Living on the streets of Denver, pushing a shopping cart piled high with all his worldly possessions, the man everyone calls 'The Champ' (Samuel L. Jackson) knows he was not the greatest boxer to ever step in the ring, but at least he had a shot at it. After years of succumbing to fighters who ultimately found his glass jaw more often than he landed a winning punch, the Champ went from up-and-coming to mere has-been, with no heavyweight championship under his belt. Now he fights no one but cops and street thugs. Living in the shadow of his former self, this champ is down and halfway out.
Denver Times sports reporter Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett) knows the feeling. He's been living in the shadow of his famous father Erik the 'Wow Man' Kernan ever since he too decided to be a journalist. Listening to tapes of his old man's lively radio broadcasts -- Erik is aware that he has some big journalistic shoes to fill. Assigned to cover all the bush-league sporting events, he wants a shot and the big time, but his hard-driving editor Metz (Alan Alda) is quick to tell Erik he's just not cutting it. 'I forget your pieces while I'm reading them,' Metz complains. 'A lotta typing – not much writing.'
Rapidly losing ground at work and at home – his wife Joyce (Kathryn Morris) has asked for a separation – Erik is afraid of becoming an absent father to his son Teddy (Dakota Goyo) just like his father was to him. He needs to make changes, to put heart back into his life and into his work . . . but how?
One night after leaving the paper, as Erik sees a gang of thugs beating up a homeless man. He notices how well the grizzly old fellow can take a punch. He bobs, he weaves, he lands a few good ones himself until Erik chases the thugs away, leaving jeers of how they beat 'The Champ' in their wake. Erik realizes he has just rescued the legendary 'Battling Bob Satterfield' and stumbled on the story of a lifetime. But rumor had it Satterfield was dead . . . and yet here he was. An article about the rise, fall and resurrection of a former heavyweight contender could get Erik's career off the ropes and breathe life into his confidence. A story like this could be the title shot he has been waiting for a chance to change his life forever.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON (The Champ)
Samuel L. Jackson's career began upon his graduation from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a degree in dramatic arts. He went on to perform in numerous stage plays, including Home, A Soldier's Play, Sally/Prince and The District Line. He also originated roles in two of August Wilson's plays at Yale Repertory Theatre. For the New York Shakespeare Festival, Jackson appeared in Mother Courage and Her Children, Spell #7 and The Mighty Gents.
Jackson made his film debut in Together for Days, while still a student at Morehouse. He most recently completed work on Irwin Winkler's Home of the Brave and Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan, both scheduled for release in 2007. Currently, Jackson is in production simultaneously in Doug Liman's sci-fi thriller, Jumper as well as in The Cleaner, a drama/thriller that Jackson is co-producing. He will begin production on Black Water Transit with Bruce Willis this spring.
In 2006, Jackson starred in New Line's thriller Snakes on a Plane and in Freedomland opposite Julianne Moore. In 2005, he played Agent Derrick Vann in the action crime comedy The Man opposite Eugene Levy. Also in that year, Jackson topped the opening weekend box office charts with the success of the Paramount Pictures' Coach Carter, which also screened opening night of the Palm Springs Film Festival, where Jackson received a Career Achievement Award and Best Actor at the NAACP Image Awards.
Jackson also starred in In My Country, directed by John Boorman, as an American reporter who must cope with the aftermath of apartheid as his newspaper assigns him to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Trials. He then did two reprising roles, first as Agent Augustus Gibbons in XXX: State of the Union and then as Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Jackson's additional credits include the voice of Frozone in Disney's critically acclaimed, animated action-adventure film The Incredibles, as well as starring roles in S.W.A.T., Changing Lanes, Formula 51, XXX, Stars Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Kasi Lemmons' Caveman's Valentine and Eve's Bayou.
In 2000, Jackson starred opposite Bruce Willis in writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's suspense drama, Unbreakable. Also in that year, he starred in the courtroom drama Rules of Engagement and in John Singleton's Shaft. Both films were screened at the 2000 Deauville Film Festival, where Jackson was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
His portrayal of Jules, the philosophizing hit man, in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction brought him unanimous critical acclaim, as well as Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominations. For Jackie Brown, his second film with director Quentin Tarantino, Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor in a Comedy at the Berlin Film Festival. For his performance in Joel Schumacher's 1996 film of the John Grisham novel A Time to Kill, Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award.
In 1991, Jackson made movie history with his portrayal of a crack addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever when he was awarded the first and only Best Supporting Actor Award ever given by the judges at the Cannes Film Festival. He also won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for that performance.
On television, Jackson starred in John Frankenheimer's Emmy Award-winning Against the Wall for HBO. His performance earned him a Cable Ace nomination as Best Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries, as well as a Golden Globe nomination.
JOSH HARTNETT (Erik Kernan Jr.)
Josh Hartnett was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he was most recently seen starring opposite Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank and Scarlett Johansson in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia.
Hartnett first came to audiences' attention as Michael 'Fitz' Fitzgerald in the television series 'Cracker,' and he made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Miramax's Halloween: H20. For his efforts, he received an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance. Also in that year, he starred in The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez, again for Miramax. He followed in 1999 with a starring role opposite Kirsten Dunst in the film which marked Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, the critically acclaimed black comedy, The Virgin Suicides.
In 2001 Hartnett starred in three features. His portrayal of the antagonist, Hugo, in the Lions Gate Film O, a modern day version of Othello, earned him widespread praise. He then went on to star in the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Pearl Harbor and segued to Morocco for Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, another Bruckheimer production. In 2002 the National Theater Owners awarded him the ShoWest 2002 Male Star of Tomorrow Award.
Hartnett also starred in MGM's Wicker Park opposite Diane Krueger and Rose Byrne for director Paul McGuigan, Miramax's Sin City for director Robert Rodriguez and Mozart and the Whale, a love story between two savants with Asperger's Syndrome written by Ron Bass. He recently re-teamed with director McGuigan when he starred with Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis in Lucky Number Slevin for The Weinstein Company. Hartnett has also just completed starring in 30 Days of Night for director David Slade which will be released by Sony in October 2007.
Additional film credits for Hartnett include Hollywood Homicide, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Blow Dry, Town and Country and Here on Earth.
KATHRYN MORRIS (Joyce)
Kathryn Morris stars as Detective Lilly Rush in the CBS hit drama Cold Case produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. She made her breakthrough film performance opposite Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report and went on to appear in Spielberg's A.I. alongside Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment.
Most recently, Morris was seen opposite Ben Affleck in John Woo's Paycheck and alongside Christian Slater, LL Cool J and Val Kilmer in Renny Harlin's Mindhunters.
Morris is director Rod Lurie's touchstone, appearing in all of his feature films including Deterrence, the Academy Award®-nominated political thriller The Contender and The Last Castle. Her other film credits include As Good As It Gets, Jerry Maguire, Stand-Ins and the independent feature Ghost of a Chance.
Morris' television credits include the acclaimed Showtime production of Inherit the Wind, with Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott, two CBS mini-series And Never Let Her Go and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, NBC's Long Road Home, Fox's Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story, as well as the series Providence and The Magnificent Seven.
ALAN ALDA (Metz)
Alan Alda earned the distinction of being nominated for an Oscar®, a Tony, and an Emmy and made The New York Times bestseller list, all in the same year (2005). Alda received the Academy Award® nomination (and a BAFTA Award nomination) for Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, the Emmy nomination (and a Screen Actors' Guild nomination) came from his portrayal of Arnold Vinick, the Republican candidate for the presidency in NBC's hit series The West Wing, and the Tony nomination was for his performance in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. That same year, Alda's memoir, entitled Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, and Other Things I've Learned, became a best seller.
Alda has also earned international recognition as an actor, writer and director. His performance in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors earned him the D.W. Griffith Award, the NY Film Critics Award and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His additional film credits as an actor include Everyone Says I Love You, Flirting With Disaster, Manhattan Murder Mystery, And The Band Played On, Same Time, Next Year and California Suite. He wrote and starred in The Seduction of Joe Tynan, and he wrote, directed and starred in The Four Seasons, Sweet Liberty, A New Life and Betsy's Wedding.
On Broadway Alda played the physicist Richard Feynman in QED and starred in the first American production of the international hit play ART. He received Tony Award nominations for his performances in Neil Simon's Jake's Women and the musical The Apple Tree. His other appearances on Broadway include The Owl and the Pussycat, Purlie Victorious and Fair Game for Lovers, for which he received a Theatre World Award.
On television Alda hosted the award winning PBS series Scientific American Frontiers for eleven years, interviewing leading scientists from around the world. He played Hawkeye Pierce on the classic television series M*A*S*H, and also wrote and directed many of the episodes. In eleven years on M*A*S*H, Alda won an Emmy five times and is the only person to be honored by the TV Academy as top performer, writer and director.
Alda has won three Director's Guild Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, seven People's Choice Awards, and received two Writer's Guild nominations for his work in television. In all, he has been nominated for 32 Emmys including a nomination in 1999 for his performance on ER, as well as for his portrayal of Caryl Chessman, the inmate who spent 12 years on death row in Kill Me If You Can. His TV work also includes Truman Capote's The Glass House. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1994.
TERI HATCHER (Flak)
Teri Hatcher is renowned for her deliciously deadpan delivery on the award-winning television show, Desperate Housewives. Now in her third season on the ABC hit series, Hatcher plays Susan Mayer, a single mom searching for love amid the sometimes sordid, always intriguing goings-on of her suburban neighborhood. In 2005 Hatcher's performance in the much talked about show earned her a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Television Critics Award and an Emmy Award Nomination, followed in 2006 by a Golden Globe Nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Nomination for Best Ensemble.
The U.K. edition of Glamour magazine honored Hatcher as one of its '2005 Women of the Year' with an award presented by Sir Elton John. In addition, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev presented Hatcher with the Actress of the Year Award, from the Women's World Awards in November 2005 and Hatcher continues to work with the organization to help support it and women's issues around the world.
Most recently Hatcher became a NY Times Bestselling Author with her first book, Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life, published in May 2006.
Hatcher first drew attention on TV as Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and her present visibility in the media and on television follows years of success in feature films, including Spy Kids directed by Robert Rodriguez, Tomorrow Never Dies, as Bond girl Paris Carver, Soapdish with Kevin Kline, Two Days in the Valley with Charlize Theron and James Spader and The Big Picture, her feature film debut directed by Christopher Guest.
The many highlights of Hatcher's career include her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret, her performance in Eve Ensler's wildly popular The Vagina Monologues and a turn hosting Saturday Night Live.
Hatcher is also well known for her involvement in worthy causes, including the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, The Starlight Starbright Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was honored in 1996 with the Aviva Center's Spirit of Compassion Award, and she is a generous, longtime supporter of the organization, which provides services to adolescent victims of abuse. Likewise, Hatcher has been a strong advocate of both AIDS Walk Los Angeles and AIDS Walk New York, and she is an active participant in the battle against breast cancer.
RACHEL NICHOLS (Polly)
Rachel Nichols has quickly captured the attention of audiences with her notable roles in film and television.
Currently, Nichols is working on Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julia Roberts and Amy Adams, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Aaron Sorkin.
Upcoming, Nichols will be seen in the Summit Entertainment stalker thriller P2 opposite Wes Bentley. The film is produced by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur. Nichols plays a corporate climber who gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve and finds herself the target of an unhinged security guard (Bentley).
Nichols most recently starred in the ABC hit drama, Alias. Rachel portrayed 'Rachel Gibson,' who worked alongside Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) in the special ops division of the CIA.
In 2005, Rachel starred in the Fox drama, The Inside, produced by Imagine Television. That same year, Nichols starred in the remake of the horror classic The Amityville Horror produced by Michael Bay, in which she portrays the unforgettable role of the family babysitter. This film also starred Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George.
DAVID PAYMER (Whitley)
David Paymer earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his performance as Billy Crystal's put-upon bother in Mr. Saturday Night. Well known for his varied characterizations, Paymer has appeared in more than 40 motion pictures including Robert Redford's Quiz Show, David Mamet's State and Main and Spartan, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Lawrence Kasdan's Mumford, Oliver Stone's Nixon, and Rob Reiner's American President. Other credits include Get Shorty, The Hurricane, Payback, Heart and Souls, Searching for Bobby Fischer, City Slickers, Mighty Joe Young, and City Hall.
Paymer also earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for HBO's dramatic film about the Lindbergh kidnapping Crime of the Century, directed by Mark Rydell. He starred last year in the critically acclaimed ABC series Line of Fire. Paymer has recently completed filming on Jeff Hare's indie film Checking Out, and on the HBO film Warm Springs opposite Kenneth Branagh and Kathy Bates.
Paymer has added directing to his list of credits, helming Candor City Hospital for Showtime, as well as episodes of One Tree Hill, Everwood and Pepper Dennis for the WB network and Grey's Anatomy for ABC. He also directed episodes of Medium, Windfall, and Inconceivable for NBC.
HARRY LENNIX (Satterfield Jr.)
Harry Lennix is an accomplished film, television and stage actor who is currently starring in the Golden Globe nominated hit ABC show Commander in Chief as Jim Gardner, the Chief of Staff. Some other critically acclaimed and highly-successful projects he has starred in include the Oscar winning film Ray with Jamie Foxx for which he received a SAG Award nomination and both The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions. Lennix received much critical acclaim and a Golden Satellite Award as Aaron in Julie Taymor's Titus, bringing new life to the toxic literary villain opposite Anthony Hopkins. He has worked with a myriad of accomplished actors and directors including Spike Lee in Get On The Bus, Robert Townsend in The Five Heartbeats, Ben Kingsley in Suspect Zero, Billy Bob Thornton in Chrystal and Anthony Hopkins once again in The Human Stain. His other film credits include Barbershop 2 and Love and Basketball.
In addition to his distinguished film career, Lennix made his mark on the small screen with his role as the legendary Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in Showtime's Keep The Faith Baby for which he won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for both an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Satellite Award. He continued to make his presence known with recurring roles on ER and Diagnosis Murder and other guest starring appearances.
Lennix has directed and appeared in stage productions across the country, including the Northlight Theater Company's production of Permanent Collection. He directed the stage version of Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, which received 3 NAACP Theater Award nominations and The Glass Menagerie for the Steppenwolf Theater Company.
As a stage actor, Lennix was the first distinguished recipient of an Ollie Award for his portrayal of Malcolm X at the Goodman Theater in Chicago and two Joseph Jefferson Citations for his roles in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Caught in the Act and starred as King Hedley II at the Mark Taper Forum. In 2001, he was part of the first American company to be invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the production of Cymbeline.
PETER COYOTE (Epstein)
Peter Coyote began his film career at 39, after nearly fifteen years in the counter-culture of the Sixties. Since then, he has performed as an actor for some of the world's most distinguished filmmakers, including: Barry Levinson, Roman Polanski, Pedro Almodovar, Steven Spielberg, Walter Hill, Martin Ritt, Steven Soderberg, Diane Kurys, Sidney Pollack and Jean Paul Rappeneau. Mr. Coyote has written a memoir of the 1960's counter-culture called Sleeping Where I Fall which received universally excellent reviews.
Mr. Coyote is also well-known for his voice-over work, and has done numerous documentaries and TV specials, including the nine-hour PBS Special, The West. In 1992 he won an Emmy as the 'Host' for a nine-hour series, called, The Pacific Century, which also won the extremely prestigious duPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. In 2000, he was the announcer of the Academy Awards Ceremony, broadcast live to an estimated one billion listeners. In the last two years he has appeared in principle roles in: Femme Fatale, directed by Brian DePalma, A Walk to Remember, starring Mandy Moore, Northfork by the Polish Brother, and Bon Voyage by Jean Paul Rappeneau. Last year he had a major role in three television series: The Inside on Fox, the 4400 on USA and played the Vice-President to Geena Davis's President on Commander in Chief for ABC.
ROD LURIE (Director/Producer)
Rod Lurie wrote and directed the widely praised Academy Awar® and Golden Globe Award nominated political thriller The Contender, starring Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman and Christian Slater. The film was also honored by the Broadcast Film Critics with the first-ever Alan J. Pakula Award. Most recently, Lurie directed the military prison thriller The Last Castle, which starred Robert Redford, James Gandolfini and Mark Ruffalo.
Lurie created and served as an executive producer on ABC's highly acclaimed hit series, Commander in Chief. Imaging a world in which the President of the United States is a woman, the popular series stars Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland. Lurie also executive produced the ABC one-hour FBI drama, Line of Fire, starring Anson Mount, Leslie Hope and David Paymer.
In 1998, Lurie made his film writing and directing debut with the dramatic short Four Second Delay, which won the Best Short Film award at the Atlanta Film Festival and the Crested Butte Reel Fest. The short also won the Prix du Jury at the Festival of American Cinema in Deauville, France. In 2000, he made his first feature film Deterrence, a drama about America coming to the brink of nuclear war, starring Kevin Pollak and Timothy Hutton, and in 2003 his short film, The Nazi, was in the Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Lurie completed a career in the military and enjoyed success as a film critic and entertainment reporter. Lurie graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1984 and went on to serve for four years as a Combat Arms officer in the U.S. Army. He broke into journalism as an entertainment reporter for the New York Daily News, and was a film critic and interviewer for Channel 12 in Fairfield, Connecticut, as well as a frequent contributor to Premiere, Movieline and Entertainment Weekly.
After moving to Los Angeles, Lurie worked as a film critic, investigative reporter and contributing editor to Los Angeles Magazine from 1990-1995. As an investigative reporter in the entertainment industry, Lurie's discovery of unethical and illegal practices of tabloid newspapers gained him national exposure on programs such as 60 Minutes, Entertainment Tonight, The Larry King Show, Nightline, Geraldo and The Jane Whitney Show.
From 1995 to 1999, Lurie was the film critic for 790 AM KABC Radio in Los Angeles, where his top-rated movie review show entertained Southern California moviegoers every Saturday. His on-air guests included: Tom Hanks, James Woods, Billy Bob Thornton, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Landau, James Cameron and Mel Gibson.
In addition, in 1995 Lurie authored the book Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
MICHAEL BORTMAN (Writer)
Michael Bortman is a screenwriter who was nominated for an Emmy for Who Will Love My Children, for which he also earned a Writers Guild Award nomination in drama. His Single Bars, Single Women earned another Writers Guild Award nomination in comedy. His credits include the feature films The Good Mother, Chain Reaction (shared credit), and Crooked Hearts, which he wrote and directed. He also wrote screenplays for the television films Memorial Day, And Your Name is Jonah, and Candles on Bay Street (shared credit), a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation.
ALLISON BURNETT (Writer)
Allison Burnett is a screenwriter and novelist. After graduating from Northwestern University, where he studied acting and playwriting, Allison was a fellow of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School. In 1997, he directed his first feature film, Red Meat – a black comedy about misogyny. In 2000, he wrote the original script for Autumn in New York, starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. His first novel, Christopher, was a finalist for the 2004 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction. His second novel, The House Beautiful, was published in October 2006.
In a one-year period, three scripts which Allison wrote for Lakeshore Entertainment will have gone before the camera. The first, Allison’s adaptation of Charles Baxter’s novel The Feast of Love, was shot in the summer of 2006, directed by Robert Benton and starring Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear; his rewrite of Untraceable, directed by Greg Hoblit, and starring Diane Lane, started shooting in February 2007; and his adaptation of Andrea Di Robilant’s A Venetian Affair, starts shooting in Venice, Italy, in the spring of 2007, directed by Marco Ponti.
MIKE MEDAVOY (Producer)
Mike Medavoy has the distinction of playing a role in the success of some of the best American films over the past forty years. From agent to studio chief and now producer, he has been involved in over 300 feature films, 17 of which have received Academy Awar® nominations for Best Picture with seven of those actually taking home the Oscar®.
The year 2006 marks the tenth anniversary of Phoenix Pictures the company Medavoy formed with his partner Arnold Messer. Today, Phoenix has made more than thirty films, including The Thin Red Line and The People vs. Larry Flynt. The most recent releases include All The Kings Men starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo and Kate Winslet, written and directed by Steve Zaillian, and Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson, directed by Chris Noonan. In 2007, Phoenix Pictures will release Pathfinder, starring Karl Urban and directed by Marcus Nispel, followed by Zodiac, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., directed by David Fincher, and License to Wed, starring Robin Williams, John Krasinski, Mandy Moore, directed by Ken Kwapis.
During his heralded career he has served as an agent to Steven Spielberg, Jane Fonda and Francis Ford Coppola, and as Chairman of Tri-Star Pictures and as a Co-Founder of Orion Pictures he has brought to the screen classics like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Platoon, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Mississippi Burning, to name a few.
Medavoy has received numerous awards such as the 1992 Motion Picture Pioneer of the Year Award, the 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cannes Film Festival, the 1999 UCLA Neil H. Jacoby Award, which honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to humanity, the 2004 Louis B. Mayer Motion Picture Award from Florida Atlantic University and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Award and the Producers’ Guild of America Vision Award. Finally, in 2005, Medavoy was honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
BOB YARI (Producer)
Bob Yari is one of the most prolific film producers of recent years, and is president and founder of the Yari Film Group (YFG). Dedicated to film financing, production, and distribution, YFG has emerged as one of the most successful independent film companies in the movie industry, fielding a diverse creative output of commercial fare. Separately, Yari is also the head of Bob Yari Productions.
Yari produced one of 2005’s most acclaimed films, Paul Haggis’ sleeper hit Crash. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for its ensemble cast, among other honors. Additionally, Yari produced Richard Shepard’s The Matador, for which Pierce Brosnan earned a Golden Globe Award nomination, Shainee Gabel’s A Love Song for Bobby Long, for which Scarlett Johansson earned a Golden Globe Award nomination, Florent Siri’s Hostage, Mike Mills’ Thumbsucker, David Duchovny’s House of D and Ben Younger’s Prime, starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman.
Recently in theaters were Neil Burger’s The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel; Adam Rapp’s Winter Passing, starring Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell and Academy Awar®-winning filmmaker Sidney Lumet's Find Me Guilty, starring Vin Diesel. Mark Fergus’ First Snow, starring Guy Pearce, also produced by Yari was released in March of ’07. His other recent productions include John Curran’s The Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, and Lasse Hallström’s The Hoax, starring Richard Gere.
Yari recently wrapped production Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, as well as Addicted, with Sara Michelle Gellar attached.
After receiving a degree in cinematography, Yari began his industry career with producer Edgar J. Scherick and soon segued into producing and directing, helming the thriller Mind Games. He is also a successful real estate executive, with projects encompassing syndication, construction, development, and redevelopment of commercial and residential assets throughout the United States.
MARC FRYDMAN (Producer)
Marc Frydman recently produced the WWI epic Flyboys with Dean Devlin. The film stars Jean Reno and James Franco. In 2005, he produced The Jacket, with George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. The film stars Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley.
Frydman and his producing partner, writer-director Rod Lurie, most recently executive produced the dramatic television series Commander In Chief for Touchstone Television and ABC as part of an overall multi-year deal between the studio and their company, Battle Plan Productions.
In 2002, Frydman executive produced Lurie’s one-hour television drama pilot, Line of Fire, in conjunction with ABC, Touchstone and DreamWorks. The series was given a thirteen episode commitment and aired on ABC in the fall of 2003, making Frydman the first French executive producer of a major network television series. The drama series was called the “best new show of the year” by the Associated Press and The Miami Herald.
Frydman began his career as part of the founding team that created the French pay TV channel Canal +, where he eventually became the Vice President of Feature Film Co-productions. In 1992, when Canal + created Hexagon Films, Frydman became Hexagon’s President of Film Production. During his time at Hexagon, Frydman produced Boiling Point with Wesley Snipes, Stargate with Kurt Russell and Murder in the First with Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon and Gary Oldman.
After forming Battle Plan Productions, Frydman produced Deterrence and The Contender, both written and directed by Lurie and released by DreamWorks. He also executive produced Sex Monster directed by Mike Binder, Nil By Mouth directed by Gary Oldman (Official Selection Cannes 1997), Scenes of the Crime with French director Dominique Forma, and Lurie’s short film The Nazi (Official Selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival).
ADAM KANE (Director of Photography)
Adam Kane has worked as a cinematographer on over 25 feature films including Shanghai Red, on location in China, New Line’s The Man, The Boondock Saints, Love & Sex, Romeo Must Die, Bitter Harvest and The Clearing, which won Best Film at the Austin Film Festival (1997).
His television credits include NBC’s War Stories and The West Wing, CBS’s Hack, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and the critically acclaimed Line of Fire, as well as pilots for NBC’s Heroes, FOX’s Reunion, Paramount TV’s Level 9 and Columbia Tri-Star’s Sam’s Circus.
Kane received the Mobius Award for Best Commercial Work (2002) and the Golden Camera at the US International Film & Video Festival (1998). He also received special recognition at The New York Film Festival for Conversations in Limbo and won two Best Cinematography Awards at The NYU Film Festival (1990 and 1991).
THE TRUE STORY
On May 4, 1997, Los Angeles based-reporter J.R. Moehringer published an article that retraced the life of 'Battling Bob Satterfield'. A heavyweight boxer who went from being a Chicago City Golden Gloves Champion to narrowly missing a shot at a title fight, Satterfield finally wound up homeless on the mean streets of California.
How did a man who Ring Magazine once ranked 58th on a list of 100 greatest punchers of all time, an impressive roster that included Joe Louis, George Foreman, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson and Mike Tyson, but did not include Muhammad Ali, end up sleeping under cardboard and fending off punks in dark alleys?
In a heartfelt article entitled 'Resurrecting the Champ,' Moehringer explores the rise and fall of Satterfield, and in the process he confronts not only his subject's demons, but also his own. Calling Satterfield his '180-pound Moby Dick,' Moehringer writes that, like Ahab, he stalked his subject and learned more than he bargained for about himself in the process. He also explained how he gained a greater understanding about 'the eternal tension between fathers and sons.' For like Erik Kernan in the film version of Resurrecting the Champ, J.R. Moehringer never got to know his father either. And like Erik, it haunted him.
'Asked to explain myself, I usually start with my father, who disappeared when I was seven months old', writes Moehringer. 'He walked away from his only son the way some people leave a party that's grown dull. At precisely the moment I learned to crawl, he ran. An unfair head start, I always felt.'
Phoenix Pictures' Mike Medavoy could not help but feel the emotion in every one of Moehringer's words, and shortly after the article appeared in The Los Angeles Times, he bought the film rights. The co-founder of Orion Pictures (Platoon; The Silence of the Lambs), as well as the chairman of Tri-Star Pictures (Sleepless in Seattle; Philadelphia), Medavoy knew good material when he saw it.
'It's very rewarding to help launch a picture that you truly believe in, a film that really has something to say about humanity,' says Medavoy. 'I think this is a movie that really explores relationships and I know it will really touch people.'
Writer/director Rod Lurie had also read Moehringer's article and was determined to write the screenplay. 'It's such a wonderful story about fathers and sons and the honesty between them,' says Lurie, writer and director of the critically acclaimed political thriller, The Contender. 'It's also about a profound friendship that develops between two people who are very different, and ultimately very similar. I'm proud I got the chance to explore the story on film.'
Producer Marc Frydman, who had worked with Lurie on The Contender and later on Commander in Chief, was certain Lurie would be the perfect candidate to write and direct Resurrecting the Champ. 'Rod used to be an entertainment journalist, so he knows the pressure a reporter feels to check the facts and deliver a good story,' says Frydman. 'Besides that, he actually boxed at West Point and is a true lover of the sport. There was no better man for the job.'
Since the story is so profound, Lurie admits that there were several other writers who threw their hat into the ring. 'I really had to fight to see this picture come to life and those of us involved have always felt very personal toward the material,' he says. 'It was as though by making this film we would all become better people, and in fact, I think that's what happened.