CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY
From the big top to the big screen, Academy Award®-nominated director Andrew
Adamson and visionary filmmaker James Cameron invite audiences on an all-new 3D
adventure -- Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away. Two young people journey through the
astonishing and dreamlike worlds of Cirque du Soleil to find each other as audiences
experience the immersive 3D technology that allows them to leap, soar, swim and dance
with the performers.
Unique in scope, this immersive experience melds acts from seven live Cirque du
Soleil shows in Las Vegas -- "O," KÀ, Mystère, Viva ELVIS, CRISS ANGEL Believe,
Zumanity and The Beatles LOVE -- into a circus love story produced, written and
directed by Academy Award® nominee Andrew Adamson (Shrek, The Chronicles of
Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The film stars Cirque du Soleil strap
aerialists Igor Zaripov (The Aerialist) and former artist Erica Kathleen Linz (Mia) as the
young couple.
Presented by Paramount Pictures and Academy Award® winner James
Cameron (Avatar, Titanic), the film is a Cirque du Soleil production in association with
Reel FX Inc., Strange Weather Films and CAMERON | PACE Group. Produced by
Cirque du Soleil producer Martin Bolduc, Adamson and his Strange Weather Films’
partner Aron Warner, Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away is captured in 3D by executive
producer Cameron and his CAMERON | PACE Group partner Vincent Pace, the film’s
3D executive producer. Executive producers are Cameron, Jacques Méthé, Cary Granat
and Ed Jones. Director of photography is Brett Turnbull. Composer Benoit Jutras (Cirque
du Soleil shows Quidam, "O,". La Nouba and, as co-writer, Mystère) wrote the score and
the opening song. Stephen Barton contributed additional music to the final strap act.
The editor is Sim Evan-Jones.
ABOUT THE FILM
For writer/director/producer Andrew Adamson, tying a love knot around some of
the best elements of seven Cirque du Soleil live shows that play in Las Vegas was a
journey into magical realism. Executive producer Cary Granat and Reel FX Inc. had
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 2
been discussing the possibility of collaborating with Cirque du Soleil on a project for
quite awhile when he approached Adamson about the idea of crafting and directing a
Cirque-based feature film. Granat is the former CEO of Walden Media, which
collaborated with Adamson on the first two films of C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles
of Narnia series. Adamson is also a producer on the third film, The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
“We had to find a natural, cinematic way into the world of Cirque,” says
Adamson. “I started thinking about the way Cirque live shows work. There is a very
dreamlike quality about them. A thin thread of narrative that weaves in and out of each
but allows these acts to exist within the worlds that are created. I thought this movie
could do the same thing. I could find a narrative that threads these completely different
shows together.
“I came to the idea of these two people who meet in a real-world circus. She’s a
young girl looking to escape her life. She sees this aerialist and instantly falls in love
with him, but when their eyes meet he slips and falls. He drops right through the circus
ring into another world and drags her with him. They spend the rest of the film looking for
each other in these worlds that exist in a limbo state, kind of a space between life and
death, a world between worlds. Ultimately they come together in a dream fulfilling aerial
ballet. An act that hangs in the balance between beauty and danger."
Like the live shows, the film eschews dialogue, using music and the marvelous
expressions of the performers to move the narrative forward. But it was never the
filmmakers’ intention to simply capture the live shows. "What I wanted to do” says
Adamson, “is take the audience to see these shows in a way that they hadn’t seen them
before, to get the camera in close and give a different perspective of what these artists
do and show that perspective in high speed, slow motion 3D.”
Executive producer Cameron, whose company CAMERON | PACE Group shot
the film with his FUSION 3D camera system, says the film feels “as if you strayed into a
circus in a dream. From the beginning Andrew had a fairly clear vision of what he
wanted to do and it continued to evolve. As a producer, I kind of acted as his sounding
board. The goal was to really celebrate the physical artistry of everything Cirque du
Soleil is about, the design, the beauty and grace of those performances.
“Andrew had to walk a fine line working with such diverse elements from these
shows. It was never meant to be about effects but to showcase the raw, pure physical
human talent and their amazing ability. While it starts in this sort of run down circus, it
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 3
plays out as discovery of this other dimensional circus world they fall into, but it is still
very much a circus. There are wires, harnesses and you see it all, no effects hiding it. In
seeing it, you experience the ingenuity of staging, costume design, the strength and
agility of their talent that seem so effortless, so fluid. But the preparation and work that
goes into it is anything but effortless. What you see is pure Cirque.”
Adamson drew inspiration from such classics as Walt Disney’s Fantasia, Lewis
Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Peter Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet and his own
personal experiences from watching a traveling circus show in Mexico in 2000.
“It was a Fred Flintstone themed travelling circus. I remember the ringleader had
a lot of years on him, the lion had no teeth and one of the trapeze artists was a large
woman wearing a star-spangled bikini. It was almost an empty house and had definitely
seen better days,” he recalls. “But there was this sort of sad yet beautiful element to it …
bittersweet … one of my favorite emotions. That was in the back of my mind. So I set the
opening of this film in a circus that was connected to no time or place. I really wanted it
to feel like a traveling neighborhood circus that could be anywhere.”
At first Adamson wanted to use actors in the key roles, “but I also knew that I
wanted to end with some kind of beautiful romantic straps aerial act.”
“To teach a normal person to do (aerial) straps, to perform at this level takes
years,” says executive producer Jacques Méthé of Cirque du Soleil. “The way to go was
to take Cirque du Soleil performers and teach them to play the part. At the end of this
film, they are both flying in each others’ arms. They need the skills and training of a real
Cirque du Soleil performer. Igor and Erica have worked on several of our shows for
years. They are not only wonderful acrobats, but because of their Cirque du Soleil
training, they have learned to become characters. In any Cirque du Soleil show,
everybody is a character and plays some part. So we knew these two had the acting
skills because of their years with Cirque du Soleil.”
Erica Kathleen Linz was 19 when she joined Cirque du Soleil shortly after
graduating from high school. “I grew up as a gymnast and a singer, which led to theater,
so I have flip-flopped between acting and acrobatic roles, and recently I’ve been doing
an aerial straps duet which fits into this whole theme,” Linz says. Landing the film role
gave her an opportunity within Cirque that she had never known before. “There’s never
really been an opportunity for anybody to kind of float through the shows, participate in
what they do every night and get a feel for each show’s culture. Every show is sort of like
its own family, has its own vibe, its own set of nationalities and sense of humor.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 4
Personally, it’s been unbelievable for me.”
Although she and co-star Igor Zaripov have performed in the show KÀ, neither
performed a duet together before Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away. Zaripov, who joined
Cirque du Soleil in 2002, grew up in a Russian circus family that had been in the
business for more than a century. He has been an aerial acts acrobat from his first stage
appearance at 11 for the Moscow Circus. He traveled with other circuses around the
world honing his skills. When he joined Cirque du Soleil, he performed in KÀ for five
years as the Firefly boy and in Cirque’s adult-themed Zumanity for several years. “I had
never worked closely with Erica before but we had to get into it really quick (the first time
for the love scene of the final act) and it was really nice,” he says.
What they do, although an outgrowth of KÀ, was created specifically for the film
-- a romantic aerial straps ballet which captures the ascendancy of love. “What you see
is how these two learn to trust each other so completely. Her life is literally in his hands
… an act of total surrender,” notes Cameron. “The acting is inferred by the physicality of
the moment. And the grace with which it is done is simply beautiful.”
UNDER THE BIG TOP
When Adamson chose acts from the seven live Cirque shows to use in the film,
he picked those that would lend themselves to the storyline of Mia searching for the
Aerialist from tent to tent. Each time she peels back the curtain and steps inside, another
Cirque du Soleil world opens to her. These worlds are:

"O" -- “Water represents both life and the unconscious, the dream state and illusion
because of its reflection,” says Pierre Parisien, Cirque du Soleil senior artistic
director. ”It’s sort of the unseen realm of spirits, of ghosts, and the flying boat is like
The Flying Dutchman. They are trying to lure Mia aboard but she won’t go.” It is the
first tent Mia visits after she falls into an alternate desert wasteland populated by six
big tops, “six kinds of limbos,” says Linz.

KÀ -- To Adamson KÀ was about spectacle, with a stage a quarter of the size of a
football field that lifts vertically, spins around and changes. “What I wanted to capture
wasn’t just the act and the performers but the ingenuity. Part of what Cirque does so
well is combine art and technology and present you with this completely different
imagery you’ve never seen before."

MYSTÈRE -- “Mystère is highly acrobatic, the most acrobatic show we have,” says
James Hadley, Cirque du Soleil’s senior artistic director for resident shows in North
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 5
America. It is also the longest running Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas. Hanging
from a cube in mid-air, an aerialist performs a ballet with seemingly effortless
maneuvers, foreshadowing what is to come for the star-crossed lovers.

VIVA ELVIS -- In the film, a mysterious self-propelled tricycle leads Mia to the Viva
ELVIS tent, where performers dressed as super heroes fly off trampolines to the
music of Elvis.

CRISS ANGEL BELIEVE -- Mia travels through six Cirque du Soleil tents that
occupy a limbo state between life and death in search of love lost. The seventh
element is not a tent but Cirque du Soleil’s very own peculiar White Rabbit, a
dancing disembodied bunny head from CRISS ANGEL Believe, who makes a timely
appearance, beckoning her to follow.

ZUMANITY -- “The act that we’re using from Zumanity is very small and contained,
but it fits thematically well where we’ve placed it,” says Adamson. What first appears
to be water on the moon transforms into a water-filled glass container from which a
seductive contortionist entices the Aerialist to join her.

THE BEATLES LOVE -- The act built around the song Being for the Benefit of Mr.
Kite is “a circus-based theme,” says Adamson, “so it tied us back into the beginning
of our opening circus.” Hadley adds, “Actually Mr. Kite, of all the acts that we filmed,
probably has the biggest number of artists in one act.”
THE MUSIC
Composer Benoit Jutras wrote the score and transitional music between the
Cirque shows used in the film. Barton had previously teamed with Adamson on the
Shrek and Narnia films, but the director felt it important to have Jutras, who had written
scores for some of the Cirque shows used, to adapt and refine some of that music
specifically for Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away.
“The music was really the dialogue of this film,” says Jutras. “You see, Cirque du
Soleil developed it as a language for its shows, to tell a story with the music and without
words. It becomes the universal language.” It was an element that Cameron and
Adamson wanted to retain for the film.
“When it came to inspiration for this film’s score,” Jutras continues, “it was about
the passage through life and a young woman who falls in love, about how love makes
you go through all of these emotions, the colors of love, so to speak. What I wanted to
do with the opening act was to make it a very separate experience, to make it as little
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 6
like Cirque as possible to show the contrast of the old circus and the worlds of Cirque du
Soleil. In the final act, since it was part of KÀ, Stephen Barton used that show to inspire
the music (of the final act).”
THE POWER OF 3D
For Cameron, Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away “was a dream come true. I had been
talking to them for some time about doing something in 3D because it's never been
done. How lucky to be working with the Cirque family, to have that talent create such an
emotional performance for this film. Because their death-defying acts require such
incredible skill and nerve, we felt it was so important to show the cabling, everything
supporting that human ability.
"We were working with a different stage crew every four days. We did use the
live shows and shot both during the live performances and on their dark days. It was
cost effective to shoot during the live shows, but we did get the best stuff on dark days
because we were able to come in from different angles. We dropped in with our 10 3D
cameras and started shooting. But it's a lot different than just standing back with a ring of
cameras and shooting a live show. We were getting in there with the Steadicam,
shooting close-ups -- in their faces as close as possible -- getting into the action because
it's much better for 3D. I lobbied for high camera positions so when you are shooting
down you get that sense of vertigo. At times we were shooting from 50 to 100 feet in the
air, and you feel the height of these amazing artists performing 90 feet above the floor.
You also realize the jeopardy they are in all the time.
"The live experience of these shows is incredible. But in the movie theater, what
we can give you is the experience of being right in the middle of a show where you will
really get to see the detailed work that's gone into the characters, the costumes and the
choreography. There is pageantry to the live experience, but there is an intimacy to the
3D experience."
One of the challenges for the filmmakers of Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away was
that 3D involves more complicated cameras and technology and thus more time to set
up the equipment. Prep also meant meeting strict safety parameters with underwater
cameras (avoiding the lethal mix of electricity and water) and camera cranes (out of
harm’s way of aerialists and flying objects.)
“There was a lot of hurry up and wait,” notes producer Martin Bolduc, “which is
difficult for Cirque performers as their bodies are cooling off and they need a minimum of
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 7
time to warm up their muscles after a certain period of inactivity.” Still, the shooting
schedule was relatively short -- 37 days over three time periods: October-November
2010 in Las Vegas, December 2011 in New Zealand and February 2011 again in Vegas.
The only CGI used in the film are scenes in the desert when Mia and the Aerialist travel
between the tents.
“Twice a day, five days a week the performers do their work," says Cameron.
"When we told them we would make a 3D film that would really capture their
commitment to their art, I don’t think these artists really knew what to expect. They were
a bit jaded because they do it day after day, year after year. But when it was over and
they saw what they do through our eyes they were awestruck. It rejuvenated them.”
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
The drive to expand and constantly transform from the circus norm is what
separates Cirque du Soleil from the pack. Always positioning itself as “nouveau cirque,”
it remains theatrical, character-driven entertainment sans animals. From its humble roots
on the streets in the early 1980s to an arty version of the big top to the showbiz
behemoth it is today with 20 shows around the world, certain elements of the Cirque du
Soleil experience will forever remain.
“You will always need your ‘wow,’ your tender moments, your humor,” says
Cirque du Soleil owner and co-founder Guy Laliberté, much like the narrative of any
great screenplay. But he reminds that Cirque’s conventions are all about hinting at the
plot and teasing at the themes. It is there, he says, on the edge of imaginative
interpretation that Cirque du Soleil invites audiences to suspend disbelief and step
through the looking glass.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
ANDREW ADAMSON (director/writer/producer) marked his directorial debut with
the first film to win an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, DreamWorks’ 2001
blockbuster Shrek. The New Zealand native wrote and directed Shrek 2, the 2004
sequel to the fractured fairy tale sensation that garnered him an Oscar® nomination for
Best Animated Feature, was nominated for Best Original Song, is the highest grossing
domestic animated film in motion picture history and fifth highest grossing film in the
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 8
U.S1. The prequel and sequel of the beloved ogre’s romantic odyssey were also
nominated for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s Palme D’Or Awards.
Adamson’s third film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe, which he adapted for the screen from C.S. Lewis’ classic best seller and also
produced, was his first live-action directorial achievement. The international hit claimed
the Oscar® for Best Makeup and collected two additional nominations for visual effects
and sound. He shared a ‘Camie’ Award for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and a
Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Shrek 2.
His first three animation and live action features are among the top 50 grossing
films of all time with a combined worldwide box office exceeding $3 billion. All have
received critical raves and numerous nominations and awards including the Annie
Award, recognizing achievements in animation, and the BAFTA Children’s Award -- both
for Shrek.
Building on the franchise considered a lively romp for kids and a clever comedy
for adults, Adamson created the story for Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever
After (2010) and executive produced both.
He directed, produced and co-wrote the second in the Narnia franchise, The
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which opened atop the U.S. box office in May
2008. He produced the successful third film in the franchise The Chronicles of Narnia:
Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
In addition to Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away, Adamson directed Mister Pip, which
he adapted from Lloyd Jones’ award-winning novel of a young girl in Papua New
Guinea, who becomes transfixed by Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, read at
school by the only white man in her village.
Adamson is also developing a slate of both live action and animated features and
television shows with his longtime producing partner Aron Warner for their company
Strange Weather, which they formed in 2010. Part of the company’s mission is to serve
as a launching pad for emerging directors, mentored by Adamson and Warner. Some of
the projects in development are Joby Harold’s fantasy Fountain City, Darren Bousman’s
flash mob thriller The Bystander Effect, which he wrote and will direct, and the animated
adaptation of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award-winning Dark Horse graphic novel
Beasts of Burden. He is also developing The Futurist, a contemporary telling of a world-
1
Per boxofficemojo.com, Shrek 2 is the seventh highest U.S. grossing film of all time
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 9
renowned futurist whose mid-life crisis reflects the one that the world is having around
him.
He is producing the upcoming Truckers and has executive produced Ballast and
the recently released Puss in Boots.
Adamson began his career as computer animator for the New Zealand animation
company The Mouse That Roared. There he worked on a variety of television
commercials and broadcast logos, including TV3’s first on-air presentation. In 1991, he
joined PDI California (Pacific Data Images, now PDI/DreamWorks) with an extensive
background in visual effects. As a visual effects supervisor, his credits include Angels in
the Outfield, Double Dragon, Batman & Robin, A Time to Kill and Batman Forever, which
brought him a shared nomination for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and
Horror’s Saturn Award. He also worked on the visual effects for Heart and Souls, Barry
Levinson’s Toys, and True Lies, directed by his Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away
collaborator James Cameron.
Adamson also worked on numerous award-winning spots for PDI/DreamWorks'
commercial division including Converse's Planet Kevin, Dow Bathroom Cleaner's
Scrubbing Bubbles Greatest Show and Miller Genuine Draft's Juke Box.
MARTIN BOLDUC (producer, Cirque du Soleil), known for producing the 2003
Primetime Emmy Award winner Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within, a 13-episode documentary
television series which also garnered two Gemini Awards, has had a multi-faceted and
distinguished career as a Montreal-based producer, executive producer and production
director/coordinator.
In 2005 he won the Gemini for Best Performing Arts Program or Series for the
feature length documentary Lovesick. And in 2010, he took home a Grammy Award for
Best Long Form Music Video for producing All Together Now.
Bolduc joined Cirque du Soleil in 1995, working on the company’s live
entertainment show "O". In 1999 he became part of the Cirque du Soleil Images team,
producing numerous documentaries. He was also involved in the recent Touch the Sky,
a feature documentary following Cirque du Soleil’s owner and founder Guy Laliberté as
he embarked on his journey on the International Space Station.
His collaboration with Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away director Andrew Adamson is
his first 3D production.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 10
Bolduc’s production credits also include the documentary A Thrilling Ride
Through Kooza; the variety series Cirque du Soleil: Solstrom; the performance specials
Cirque du Soleil: Corteo, Cirque du Soleil: Kooza, Cirque du Soleil: Midnight Sun as well
as Cirque du Soleil: Varekai, which he co-produced.
ARON WARNER (producer) won an Academy Award® for producing Andrew
Adamson’s Shrek, the 2001 blockbuster that was the first film to win an Oscar® for Best
Animated Feature. The DreamWorks film also brought him a BAFTA Children’s Award
for Best Feature Film and nominations for the BAFTA Best Film and AFI Movie of the
Year awards. It was the beginning of a wildly successful franchise. Warner produced
Shrek 2, the fourth highest grossing film of all time2, and the $800 million grossing Shrek
the Third. He executive produced Shrek Forever After.
Warner was also nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture
for Animated or Mixed Media for Antz (1998), DreamWorks’ first animated feature. He
met Adamson at PDI/DreamWorks. In 2010, the two formed the partnership Strange
Weather, one of the companies producing Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away. Strange
Weather is also producing Truckers, a CG animated franchise for DreamWorks based
on Terry Pratchett’s best seller, and developing a slate of live action feature films and
television shows.
Warner joined PDI/DreamWorks in 1997. During the production of Shrek, Warner
also served as the head of PDI/DreamWorks for two years, overseeing all production
and operations for all of the computer animation affiliate’s feature film, commercial and
visual effects projects. He first joined PDI as a producer on the computer animated
comedy Antz.
Prior to DreamWorks, Warner was vice president of production for Twentieth
Century Fox. There he supervised production on such films as James Cameron’s True
Lies and Titanic, Independence Day, The Ice Storm, The Crucible, Alien Resurrection
and Volcano.
He began his career as a producer with the horror hit Freddy’s Dead: The Final
Nightmare. He later served as supervising producer on John Dahl’s Red Rock West
before beginning his relationship with Twentieth Century Fox as the line producer on
Ghost in the Machine. He also produced the cult classic Tank Girl.
2
Per boxofficemojo.com, Shrek 2 is the seventh highest U.S. grossing film of all time and 21 st highest
worldwide
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After graduating from UCLA Film School, Warner worked for Empire Pictures as
a production coordinator on low-budget horror and sci-fi films. He worked for Film
Finances, a completion bond company, where he supervised production on more than
50 films.
Currently, Aron Warner is serving as President of Animation at ReelFX Inc.
VINCE PACE (3D executive producer), an acclaimed cinematographer and coinventor of the world’s most advance stereoscopic 3D system known as FUSION 3D, is
co-chairman of CAMERON | PACE Group (CPG), a partnership with Cirque du Soleil
Worlds Away executive producer and Academy Award® winning director James
Cameron.
Widely regarded as a pioneer in reinventing the entertainment experience,
Pace’s career marks significant industry achievements, from supporting the camera
challenge of BBC’s award-winning series Blue Planet to designing innovative lighting
technology for Cameron’s The Abyss and being nominated for an Emmy Award in
Cinematography for bringing back images from the deck of the Bismarck three miles
under the ocean for Cameron’s television documentary Expedition: Bismarck.
Pace received a Sports Emmy Award for technical achievement, the George
Wensel Technical Achievement Award, a category that recognizes technical innovation
that is extraordinary and enhances the broadcast for the viewer, for his work supporting
the CBS Sports production team’s coverage of the 2010 U.S. Open Tennis
Championships. The event marked the first-ever worldwide 3D broadcast of a major
tennis game. He worked with the team to deliver seven cameras with Shadow
technology in critical positions around the venue.
Nearly a decade ago, Pace and Cameron embarked on a journey to revolutionize
the entertainment experience, developing the most advanced stereoscopic acquisition
system known as FUSION 3D. From 2000 to 2011, his company PACE housed a full
creative and technical team, which utilized the FUSION 3D system to infuse “imagination
through innovation” into films, live sports and entertainment experiences, concerts,
music videos and more.
Now the Burbank-based CPG, the industry leader in 3D technologies and
production services from slate to screen, is advancing the future of 3D through products,
solutions and creative tools across all media channels. Supporting networks, studios,
broadcasters, filmmakers and creative teams globally, the company’s unparalleled
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL WORLDS AWAY -- 12
expertise in 3D helps content producers realize its full potential as a new immersive and
powerful storytelling medium. Deploying easy, efficient and cost-effective 3D solutions,
CPG has supported more than $7.5 billion in box office, played a key role in 9 concert
films, music videos and commercials, 29 features and more than 150 live sports
broadcasts worldwide.
Utilized by filmmakers and content producers, CPG’s FUSION 3D technology
has resulted in more than $7.5 billion in box office and is responsible for such 3D
benchmarks in music, entertainment, films and sports as The Three Musketeers, Final
Destination 5, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon,
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, TRON, Legacy, Avatar, Resident Evil:
Afterlife, U2:3D, CBS Sports’ U.S. Open Tennis Championships, CBS Sports’ Masters
Golf Tournaments, NBA Finals and All-Star Games, Journey to the Center of the Earth,
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Film and Final Destination.
JAMES CAMERON (executive producer), the Academy Award®-winning
director/screenwriter/producer whose films Avatar and Titanic remain the world’s top two
blockbusters of all time, is an industry game changer whose unmatched advances in 3D
filmmaking technology is propelling the entertainment experience forward for filmmakers
and audiences alike.
His films have blazed new trails in both visual effects and performance records
worldwide. Avatar, Cameron’s 3D science fiction epic journey set in the virgin ecosystem
of a distant planet, currently holds both the domestic and worldwide box office records,
having grossed over $2.7 billion internationally, beating Titanic, which held that record
for 12 years.
The industry responded to his contributions, with Titanic receiving 14 Academy
Award® nominations (a record) and 11 Oscars® (the most any movie has received),
including Cameron's three Oscars® for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Editing.
Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards® and garnered Cameron the Golden
Globes for Best Director and Best Picture.
Avatar required over two years of development of new production technology,
including image-based facial performance capture, a real-time virtual camera for CG
production, and the SIMULCAM system, for real-time tracking and compositing of CG
characters into live-action scenes. These techniques are combined with stereoscopic
photography to create a hybrid CG/live action film.
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A cinematic auteur and committed conservationist, Cameron is also an inventor
and explorer who has comfortably bridged the realms of art and science. Aside from a
nonpareil track record of blockbusters (an estimated $6 billion box office gross from his
directorial efforts), Cameron’s documentaries have plumbed the ocean depths and
deserts to pursue unresolved historical mysteries as well as environmental concerns for
the planet. An avid supporter of space exploration, Cameron has been actively involved
on the NASA Advisory Council and as a member of the Mars Society and the Planetary
Society.
His ability to take what he mastered in the making of a film -- Avatar -- and
catapult the technology used (the creation of the FUSION 3D camera system) into a new
high-demand niche industry that can alter the course of filmmaking is one of his
strengths. In 2011, his Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away collaborator Vincent Pace, who has
worked with Cameron on many of his films, formed CAMERON | PACE Group (CPG) to
develop, sell and lease 3D production technology to filmmakers, broadcasters and game
manufacturers. CPG’s FUSION Camera System is the world's leading stereoscopic
camera system, used on Avatar, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Hannah Montana:
Best of Both Worlds, U2:3D, TRON: Legacy and numerous special event projects such
as the NBA All Star Game.
The native Canadian’s journey to success is the making of an American dream.
Born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, Cameron grew up in the historic village of
Chippawa, near Niagara Falls, and later moved to Brea, California, where he studied
physics at Fullerton Junior College while working as a machinist and later truck driver. In
1978, he quit his job as a driver, raised money from local dentists and produced a 35mm
short film. Its visual effects landed him an opportunity to work on Roger Corman's Battle
Beyond the Stars (1980) as a production designer, matte artist and visual effects
cinematographer.
By 1983, he had written three scripts -- Rambo: First Blood Part 2, Aliens and
The Terminator -- and a year later directed The Terminator, starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger. The film was a runaway hit and made Time magazine’s 10 best list of
the year. After his breakthrough film, Cameron directed Aliens (1986), wrote and
directed The Abyss (1989), and wrote, produced and directed Terminator 2:Judgment
Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). He also co-wrote and
produced Point Break (1991) and Strange Days (1994), as well as producing Solaris
(2003).
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He co-created the one-hour television series Dark Angel in 1999, which aired for
two seasons on the Fox Network, launching Jessica Alba as a star and gaining a loyal
fan base. It won numerous awards including the People's Choice Award for Best New
Television Drama. Cameron's passion for archeology led him to executive produce
Exodus Decoded and produce The Lost Tomb of Jesus, both award-winning
documentaries directed by Simcha Jacobovici.
An avid scuba diver since 1969, having logged more than 3,000 hours
underwater, Cameron combined his zeal for diving with filmmaking, directing The Abyss
-- a film that broke new ground in underwater cinematography and lighting. He became
enthralled with Titanic, the ultimate shipwreck tragedy, and in 1995 made 12 mannedsubmersible dives to the ship’s remains in preparation for his film. For that expedition
Cameron developed unprecedented filming, lighting and robotic equipment for use in the
extreme pressures of the deep. The technical success of that expedition fueled his
desire to bring the experience of deep ocean exploration to audiences around the world.
He formed Earthship Productions to develop films about ocean exploration and
conservation. It was then Cameron began to work on a digital 3D camera system he
developed with Pace. The goal was to bring back the experience of deep ocean
exploration with unrivaled clarity. In preparation for his 2001 Titanic expedition, he
developed revolutionary fiber-spooling mini-ROV's as well as numerous other deep
ocean lighting and photographic technology. His team's historic exploration of the
shipwreck was the focus of his 3D IMAX film, Ghosts of the Abyss.
In 2002, Cameron explored the wreck of the Bismarck with his robotic cameras,
resulting in groundbreaking discoveries about the sinking of the legendary German
battleship and the Discovery Channel documentary James Cameron’s Expedition:
Bismarck. His team made three expeditions to deep hydrothermal vent sites in the
Atlantic, Pacific and Sea of Cortez over a two-year period, which became the subject of
Aliens of the Deep, also released in 3D IMAX. He was joined in his exploration of these
extreme environments by a team of young scientists and marine biologists to study how
life forms discovered there represent life we may one day find on other planets and
moons in our solar system. He returned to the Titanic to complete his interior exploration
of the ship, later showcased in the Discovery Channel's program Last Mysteries of the
Titanic. Cameron has led seven deep ocean expeditions with over 70 deep submersible
dives, including 49 Mir dives to depths up to 16,000 feet. He is currently developing a
number of ocean projects and environmental documentaries.
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His fascination with space exploration prompted Cameron to work with space
scientists and engineers in developing viable architectures for human exploration of
Mars. He has been involved with a number of robotic space exploration projects and is
currently a co-investigator on the Mars Science Laboratory Mastcam – the “eyes” of the
Curiosity rover – which is currently exploring the Martian surface.
JACQUES MÉTHÉ (executive producer, Cirque du Soleil), a veteran film and
television producer, joined Cirque du Soleil in 2005 as head of Cirque du Soleil Images
and general manager overseeing all of the entertainment powerhouse’s television, film
and DVD productions.
For 42 years, Méthé has been actively involved as a producer and executive
producer in the production of numerous television movies and series, documentaries,
videos, variety specials and feature films in Canada and abroad. He served as a line
producer on Capote, the Academy Award® contender that brought its star Philip
Seymour Hoffman an Oscar®.
Prior to joining Cirque du Soleil, Méthé was general manager of Atlantique
Productions in Paris, president of Allégro Films in Montreal and president of the
international drama division of the Coscient Group, a Canadian production company.
Because of his international expertise, strong management skills and critical
production experience, Cirque du Soleil brought him aboard. Since joining the company
in the summer of 2005, Méthé has executive produced all of the Cirque du Soleil
performance specials and documentaries including: Cirque du Soleil: Corteo (2006), A
Thrilling Ride Through Kooza (2007), Cirque du Soleil: Kooza (2007) as well as the
documentaries Touch the Sky (2011) and All Together Now (2008) to name a few.
CARY GRANAT (executive producer) is known for transforming literary
properties into successful film franchises and emerging entertainment brands into
industry juggernauts.
Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away is Granat’s third collaboration with director Andrew
Adamson. As former CEO of Walden Media, Granat secured the rights to C.S. Lewis’
beloved The Chronicles of Narnia. Adamson directed the first two films in the series: The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of
Narnia: Prince Caspian. Since leaving Walden in 2009, the veteran producer joined Reel
FX Inc. in partnership with Ed Jones. Reel FX Inc.’s upcoming releases include the
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animated comedy Turkeys, and Guillermo Del Toro’s Day of the Dead. Other projects in
development include popular children’s books such as Robert C. O’Brien’s Rats of
NIMH, and William Joyce’s Dinosaur Bob.
While Granat was CEO at Walden, the studio became a leader in film, publishing
with Walden Books and the Walden Pond Press, children’s live entertainment and
music, as well as expanding the brand with two unique extension businesses focused on
education and faith outreach in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, France,
Germany, Japan and other foreign markets.
Granat successfully re-launched the estates of and secured the rights for
developing some of the most beloved adventure stories of all time: J.R. Tolkien’s Lord of
the Rings trilogy while at Miramax, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, King-Smith’s The
Water Horse, Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, author Jules Verne’s Journey to
the Center of the Earth, and Lewis’ Narnia series at Walden Media.
Before Walden Media, Granat was president of Miramax’s Dimension division,
where he helped build one of the most recognizable brands in the entertainment
business, spearheading a roster that would become distinguished for both its
trendsetting content and international box office success. He oversaw the successful
Scream, Scary Movie and Spy Kids franchises. Granat also led Miramax/Dimension to
capitalize on the synergy between music and film, establishing alliances with major
record labels Sony and Capitol/EMI in the formation of Miramax/Dimension Records.
Prior to Dimension, Granat was as an executive at MCA/Universal. He began his
film career at Warner Bros.
ED JONES (executive producer), a pioneer in digital media and industry expert in
animation and visual effects, won the 1988 Academy Award® and BAFTA Award for
Special Effects for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He took home his first BAFTA Award for
Special Effects the previous year for The Witches of Eastwick and was given the 1996
International Animated Film Society "Annie" Technical Achievement for Space Jam.
He was executive producer of director George Miller’s 2007 Oscar® winner and
Golden Globe nominee for Best Animated Feature, Happy Feet. Jones founded
Cinesite’s facilities in Hollywood and London and eventually left to continue his career as
a sought-after VFX supervisor.
In a career spanning three decades with more than 200 projects to his credit, the
chief executive officer of Reel FX Studios joined ReelFX Inc. with Cirque du Soleil
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Worlds Away producer Cary Granat to produce family franchise films in the $50 million
budget range. Aside from the upcoming release of Turkeys and Guillermo Del Toro’s
Day of the Dead, other projects in development include popular children’s books such
asRobert C. O’Brien’s Rats of NIMH, and William Joyce’s Dinosaur Bob.
Before joining Reel FX in 2009, Jones worked for Rainmaker Entertainment in
Vancouver and produced Escape From Planet Earth for the Weinstein Company.
Prior to that, Jones ran ESC Entertainment, a company Warner Bros. chose
Jones to run and build in 2001. The AOL/Time Warner subsidiary was the primary studio
responsible for Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, Catwoman and Constantine. As CEO
of ESC he built and led a team that developed a creative pipeline culminating in six
patent applications being filed by AOL/Time Warner. Warner Bros. then asked Jones to
join its Australia-based team in 2005 as executive producer on the CG feature Happy
Feet.
Before ESC, Jones worked in lead VFX roles with Warner Bros., DreamWorks
and Paramount Pictures on numerous films including Hard Rain, Soldier, Almost
Famous and Cats and Dogs.
From 1992-1996 he worked for Cinesite as CEO/president and senior visual
effects supervisor after working for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for 13 years. During his
tenure at Cinesite he set the industry standard for digitizing images and created a datacentric production model for handling large volumes of computer graphic images. Among
the films he worked on: Waterworld, Broken Arrow, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire,
Free Willy II, Outbreak and In the Line of Fire.
Jones began his career at ILM in 1979 when there were only 40 employees. He
worked in creative and management roles, breaking ground with accomplishments such
as the 2 1/2 D look for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? There he was responsible for optical
photography, work that brought him the 1988 Academy Award®. Jones oversaw the
shaping of ILM’s foundation for expansion in digital technology. At ILM, he was involved
with more than 90 films including such blockbusters as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes
Back, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Ghostbusters I &II,
Ghost, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the Indiana Jones trilogy.
DAVID MALLET (additional filming), considered the most experienced and
prolific live music television director in the world, has amassed 105 long form and event
films and more than 80 music videos to his credit with artists ranging from U2, Tina
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Turner, Beyonce, Janet Jackson and Elton John to the Three Tenors and Andrew Lloyd
Weber. He is the key live performance director for Cirque du Soleil, capturing its shows
in Las Vegas and worldwide.
Aside from working on Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away, Mallet has also shot Cirque
du Soleil’s Delirium -- Sony Digital Pictures Film (2008); KÀ -- ZDF Special ’08; Quidam,;
La Nouba,; and Dralion, -- which brought him one of two Primetime Emmy Awards. He
also won a Primetime Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for Best Direction for Cher,
The Farewell Tour (NBC Special).
Mallet is the recipient of two Grammy Awards for U2 Live From Sydney -- World
Live Broadcast & DVD and Madonna: Blonde Ambition Tour (HBO) as well as three
Grammy nominations. He has won five Ace Awards, a BAFTA Award for the Kenny
Everett Video Show, one Royal Television Society Award and two Silver Rose of
Montreux Awards for Bejart Ballet’s Ballet for Life and Joseph and His Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat with Joan Collins and Donny Osmond.
Mallet’s career began with the early days of music television. He has always
remained at the forefront of event filmmaking. His understanding of both music and film
has been recognized by talents as diverse as U2, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Cher, AC/DC
and Pink to name a few. The preeminent director in his field, Mallet is in great demand
from networks worldwide including NBC, ABC, HBO, PBS, CBS, iTV, BBC and C4.
His vast credits of long form and event films include: Michael Jackson Tribute
Concert 2011-11-07; VH1 Welcomes the Troops – 2010; Tina Live – Tina Turner 50TH
Anniversary Tour; Nelson Mandela -- 90th Birthday Celebration; Pink: Live at Wembley;
Celine Dion: Live in Las Vegas "A New Day"; The Three Tenors Christmas Concert: Live
From Vienna; Pink Floyd: Pulse -- Earls Court; Gloria Estefan: Live in Miami, HBO; Hans
Christian Andersen Celebration 2005: Featuring Tina Turner, Jean Michel Jarre, Olivia
Newton John & More; Inxs: Live Baby Live – Wembley; Michael Bolton: My Secret
Passion -- Opera Bellini, Sicily; Michael Flatley -- Lord of the Dance: Live at the Point,
Dublin and Sarah Brightman: Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
His music credits include: AC/DC & Arnold Schwarzenegger: Big Gun;
Boomtown Rats: Don’t Like Mondays; Culture Club: Mistake Number Three; Diana Ross:
Chain Reaction; Def Leppard: Rock of Ages; Elvis Costello: Radio, Radio; Heart: What
About the Love; Joan Jett: French Song; Ozzy Osborne: So Tired; and Rush: Distant
Early Warning.
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BRETT TURNBULL (director of photography), a prolific cinematographer best
known for his work in live concert films and multi-camera 3D, marks his fourth
collaboration with David Mallet, Cirque du Soleil’s live performance director, on Cirque
du Soleil Worlds Away.
Turnbull began his entertainment career in London’s vibrant post-punk music
scene, playing in a number of bands after studying at art school. He soon joined seminal
industrial group TEST DEPT, combining experimental film-making techniques with the
band’s aggressive scrap-metal percussion to create spectacular projected backdrops for
their live performances. This role expanded into designing album sleeves and stage
shows, directing music videos and devising theatrical concepts for the MINISTRY OF
POWER “Unacceptable Face of Freedom” at Expo 86 and “Demonomania” at
Vallodollid.
Further training followed at the prestigious National Film School. Turnbull
subsequently wrote and directed several short films, including The Golem of Princelet
Street, The Snowball Effect and The Linesman (BBC). He also directed numerous music
videos, live concert films and documentaries for artists such as Radiohead, Nine Inch
Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie, Neil Young and Westlife. Always a hands-on
film-maker, Turnbull shot and edited many of these music videos himself, and became
increasingly in demand as a cinematographer - to the point where he decided to move
full-time into this role.
Since that time he’s worked as Director of Photography on hundreds of projects
across a wide range of genres, many of which have won or been nominated for Grammy
and other awards. Notable examples are commercials for T-Mobile, Orange, Hewlett
Packard and Sky, music videos for Coldplay, U2, Travis and Joe Strummer,
documentaries India Diaries and Kumbh Mela, and concert films for Green Day,
Beyonce, Rihanna, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, White Stripes and Madonna.
Feature films include Roger Waters: THE WALL (in post-production) and Katy
Perry – Part of Me (3D live concert footage).
Turnbull has been at the cutting edge of the current 3D renaissance in the UK,
filming commercials for Audi, Panasonic and Sky, music videos for Kelis and Najwa
Karam, documentary films Running With Bulls (IMAX), Experience Montreux,
Wimbledon 3D, Sky Movie Specials Avatar and Prometheus, live concert films for Peter
Gabriel, Kylie Minogue, JLS and Kings of Leon, plus TV specials for KT Tunstall, Snoop
Dogg and Keane.
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Previous collaborations with David Mallet include David Gilmour: In Concert,
music documentary On an Island, and Michael Forever – The Tribute Concert in 3D.
SIM EVAN-JONES (editor) has been a frequent collaborator with Cirque du
Soleil Worlds Away director Andrew Adamson, having first teamed on the 2001
animation blockbuster Shrek, the Oscar® winner that brought him a nomination for the
American Cinema Editors Award for Best Feature Film, Comedy or Musical.
Evan-Jones and Adamson also worked together on the 2004 sequel Shrek 2,
one of the top grossing box office films in history. They re-teamed on the 2005
international hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based
on C.S. Lewis’ classic best seller, as well as the sequel, The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian in 2008.
Evan-Jones has also worked with director Simon Wells on several films. He was
an associate editor on DreamWorks’ 1997 animated feature Prince of Egypt, which
Wells co-directed. He co-edited Wells’ 1995 film Balto and 1993’s We’re Back: A
Dinosaurs Story, which Wells co-directed. And he was a first assistant editor on
American Tail II, which Wells also co-directed.
Evan-Jones was an additional editor on the DreamWorks’ 2002 hit Madagascar.
He has collaborated twice with producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and their
Working Title Films as an additional editor on the upcoming British drama Hippie Hippie
Shake and as editor on 2010’s Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang, the sequel to the
international box office hit Nanny McPhee. Evan-Jones has also edited the forthcoming
Mr. Pip and has worked on First, a feature length documentary about the 2012 London
Olympics for the IOC and NBC/ Universal.
BENOITJUTRAS (composer, original) is one of Cirque du Soleil’s award-winning
composers and musical directors known for evoking the senses of spectators and music
lovers alike in the soundtracks he has created for numerous live shows including
Quidam, "O" and La Nouba. He was named best circus composer at the International
Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1996, an award for his work as composer and musical
director on a show presented in Switzerland, co-created by Cirque du Soleil and Circus
Knie.
In film, Jutras composed the soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil’s Journey of Man,
an IMAX feature film and co-production with Sony Pictures Classics, and Alegria, The
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Film, Cirque du Soleil’s first feature film produced by Franco Dragone. The score
garnered Jutras Quebec’s La Soirée des Jutra (Jutra Award) for Best Score, a Canadian
film award for talent and achievement. He also shared a nomination for the Genie Award
for Best Original Song with Cirque du Soleil composer René Dupéré. Jutras also
composed the soundtracks for Robert Lepage’ The Far Side of the Moon (2003) and
Lyne Charlebois’ Borderline (2007) and is credited with music on Rachel Talalay’s The
Wind in the Willows (2006), a television feature co-produced by the BBC and CBC.
Recently, Jutras composed and produced the music for the show A Muse by Les
7 doigts, which opened in Mexico City. He also composed the score for The House of
Dancing Water, which opened in Macau in 2010 at the City of Dreams.
In 2008, he composed three pieces to be included in the celebrations for Pope
Benedict XVI's visit to Yankee Stadium in New York. That year, he was asked to write
the music for Six Flags’ Glow in the Park Parades, presented in the United States, New
England, and Mexico.
In 2005, Jutras composed the music for Le Rêve, a show presented at the
theater of the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Five years earlier he scored the music for
Francesco il Musical, an Italian production based on the life and times of Saint Francis of
Assisi. This work was presented in Assisi to mark the arrival of the new millennium.
In 1998, Benoit wrote the music for The Hunger TV series which starred David
Bowie and was nominated for a primetime Emmy.
In 1995, he wrote a few pieces and acted as musical director for the special
Cirque du Soleil performance for the G7 Summit in Halifax. He also worked with René
Dupéré on composing the music for Cirque du Soleil shows Mystère and Fascination.
Jutras became co-composer and musical director for We Reinvent the Circus’
European tour in 1990. He joined the team of We Reinvent the Circus in 1987, where he
spent three years working as musical director.
He holds a master's degree in composition from the Conservatoire de Musique
de Montréal and has received two major awards from this institution.
STEPHEN BARTON (composer for additional music, arranger), a versatile
composer who has scored music for more than three dozen feature films, videogames
and television projects, marks his fourth collaboration with director/writer/producer
Andrew Adamson on Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away. They previously teamed on such
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award-winning and commercial hits as Shrek 2, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. On Shrek 2, he
co-wrote a song with Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away producer Aron Warner on the
platinum selling soundtrack.
Barton left his native London and moved to Los Angeles in 2002. Since then he
has composed and arranged music for 20 feature films and television productions. His
credits include the BAFTA-nominated British thriller Exam, Sir Ridley Scott's Kingdom of
Heaven, Tony Scott's Deja Vu and Man on Fire, The Six Wives of Henry Lefay, Ben
Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, The Number 23,
Flushed Away and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. He was the music supervisor on
the television documentary series I’m Alive and scored the music for the DreamWorks
video game How to Train Your Dragon.
Barton is a frequent collaborator with Sir Anthony Hopkins after producing the
soundtrack for Hopkins’ 2006 film Slipstream, which Hopkins wrote and directed. The
two have worked together with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra and the Johann Strauss Orchestra, as well as touring in Italy with
Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Maggiore Musica di Firenze.
His upcoming projects include scoring Bryan Ramirez' Mission Park and Disney's
television series Motorcity.
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