Budiey
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN (Director/Screenwriter/Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker who has been recognized for his work as both a director and screenwriter.
Currently, Nolan is directing and producing “The Dark Knight Rises,” the follow up to his record-breaking 2008 film, “The Dark Knight.” With Emma Thomas, he is also serving as a producer on the Superman movie “Man of Steel,” being directed by Zack Snyder.
In 2009, Nolan directed the acclaimed drama “Inception,” which he also wrote and produced. The film was a worldwide blockbuster, earning more than $800 million dollars. Among its many honors, it received eight Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Nolan was also recognized by his peers with a Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award, as well as a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award nomination. He and Thomas also earned a Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award nomination.
The year prior, Nolan directed, co-wrote, and produced “The Dark Knight,” which grossed more than $1 billion dollars at the global box office. Nolan also garnered DGA, WGA and PGA Award nominations for “The Dark Knight,” which also received eight Oscar® nominations.
Born in London, Nolan began making movies at an early age with his father’s Super-8mm camera. While studying English Literature at University College London (UCL), he shot 16mm films at UCL’s film society, learning the guerrilla film techniques he would later use to make his first feature, “Following.” The noir thriller was recognized at a number of international film festivals, prior to being released theatrically.
Nolan’s second film was the independent feature “Memento.” Nolan directed the film from his own screenplay, based on a short story by his brother Jonathan. The film brought Nolan numerous honors, including Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and a DGA Award nomination.
He then directed the critically acclaimed psychological thriller “Insomnia,” starring Oscar® winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. In 2005, Nolan co-wrote and directed “Batman Begins.” The smash hit actioner re-imagined the Batman film franchise, pleasing critics and fans alike.
Nolan also directed, co-wrote and produced the mystery thriller “The Prestige,” which received Oscar® nominations for its outstanding art direction and cinematography.
Nolan currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, producer Emma Thomas, and their children. Nolan and Thomas also have their own production company, Syncopy.
EMMA THOMAS (Producer) is presently producing “The Dark Knight Rises,” which completes Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. She and Nolan are also producing “Man of Steel,” being directed by Zack Snyder.
Thomas most recently produced the award-winning drama “Inception,” written and directed by Nolan. The film took in more than $800 million dollars at the worldwide box office and garnered numerous honors, among them eight Academy Award® nominations, including one for Best Picture. Thomas also earned a Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award nomination, shared with Nolan.
In 2008, Thomas produced “The Dark Knight,” which shattered box-office records on its way to earning more than $1 billion worldwide. Thomas also earned a Producers Guild of America Award nomination for her work on the film. In addition, “The Dark Knight” received numerous honors, including eight Academy Award® nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger) and Best Sound Editing (Richard King), and nine BAFTA Awards, where Ledger also won.
Thomas studied at the prestigious University College London before beginning her career at Working Title Films in London, where she worked in physical production for five years. While at Working Title, she gained a solid foundation in film production, which would serve her well as she segued into producing.
The independent feature “Following” was the turning point for her career, marking her first film as a producer. Shot on weekends over the course of a year, “Following” was guerrilla filmmaking at its best. The film, which was shot on a shoestring budget, went on to gain recognition at film festivals around the world and received international distribution.
Thomas next served as an associate producer on the internationally acclaimed independent film “Memento,” which won a number of awards, including an Independent Spirit Award, a British Independent Film Award, and several critics groups’ awards for Best Film. Continuing her success, Thomas co-produced her first major studio release, the hit thriller “Insomnia,” starring Oscar® winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.
In 2005, Thomas produced “Batman Begins,” under the direction of Christopher Nolan. Following that, Thomas produced “The Prestige,” a drama about an intense rivalry between two magicians who become obsessed with outdoing one another, leading to self-destruction and murder. The Christopher Nolan-directed film earned two Oscar® nominations, for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.
Thomas lives in Los Angeles with husband Christopher Nolan and their children, and is currently developing additional projects under the banner of their company, Syncopy.
CHUCK ROVEN (Producer) is co-founder of Atlas Entertainment and distinguished by three decades as a producer. Roven has developed a unique expertise in that he is equally comfortable producing tentpole films while never losing sight of his mission to make critically-acclaimed, independent films. He has built a reputation of creative collaboration and innovation, garnering international acclaim for his slate of films which have generated billions of dollars in revenues. In 2008, Charles Roven was honoured with the ShoWest Producer of the Year award as well as Filmmaker of the Year at the Dubai International Film Festival, for his prolific contributions to the film industry.
Roven is currently a producer on “Man Of Steel,” directed by Zack Snyder. Most recently, Roven produced “Season of the Witch” for Relativity. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman star in the supernatural action adventure directed by Dominic Sena. Roven also produced two of summer 2008’s biggest films: critically acclaimed “The Dark Knight,” directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman, which broke box-office records around the world and grossed over a billion dollars worldwide; and the comedy blockbuster “Get Smart,” inspired by the hit TV show, directed by Pete Segal, starring Steve Carrel, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Terence Stamp, and Alan Arkin.
Earlier in 2008, Roven also produced the Relativity film “The Bank Job,” starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows, and directed by Roger Donaldson, which opened number one in the UK box office and was one of the best reviewed movies of 2008. In February of 2009, Roven released Tom Tykwer’s “The International” for Columbia Pictures starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts.
His distinguished credits include “Batman Begins,” the prequel to “The Dark Knight,” directed by Christopher Nolan, which had a worldwide gross of over $370 million. Roven also produced Universal/HBO Film’s musical “Idlewild” starring Outkast’s Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi), and the Terry Gilliam directed “Brothers Grimm,” starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. Previously Roven produced the $275-million-plus worldwide box office hit ‘Scooby-Doo,” as well as the sequel, ‘Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.”
Roven’s success however has not just been limited to producing films. In 1989 with partner Robert Cavallo, Roven co-founded Roven/Cavallo Entertainment (RCE), predecessor to Atlas Entertainment, which in addition to film production, guided the trajectories of some of the largest names in music, including multi-Grammy® winning recording artists Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Seal, Weezer, Savage Garden, LeAnn Rimes, All American Rejects, and Paula Abdul. During this time, Roven produced films such as “Final Analysis,” Oscar®-nominated “Twelve Monkeys,” “Fallen,” the $200 million grossing fantasy romance “City of Angels,” and the highly-acclaimed post-Gulf War tale “Three Kings.”
KEVIN DE LA NOY (Executive Producer) recently worked as Producer on “Clash of the Titans” and “Clash of the Titans 2” and as Executive Producer on Director Christopher Nolan’s worldwide blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” He also co-produced Michael Mann’s biographical crime drama “Public Enemies,” which starred Johnny Depp as legendary outlaw John Dillinger.
De La Noy’s other recent producing credits include serving as executive producer on “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou, under the direction of Edward Zwick. He had earlier collaborated with Zwick as the unit production manager on “The Last Samurai.” De La Noy also co-produced Richard Donner’s sci-fi thriller “Timeline,” and was an associate producer on Steven Spielberg’s award-winning World War II drama ‘saving Private Ryan.”
In addition, he has been the unit production manager on such hits as “Ali,” “Titanic,” “Braveheart,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Mission: Impossible II.” His film work also includes serving as the production supervisor on “The Power of One” and as the location manager on such films as “The Ghost and the Darkness,” “Black Beauty,” “The Secret Garden” and “1492: Conquest of Paradise.” He has also worked as an assistant director on a wide range of features.
JORDAN GOLDBERG (Co-Producer) began his filmmaking career like so many other filmmaking careers began: through nepotism. After attending Georgetown University with writer Jonathan Nolan, Goldberg had the good fortune of being introduced to Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas. The two were kind and crazy enough to take a chance on the relatively green film student who had no clue how to be an assistant let alone make a cup of tea.
Several thousand cups of tea later, Goldberg earned his first production credit on “Batman Begins” and was eventually promoted to Associate Producer on “The Prestige” and “The Dark Knight.” Most recently, Goldberg served as Co-Producer on the Oscar-nominated “Inception.” Goldberg’s night job as a writer has enabled him to produce an episode for the animated video release “Batman: Gotham Knight,” five webisodes of “Gotham Tonight,” and two Inception prologue comics, “The Cobol Job” and “The Big Under.”
JONATHAN NOLAN (Screenwriter) is currently writing the screenplay for “Interstellar,” a science fiction space adventure to be directed by Steven Spielberg.
Nolan was born in London and grew up in the Chicago area. His film career began when he wrote the intriguing short story “Memento Mori,” which became the basis for the acclaimed noir drama “Memento,” starring Guy Pearce. Directed by his brother, Christopher Nolan, who also adapted the screenplay, “Memento” brought Jonathan an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay, as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, both shared with Christopher.
He recently received his second Oscar® nomination for the blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” which he co-wrote. The film received eight Academy Award® nominations.
Nolan previously co-wrote the screenplay for the mystery thriller “The Prestige,” about a bitter rivalry between two magicians with tragic consequences. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson starred in the drama, under the direction of Christopher Nolan.
WALLY PFISTER (Director of Photography) recently won an Academy Award® for his work on Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” He has earned three Oscar® nominations for his previous work with Nolan. The first came for 2005’s “Batman Begins,” for which he was also honored by his peers with an American Society of Cinematographers Award nomination. The following year, he was Oscar®-nominated for his work on the period thriller “The Prestige.” He received his most recent nod for his cinematography on Nolan’s 2008 record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.”
Pfister had earlier received an Independent Spirit Award for his work on Nolan’s compelling drama “Memento,” which marked their first collaboration. He also lensed the director’s 2002 thriller “Insomnia.”
His additional film credits include “The Italian Job,” directed by F. Gary Gray, and the independent features “Laurel Canyon,” “Scotland, PA,” and “The Hi-Line,” for which he won the Moxie! Award for Best Cinematographer at the Santa Monica Film Festival. He most recently shot Bennett Miller’s baseball drama “Moneyball,” starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman,” which will be in theatres September 23, 2011.
In-between his work for the big screen, Pfister directs and shoots television commercials for top advertising agencies.
NATHAN CROWLEY (Production Designer) started as a set designer on ”Hook” and ”Bram Stoker’s Dracula” after attending Brighton School of Art in England. As an art director, he worked on ”Braveheart,” “Mission Impossible 2” and ”The Devil’s Own” before becoming a Production Designer on “Behind Enemy Lines,” “Insomnia,” “Veronica Guerin,” “Batman Begins,” “The Lake House,” ”The Prestige,” ”The Dark Knight” and ”Public Enemies.” He has received Academy Award nominations for “The Prestige” and “The Dark Knight,” as well as BAFTA Nominations for “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” Last year he completed “John Carter of Mars” for Pixar/ Disney which is due to be released in 2012.
LEE SMITH (Editor) earned Academy Award®, BAFTA Award and Eddie Award nominations for his work on Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and a BAFTA Award nomination for his work on Nolan’s “Inception.” He and Nolan also collaborated on “Batman Begins” and “The Prestige.”
Smith has also enjoyed a long association with director Peter Weir, earning an Academy Award® nomination for his editing work on Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” for which he also received an Eddie Award nomination. Smith most recently reunited with Weir for the fact-based drama “The Way Back.” Smith had earlier served as editor and sound designer on Weir’s “The Truman Show,” “Fearless” and “Green Card”; an additional editor on “Dead Poets Society”; and an associate editor and sound designer on “The Year of Living Dangerously,” which began their collaboration.
Hailing from Australia, Smith won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Editing on Gregor Jordan’s “Two Hands,” on which he was also the sound designer. For his work as a sound designer, he also won an AFI Award and earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Jane Campion’s “The Piano,” and won an AFI Award for Phillip Noyce’s “Dead Calm.”
As an editor, Smith’s additional film credits include “X-Men: First Class,” “The Way Back,” “The Rage in Placid Lake,” “Black and White,” “Buffalo Soldiers,” “Risk,” “Joey,” “RoboCop 2,” “Communion” and “Howling III.” He was also the sound designer on Gillian Armstrong’s “Little Women.”
LINDY HEMMING (Costume Designer) won an Academy Award® for her Gilbert & Sullivan-era costume designs for “Topsy-Turvy,” directed by Mike Leigh. She has also been Leigh’s costume designer of choice on the films “Meantime,” “Naked,” “Life is Sweet” and “High Hopes.”
Hemming designed the costumes for the international blockbuster “The Dark Knight” and its predecessor hit, “Batman Begins,” both directed by Christopher Nolan. She served as the costume designer on several James Bond films, beginning in 1995 with “GoldenEye,” directed by Martin Campbell, and continuing with Roger Spottiswoode’s “Tomorrow Never Dies,” Michael Apted’s “The World is Not Enough,” Lee Tamahori’s “Die Another Day” and Campbell’s “Casino Royale.” She most recently teamed with Campbell a third time for the action thriller “Edge of Darkness.”
Hemming’s extensive film credits also include “Clash of the Titans,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and its sequel, “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life”; “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” directed by Chris Columbus; Sally Potter’s “The Man Who Cried”; “The Trench,” starring Daniel Craig; Mark Herman’s “Little Voice” and “Blame It on the Bellboy”; “The Brave,” directed by and starring Johnny Depp; Bob Rafelson’s “Blood & Wine”; Peter Chelsom’s “Funny Bones” and “Hear My Song”; Mike Newell’s “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award; Stephen Gyllenhaal’s “Waterland”; Peter Medak’s “The Krays”; Jon Amiel’s “Queen of Hearts”; Stephen Frears’ “My Beautiful Laundrette”; David Hare’s “Wetherby”; Richard Eyre’s “Laughterhouse”; and Bill Forsyth’s “Comfort & Joy.”
Hemming was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for her work on the telefilm “Porterhouse Blue.” Her television credits also include the longform projects “Running Late,” “Dancing Queen” and “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”
Prior to designing costumes for the screen, Hemming was a costume designer in the theatre. She worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain, and on many productions in London’s West End.
HANS ZIMMER (Composer) is one of the film industry’s most influential composers, whose career spans three decades and encompasses well over 100 films. Zimmer recently earned his ninth Academy Award® nomination for his score for Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” which also garnered Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. He previously collaborated with Nolan on the blockbusters “The Dark Knight,” which also earned a BAFTA Award nomination, and “Batman Begins.”
In 1994, he won both an Oscar® and a Golden Globe Award for his score for the animated smash hit “The Lion King,” which spawned a hugely successful soundtrack album. Zimmer’s music for “The Lion King” continues to draw applause in the award-winning stage production of the musical, which earned the 1998 Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album.
Zimmer has also garnered Oscar® nominations for his scores for “Sherlock Holmes,” “Gladiator,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “As Good as It Gets,” “The Preacher’s Wife” and “Rain Man.” In addition, he won a Golden Globe Award and earned Grammy and BAFTA Award nominations for “Gladiator,” and has also received Golden Globe nominations for his composing work on “Frost/Nixon,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Spanglish,” “The Last Samurai,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Prince of Egypt.”
Zimmer’s long list of film credits goes on to include Zimmer “Gridlock,”
“Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the animated features “Rango” and “Megamind,” “The Dilemma,” “How Do You Know,” “It’s Complicated,” “Angels & Demons,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” “The Simpsons Movie,” “The Holiday,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Madagascar,” “Matchstick Men,” “Shark Tale,” “Black Hawk Down,” “The Ring,” “Hannibal,” “Crimson Tide,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Mission: Impossible II,” “A League of Their Own,” “Black Rain,” “Backdraft,” “Thelma & Louise,” “True Romance” and “My Beautiful Launderette.”
In 2010, he shared an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for the critically acclaimed 10-part HBO miniseries “The Pacific.”
In 2003, ASCAP presented the composer with the prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, recognizing his extraordinary body of work.
Apart from his myriad of composing credits, Zimmer has served as a music producer or consultant on numerous films, recently including the mega-hit “Iron Man,” on which he was the executive music producer.
CHRIS CORBOULD (Special Effects Supervisor) earned Academy Award® and BAFTA Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for his work as the special effects supervisor on Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” He previously earned Academy Award® and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for his work as the special effects supervisor on Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and received a BAFTA Award nomination in the same category on Nolan’s “Batman Begins.” Corbould also gained a BAFTA Award nomination for his work on “Quantum of Solace,” which marked his twelfth James Bond film.
He began working on Bond films as a technician on “The Spy Who Loved Me” and worked his way up through the ranks. He has served as the special effects supervisor on all of the Bond films since “GoldenEye,” for which Corbould received his first BAFTA Award nomination. He also received a BAFTA Award nomination for the effects in “Casino Royale,” which became the most successful film in the history of the franchise.
His other film credits as special effects supervisor include the science fiction adventure “John Carter of Mars,” for director Andrew Stanton; “X-Men: First Class”;. Stephen Sommers’ “The Mummy,” which also brought him a BAFTA Award nomination; “102 Dalmatians”; and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider” and its sequel.
PAUL FRANKLIN (Visual Effects Supervisor) won both Oscar® and BAFTA Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects as the visual effects supervisor on Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “Inception.” He previously garnered both Oscar® and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Achievement in Visual Effects as the visual effects supervisor on Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” He earlier received a BAFTA Award nomination for his visual effects work on Nolan’s “Batman Begins.”
He has also served as a visual effects supervisor on two Harry Potter films, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
Franklin graduated from Oxford University, where he studied Fine Art, specializing in sculpture and experimenting with film and video. The graphics and effects he created for a series of short films caught the attention of London’s Moving Picture Company (MPC). In 1994, he joined MPC as a CG animator, working for several years in film and television.
In 1998, Franklin and a number of his colleagues left MPC to form Double Negative Visual Effects. Starting with an initial core team of ten, the company has grown to be one of the industry’s leading providers of feature film visual effects, employing more than 800 people worldwide.
TOM STRUTHERS (Stunt Coordinator) first worked with director Christopher Nolan as an assistant stunt coordinator on “Batman Begins,” and he then served as a stunt coordinator on “The Dark Knight,” under Paul Jennings as well as on Nolan’s “Inception.”
His film credits as a stunt coordinator include Andrew Stanton’s sci-fi adventure “John Carter of Mars”; “X-Men: First Class”; Dominic Sena’s thriller “Season of the Witch,” on which he was also the second unit director; and McG’s “Terminator Salvation,” starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. Additionally, he was a stunt supervisor on Chris Weitz’ “The Golden Compass,” starring Nicole Kidman, and Edward Zwick’s “Blood Diamond,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He was also assistant stunt coordinator on Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” starring Eric Bana and Daniel Craig.
Struthers began his career as a stuntman, working on such major productions as “Troy,” the “Lara Croft” films, “The Island,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” “Vertical Limit,” “The Mummy,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Titanic” and “Braveheart.”
