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Planet of the Apes - Trailer & Extras

Planet of the Apes
Preliminary Production Information

“When you say PLANET OF THE APES and Tim Burton in the same breath, that idea is instantly explosive, like lightning on the screen,” says producer Richard D. Zanuck. “All of Tim’s films are highly imaginative and highly visual. He sees most things a bit off-center, which is great for this material.

I can’t think of a more perfect pairing than Tim Burton and PLANET OF THE APES.’ It spells magic to me.”

So begins a uniquely envisioned journey to the PLANET OF THE APES, Pierre Boulle’s acclaimed and beloved science fiction novel, filtered through the eyes of director Tim Burton, one of today’s most celebrated and original filmmakers (“Batman,” “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sleepy Hollow”).

“I wasn’t interested in doing a remake or a sequel of PLANET OF THE APES,” says Burton. “But I was intrigued by the idea of revisiting that world. Like a lot of people, I was affected by the original. It’s like a good myth or fairy tale that stays with you. The idea of re-imagining that mythology is very exciting to me.

“The original has a life of its own, and we’re trying to be respectful of it,” adds the director. “We hope to get the best out of it and in the process introduce new characters and other story elements, keeping the essence of the original but inhabiting that world in a different way.”

PLANET OF THE APES depicts an upside-down world – a brutal, primal place where apes are in charge and humans scavenge for subsistence, hunted and enslaved by the tyrannical primates. The sudden appearance of one man, alien to the present order and unaffected by its oppression, serves as a challenge to the status quo and a catalyst for revolutionary social change. This film, unlike the original, does not take place on Earth; its many surprises lie elsewhere.

“We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore,” declares screenwriter William Broyles, Jr. (Fox’s “Cast Away” and Oscar-nominated for co-writing “Apollo 13”), who credits the 1968 film as “an extraordinarily original movie.” Broyles says, the new film presents “a sense of possibility and adventure. It speaks to the value of following your heart, of putting yourself on the line for what’s important.”

Broyles adds that PLANET OF THE APES “makes us look at people who we think are across some deep divide – be it cultural, racial, intellectual, national or religious – and then look at those people in a different way.”

Lawrence Konner and Mark D. Rosenthal (“Mighty Joe Young,” “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”), who contributed to the screenplay, say the new movie is “more existential, bizarre – and fun – than the original.” Rosenthal adds, “ It’s a very particular vision – Tim Burton’s – with a certain style and attitude.”

Rick Heinrichs, who has been a friend of Burton’s since college, and visual associate on every one of his films, observes, “Tim has an eternal sensibility that I think appeals to people on many different age levels.

“I mean, he's been called off-kilter, all that kind of stuff. It’s just more of a personal vision, an eccentric vision of his own that he has been allowed to explore in the movies. It’s just been great being part of them all because they’re very unusual films that are not classically commercial Hollywood. They’ve all got something almost subversive going on in them, and yet they do work on very appealing levels as well.

“Aesthetically, it's great to work on Tim’s films because he takes on a lot of risks and encourages us to do the same, pushes us to do the same, and hopefully we give him something back that works for him.”

Twentieth Century Fox and The Zanuck Company have begun production on director Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES, starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kris Kristofferson, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, David Warner and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, the screenplay is by William Broyles, Jr. and Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal. Evan Dexter Parke, Erick Avari and Luke Eberl round out the cast. Ralph Winter is the executive producer.

Richard D. Zanuck, whose distinguished career as a studio chief and producer includes films such as “The Sound of Music,” “Patton,” “The French Connection,” “M.A.S.H.,” “Jaws,” “The Sting,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Cocoon” and “Deep Impact,” is immensely proud of the caliber of craftspeople who were assembled to support director Tim Burton.

The behind-the-camera talent includes some of today’s most honored artists. Five-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker (“Men in Black,” “The Nutty Professor”) designed and created the special make-up. The director of photography is Academy Award winner Philippe Rousselot, A.C.S. (“A River Runs Through It.”)

Burton is also joined by several longtime collaborators, including Oscar-winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”), Oscar-nominated costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Sleepy Hollow”), Grammy-winning composer Danny Elfman (“Batman”) and Chris Lebenzon, who has edited all of Burton’s films. ILM, which has garnered 14 Academy Awards for its breakthrough contributions on more than 120 films, will create the special visual effects for PLANET OF THE APES.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Richard D. Zanuck, as head of production of Twentieth Century Fox, gave the greenlight to the original “Planet of the Apes.” “Sometimes, I feel as though I’m in my own time warp,” he comments. “We’re dealing with the same major issues as the original film did, but today we have different skills and solutions.”

“It seems simple now,” Zanuck says of the decision in l967, “but at that time it was very uncharted ground – using respected actors to portray talking apes in leading roles. But it worked, and the rest, as they say, is history. Besides the vision of Tim Burton, what we have going for us now in 2001 is the artistry of Rick Baker. Makeup people have made giant strides in what they can do today, but Rick has made a lifelong study of apes and their culture. He’s legendary. He was the obvious choice for this project.”

Indeed, Baker has been a central element in the success of the five films for which he won Academy Awards: Burton’s “Ed Wood,” “Men in Black,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Harry and the Hendersons” and “An American Werewolf in London.” His encounters with primates include” “Gorillas in the Mist,” and, earning two more nominations, “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan: Lord of the Apes” and “Mighty Joe Young.”

Burton explains: “We wanted to keep it actor-driven and performance-based, so Rick Baker has devised these make-ups which we feel give the actors playing apes a lot of subtlety of expression.”

“I wanted to do this film based on the title and Tim Burton,” says Baker. “The original probably inspired more people to become make-up artists than any other movie ever. I’m a makeup geek and an ape-geek so this is the ultimate film for me to do.”

“The makeup was great for the time,” Baker notes, “but basically they had one sculpture - in gorilla, chimp and orangutan versions - which they duplicated for everyone. They all had the same slicked back hair and button noses. The teeth were in the mouth but you never saw them. I wanted to be sure our apes had lips that move so you can see the teeth. I think that seeing the teeth is very important to accept that they are speaking. In addition, I wanted each creature to be uniquely different. I like making them characters and bringing out the individual differences.”

The goal to simulate primate behavior did not rest in the makeup alone. The filmmakers brought in experts to teach the actors and extras how to be ape-like. Movement coordinator Terry Notary, formerly a performer with Cirque du Soleil, conducted a special “Ape School” for weeks for dozens of performers on a sound stage.

“We needed to loosen up the actors to approximate real ape body language,” Notary explains. “Basically, a primate is a very liquid animal; he spirals into a chair. We even worked actors in small groups, got them to interact, to prod each other, because they have to start building history together. In essence, we had to teach actors how to find their own sense of being primal, to tap into their own inner ape.”

Production designer Heinrichs believes that the denizens of the PLANET OF THE APES are “very fertile ground for Burton. He’s always enjoyed the dichotomy of animal-human behavior. Think of the Penguin, Catwoman, even Batman. In the upside-down world of the ape planet, we enter their civilization. But the civilized behavior of the apes is a veneer – perhaps, to some extent, a comment our own civilization and the animal nature barely beneath our surface.”

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

As two suns rise before him, USAF Captain Leo Davidson, a pilot AWOL from an Earth-launched space station, surveys the jungle bog of this strange planet where his space pod has crashed.

The stranded pilot is played by Mark Wahlberg. “What I like about Mark is he’s got a real gravity to him,” says Burton. “He’s an anchor of strength and clarity. If you want the audience to see things through the eyes of your lead character, you want to feel like here’s a human being that you can relate to, who sees the weirdness, the intensity of it all and is dealing with it. I thought Mark could pull that off.”

Early in the film, Wahlberg as Leo must run for his life along with dozens of other human beings. They are being tracked down by fearsome apes on horseback, led by the awesome silverback Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan), captain of the hunting party, who reports to General Thade (Tim Roth), the militaristic leader of the ape society.

The tyrannical Thade is played by Britain’s Tim Roth who was Oscar-nominated for his villain in “Rob Roy,” and also had key roles in “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and many other films.

“He’s definitely the villain of the piece,” says Burton of Thade, “a clear-cut villain who represents a certain point of view in the ape culture, especially the aggression of the species. As we’ve seen in several of his films, Tim can be terrifying. Thade is actually a chimp, the primate that Rick Baker says is the most volatile.”

Along with his innate aggressiveness, Thade has some human traits. He has strong feelings for Ari, played by Helena Bohnam Carter. Even after five hours of primate make-up, the actress emerges as the most beautiful chimpanzee on the planet. A passionate person and an independent thinker, Ari is a human rights activist who believes in co-existence of the species.

The formidable Michael Clarke Duncan, who received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his moving performance in “The Green Mile,” plays the powerful and loyal captain of the ape army, Attar. Attar is the dominant male of the gorillas, trained for battle and dedicated to his spiritual leader, Thade.

The orangutans are represented by an offbeat character called Limbo, played by Paul Giamatti. A trader in humans for slaves and pets, Limbo exploits the human condition but finds himself on the run for his life and bonding with them. Producer Zanuck says, “He’s kind of the Peter Lorre comic relief of this group.”

Supermodel Estella Warren plays a strong-willed young woman named Daena, and Kris Kristofferson plays her father, Karubi, a noble human who’s been beaten down by the rule of the apes. David Warner (“Titanic”) plays Ari’s father Sandar, a respected senator in the ape legislature. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (“Pearl Harbor”) is Ari’s faithful old gorilla servant Krull.

Other cast include Evan Dexter Parke (“Cider House Rules”) as Gunnar, a rebellious human; Erick Avari (“The Mummy”) as Tival, a human servant; and Luke Eberl (“Phantoms”) as a young human boy who hero-worships Leo.

ABOUT THE FILMING

PLANET OF THE APES began principal photography on November 6, and will wrap in March. It is shooting on location on the beaches and massive canyons that define Lake Powell, Arizona; at the Trona Pinnacles (tufa spires of calcium carbonate) near Ridgecrest, California; and sound-stages in the Los Angeles area. Fox will release the film nationwide on July 27, 2001.

Executive producer Ralph Winter (“X-Men,” Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”) says, “Just in terms of sheer manpower, we are operating on a massive scale of logistics and coordination. There are days we will be feeding 1,000 people on location, and hundreds of them will be playing apes, who had to be in makeup at 3:00 am. The producing challenge is breaking down all the puzzle pieces to make them doable, and then trying to keep all the pieces on the table at the same time.

“Originally, when we started putting this movie together, we looked all over the world. We scouted in Central America and as far as Chile, but found wonderfully exotic environments within easy reach.”

Filming began on location at Lake Powell, where Burton and Heinrichs chose a beach site called Independence Bay for the nighttime scenes at the ape army encampment. Daytime found Wahlberg and others climbing the massive age-old cliffs punctuated with ominous effigies of apes.

“Independence Bay is not quite like any other area at Lake Powell,” says Heinrichs. “It is a desolate, otherworldly landscape, alien but very beautiful, muscular and sculptural.”

Zanuck allows that while a different section of Lake Powell was used in the original film, the return to the Arizona location also serves as “a subtle homage to the first.”

Another location which adds to the unearthly tableau of Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES is the Trona Pinnacles, a unique geological site in the California Desert Conservation Area, designated a National Natural Landmark by the Department of the Interior in l968.

Between 10,000 and 100,000 years ago, when the area was a chain of interconnected lakes, the Trona Pinnacles formed underwater through the interaction of blue-green algae and chemical, geothermal conditions. Calcium carbonate formations developed in a reef-like fashion with more than 500 spires of tufa, some as high as 140 feet, rising from what is now the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin.

Burton and Heinrichs have utilized this unique natural decayed city of spires for a critical confrontation in the story.

The interior set of Ape City has been constructed on a sound stage at Sony, where every square inch has been filled with a thoroughly imagined habitat to support the living, working life of an exceptional civilization of apes. Here they sleep, eat, raise families, play politics, wheel and deal their economy, entertain, gossip and play out all the intrigues of its lively citizenry. From their dwellings to their tableware and their coinage, every piece has been designed by an art department charged with exploratory research and creative zeal.

ABOUT THE ACTORS

MARK WAHLBERG (USAF Captain Leo Davidson) most recently starred in “The Perfect Storm,” Wolfgang Petersen’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Sebastian Junger, which grossed $300 million worldwide. He also starred in the critically lauded release “Three Kings,” written and directed by David O. Russell. Wahlberg’s breakout performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Academy Award-nominated “Boogie Nights” launched him into the public consciousness.
Wahlberg has already made 11 films in his short career. Credits include “The Yards,” “The Corruptor,” “The Big Hit,” “Traveler” and “Fear.” One of his first starring roles was in “The Basketball Diaries” with Leonardo DiCaprio. He made his feature-film debut in Penny Marshall’s “Renaissance Man.”
Wahlberg began his career as a hip-hop artist and has two hit albums to his credit. He is internationally known for the ground-breaking, highly profitable Calvin Klein advertising campaign.
Wahlberg will next be seen in “Rock Star” for Warner Brothers.

TIM ROTH (Thade) captured an Academy Award nomination for his studio feature debut in “Rob Roy,” opposite Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange, in a performance that has been touted as one of the best villains in screen history. Most recently, he starred with John Travolta in the comedy “Lucky Numbers.” Previously, the British-born actor had made a career out of portraying unforgettable characters in one independent film after another. He first gained worldwide recognition for his roles in two Quentin Tarantino films: “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs.” Roth just completed filming Werner Herzog’s “Invincible,” as well as roles in “Vatel” and the independent film “D’Artagnan.”
Other feature credits include “Meantime,” “The Hit,” “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Vincent and Theo,” “Jumpin’ at the Boneyard,” “Little Odessa,” “Everyone Says I Love You,” “Gridlock'd,” “The Legend of 1900” and the award-winning telefilm “Made in Britain.”
The actor made his directorial debut with “The War Zone” which premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. Following PLANET OF THE APES, Roth has committed to direct playwright Harold Pinter's adaptation of Shakespeare's “King Lear.”

HELENA BOHNAM CARTER (Ari) starred in David Fincher’s “Fight Club.” She will next be seen opposite Steve Martin in the upcoming “Novocaine,” and with Guy Pearce in the independent film “Till Human Voices Wake Us.”
She received kudos for her performance in “Theory of Flight,” and was multi-nominated for her performance in “Wings of the Dove,” for which she received Best Actress nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild. Bonham Carter was also cited as Best Actress by Canada’s Genie Awards for her performance in “Margaret’s Museum,” and received an Emmy nomination for the miniseries “Merlin.”
Born and raised in London, Bonham Carter was educated at one of that city’s foremost schools, Westminster. Director Trevor Nunn persuaded her to postpone her university studies in order to star in his film “Lady Jane” the story of the doomed Lady Nunn, who ruled England for only nine days before being beheaded.
On the last day of shooting Nunn’s film, James Ivory offered her the ingenue lead in “A Room with a View.” It was the first of a series of roles in E.M. Forster adaptations that would bring Bonham Carter international acclaim, followed by “Where Angels Fear to Tread” and “Howards End”. She played Ophelia in Franco Zeffrelli’s “Hamlet,” opposite Mel Gibson; and then portrayed Elizabeth in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” directed by Kenneth Branagh. Bonham Carter then appeared as Woody Allen’s wife in “Mighty Aphrodite.”
She has also sought a variety of contemporary roles in features and television films. She has appeared as a victim of anorexia in “Getting It Right,” a stripper in “Dancing Queen” and the widow of Lee Harvey Oswald in “Fatal Deception.” Other television credits include “Arms and the Man,” “ Beatrix Potter,” “A Hazard of Hearts,” as well as guest appearances on “Miami Vice.” Her stage credits include “Woman in White,” “The Chalk Garden,” “House of Bernarda Alba,” and “Trelawny of the Wells.”

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN (Attar) appeared opposite Bruce Willis in the 1998 summer blockbuster "Armageddon" as Bear, one of a group of roughneck oil drillers. He caused a sensation for his performance as enigmatic Death Row inmate John Coffey in the drama "The Green Mile,” and then appeared in the hit comedy “The Whole Nine Yards.”
Duncan also appeared as a bouncer in Warren Beatty's acclaimed satire, “Bulworth," and had featured roles in such movies as "The Player's Club" and "A Night at the Roxbury."
His television credits include guest roles on "The Jamie Foxx Show," "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," "Weird Science," "Married...With Children," "The Wayans Bros.," "Sparks" and "The Bold and the Beautiful."
Born and raised in Chicago, Duncan studied communications at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. Returning to his hometown, he landed work with Peoples Gas Company while moonlighting as a bouncer at various Southside clubs. A chance encounter with a stage producer won him a security job for the road company of "Beauty Shop, Part 2," which brought the 6'5," 305 lb. talent to Los Angeles after a 56-city tour.
Although down to his last $20, Duncan again found security work before obtaining his first agent at a now-defunct talent shop. He finally won a role as a drill sergeant in a beer commercial. He continued doing national and regional TV spots before winning a walk-on role in F. Gary Gray's hit comedy, "Friday," his film debut.

PAUL GIAMATTI (Limbo) delighted audiences with his offbeat performance in the hit comedy “Private Parts,” as the young eager NBC executive derisively nicknamed Pig Vomit by Howard Stern. He most recently appeared in “Big Momma's House” and just completed filming “The Untitled Todd Solondz Project.” His numerous films include Milos Forman's “Man On The Moon,” Steven Speilberg's “Saving Private Ryan,” Peter Weir's “The Truman Show,” Woody Allen's “Deconstructing Harry,” P.J. Hogan's “My Best Friend's Wedding,” F. Gary Gray's “The Negotiator,” Barbet Schroeder's “Before and After,” Sydney Pollack's “Sabrina,” Mike Newell's “Donnie Brasco,” Tim Robbins' “The Cradle Will Rock” and Bruce Paltrow's “Duets.” He also co-starred in “Winchell” with Stanley Tucci and opposite Vanessa Redgrave in “If These Walls Could Talk, II,” both for HBO.
Giamatti recently received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work on the New York stage in “The Iceman Cometh.” Other Broadway credits include “The Three Sisters” directed by Scott Elliot, and “Arcadia,” directed by Trevor Nunn. He is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama.

CARY-HIROYUKI TAGAWA (Krull) was born in Tokyo, grew up in the United States, attended USC, and now lives in Kauai and Los Angeles.
Tagawa began his film career as an extra in “Big Trouble in Little China,” starring Kurt Russell. His first big break was Bernardo Bertolucci's “The Last Emperor,” in which he played Chang, the chief eunuch of the royal household. He went on to contribute his distinctive talent to numerous films including “Rising Sun,” with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes; “Mortal Kombat,” with Christopher Lambert; “The Phantom,” with Billy Zane; John Carpenter's “Vampires,” “Snow Falling on Cedars,” and, most recently “The Art of War.” The actor will be seen next in “Pearl Harbor,” directed by Michael Bay.
A familiar face on television, Tagawa was a regular cast member on the CBS series “Nash Bridges” and the science fiction/action series “Space Rangers,” and has appeared on numerous other popular TV shows including “Stargate SG-1” and “Babylon 5.”
When he's not acting, Tagawa addresses student groups, coaches professional athletes and teaches an innovative form of martial arts he developed called Chuu-Shin, a whole new concept for sports athletes that brings martial arts to athletic training.

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON (Karubi) is a Hall of Fame singer-songwriter, actor, political activist and former Rhodes Scholar. Recent films include the action hit “Blade” with Wesley Snipes, John Sayles’ “Lone Star,” nominated for an Academy Award and “Soldiers' Daughters Never Cry,”opposite Barbara Hershey. He just completed starring with Peter Fonda in the independent film “The Wooley Boys.”
Kristofferson began his acting career in 1971 with the film “Cisco Pike” starring Gene Hackman, and followed with such hits as “Blume In Love” “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid,” and Martin Scorsese's “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.” Other film credits include Michael Cimino's “Heaven's Gate,” “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea,” “Semi-Tough,” “Trouble in Mind” and Sam Peckinpah’s “Convoy.” For his role as the doomed rock star opposite Barbra Streisand in “A Star is Born,” Kristofferson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor. He also starred with Jane Fonda in “Roll Over.” One of his favorite films was “Songwriter,” with his friend Willie Nelson.
Kris is a much sought-after concert performer, singing his hit songs such as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” “For The Good Times,” “Loving Her Was Easier” and “Why Me,” to name a few. His song, “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” won 1970's Country Music Song of the Year award, and Kristofferson received the Songwriter of the Year Award. He has since been named to the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

ESTELLA WARREN (Daena) recently completed a starring role opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Driven,” directed by Renny Harlin. Since her acting debut in Michael Rhymer’s independent feature “Perfume,” which stars Jeff Goldblum and Omar Epps, she has also starred with Rachael Leigh Cook in Tapesty Films’ “Tangled” (aka “Conspiracy of Weeds.”) All three films will be released in 2001.
Since being discovered at a high school fashion show in Etobicoke, Canada, Warren has exploded on the modeling circuit with several spectacular campaigns including Perry Ellis and Cartier as well as prestigious editorials, including the cover of GQ and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Recently, she was named number one in Maxim’s “Hot 100” list. She is the new face for Chanel No. 5 in a commercial directed by filmmaker Luc Besson.
Before entering the field of high fashion modeling, Warren achieved recognition as Canadian National Champion synchronized swimmer and World Bronze Medallist.

DAVID WARNER (Senator Sandar) played the memorably villainous Spicer Lovejoy in the Academy Award-winning “Titanic,” directed by Jim Cameron. In his 40-year career, Warner has worked with some of the leading directors in film, including John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet, Richard Donner, Joseph Losey, Alain Resnais, Terry Gilliam and, on three occasions, Sam Peckinpah. In television, he won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in the mini-series “Masada.” Warner is a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he played many leads including “Hamlet” and “Richard II.” He made his stage debut in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and his film boy in the Oscar-winning “Tom Jones,” both directed by Tony Richardson. Warner gained early prominence as the title character of “Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment.”

In 2001, ERICK AVARI (Tival) will be seen starring in the upcoming independent film “Three Days of Rain,” as well as in “The Glass House” and “Revelation.” He co-starred in such action adventure films as “The Mummy,” “Independence Day” and “Stargate,” as well as comedies like Barry Sonnenfeld’s “For Love or Money.” He had a starring role in the anti-war cult classic, “The Beast,” directed by Kevin Reynolds. Avari began his creative career at the age of nine on the set of “Kanchenjunga,” under the tutelage of famed Indian director, Satyajit Ray. His extensive stage experience includes several productions at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, as well as the hit revival of “The King and I” on Broadway. Regional theatre credits include Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Cleveland Playhouse and Chicago’s Goodman Theater, playing leading roles such as the King in “King Lear” and Joseph Smith in “The Morman Project.”

New to film, EVAN DEXTER (Gunnar) has already appeared in Oscar-nominated “The Cider House Rules” and “The Replacements.” He co-stars in the upcoming TNT movie “Second String,” which airs in January, 2001. Parke spent 10 months in the Broadway company of “The Lion King” as understudy to Scar and Mufasa, performing the latter 30 times. Born in Jamaica, BWI, and raised in Hempstead, Long Island, Dexter attended Cornell University and the Yale School of Drama where he earned his MFA. He received a William and Eva Fox Foundation Fellowship which he used to attend the New York Film Academy program for producing.

Fourteen-year old LUKE EBERL (Birn) made his studio feature debut at age10 with a pivotal role in the Dimension/Miramax film “Phantoms,” which starred Ben Affleck and Peter O'Toole. He followed that with a leading role in the independent film, “Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel” (to be released by Northern Arts), for which he earned positive personal notices from Daily Variety at the 2000 Seattle International Film Festival.
The young Coloradan's acting roots lie in the theater community of the Denver/Boulder area. Over the course of many years, he has performed in such plays as “Life with Father,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Macbeth,” and many others, with such theaters as the Tony award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Director TIM BURTON most recently directed “Sleepy Hollow,” inspired by Washington Irving’s classic story and starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson and Michael Gambon. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design and winner of the Oscar for Best Art Direction. Honors from BAFTA included Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
While “Sleepy Hollow” was a richly visual sojourn in gothic l8th century, each of Burton’s films is known for the highly imaginative and detailed world he creates to surround and inform the story. Consider “Pee-wee's Big Adventure,” “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” “Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Ed Wood,” and “Mars Attacks!”
Burton began drawing at an early age, attended Cal Arts Institute on a Disney fellowship and soon after joined the studio as an animator where he contributed to current Disney projects, but was also encouraged to develop his own. He made his directing debut with the animated short “Vincent,” narrated by Vincent Price himself. The film homage was a critical success and an award-winner on the festival circuit. Burton's next in-house project was a live-action short film called “Frankenweenie,” an inventive and youthful twist on the Frankenstein legend.
In 1985 Burton’s first feature film, “Pee-wee's Big Adventure,” was a box-office hit and the debuting director was praised by critics for his original vision. “Beetlejuice” (l988), a supernatural comedy starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder, was another critical and financial success.
In 1989, Burton directed “Batman,” starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Basinger. Following the triumph of “Batman,” the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) awarded Burton the Director of the Year Award. The film also won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
“Edward Scissorhands,” starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder and Diane Wiest, was one of the biggest hits of the 1990 Christmas season and acclaimed for its wild vision and poignant fairy tale sensibility. In 1992 Burton once again explored the dark underworld of Gotham City in “Batman Returns,” the highest grossing film that year, starring Michelle Pfeiffer as the formidable Catwoman, and Danny DeVito as Penguin.
This was almost immediately followed in 1994 by “Ed Wood,” which Burton produced and directed, starring Johnny Depp in the title role. The film garnered Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, and Best Special Effects Makeup.
In addition to directing, Burton conceived and produced the stop-motion animation adventure “Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas,” an original holiday tale that has become a seasonal perennial. He also produced 1993's “Cabin Boy” and 1995's summer blockbuster “Batman Forever,” as well as the 1996 release of “James and the Giant Peach” based on Roald Dahl's children's novel.
Before filming “Sleepy Hollow” on location in England, Burton produced and directed “Mars Attacks!,” a sci-fi comedy based on the original Topps trading card series, starring an elite array of 20 leading players including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito and Annette Bening.
In addition to directing and producing, Burton issued a children's book of his own drawings for “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” released in conjunction with the movie. His next book of drawings and rhyming verse, “The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories,” was praised by the New York Times for “conveying the pain of an adolescent outsider.”
And now, Burton has jumped online with “Stainboy” a memorable character from the l997 book. Burton has created six animated episodes of “Stainboy” for Shockwave.com, a leader in quality online entertainment.

Producer RICHARD D. ZANUCK returns to the PLANET OF THE APES phenomenon, having greenlighted the l967 original as the president in charge of production at Twentieth Century Fox. During his eight-year tenure, the studio garnered an unprecedented 159 Academy Award nominations, with three of those films, “The Sound of Music,” “Patton” and “The French Connection” winning Best Picture Oscars. Other successes included “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “M*A*S*H.”
As senior executive vice-president at Warner Bros., he oversaw production of such box-office hits as “The Exorcist” and “Blazing Saddles.” However, Zanuck left the corporate echelon to become a hands-on producer of exceptional motion pictures.
In 1971, he and David Brown formed The Zanuck/Brown Co., and one of the motion picture industry's most successful independent production entities was born. Over the next 15 years, Zanuck/Brown was responsible for such critical and box-office hits as “Jaws,” a triple-Oscar winner and Best Picture nominee; “Jaws II,” “The Sugarland Express,” Best Screenplay winner at the Cannes Film Festival and Steven Spielberg's feature directing debut; “The Sting,” winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture; and “The Verdict,” nominated for five Academy Awards. Along with Lili Fini Zanuck, Zanuck/Brown also produced the double Oscar-winner “Cocoon” and its sequel, “Cocoon: The Return.”
The debut production of The Zanuck Company, formed in 1988, was “Driving Miss Daisy” which was awarded the National Board of Review Best Picture Award. Nominated for nine Academy Awards, the film won four Oscars, including Best Picture. Subsequent Zanuck Company productions include “Rush,” the directorial debut of Lili Fini Zanuck, “Rich In Love,” “Wild Bill,” “Mulholland Falls” and Clint Eastwood’s “True Crime.”
Currently, The Zanuck Company has several other active film projects: “The Road to Perdition” starring Tom Hanks for director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”); “Reign of Fire” starring Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale for director Rob Bowan (“The X-Files”); and “The Ninth Man,” a thriller based on the John Lee novel.
Richard Zanuck’s most recent films include director William Friedkin’s “Rules of Engagement,” and “Deep Impact,” which grossed $350 million in the world marketplace. In March, 2000, together with his wife, producer Lili Fini Zanuck, he produced the highly praised 72nd annual Academy Awards show.
Among Zanuck's numerous awards is the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which he received along with his long-time associate, David Brown, in 1991. In 1993, the two men were honored with The Producers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1998 the National Association of Theater Owners presented them with their Lifetime Achievement Award.
Zanuck was recently named 2001 ShoWest’s Producer of the Year, along with his longtime partner and friend David Brown.

Executive Producer RALPH WINTER was producer, along with Lauren Shuler Donner, of last summer’s blockbuster hit “X-Men,” which starred Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin and Halle Berry. After opening to the largest non-sequel box office in history, $54.4 million, “X-Men” has gone on to gross almost 300 million worldwide for Fox.
Winter was executive producer of another summer box office hit, Disney’s “Inspector Gadget,” as well as the comedies “Hocus Pocus,” starring Bette Midler, and “Captain Ron,” starring Kurt Russell and Martin Short. His long association with the Star Trek franchise includes serving as executive producer on “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” which was nominated for four Academy Awards, producer of “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” and executive producer of “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He was supervising producer of “Mighty Joe Young,” which earned a special effects Oscar nomination.
Winter produced for UA director Ian Softley’s “Hackers,” Jeff Speakman’s “The Perfect Weapon” and “Flight of the Intruder” both for Paramount, and Robert Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters.” As an independent filmmaker, he produced two short films, the award winning “Opie Gone Mad” and “Spittin’ Image,” based on a Walt Wangerin short story.
In television, Winter produced the series “High Incident” for Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks TV, which lead to his directorial debut on the special Halloween episode, “Masquerade.” As executive in charge of production for Harve Bennett Productions, Winter supervised the highly-acclaimed “Jesse Owens Story” and the 1982 Emmy Award-winning drama “A Woman Called Golda.” Winter began his career in 1981at Paramount Pictures as Director of Post Production for Paramount Television.

Screenwriter WILLIAM BROYLES, JR. is currently represented on the screen with the box-office smash and critical hit “Cast Away,” released by Twentieth Century Fox and DreamWorks, and starring Tom Hanks and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Broyles received an Academy Award nomination and Writer's Guild Award nomination for “Apollo 13” which he co-wrote with longtime friend and colleague Al Reinert. Their screenplay won the PEN Center Literary Award for best screenplay. In addition, he co-wrote “Entrapment,” starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Broyles was founding editor of the award-winning Texas Monthly Magazine, and editor-in-chief of California Magazine and Newsweek in the early 1980s. He has written for numerous magazines, authored the book Brothers in Arms, and was the co-creator of the television series “China Beach,” which won 12 Emmys. Currently, he is working on several books and screenplays.

Production Designer RICK HEINRICHS has collaborated with Tim Burton for years. His contribution as production designer of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was resoundingly acknowledged with an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction, the Los Angeles Films Critics Award for Best Production Design, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors Award and the BAFTA Award for Production Design.
After graduating from Cal Arts where he held a scholarship for studies in animation, Heinrichs worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, where he met Burton and collaborated on the short films “Vincent” and “Frankenweenie.” He served as art director/ visual effects supervisor on “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and “Beetlejuice,” set designer on “Edward Scissorhands,” visual consultant on “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” art director on “Batman Returns,” and production designer on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Additionally, Heinrichs served as production designer on “Bedazzled” for director Harold Ramis and for the Coen brothers’ films “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.” Previously, he was production designer for the Showtime director series “Fallen Angels,” earning a CableACE nomination.
Heinrichs’s credits as art director also include Jeremiah Chechik’s “Tall Tale,” John McTiernan’s “Last Action Hero,”and Michael Hoffman’s “Soapdish.” His credits as set designer include Terry Gilliam’s “The Fisher King” and Ivan Reitman’s “Ghostbusters II.”
After Cal Arts, Heinrichs attended the New York School of Visual Arts for storyboarding and animation. He holds a fine arts degree in sculpture from Boston University School of Fine Arts.

The work of Academy-Award winning Director of Photography PHILIPPE ROUSSELOT is on screen in the in the box office hit “Remember the Titans,” as well as the upcoming John Boorman film “The Tailor of Panama.” In addition to his Academy Award for Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It,” he has been twice nominated for Best Cinematography for his contributions to “Henry & June,” and “Hope and Glory.” Other feature credits of the French-born Rousselot include “Random Hearts,” “Instinct,” “The People vs Larry Flynt,” “Mary Reilly,” “Interview with the Vampire,” “Queen Margot,” “Flesh & Bone,” “Sommersby,” “The Miracle,” “The Bear,” “We’re No Angels,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Emerald Forest,” “Diva,” “The Moon in the Gutter,” and many others.

For his contribution to Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood,” both RICK BAKER (Special Makeup Effects) and Martin Landau, the actor Baker turned into Bela Lugosi, won Academy Awards. Baker won four more Oscars for his work on “Men In Black,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Harry and the Hendersons” and “An American Werewolf in London”. Additionally, Baker received Academy Award nominations for “Life,”Mighty Joe Young,” “Coming to America” and “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan.”
Baker has applied his creative make-up artistry to dozens of feature films, including “The Nutty Professor II,” “Wild, Wild West,” “Life,” “The Devil's Advocate,” “Wolf,” “The Rocketeer,” “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Starman” and “Star Wars” (cantina sequence). Most recently, he created the special effects make-up and suit for Jim Carrey as the Grinch as well as the look for over 100 of the Whos that appear in “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Baker’s many television credits include “Harry and the Hendersons,” “Something is Out There,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Werewolf,” “Thriller” and “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”

COLLEEN ATWOOD (Costume Designer) most recently completed “The Mexican,” directed by Gore Verbinsky. For director Jonathan Demme, Attwood designed costumes for “Married to the Mob” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia,” and “Beloved,” which earned her a second Academy Award nomination. Her credits also include Tom Hanks’ directorial debut, “That Thing You Do!” as well as “Gattaca,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Lorenzo’s Oil,” “Rush,” “Torch Song Trilogy,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Manhunter.” Atwood received her first Oscar nomination for Gillian Armstrong’s “Little Women”

CHRIS LEBENZON (Editor) previously collaborated with Tim Burton on the films “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Mars Attacks!” “Ed Wood,” “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Batman Returns.” He just completed editing “Pearl Harbor,” which will be released this summer.
Lebenzon is a two-time Academy Award nominee for the films “Crimson Tide” and “Top Gun” (co-editor), both directed by Tony Scott. He also worked with the director on the films “Enemy of the State,” “The Last Boy Scout,” “Days of Thunder,” “Revenge” and “Beverly Hills Cop 2.” Lebenzon’s other feature credits include “Midnight Run,” “Weeds,” “Weird Science,” “Wolfen” and the action films “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Armageddon” and “Con Air.”
A native of northern California, Lebenzon graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts before beginning his professional film career.

DANNY ELFMAN (Composer) is one of the movie world’s most versatile and successful contemporary composers and has scored most of director Tim Burton’s feature films: “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” “Beetlejuice,” “Batman” (which won him a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental and a nomination for Best Score), “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” (another Grammy nomination for Best Score),”Mars Attacks!” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Elfman’s diverse credits include Academy Award® nominations for the films “Good Will Hunting” and “Men in Black.” Other feature credits include “Proof of Life,” “Family Man,” “Anywhere But Here,” “A Civil Action,” “A Simple Plan,” “Dolores Claiborne” and the Grammy-nominated “Dick Tracy,” as well as “Darkman,” “Sommersby,” “Dead Presidents,” “Black Beauty,” “To Die For,” “Mission: Impossible” and “The Frighteners.”
Elfman was a founding member of Oingo Boingo, playing energetic, eclectic and individualist rock and roll for more than a decade.

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