Anna Karenina - About The Filmmakers

Anna Karenina: About The Filmmakers

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Writer/director BERNARD ROSE is a graduate of the National Film and Television School at Beaconsfield, England, and was the winner of a BBC award for young filmmakers as a teenager. His previous features include "Paperhouse," which took first place at the Avoriaz Film Festival, "Chicago Joe and the Showgirl," "Candyman" and the Icon Production "Immortal Beloved," which starred Gary Oldman and Isabella Rossellini.

Rose's television work includes "Body Contact" and "Smart Money" for the BBC, as well as several popular and critically noted music videos, including UB40's "Red Red Wine" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" and "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome."

Producer BRUCE DAVEY co-produced the 1995 Academy Award-winning Best Picture, "Braveheart," produced by his Icon Productions partner, Mel Gibson. Davey is President and Chief Executive Officer of Icon Productions, Inc., a company he formed with Gibson in 1988.

Davey executive produced Icon's first film, "Hamlet"; produced "Forever Young," "The Man Without a Face" and "Immortal Beloved"; and co-produced "Airborne," "Maverick," "Braveheart" and "Dad and Dave on Our Selection."

After beginning his career as an accountant and business manager in his native Australia, Davey met Mel Gibson in 1980 and began handling the actor's financial affairs. In 1989, Davey moved to Los Angeles and, with Gibson, co-founded Icon Productions, where he is currently responsible for all aspects of the company's day-to-day operations.

STEVE McEVEETY (Executive Producer) is Vice President of Production at Icon Productions, a position he assumed in 1991 when he served as production manager for the company's "Forever Young." He executive produced Icon's Academy Award-winning "Braveheart," as well as "The Man Without a Face" and "Immortal Beloved," and produced "Airborne." Most recently McEveety executive produced Icon's suspense-thriller "187."

A native of Los Angeles, McEveety is a third-generation filmmaker whose father is a writer/producer. He began acting at age seven on such television shows as "My Three Sons," "Gunsmoke" and "Star Trek."

McEveety studied film at Loyola Marymount University and began his career in post production on such animated films as "The Black Cauldron" and "Tron." He then served as either unit production manager or assistant director on films including "Hot Shots," "Flatliners," "Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael" and "The Trip to Bountiful."

COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (writer) was born to a wealthy family of landowners in 1828 in Russia's Tula province. He studied Oriental laguages and law at the University of Kazan and then led a life of pleasure until 1851, when he fought as a member of an artillery regiment in the Crimean War. After participating in the defense of Sebastopol, Tolstoy wrote The Sebastopol Stories, which established his reputation.

He married in 1862 and had 13 children over the next 15 years. During that time he managed his vast estates; studied and implemented educational methods in order to help the local peasant population; and wrote his two greatest works: War and Peace (1865-68) and Anna Karenina (1874-76).

A Confession, which he wrote from 1879-92, marked a change in his life and works; he became an extreme rationalist and moralist. In a series of pamphlets he wrote after 1880, Tolstoy rejected the Church and State, renounced the demands of the flesh and denounced ownership of private property. His writing earned him many followers in Russia and abroad, but also generated strong opposition. In 1901, Tolstoy was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church.

He died in 1910 during a journey, at the small railway station of Astapovo in Russia, seven years before the revolution that transformed Russian history and politics.

Production designer JOHN MYHRE collaborates with producer Bruce Davey for the third time with "Anna Karenina" and director Bernard Rose for the second. His prior Icon Productions projects were "Immortal Beloved," on which he served as art director (and which Rose directed) and "Airborne."

Myhre worked as art director on such films as "My Summer Story," "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?," "Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael," "Hear No Evil," "Blind Fury," "Amazing Grace and Chuck," "Salmonberries," "Popcorn" and "Russkies." His television work includes two PBS productions: "Lincoln and Seward" and "The Sunset Gang."

In addition, Myhre has worked on television and music videos for such clients as McDonald's, The Pretenders, The Features, and Love and Money.

Director of photography DARYN OKADA has built a successful career as a cinematographer for television commercials, TV series and specials, and feature films. Among his films credits are "The War of the Roses," "Survival Quest," "Boris and Natasha," "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken," "Captain Ron," "Airborne," "My Father, The Hero," "Big Bully" and "Black Sheep."

Okada's television work includes the CBS miniseries "In a Child's Name," for which he received an American Society of Cinematographers Achievement Award nomination. Other credits include "Blind Vengeance," "The Dave Thomas Show," "Elvis," "Eyes of Terror," "Seperated by Murder," "A Mother's Instinct" and "Vanishing Point."

Editor VICTOR DU BOIS previously worked with Bedford Falls Productions as a director of multiple episodes of their hit series "thirtysomething" and their critically acclaimed series "My So-Called Life." He also edited the Bedford Falls-produced telefilm "Extreme Closeup" and the feature film "Leaving Normal" for director Edward Zwick.

Du Bois previously worked with Icon Productions as an additional editor on Mel Gibson's "Braveheart"; his other editing credits include "Flamingo Kid" for ABC-TV; "Class of '96" and "Birdland" for director Peter Horton; the pilot for "The Marshall"; the HBO telefilms "Cosmic Slop" and "Soul of the Game"; and "When Summer Comes" for NBC-TV.

Du Bois is a recipient of the 1988 American Cinema Editors Award and has twice been nominated for Emmy Awards.

Italian costume designer MAURIZIO MILLENOTTI has been nominated for two Academy Awards, for Franco Zeffirelli's films "Othello" and "Hamlet." He began his career as an assistant to famed designers Piero Tosi and Gabriella Pescucci during the 1970s, and in 1981 became a designer in his own right. Among his early films were Sergio Corbucci's "Bello Mio Belazza Mia," Fellini's "E La Nave Va," Emilio Greco's "Un Caso Di Incoscenza" and Albert Negrin's telefilm "Il Duce," starring Susan Sarandon, Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins.

Millenotti won his first Oscar nomination in 1985, for "Othello," and his second in 1990, for "Hamlet," which was also an Icon production. He has continued to work with a distinguished roster of international directors, and most recently collaborated with director Steve Barron on the live-action production of Carlo Collodi's "Pinnochio."

SIR GEORG SOLTI (Music Director), one of the world's most celebrated conductors, was born in Budapest and studied piano, composition and conducting with Bela Bartok and several other of the most prominent musicians of his era. Although he made his concert debut as a pianist, he soon became a conductor for the Budapest Opera, later joining Toscanini as his assistant at the Saltzburg Festival. Before the outbreak of World War II, Solti went to Switzerland as a refugee; he earned first prize there in 1942 at the Concours International in Geneva for his piano performance.

Solti began his affiliation with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1954 at its Ravinia summer festival. He frequently conducted guest engagements there until 1969, when he became Music Director of the Orchestra, a position he held for 22 years. He currently holds the title of Music Director Laureate and continues his association with the Orchestra several weeks each year in concerts and recordings.

For his outstanding contribution to music, Solti received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain in 1972. From 1979 to 1984, he served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and, subsequently, was named its Conductor Emeritus.

In 1996, Solti received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, bringing his lifetime total of Grammys to 32 -- more than any other classical or popular recording artist. He continues to conduct, tour and record with prominent orchestras around the world.

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