City of Angels - About The Filmmakers

City of Angels: About The Filmmakers

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"City of Angels" is director BRAD SILBERLING's second outing in features; his first was the hit film "Casper" for producer Steven Spiel berg.

Raised in Southern California, Silberling received a bachelor's degree in English from UC Santa Barbara and his master's degree in film production from UCLA. His graduate thesis, a short film called "Repairs," landed him a contract with Universal Studios to direct and write motion pictures and television.

Silberling went on to direct a wide variety of network programs including "L.A. Law," "Brooklyn Bridge" and "NYPD Blue."

DAWN STEEL (Producer) passed away in December, 1997, at the age of 51, after having been one of the highest-profile executives in entertainment and the first woman to hold the title of Studio President. During her lifetime, she had roles ranging from studio boss to author to independent producer, wherein Steel helped to re-define and expand the role of women in Hollywood.

Most recently she produced the box office hits "Cool Runnings" and "Sister Act II," and the thriller "Fallen," starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland. Along with her husband Charles Roven and their partner Robert Cavallo, Steel formed Atlas Entertainment, a multimedia entertainment company aligned with Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and a consortium of European and Asian broadcasting and film companies.

Formerly President of Columbia Pictures, Steel was responsible for all aspects of production, marketing, business affairs and distribution for such films as "Ghostbusters II," "Casualties of War," "Flatliners" and "Awakenings." Prior to her time at Columbia, she was President of Production for Paramount Pictures, where she was responsible for the development and production of such notable films as "Flashdance," "Footloose," "Top Gun," "Beverly Hills Cop Il," "The Untouchables," "Star Trek Ill" and "Fatal Attraction."

Steel also wrote the best-selling book They Can Kill You But They Can't Eat You, which chronicles her personal and professional journeys and the lessons she learned along the way.

CHARLES ROVEN (Producer) most recently produced "Fallen," directed by Greg Hoblit, a supernatural thriller starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland. Prior to that, he produced "12 Monkeys," the multi-award-nominated box-office hit directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe.

Roven's impressive list of films also includes "Johnny Handsome" and "The Blood of Heroes." After partnering with Robert Cavallo in Roven-Cavallo Entertainment, he produced such films as "Cadillac Man" and "Final Analysis."

Together with Cavallo he also created Atlas/Third Rail, one of the industry's premiere alternative-music management companies; its client roster includes Seal, Alanis Morissette, Green Day, Weezer, The Goo Goo Dolls and Savage Garden.

In 1994 Roven and Cavallo joined Dawn Steel in the formation of Atlas Entertainment.

Roven's interest in film began at UCLA and USC, where he majored in filmmaking. After working on a dozen student films, he entered the film business as associate producer on James B. Harris' cult film "Some Call it Loving," starring Zalman King and Richard Pryor.

He next ventured into the arena of personal management, and one of his first clients was America's premiere woman sports car racer, Shirley Muldowney. It was Muldowney, whose heroic struggle to conquer gender barriers in her field led Roven to produce his first motion picture, her critically acclaimed biography, "Heart Like a Wheel," directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Bonnie Bedelia and Beau Bridges.

ARNON MILCHAN (Executive Producer) is the founder of Regency Enterprises and one of the pre-eminent independent film producers in the world. Milchan was recently named Producer of the Year at the 1997 National Association of Theater Owners' Sho West convention.

His recent film productions include critically acclaimed "L.A. Confidential," "Murder at 1600," "A Time to Kill," "Tin Cup" and "Heat," "The Devil's Advocate," "Dangerous Beauty" and "The Man Who Knew Too Little." Milchan's upcoming releases include the sexy thriller "Goodbye Lover," starring Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson, Mary-Louise Parker and Ellen DeGeneres. He is currently in production on the thriller "The Negotiator," starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, and will soon begin filming the feature-film adaptation of John Grisham's bestseller, The Runaway Jury.

Milchan's production credits include Garry Marshall's" Pretty Woman," Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in America," Danny DeVito's "The War of the Roses," Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy," Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and "JFK" (which was nominated for eight Academy Awards), as well as "The Client," "Under Siege" and "Free Willy."

His other producing credits include "Guilty By Suspicion," Stone's "Heaven and Earth," "Made in America," Joel Schumacher's "Falling Down," "Sommersby," "The Power of One," "The Mambo Kings," "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," "Free Willy-2: The Adventure Home" and "Copycat."

ROBERT CAVALLO (Executive Producer) began his career in the film business with the music-based feature "Purple Rain," followed by "Under the Cherry Moon." In 1990 Cavallo formed a film and music company with producer Charles Roven; Roven-Cavallo Entertainment generated such films as "Cadillac Man" and "Final Analysis."

Roven-Cavallo Entertainment has also created the premiere alternative-music management company in the business; their client roster includes Seal, Alanis Morissette, Green Day, Weezer, The Goo Goo Dolls and Savage Garden. In 1994, Cavallo and Roven joined with Dawn Steel in the formation of Atlas Entertainment, where Cavallo executive-produced "12 Monkeys," starring Bruce Willis, and "Fallen," starring Denzel Washington.

Most recently Cavallo has signed an agreement to become Chairman of The Walt Disney Music Group.

CHARLES NEWIRTH (Executive Producer) has been involved with the production of some of the most acclaimed films of the 1990s. He executive produced "Phenomenon," "Ghosts of Mississippi" and "The American President," and co-produced the Academy Award-winning blockbuster "Forrest Gump," as well as "Bugsy." Newirth was associate producer on "Avalon" and "The Package" and the unit production manager on "Robocop" and "Throw Momma From the Train." Most recently he produced the upcoming film "Home Fries," starring Drew Barrymore.

DANA STEVENS (Screenwriter) previously wrote the thriller "Blink," starring Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn. "Blink" was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1994 by the Mystery Writers of America.

Stevens was born in Whittier, California, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She majored in Theater Arts at UCLA and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1985. She then embarked on an acting career before switching to screenwriting.

JOHN SEALE, A.S.C., A.C.S. (Director of Photography) won an Academy Award, a British Academy Award and the American Society of Cinematographers Award for his stunning cinematography on "The English Patient." He was previously twice nominated for an Oscar, for his work on "Rain Man" and "Witness." He also has been twice nominated for British Academy Awards, for "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Witness."

Born in Warwick, Queensland, Australia, Seale started out in Australian TV before breaking into features as a camera operator on such films as Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Last Wave" and "Gallipoli," and as a second-unit cameraman on "The Year of Living Dangerously."

As cinematographer, his credits include "Ghosts of Mississippi," "The American President," "The Firm," "Dead Poets Society," "Lorenzo's Oil," "The Doctor," "Stakeout," "The Mosquito Coast," "Children of a Lesser God," "The Hitcher" and "Careful, He Might Hear You."

LILLY KILVERT (Production Designer) was Academy Award-nominated for her work on "Legends of the Fall." Most recently she designed such films as "The Crucible," "Ghosts of Mississippi and "The American President." Her other credits include "Strange Days," "In the Line of Fire," "Jack the Bear," "Ruthless People," "l Love You to Death" "To Live and Die in L.A." and "The Sure Thing."

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Kilvert attended Bard College in New York, where she studied art, physics and photography. She became a commercial photographer before going on to the Lester Polokov School of Set Design in New York.

She got her first break in feature films from Michael Houseman and Robert Young on their film "Alambrista," where Kilvert served as art director.

SHAY CUNLIFFE (Costume Designer) recently worked on "Lone Star" and "Multiplicity." Her numerous credits include "Dolores Claiborne," "Greedy," "The Man Without a Face," "Of Mice and Men," "Fires Within," "The Long Walk Home," "Miles From Home" and "The Believers."

An honors graduate of the University of Bristol, England, Cunliffe began her career designing for the stage, to which she still frequently returns, most recently for "Beauty and the Beast."

LYNZEE KLINGMAN, A.C.E (Editor) received an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award for shared editing work on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." She edited the Oscar-winning documentary "Hearts and Minds" and the Oscar-nominated documentary "In the Year of the Pig."

Klingman worked on the box-office hit "Outbreak" as well as the critically praised "A River Runs Through It." Her other credits include "Matilda," "Home for the Holidays," "The War of the Roses," "Hoffa," "Baby Boom," "Little Man Tate," "Maxie," "True Confessions," "Hair" and "Almost Summer."

Born in Chicago and raised in Paris and New York, Klingman attended the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University.

Co-producer KELLEY SMITH-WAIT has worked with Charles Roven since 1986, and currently oversees legal affairs for all of Roven's film and television projects. Smith-Wait has supervised both physical and post-production on a number of films, including "The Blood of Heroes" and "Cadillac Man," and was associate producer of "Final Analysis," "Man's Best Friend," "Angus" and "12 Monkeys," as well as co-producer of the recent thriller "Fallen."

Co-producer DOUGLAS SEGAL is a graduate of New York University who spent more than a decade in New York, writing and directing theater on and Off-Broadway and teaching at the renowned Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Segal worked as a reader for Lifetime Television in its feature-film division before becoming Director of Development at Steel Pictures. There, he worked on developing what became the sleeper hit "Cool Runnings," produced by Dawn Steel.

Segal joined Atlas Entertainment in 1994 and associate produced "Angus," as well as working creatively on "12 Monkeys" and "Fallen."

Composer GABRIEL YARED received last year's Academy Award for Best Original Score, as well as a Golden Globe Award and a Grammy nomination for his composition for "The English Patient." In 1993 he received France's Cesar Award for scoring "The Lover," and in the same year he received an Australian Film Institute Award nomination for his work on "Map of the Human Heart." He earned three more Cesar nominations, for "Camille Claudel," "Agent Trouble" and "Betty Blue."

Yared has scored more than 50 motion pictures in Europe, particularly in France; those that have received English-language distribution include "The Moon and the Gutter," "Hanna K.," "Betty Blue," "Beyond Therapy," "Clean and Sober," "Camille Claudel," "Wings of Courage," "Vincent & Theo," "The Lover" and "Map of the Human Heart." He has recently completed work on the score for the upcoming "Les Miserables," starring Uma Thurman.

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