born in Germany, Kruger first studied dance with London’s Royal Ballet. She then moved to
Paris to become a model and study acting, achieving international fame in the former while
taking classes at the Ecole Fleuron, eventually winning the school’s Classe Libre award for Best
Actor. Kruger also lived for many years in New York City.
Kruger was honored at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival with the Chopard Trophy for Female
Revelation of the Year. This year, Kruger will serve as master of ceremonies at the 60th Cannes
Film Festival, welcoming president Stephen Frears and his jury onto the stage of the Palais des
Festivals and host the closing ceremonies on May 27th. Kruger currently resides in Paris.
JOY BRYANT / Duck’s Girlfriend
Joy Bryant was recently seen in a wide variety of roles in films such as: Emilio Estevez’s
political ensemble BOBBY; Jim Sheridan’s GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ loosely based on the
life of rapper 50 Cent, who also appeared in the film; the thriller THE SKELETON KEY starring
Kate Hudson, Peter Skaarsgard and John Hurt; and in the independent film LONDON, directed
by Hunter Richards featuring Jessica Biel, Jason Statham, and Chris Evans.
In 2004, Bryant appeared in the adventure/drama HAVEN, which co-starred Bill Paxton and
Orlando Bloom. In the same year, Bryant appeared in Scott Ziehl’s THREE WAY SPLIT
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alongside Gina Gershon, Dwight Yoakam, Ali Larter and Desmond Harrington and in Mario
Van Peebles’ BADASSSSS with Long and David Alan Grier in director. In 2003, Bryant costarred with Jessica Alba and Mekhi Phifer in director Bille Woodruff’s HONEY.
Bryant was featured as the female lead in the 2002 critically acclaimed film ANTWONE
FISHER, the directorial debut of Denzel Washington. Bryant portrayed the love interest of the
film’s title character, played by Derek Luke, who helps Fisher confront his painful troubled past.
The film, written by Antwone Fisher, is loosely based on his life experiences.
Bryant made her onscreen debut in the MTV original production of CARMEN: THE HIP
HOPERA opposite Beyonce Knowles and Mekhi Phifer followed by a small role in the comedy
SHOWTIME, which starred Eddie Murphy and Robert DeNiro.
While enrolled as a full-time student at Yale University, Bryant was discovered by a modeling
scout from Next Models Management. For several years, Bryant pursued a career as a fashion
model in Paris and subsequently signed an exclusive contract with Tommy Hilfiger. Bryant
continues to model between films as a cover subject for Victoria Secret, and in a number of
prestigious print campaigns such as the Fall 2003 GAP ads.
Born and raised in the South Bronx, Bryant attended Westminster High School in Connecticut on
a full scholarship. She is an avid supporter of the Fieldston Enrichment Program under the
umbrella of “A Better Chance Public School Program,” an organization that reaches out to
minority talent to enrich their academic opportunities. Bryant spends her time between Los
Angeles and New York with her beloved pit bull named Nana.
DYLAN BAKER / Chet
Dylan Baker will be reprising his role of Doctor Connors this May in SPIDERMAN 3 and will
play Carrie Anne Moss’ husband this summer in the zombie/comedy FIDO with Billy Connolly.
Later this year, he will be appearing in Julie Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, Michael
Dougherty’s TRICK ‘R TREAT, WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST with Sharon Stone
and Timothy Hutton and THE STONE ANGEL with Ellen Burstyn.
Baker was honored with an IFP Gotham Award and an IFP West Independent Spirit Award
nomination for his starring role as Bill Maplewood in the critically acclaimed film HAPPINESS.
Directed by Todd Solondz, the film wowed audiences and took the Critics Prize at the Cannes
Film Festival.
Born in Syracuse, NY, Baker spent his childhood in Lynchburg, Virginia. Upon graduation from
Georgetown Prep School in Rockville, Maryland, he attended The College of William and Mary,
where his interest in the theater was born. He earned his B.F.A. at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas and his M.F.A. at the Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, he appeared
onstage in such Yale Repertory productions as Rum and Coke, Tartuffe, About Face, and
Richard III.
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Baker earned Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for his role as The Prince in the
Broadway production of LA BETE, won a Theater World Award for his Broadway debut in
Richard Greenberg’s Eastern Standard and an Obie Award for his performance in the OffBroadway production of NOT ABOUT HEROES. Other Off-Broadway productions include
Tony Kushner’s HOMEBODY/KABUL, The Atlantic Theater Company’s THE SEA OF
TRANQUILITY and THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASONS at the Second Stage Theatre.
Baker’s additional feature film credits include: SPIDERMAN 2, KINSEY, HIDE & SEEK, THE
MATADOR, LET’S GO TO PRISON, HEAD OF STATE, CHANGING LANES, ROAD TO
PERDITION, HOW TO DEAL, THIRTEEN DAYS, THE CELL, ALONG CAME A SPIDER,
TAILOR OF PANAMA, CELEBRITY, RANDOM HEARTS, COMMITTED, REQUIEM FOR
A DREAM, SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, TRUE BLUE, DISCLOSURE, PLANES, TRAINS
AND AUTOMOBILES, TALK RADIO, THE WIZARD OF LONELINESS, THE LONG
WALK HOME, DELIRIOUS, and PASSED AWAY.
Baker’s television credits include an arc on THE PRACTICE, Tom Hanks’ HBO mini-series
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, THE PITTS, THE BOOK
OF DANIEL, Stephen Bochco’s courtroom drama MURDER ONE, FEDS, the CBS M-O-W
DEADLY FORCE, the NBC mini-series THE MURDER OF MARY PHAGAN, and the CBS
mini-series’ MAFIA MARRIAGE and RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE.
Baker is married to actress Becky Ann Baker, and they reside in New York City.
*
*
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*
THE HUNTING PARTY
About the Filmmakers
RICHARD SHEPARD / Writer, Director
Richard Shepard was born, raised and lives in New York City. He attended NYU’s film school
but did not graduate because he failed his required science class. He is still awaiting his honorary
degree.
In the course of his career, Mr. Shepard has written, directed and produced six independent
features, written numerous screenplays for the studios, directed Emmy-winning television and
once fired Shelley Winters.
Mr. Shepard latest film, TBD starring Richard Gere and Terrance Howard is based on a true
story. It’s a darkly comic adventure about three journalists hunting the most wanted war
criminal in Bosnia.
Shepard recently was nominated for the 2007 Emmy award and won the 2006 Director’s Guild
of America award for directing the pilot of the hit ABC show UGLY BETTY. Shepard’s
previous directorial effort for television was the pilot for CRIMINAL MINDS starring Mandy
Patinkin, that is now in it’s second season on CBS.
Richard Shepard’s previous feature film, THE MATADOR, which he wrote and directed, starred
Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis, and opened in December of 2005. Brosnan
received a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the film.
Prior to that, Shepard wrote, produced and directed indie thriller OXYGEN, starring Adrien
Brody and Maura Tierney. He also produced the 2001 Sundance Dramatic Competition entry
SCOTLAND, PA., directed by Billy Morrissette. The film starred James LeGros, Maura Tierney,
Christopher Walken, Amy Smart and Andy Dick. Along with producing, Shepard also appears
nude in the film as a streaker. This fact should not stop you from renting it at your local
Blockbuster.
When he was 24 Shepard co-wrote and directed the romantic comedy THE LINGUINI
INCIDENT starring David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette. Unfortunately for Shepard, and the
movie going public, the 1991 romantic comedy was neither romantic nor very funny. Thankfully
the film is currently unavailable on DVD.
MARK JOHNSON / Producer
Mark Johnson won the Best Picture Academy Award for Barry Levinson’s poignant 1988 drama
RAIN MAN, starring Dustin Hoffman (Best Actor Oscar) and Tom Cruise. One of several films
Johnson made with Levinson during a twelve-year span, the films won four Oscars and captured
the Golden Globe as Best Picture.
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Born in Maryland, Johnson spent ten years of his youth in Spain. He earned his undergraduate
degree in drama from the University of Virginia and his M.A. in Film Scholarship from the
University of Iowa. From there, he moved to New York and entered the Director’s Guild
Training Program, where one of his first projects was Paul Mazursky’s NEXT STOP,
GREENWICH VILLAGE. He subsequently relocated to Los Angeles and moved from
production assistant to assistant director on such projects as: MOVIE, MOVIE, THE BRINKS
JOB, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ and Mel Brooks’ HIGH ANXIETY, which was co-written
by future business partner Barry Levinson.
In his successful partnership with Levinson, Johnson produced all of the writer-director’s films
from 1982-1994. In addition to RAIN MAN, their diverse slate of acclaimed features includes:
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM, THE NATURAL, TIN MEN, TOYS, YOUNG SHERLOCK
HOLMES, AVALON, DINER (their 1982 debut project, for which Levinson earned an Oscar
nomination for his screenplay), and BUGSY, nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best
Picture and Best Director. BUGSY also captured the Golden Globe for Best Picture.
In 1994, Johnson established his own independent production company and won the Los Angeles
Film Critics New Generation Award for his very first effort— Alfonso Cuaron’s A LITTLE
PRINCESS. Under his new banner, Johnson also produced: HOME FRIES and DONNIE
BRASCO. He served as executive producer for CBS’s FALCONE, L.A. DOCTORS and THE
GUARDIAN. Johnson’s latest television project is an hour-long dramedy, LOVE MONKEY
which premiered midseason on CBS and had a complete run on VH1 last spring.
Johnson’s recent slate of motion pictures includes: John Lee Hancock’s THE ALAMO and THE
ROOKIE, Bob Dolman’s THE BANGER SISTERS, Brad Silberling’s MOONLIGHT MILE,
Tom Shadyac’s DRAGONFLY, Levinson’s AN EVERLASTING PIECE, Robert Zemeckis’
WHAT LIES BENEATH, GALAXY QUEST and MY DOG SKIP. He recently produced Nick
Cassavetes’ THE NOTEBOOK, and THE WENDELL BAKER STORY, which marked the
directorial debuts of filmmaking brothers Luke and Andrew Wilson. He is currently in
production on PRINCE CASPIAN, the sequel to THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE
WARDROBE and in post-production on LAKE CITY, an independent film.
Additionally, Johnson has either presented or executive produced Luis Llosa’s directorial debut,
SNIPER, Tim Robbins’ directorial debut, Bob Roberts, Steven Soderbergh’s KAFKA, Robert
Redford’s Oscar-nominated QUIZ SHOW and JOURNEY OF HOPE, winner of the 1999
Foreign Language Film Oscar. Johnson also serves as the Chair of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences’ Foreign Language Film Award Committee and as a Governor for the
Producers’ Branch.
SCOTT KROOPF / Producer
Scott Kroopf is Vice-Chairman and President of the Motion Picture Group at Intermedia. Most
recently, Kroopf produced BREACH, an Intermedia / Universal Pictures co-production, directed
by Billy Ray and starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippe and Laura Linney.
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Intermedia is a publicly held, international production and finance company with offices in
London, Munich and Los Angeles. Intermedia has produced and co-financed such successful
films as RV, TERMINATOR 3, ADAPTATION, THE QUIET AMERICAN, NATIONAL
SECURITY, THE WEDDING PLANNER, IRIS, and SLIDING DOORS. Intermedia
currently has two films in post production: MAGICIANS, a comedy from the creators of the hit
British television series PEEP SHOW and a remake of Takashi Miike’s ONE MISSED CALL,
directed by Eric Valette (Malefique).
Prior to joining Intermedia, Kroopf was president and COO of Radar Pictures, which he founded
with Ted Field. At Radar, Kroopf developed and produced such films as ZATHURA, directed
by Jon Favreau, the worldwide hit THE LAST SAMURAI, directed by Ed Zwick and starring
Tom Cruise, as well SON OF THE MASK, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK and MerchantIvory's LE DIVORCE starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts. Kroopf also supervised Michael
Bay's remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
Kroopf and Fields built Radar on the foundation of the former Interscope Communications,
where Kroopf produced or supervised over 50 films in 14 years, including JUMANJI, BILL &
TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY, PITCH BLACK,
RUNAWAY BRIDE, VERY BAD THINGS, GRIDLOCK'D, MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS, THE
HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, COCKTAIL, THREE MEN AND A BABY and
OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE. At Interscope, Kroopf started as an in-house producer and
development executive and eventually became President of the company.
Before joining Interscope, Kroopf was executive in charge of production for Embassy Pictures
from 1982 to 1985, where he was involved in the development and production of STAND BY
ME, THE SURE THING and A CHORUS LINE. He began his motion picture production career
at Robe-Ackerman, a commercial/television/documentary production company.
ADAM MERIMS / Executive Producer
Adam J. Merims is currently working on THE RETURN written and directed by Neil Burger and
starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Pena. He recently executive produced
BREACH.
Written and directed by Billy Ray, BREACH stars Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippe, and Laura
Linney. Before BREACH, Adam most recently executive produced Casanova. Directed by
Lasse Hallstrom and starring Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Oliver Platt and Jeremy Irons, the
film was shot entirely on location in Venice, Italy. Previous to this he executive produced writer/
director Richard Shepard’s THE MATADOR, starring Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, and Hope
Davis on location in Mexico City, and HOUSE OF D, writer/director/actor David Duchovny’s
first feature starring Robin Williams, Tea Leoni, Erykah Badu, and Anton Yelchin.
Merims produced writer/director Billy Ray’s critically acclaimed first feature SHATTERED
GLASS, starring Hayden Christensen, Peter Saarsgard, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Rosario
Dawson, and Hank Azaria. His other credits as producer include: Ed Solomon’s LEVITY,
starring Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter and Kirsten Dunst, which opened
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the 2003 Sundance Festival; LOVE STINKS, written and directed by Jeff Franklin and starring
French Stewart, Bridgette Wilson, Tyra Banks, and Bill Bellamy; and COLD AROUND THE
HEART starring David Caruso, Kelly Lynch and Stacey Dash, written and directed by John
Ridley and executive produced by Oliver Stone. He was co-producer on UNIVERSAL
SOLDIER: THE RETURN, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and on the HBO Premiere project
FREEWAY starring Kiefer Sutherland and Reese Witherspoon.
From August 1993 till November 1994, Merims was Producer and Head of West Coast
Operations for Nickelodeon Movies. At Nickelodeon, he was responsible for managing the startup of a Nickelodeon features office in Los Angeles and with identifying and developing projects
suitable for motion picture production in the family entertainment arena in conjunction with both
Twentieth Century Fox Pictures and Paramount Pictures.
Before Nickelodeon, Merims worked as VP, Production at Lobell-Bergman Productions from
April 1990 through July 1993 where he was responsible for all development at the company.
During his tenure at Lobell-Bergman he served as associate producer on Andy Bergman¹s
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker;
Herbert Ross’ UNDERCOVER BLUES, starring Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid; and Andy
Scheinman’s LITTLE BIG LEAGUE, starring Timothy Busfield.
From 1984-89, Merims worked as a freelance producer, production manager, and assistant
director. In these capacities, he was involved with a number of projects, most notably, the
original mini-series Lonesome Dove. He has been a member of the Director’s Guild of America
since 1986.
Merims graduated from Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Philosophy and
Economics. He was also a graduate of The Collegiate School in New York City.
BILL BLOCK / Executive Producer
Bill Block is currently CEO of QED International. QED finances motion picture projects for
sales and distribution in both the domestic and international marketplaces. The company also
acquires, develops, finances, and produces its own motion pictures, either independently or in
partnership with major studios. Block’s current projects are SMART PEOPLE starring Dennis
Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, and Rachel Weisz and THE RETURN directed by Neil Burger
starring Rachel McAdams, Michael Pena and Tim Robbins. Previously Block was cofounder
and president of Artisan Entertainment which was acquired by Lions Gate.
DAVID TATTERSALL / Director of Photography
Tattersall was born and raised in Great Britain. He attended Goldsmith's College in London
where he graduated with a first class BA (Hons) Fine Arts Degree. He then studied at Britain's
National Film and Television School where he specialized in camera work.
Tattersall has worked steadily on numerous feature films and television productions. His film
credits include: THE MATADOR with Richard Shepard, THE GREEN MILE, DIE ANOTHER
33
DAY, XXX2, LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE, STAR WARS:
EPISODES I, II and III, CON AIR, THE MAJESTIC, VERTICAL LIMIT and RADIOLAND
MURDERS. He is currently shooting the Wachowski brothers’ SPEED RACER.
On television, Tattersall worked on the Yorkshire series YELLOWTHREAD STREET and for
American TV on THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, for which he won an Emmy
Award and A.S.C. nominations for Best Cinematography.
JAN ROELFS / Production Designer
Jan Roelfs’ film work includes the upcoming LIONS FOR LAMBS. His previous films include
WORLD TRADE CENTER, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, BAD COMPANY, SIMONE,
FLAWLESS. THE ATRONAUT’S WIFE, GATTACA—for which he received an Academy
Award nomination and an Art Directors Guild Award nomination, GENTLEMEN DON’T EAT
POETS, THE JUROR, LITTLE WOMEN, THE BABY OF MACON, HOFFMAN’S HUNGER,
ORLANDO—for which he received an Academy Award nomination, ELINE VERE,
PROSPERO’S BOOKS, DROWNING BY NUMBERS, THE COOK, THE THEIF, HIS WIFE
AND HER LOVER, SAILOR’S DON’T CRY, and A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS.
BEATRIX PASZTOR / Costume Designer
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor’s film credits include: THE BROTHERS BLOOM currently in
production, BASIC INSTINCT 2, AEON FLUX, ALFIE, VANITY FAIR, IN THE CUT, THE
RECRUIT, BLACK SHEEP, JOHN Q, MONKEY BONE, WONDER BOYS, PSYCHO,
GOOD WILL HUNTING, U TURN, SHE’S SO LOVELY, EXCESS BAGGAGE, ‘TIL THERE
WAS YOU, TO DIE FOR, EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES, INDECENT PROPOSAL,
AMERICAN HEART, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, THE FISHER KING, ROCK & ROLL
HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER, GHOULIES GO TO HIGH SCHOOL, INDIGO, THE MUSIC
BOX, DRUGSTORE COWBOY, and THE BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY.
*
*
34
*
THE HUNTING PARTY
CAST
(in order of appearance)
Duck
Simon
Girl at Awards Ceremony
Franklin Harris
Sexy Assistant
Gert
TriBeCa Loft Girl
Benjamin
Journalist #1
Journalist #2
Journalist #3
Journalist #4
Journalist #5
Journalist #6
The Fox
Marda
Una
Duck’s Girlfriend
Srdjan
Nine Fingered Man
Roadhouse Waiter
Indian Officer
Miriam
Boris
Man with Scar
Solitary Man
Old Lady Gardening
Young Boy
Bar Patron #1
Bar Patron #2
Thug #1
Thug #2
Sascha
Mirjana
Fox’s Man with Gun
Commando #1
CIA Operative
Old Man with Guitar
TERRENCE HOWARD
RICHARD GERE
GORDANA VUKRES
JAMES BROLIN
SANELA SEFERAGIC
DAMIR ŠABAN
ALEKSANDRA GRDIC
JESSE EISENBERG
JOHN W. FALK
SCOTT ANDERSON
HARALD DOORNBOS
PHILIPPE DEPREZ
ERICH RATHFELDER
ŽAN MAROLT
LJUBOMIR KEREKEŠ
KRISTINA KREPELA
SNEŽANA MARKOVIC
JOY BRYANT
GORAN KOSTIC
BRANKO SMILJANIC
SEMIR KRIVIC
NITIN GANATRA
R. MAHALAKSHMI DEVARAJ
MARK IVANIR
LUCIO SLAMA
DAMIR KUKULJ
KATA IVKOVCIC
SRECKO FRANOVIC
SAŠA DODIK
AMER ISANOVIC
GORAN MIRAJ GRBIC
MLADEN VULIC
ZDRAVKO KOCEVAR
DIANE KRUGER
MARINKO PRGA
LUKA PEROŠ
DYLAN BAKER
ARIF ALAIBEGOVIC
35
Stunt Coordinators
TOM DELMAR
IVO KRIŠTOF
Stunts
PETAR BENCIC
TONI BOBETA
MARKO BUHIN
MIROSLAV BUHIN
GORAN GORICKI
EVANGELOS GRECOS
ROBERT HORVAT
ŠIMUN JAGARINEC
CHARLES JARMAN
SNJEŽANA JERSOVAR
VLADO KROSEL
MAŠA MIHALJCIC
ANIS OMAR
SLAVEN PETROVIC
MAJA SAVANOVIC
ROBERT STUNKOVIC
SAŠA TOMASEVIC
FILIP ŽAFRAN
Unit Production Manager
ADAM MERIMS
First Assistant Director
RICHARD L. FOX
Technical Advisor
Post Production Supervisor
QED Production Executive
Intermedia Executives
TWC Executive in Charge of Production
Production Supervisor
Unit Manager
Assistant Unit Manager
Base Camp Coordinator
First Assistant Director
Key Second Assistant Director
Second Assistant Director
Additional Second Assistant Director
Third Assistant Director
PHILIPPE DEPREZ
MICHAEL TINGER
ELLIOT FERWERDA
LINDA BENJAMIN
STEVE FREEDMAN
GAVIN JAMES
NOËL LOHR
ERIC ROBINSON
MILAN “MIKI” STANIŠIC
DUBRAVKO “BAJA” PETROVIC
RANKO GANIC
RAJKO VUCEN
HR ZORAN SUDAR
ALISON BANKS
DANIELLA JOVANOVIC
TINA FRATNIK
TOMISLAV PALIKOVIC
36
Art Director
Set Decorator
Assistant Art Director
Draftsman
Draftsman
Graphic Designer
Storyboard Artist
First Assistant A-Camera
Second Assistant A-Camera
B-Camera Operator
First Assistant B-Camera
Second Assistant B-Camera
Clapper-Loader
Loader
Steadicam
Steadicam-Additional
Script Supervisor
Script Supervisor-Additional
Production Sound Mixer
Boom Operator
Utility Sound
MARIO IVEZIC
RADHA MEHTA
LADISLAV “LACI” MARKIC
IVANA ŠKRABALO
IVAN BAJT
IVANA RUBELJ
ROLAND GAMBIROŽA
BRANKO KNEZ
MARIN MARŠIC
VANJA CERNJUL
RON BAHARA
MARIO VARGOVIC
JURA KOŠTIC
ŽELJKO ŽUPAN
SACHA IPPOLITI
ZORAN MIKINCIC-BUDIN
JESSICA CLOTHIER
GORANKA GREIF SORO
REINHARD STERGAR
TOMISLAV FOGEC
IGOR ŠEGOVIC
Assistant Costume Designer
Costume Supervisor
Mr. Gere’s Dresser
On Set Costumer
Costumer
Wardrobe Assistants
BLANKA BUDAK
STÁNA ŠLOSSEROVÁ
THOMAS SCOTT BOYER
SANDRA POLANEC
MARTINA BELAJ
JANA JANKOVÁ
NADA “NADJA” ALBERTOVA
VINCENZO MASTRANTONIO
ANA BULAJIC
SNJEŽANA “BUBA” TOMLJENOVIC
CATERINA SISTO
CHARLES GREGORY ROSS
JOLANDA BUHIN
FERDINANDO MEROLLA
ALEXANDRA ROUSE
SALVATORE PLACENTI
MIJO-ŠOMI DEBANIC
DUBRAVKO ÐURAN
ROBERT CAPAN
IGOR DROPUCIC
BRANKO REPALUST
KRISTIJAN REPALUST
Key Makeup Artist/Makeup for Mr. Gere
Additional Makeup Artists
Hair Stylist for Mr. Howard
Additional Hairstylist
Key Hairstylist/Hair Stylist for Mr. Gere
Wig Maker
Prosthetics
Property Master
Assistant Property Master
Prop Buyer
Propman on Set
Armourer
Assistant Armourer
37
Chief Lighting Technician VACLAV “ENZO” CERMAK
Best Boy Electric ZDENEK VODVARKA
Genny Operators JOSIP ŠTERLE
ROBERT BRAJKOVIC
Base Camp Genny Operators DAMIR GAJDEK
MARKO MARŠIC
Company Electrics IŠTVAN DENC
DUBRAVKO TOPOL
SAMIR KADRIC
DAMIR RADINOVIC
DARKO FERENCAK
Rigging Gaffer ŽELJKO VRŠCAK
Rigging Electrics VLADO CEH
SLAVEN ŠEKRST
IVICA ANDELOVIC
BORIS ZIMŠEK
ZLATKO RAKITIC
DUBRAVKO BABIC
Key Grip NENAD SOKAC
Best Boy Grip STJEPAN KLEN
Company Grips KRISTIAN KLASAN
ROBERT ŠPEHAR
DOMINIK SOKAC
DOMINIK RUKAVINA
Phoenix Crane Operator BLAŽ JELNIKAR
Phoenix Crane Technicians KLEMEN FAJFAR
TOMAŽ MENEGALJA
PETER GREGORCIC
LUKA KRANJEC
ANŽE MIŠJAK KERNC
Picture Vehicle Coordinator SLAVKO HITA
Military Vehicles Coordinator SAŠA PETELINŠEK
Asst. to Picture Vehicle Coordinator ŠIMUN KULIŠ
Car Technician MILAN VUCEN
Insert Cars PETER MANDALTSCHEFF
Insert Car Drivers KONSTANTIN VENTUNEAC
IVAN KUMCHEV
Special Effects Coordinator GARTH INNS
Special Effects Technician TIMOTHY WILLIS
Special Effects Coordinator MARIJAN KAROGLAN
SFX Technician-SFX Truck Driver VLADO CELIŽIC
SFX Technician STJEPAN ŽUPANCIC
Assistant SFX JOSIP LIPOVAC
Assistant SFX IGOR MANDIC
Assistant SFX DARKO LUKŠIC
38
Production Coordinator/US
Production Coordinator/EYR
Assistant Production Coordinator
Production Secretary
European Travel/Accommodation
Customs Liason
Office Production Assistant
Assistant to Mr. Shepard & Mr. Merims
Assistant to Mr. Gere
Assistant to Mr. Howard
Assistant to Mr. Johnson
Assistants to Mr. Kroopf
Assistant to Mr. Block
Assistant to Mr. Schuermann
Key Set Production Assistant
Set Production Assistants
U.S. Casting Assistant
U.S. Casting Associate
Art Department Coordinator
Lead Dresser
Set Dressing Buyers
On Set Dressers
Swing Gang
Art Department
Construction Coordinator
Assistant Construction Coordinator
Construction Foreman
Carpenters
ANITA SUM
MICHAEL “MIKI” LICHTENEGGER
SNJEŽANA “BUBA” TEPŠIC
MORANA MITIC
BILJANA NIKOLIC
BOŽENA ILICIC
OZREN “OGGY” STIPANIC
VEDRANA KORAC
NIKOLINA KOCEIC
KEVIN “WEBB” WIGFALL
MARK CERYAK
GRACE LEDDING
SANDY YEP
HEATHER MONTGOMERY
JEANETTE BARROZO
IGOR KOCEIC
HRVOJE CERNJAK
MATKO NOVAK
IDA SRNIC
DINO STEVIC
CHRISTINA MEDIGOVICH
REBECCA GUSHIN
TIHA GUDAC
NENAD DRLJACA
MARIO GALOVIC
IVAN UJEVIC
ARSEN LOVROVIC
ŽELJKO MOLNAR
DENIS LUKACIN
RADE BASTA
IVAN CENGIC
JOZO MILETIC
BORNA MICELLI
PA IVAN JERKOVIC
DAMIR GABELICA
MIRKO MIHOLIC
ŽELJKO LACKOVIC
ZEHAD JUJIC
PETAR BATUR
ZDENKO BILANDŽIJA
BRANKO CAVRIC
ANTE KUTIJA
KRISTIJAN MAJCANIC
GORAN KOVACEVIC
STJEPAN KRCMAR
39
Stand by Carpenter NIKOLA MUNIC
Upholsterers IGNAC RIHELJ
SILVIO MASNJAK
Plasterers ŠIME BILUŠ
JETON PECI
Metal Workers RIKARD FUNC
TOMISLAV KUŠLJIC
ANTE BILANDŽIJA
TOMISLAV PETRIC
ROBERT GORŠIC
Shop Electrician DARKO FERENCAK
Locations Manager ŽARKO IVKOVIC
Assistant Locations Managers ÐANI KOSIC
NINO JOSIPOVIC
Locations Scout-Research FILIP “FICHO” ŽAFRAN
Location Scouts NENAD PETRIC
BRANIMIRA TOMIC
ANTE MASLOV
Camera Scenic DAMIR KARAMATIC
Scenic Artists SLAVKO NOVAKOVIC
ROBERT GRZELJA
Video Assist Operator DARIO GODIC
Unit Publicist KATE BOWE
Still Photographer KAREN BALLARD
Insurance provided by AON/ALBERT G. RUBEN
INSURANCE SERVICES INC.
Completion Guaranty provided by INTERNATIONAL FILM GUARANTORS
Production Financing provided by COMERICA ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
BRYAN LACOUR
JARED UNDERWOOD
Legal Services provided by SARAH BING
HANNAH WARDALE
EMILY SPENCE
SJ BERWIN LLP
Financial Controller JENNY FITZGIBBONS
Production Accountant SHAUN McGOVERN
Assistant Production Accountants VERA TROUSILOVA
MICHAL ENGRTH
SAMANTHA QUINN
Production Accountant HR DRAGO RAKOCI
First Assistant Accountant HR GORDANA ŽIVKOVIC
Assistant Accountant HR ZORAN ŽIVKOVIC
Art Department Accountant HR GORDANA ŠPANIC
Post Production Accountant LEAH HOLMES/R.C. BARAL
Travel services provided by THE TRAVEL GIRLS
Transportation Coordinator MLADEN CERNJAK
40
Transport Captain Transport Captain ZDRAVKO PLEŠE
Drivers RONALDO ARBANAS
ILIJA AUGUSTINOVIC
JURE BAGARIC
DARKO BEGIC
DAVOR BILIC
MIJO BUDIMILIC
IVAN BUNCIC
NIKOLA CALUŠIC
IVAN CENTA
PETR CHOCHOLATY
ŽELJKO CUPAC
JIRI DOLEJSI
MILOŠ DRAKSL
MARIJAN FABEK
IVICA FABICIC
SIMON FORJAN
TOM FOT
TOMISLAV GUDICEK
VEDRAN HINIC
ALEN JANJANIN
ROMAN JANKO
MATÚŠ KELEMEN
RONALD KLJAJIC
TOMISLAV KOVACEVIC
STJEPAN KOVACIC
MILJENKO KURECIC
GORAN LASNICKO
PIERO LISI
IGOR LISICAK
KREŠIMIR LJUBICIC
KREŠIMIR LOKNER
ALEKSANDER LUC
LASZLO “LACI” MAGYAR
MARKO MAMIC
VLADISLAV MATÚŠ
SLAVKO MIJALIC
JIRI PATOCKA
IGOR PECENKOVIC
ZDRAVKO POLJAK
VLADIMIR PRODANOVIC
STIPO PUDIC
ŠTEFAN ROGL
RADOMIR SAVIC
TVRTKO SENKOVIC
41
Doctors on Call
Nurses on Set
Casting Associates
Extras Casting
Extras Casting Coordinators
Extras Casting-Italy
Extras Casting Coordinator
Extras Casting-Slovakia
Animal Trainer
Hunting Advisor
Head Fox Wrangler
Fox Trainers
Security and Bodyguard Team Leader
Bodyguards
Catering
MILAN ŠMID
BORIS VLAHOVSKI
ZDRAVKO VUKOVIC-AVO
MIRO ZELENIKA
ZORAN ZRAKIC
ALAN ŽUKINA
DR. DEAN MILETA
DR. FABIAN LULIC
VESNA REGVAT
DANICA ŽIVKO
REBECCA GUSHIN
CHARLEY MEDIGOVICH
SIESTA CASTING AGENCY
SNJEŽANA VUKMIROVIC
SANJA MAJCAN
JURE BUŠIC
IGOR ŠUMAKOVIC
MARKO SVAGUŠA
PRAGMA STUDIO
FRANCESCA ALESSIO-VERNI
GALAXY ART AGENCY
LENKA ŠTEFANKOVICOVA
SARA MAREVIC
IGOR ILIC
ZOLTAN HORKAI
SANDOR KONCZWALD
JOZSEF KOSA
GABOR TOTH
ŽELJKO MATEJCIC
DRAŽEN CACIC
TIHOMIR KOREN
DAMIR KUKULJ
ZORAN KOS
MARIAN BANAS
IVAN DANKO
IVAN GRIŠA
LUBOS MACIK
PAVOL PACEŠA
MILOŠ PUPIK
JANKA KAVECKA
DENISA KLUKOVA
ŽELIMIR HREN
MLADENKO OLIC
MILICA ALEKSIC
NIKOLA OJDANIC
ANTON HOTKO
42
IVAN SAMBOL
Craft Service LARIO TEMŠIC
SEBASTIJAN MUŽIC
2nd Unit
2nd Unit Director ARSEN A. OSTOJIC
2nd Unit Cinematographer VANJA CERNJUL
2nd Unit First Assistant Director IGOR “FILA” FILIPOVIC
2nd Unit Script Supervisor IVANA FUMIC
2nd Unit Script Supervisor - Sarajevo AIDA LONIC
Sarajevo Crew
Scout Film/Location Manager EDIN “EDIN” ŠARKIC
Asst. Unit Prod. Manager DRAGUTIN “DRAGO” BILIC
Production Coordinator ELMA BEGTAŠEVIC
Production Secretary JELENA MULUŠIC
Office runner INDIRA HALER
Unit Manager NERMIN DURMO
Asst. Unit Manager NIKOLETA MILAŠEVIC
Accountant MINA SALKIC
2nd Asst. Director ELMIR “JUKA” JUKIC
Asst. Art Director KEMAL “KEMO” HRUSTANOVIC
Art Department Lead Man HARIS “CENER” SARVAN
Asst. Location Manager ADMIR “ADO” AVDIC
Transport Coordinator HARIS KAMENCIC
Assistant to PIX/VIX MLADEN OZIMICA
Grips AZIZ ARNAUTOVIC
JASMIN FAZLIC
Set Construction/Prop Buyer SEVKO TINJAK
Carpenter IBRAHIM IMAMOVIC
Set Dresser JASMIN RONIDIC
Swing Gang MUSTAFA KANJIC
GORAN RADOVIC
MIRZA TINJAK
Assistant Set Decorator DJANI JAHA
Painter–Fine Construction HALID PARKOVIC
Extras Coordinator STEFAN ALEKSOV
Stunt Coordinator PAVEL CAJZL
Wardrobe Assistant LEJLA GRAHO
Set Production Assistant ZLATKO BRODIC
Production Assistant VEDRAN HRUSTANOVIC
DINO HRUSTANOVIC
Driver ADIN MAHIC
Doctor on Call FAHIRA ZVIZDIC
43
Nurse on Set LEJLA ATAJIC
Croatian Production Services by JADRAN FILM STUDIO D.O.O.
VINKO GRUBISIC, C.E.O.
Bosnia/Herzegovina Production Services by JADRAN FILM
Camera/Lighting/Grip Equipment Provided by ARRI RENTAL DEUTSCHLAND GmbH
Stage Facility JADRAN FILM STUDIO D.O.O.
Bosnian Production Services SCOUT FILM SARAJEVO
Line Producer/Germany PHILIP SCHULZ-DEYLE
Line Producer/Mexico ALEXANDRA CÁRDENAS
Post Production
First Assistant Editor JASON SOLBERG
Post Production Coordinator MATTHEW WALSH
Editorial Production Assistant DREW MACDONALD
Sound Design & Editorial DANETRACKS, INC.
Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor DANE A. DAVIS, MPSE
Supervising ADR/Dialogue Editor ELIZABETH KENTON
Foley Supervisor CHRISTOPHER B. ALBA
Sound Effects Editors GREGORY HEDGEPATH
ERIC LINDEMANN
First Assistant Sound Editor NANCY BARKER
Additional Re-Recording Mixer TOM OZANICH
Re-Recording Services Provided by WIDGET POST PRODUCTION
Re-Recording Mixers MATTHEW IADAROLA
GARY GEGAN
Mix Technicians SCOTT OYSTER
MATTHEW REALE
BRIAN MAGERKURTH
ADR Mixers ALAN FREEDMAN C.A.S.
CHRIS NAVARRO
Foley Artists GREGG BARBANELL
ADAM DECOSTER
Foley Mixer LUCY SUSTAR
ADR Voice Casting BARBARA HARRIS
Digital Intermediate and Opticals by TECHNICOLOR DIGITAL
INTERMEDIATES
Digital Film Colorist A TECHNICOLOR COMPANY
Digital Intermediate Producer SCOTT GREGORY
DI Editor ESTHER LEE
DI Assistant Editor EVERETTE JBOB WEBBER
Digital Color Assistants JENNIFER LEE
JADA BUDRICK
RON LEIDELMEIJER
Film Editorial DAN WILLIAMS
SCOTT DROST
44
Imaging Technicians FLOYD A. BURKS
GILBERT DE LA GARZA JR.
JOHN HERNDON
STEVE HODGE
SCOTTY LEE MARTIN
TODD MITCHELL
KEVIN SCHWAB
DOUG RICHARDSON
Digital Restoration JOHN KEARNS
LANELLE MASON
ERIN L. NELSON
BRAD SUTTON
WILSON TANG
Data Technicians AMER ABASSI
ANDY CHUA
ASHLEY FARBER
RON PEREZ
Scheduling CYNTHIA LEMUS
Operations STEVE HERNANDEZ
RAY HORTA
BRANDON TORRES
V.P. of Operations and Production TIM BELCHER
V.P. of Imaging CHRIS KUTCKA
V.P. of Imaging Research and Development JOSHUA PINES
Head of Production Technology MICHAEL TOSTI
Engineering PAUL TURANG
RICHARD ALCALA
Visual Effects by INTELLIGENT CREATURES
Visual Effects Supervisor LON MOLNAR
Executive Visual Effects Producer WENDY LANNING
Visual Effects Consultants RAYMOND GIERINGER
MICHAEL HATTON
Visual Effects Producer DARREN BELL
Visual Effects Production Manager CHRIS NOKES
Visual Effects Coordinator HEATHER NEVILLE
Lead Digital Matte Painter TIM WARNOCK
3D Lead MIKE DALZELL
3D Artists DOMINIC CHEUNG
ALISON MIDDAUGH
MITCHELL STUART
2D Lead GREG ASTLES
Digital Fusion Compositing Artists KENNETH SALES
AMY SPENCER
KAI ZHANG
45
Visual Effects On-Set Consultant Visual
Effects by
Visual Effects Supervisor
Visual Effects Producer
Visual Effects Coordinator
Digital Compositors
Digital Effects
Digital Compositor
Digital Producer
Data Management
Titles Designed by
Titles
End Crawl
Negative Cutter
Lab Color Timer
Music Recordist
Music Mixer
Pro-Tools Engineer
Conductor
Orchestrations
Copyist
Percussion and Synth programming
Music Editor
Assistant Editor & Scoring Coordination
Score Produced by
Recorded by
Production Manager
Orchestra Manager
Production Company
Concert Master
Temp Music Editor
Music Consultant
LEV KOLOBOV
PACIFIC TITLE & ART STUDIO
DAVID SOSALLA
RICK SPARR
PHILLIP HOFFMAN
BRIAN HANABLE
ROBERT MONTGOMERY
CESAR ROMERO
DIGITAL EFFECTS
DIGISCOPE LLC
TRAVIS BAUMANN
LAUREL SCHULMAN
CHRISTOPHER STACK
IGNITE CREATIVE/ERIC LADD
PACIFIC TITLE SCARLET LETTERS
MO HENRY
MIKE MERTENS
NICK WOOLAGE
GREG TOWNLEY
VLADISLAV BOYADJIEV
POΠΦ KEHT
TONY BLONDAL
RICHARD BRONSKILL & SIF 309
TREVOR GILCHRIST
NICK SOUTH
ALICE WOOD
ROLFE KENT & GREG TOWNLEY
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – SIF 309
ASEN KANCHEV
ELENA CHOUCHKOVA
SIF 309 FILM MUSIC
PRESIDENT BORISLAV CHOUCHKOV
DIMITAR DANCHEV
JULIE PEARCE
VALIDA CARROLL
“The Juicer”
Written by Michael Stewart
Performed by The Sweet
Courtesy of Chrysalis Copyrights Limited
“Barra Barra”
Written by Rachid Taha and Steve Hillage
Performed by Rachid Taha
Courtesy of Barclay France
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
46
“Welcome Marsch”
Written by Gerhard Trede
Courtesy of APM Music
“Love Him”
Written by Ali Theodore, Alana da Fonseca,
Zach Danziger and Joseph Katsaros
Performed by Perfect
Courtesy of DeeTown Entertainment. By arrangement with format
“It’s A Bad Situation In A Beautiful Place”
Written by Jessie HillPerformed by Two Tons of Love (Dos Chicanos Mas)
Courtesy of Gordo Entertainment/Rampart Records. By arrangement with Number 9 Music
“Be Yo Daddy”
Written by Ali Theodore, Julian Davis, Aaron Sandlofer and Vincent Alfieri
Performed by King Juju
Courtesy of DeeTown Entertainment. By arrangement with format
“I Fought The Law”
Written by Sonny Curtis
Performed by The 88 featuring Nirvan Pistoljevic
By arrangement with Natural Energy Lab
“Penetrate Your Soul”
Written and Performed by Kevin Teasley
Courtesy of Selectracks
“Classic News”
Written by James Oliverio, Jr.
Performed by Opus 1 Music
“Pusti, pusti modu”
Written by Slobodan Vujovic, Goran Bregovic, and Kornelije Kovac
Performed by Zdravko Colic
Courtesy of Croatia Records
“Village Song”
Written and Performed by Brian Keaneand Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Courtesy of Celestial Harmonies
“I Wanna Be Sedated”
Written by Jeffrey Hyman, John Cummings and Douglas Colvin
“Od Topole pa do Ravne Gore”
47
Performed by Joks Bend
“Ja sam cetnik majko”
Performed by Joks Bend
“You Make Me Feel Brand New”
Written by Thomas Randolph Bell and Linda Diane Creed
Performed by The Stylistics featuring Russell Thompkins, Jr.
Courtesy of Amherst Records, Inc.
“Na Ophodi prema Bakijama(Mošcanice, vodo plemenita)”
Performed by Arif Alaibegovic
International Sales QED INTERNATIONAL
KIMBERLY FOX
TATYANA JOFFE
Rights and Clearances ENTERTAINMENT CLEARANCES, INC.
CASSANDRA BARBOUR
LAURA SEVIER
“Missing in Action” Footage Courtesy of MGM CLIP + STILL
Footage supplied by AP ARCHIVE
Footage supplied by GETTY IMAGES
Special thanks to
YARI FILM GROUP
The Major League Baseball trademarks depicted on this motion picture were licensed by
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PROPERTIES, INC.
Special Thanks
CAROLYN HORWITZ
MARK MULLIN
ALLEN LULU
CHRISTOPHER CORABI
MARK GILL
BOZIDAR SMILJANIC
CITY OF SARAJEVO, BOSNIA/HERZEGOVINA
CITY OF ZAGREB, REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
CITY OF KARLOVAC, REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE, REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
MINISTRY OF CULTURE, REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
and
ALL THE PEOPLE OF BOSNIA & CROATIA
WHO WERE SO WELCOMING AND HELPFUL.
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This movie was filmed on location in Bosnia/Herzegovina & Croatia
NO. 43647
Copyright ©2007 IM Filmproduktions GmbH
All Rights Reserved
Country of First Publication: United States of America.
IM Filmproduktions GmbH is the author of this motion picture for purposes
of the Berne Convention and all national laws giving effect thereto.
WHILE THIS PICTURE IS SUGGESTED BY ACTUAL EVENTS, THIS MOTION PICTURE
IS IN ITS ENTIRETY A WORK OF FICTION. ALL CHARACTER NAMES HAVE BEEN
INVENTED, ALL CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN COMPOSITED OR INVENTED, AND
INCIDENTS HAVE ALL BEEN FICTIONALIZED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS
PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES.
UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR EXHIBITION MAY RESULT IN
CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
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