Director, writer, producer ALAN PARKER wrote and directed his
first film, "Bugsy Malone" in 1975. The film was a musical pastiche
of 1920s gangster films with an entire cast of children. The highly original
film received eight British Academy Award nominations and five Awards.
His second film was the controversial "Midnight Express" (1977)
which won two Oscars® and six Academy Award® nominations, including
one for Parker as Best Director. The film received six Golden Globe Awards
and four awards from the British Film Academy. This was followed in 1979
by Parker's film "Fame," a celebration of youth and the arts,
which won two Academy Awards®, six nominations, four Golden Globe nominations
and was later adapted into a successful television series.
In 1981, Parker directed "Shoot The Moon" starring Diane Keaton
and Albert Finney, his most personal film to date, and the powerful "Pink
Floyd-The Wall," the feature film adaptation of the successful rock
album which has become a classic of the genre.
In 1984, Parker directed "Birdy," based on the William Wharton
novel, starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine, which won the Grand Prix
Special Du Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
No stranger to controversy, his next film "Angel Heart," written
and directed by Parker in 1986 and starring Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet,
opened in the United States amidst a storm caused by the 'X' rating initially
imposed on it by the MPAA.
In 1988 Parker directed the Civil Rights drama, "Mississippi Burning"
starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, which was nominated for seven Academy
Awards® including Best Director for Parker and winning for Best Cinematography.
Parker was also awarded the D.W. Griffith Award by the National Board of
Review for directing. The film was nominated for five British Academy Awards,
winning three. It also won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
In 1989 Parker wrote and directed "Come See The Paradise," a love
story set against the internment of Japanese Americans during World War
II starring Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita.
"The Commitments," made in 1990, a story of a young Irish working-class
soul band, won Parker the Best Director prize at the Tokyo Film Festival
and British Academy Awards for Editing, Screenplay, Director and Best Picture.
In 1993, Parker wrote and directed "The Road to WelIville," based
on the novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle and starring Anthony Hopkins, Bridget
Fonda, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack and Dana Carvey.
In 1974, Alan Parker directed the BBC Television Film "The Evacuees,"
written by Jack Rosenthal, which won the International Emmy Award and a
BAFTA Award for direction.
In 1984, to celebrate "British Film Year," Parker wrote and directed
the provocative documentary "A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema"
which underlined Parker's fiercely independent and outspoken views as he
lambasted the British film establishment and film critics. It won the British
Press Guild Award for the year's best documentary.
Parker is also a novelist and author of the best-selling book written from
his own screenplay of "Bugsy Malone," and Puddles In The Lane
which was published in 1977. A compendium of his satirical cartoons, Hares
In The Gate, was published in 1982.
A founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain, Parker has lectured
at film schools around the world. In 1985 he was honored by the British
Academy with the prestigious Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding Contribution
to British Cinema, and in November 1995 he was awarded with a CBE by Queen
Elizabeth II for services to the British film industry.
Producer ROBERT STIGWOOD was the first producer of the huge UK stage
hit of "Evita" and his US theatre production of the musical won
the 1980 Tony Award for Best Musical. Alan Parker was always Stigwood's
first choice to direct the film of "Evita."
Robert Stigwood is the producer of the hit film, "Grease," which
is now touring for the first time as a highly acclaimed stage musical featuring
all of the film songs. His other UK stage production credits include "Hair,"
"Oh! Calcutta," "The Dirtiest Show in Town," "Pippin,"
"Jesus Christ Superstar" (also a hugely successful US Theatre
production), "Sweeney Todd," "Sing a Rude Song," "John
Paul George Ringo and Bert" and he is currently producing the national
tour of "Evita."
Stigwood has produced many films including "Tommy," "Saturday
Night Fever," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Stayin'
Alive" and "Gallipoli," together with the soundtracks to
"Fame" and "The Empire Strikes Back."
ANDREW G. VAJNA has been one of the most important producers in Hollywood
for the past 20 years, first as co-founder of Carolco Pictures, producing
such blockbuster films as the "Rambo" trilogy with Sylvester Stallone
and "Total Recall" with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since founding
Cinergi Pictures Entertainment Inc., he has been responsible for "Die
Hard With A Vengeance," starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson,
one of the biggest hit films of 1995, "Judge Dredd" with Sylvester
Stallone, Oliver Stone's "Nixon," starring Anthony Hopkins and
"The Scarlet Letter" starring Demi Moore. Vajna also produced
Alan Parker's film "Angel Heart" starring Mickey Rourke and Robert
De Niro.
Line producer DAVID WIMBURY, first met Alan Parker when he was producing
commercials for Hugh Hudson. Wimbury later became Parker's assistant director
on "Midnight Express," production manager on "Pink Floyd-The
Wall" and Line Producer on "The Commitments."
Wimbury first joined the film industry as a runner when he was 17 and became
Assistant Director on many films including Blake Edwards' "The Pink
Panther Strikes Again" and "The Revenge of the Pink Panther,"
Ridley Scott's "The Duellists" and Michael Apted's "Stardust."
He produced Bruce Robinson's films "Withnail and I" and "How
To Get Ahead In Advertising," and Dick Clement's films "Water"
and "Bullshot" for HandMade Films, and was associate producer
on Charles Sturridge's "A Handful of Dust" and Julien Temple's
"Absolute Beginners," production manager on Terry Jones's "Monty
Python's Meaning of Life."
Wimbury has long been associated with Witzend Productions (Dick Clement,
Ian La Frenais and Allan McKeown) working on numerous TV productions including
"Porridge," "To Russia with Elton" and "Anyone
for Dennis." Witzend Productions later became a subsidiary of SelecTV
plc and Wimbury produced "Tracey UlIman Takes on New York," "Hearts
and Minds" and "Pie in the Sky."
SIR ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER is the composer of "Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Jesus Christ Superstar," the film
scores of "Evita," "Gumshoe" and "The Odessa File,"
"Variations" and "Tell Me On A Sunday," combined as
"Song and Dance," "Starlight Express," "Requiem,"
a setting of the Latin Requiem Mass, "The Phantom of the Opera,"
"Aspects of Love," "Sunset Boulevard" and "By Jeeves,"
an acclaimed reworking of his earlier "Jeeves."
His awards include six Tony Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, three Grammys,
including the award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for "Requiem"
in 1986, and five Laurence Olivier awards, his most recent award being two
Tony's for Best Score and Best Musical for "Sunset Boulevard."
He is the first person to have three musicals running in New York and three
in London, a record he achieved in 1982,1988 and again in 1994. He is the
first recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers'
Triple Play Award. In January 1996 the London production of "Cats"
became the longest running musical in West End Theatre history.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, through The Really Useful Group, produces not only
his own, but other writers' works including "Shirley Valentine,"
"Lend Me A Tenor" and "La Bete."
In 1988 he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Music, and in
1992 he was awarded a Knighthood for services to the arts. He was inducted
into the American Songwriters' Hall of Fame and given the Praemium Imperiale
Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical, "Whistle Down The Wind" opens
in Washington in December 1996.
SIR TIM RICE, book and lyric writer for "Evita," has written
the complete lyrics for five musical productions that have played in the
West End and subsequently around the world: "Evita," "Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Jesus Christ Superstar"
(music by Andrew Lloyd Webber), "Blondel" (music by Stephen Oliver)
and "Chess" (music by ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson).
"Jesus Christ Superstar" returns to the West End stage at the
end of 1996.
He adapted the French-Canadian musical "Starmania" for English-speaking
audiences and has written six new songs for the stage production of Disney's
"Beauty and the Beast" (music by Alan Menken), currently in its
third year on Broadway. Several other productions are currently playing
internationally with London scheduled for April 1997. He wrote lyrics for
Cliff Richard's 1995 album Heathcliff based on the character from Emily
Brontë's Wuthering Heights, to John Farrar's music, which became a
touring show for Cliff Richard in October 1996.
Rice won Academy Awards® and Golden Globe Awards for writing the lyrics
for two Disney animated features: "Aladdin" ("A Whole New
World," with music by Alan Menken), and "The Lion King" ("Can
You Feel The Love Tonight," with music by Elton John). "The Lion
King," with several new Tim Rice/Elton John songs, will be staged on
Broadway in 1997.
He has recently completed work with Alan Menken on a contemporary opera
based on the life of "King David," to be premiered in concert
in New York, May 1997. He has also begun work on a new Disney theatrical
project -- a re-telling of the "Aida" story -- with music by Elton
John.
Rice is chairman of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, an organization
that distributed over £250 million to sporting and artistic causes
in the United Kingdom. He runs his own cricket team and writes regularly
on the game for the Daily Telegraph. He was knighted in 1994.
César-nominated cinematographer, DARIUS KHONDJI, A.F.C., is
one of the most exciting talents in today's cinema. Born in France and educated
in photography and film at New York University, Khondji shot his first film
as director of photography while he continued his work in commercials, collaborating
with well-known directors David Fincher, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Chico Bialas
and William Klein among others.
His feature credits include Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty,"
David Fincher's "Seven," Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's "The
City of Lost Children" and "Delicatessen" which won him a
Cé sar-nomination for Best Photography, with the film receiving a
César-nomination for Best First Film, and winning the Grand Prix
in Tokyo and the Grand Prix in Chalon, Milcho Manchevski's "Before
the Rain," which was nominated for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy
Awards® and won the Golden Lion at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.
"Evita" marks production designer, BRIAN MORRIS' fifth
film with Alan Parker, having previously worked on "The Road to WelIville,"
"The Commitments," "Angel Heart" and "Pink Floyd
The Wall."
Morris' other film credits include Sydney Pollock's "Sabrina,"
Tony Scott's "The Last Boy Scout," Adrian Lyne's "Jacob's
Ladder," Chris Menges' "A World Apart," Jean-Jacques Annaud's
"Quest for Fire," Tony Scott's "The Hunger," John Schlesinger's
"Yanks," Marek Kanievska's "Another Country" and Louis
Malle's "Damage."
"Evita" is Costume Designer PENNY ROSE's fourth film with
Alan Parker, having worked on "The Road to WelIville," "Pink
Floyd-The Wall" and "The Commitments."
Rose's other credits include Brian De Palma's "Mission Impossible,"
Christopher Hampton's "Carrington," Richard Attenborough's "Shadowlands,"
Vincent Ward's "Map of the Human Heart," David Hare's "Strapless,"
Pat O'Connor's "Cal," Marek Kanievska's "Another Country"
and Jean-Jacques Annaud's "Quest for Fire."
GERRY HAMBLING, A.C.E. has been Alan Parker's editor since 1971 when
Parker was a commercials director, moving with him in 1975 to edit his first
feature "Bugsy Malone." Since that time Gerry Hambling has edited
all Alan Parker's films: "Midnight Express" (an Oscar® nomination,
a BAFTA award and British Guild of Editors Award), "Fame" (an
Oscar® nomination, BAFTA nomination and British Guild of Editors Award),
"Shoot the Moon," "Pink Floyd The Wall," "Birdy"
(British Guild of Editors Award), "Angel Heart" (British Guild
of Editors Nomination), "Mississippi Burning" (Oscar® nomination,
BAFTA Award and A.C.E. Award), "Come See the Paradise," "The
Commitments" (Oscar® nomination, BAFTA Award) and "The Road
to WelIville."
Hambling, who has been an editor for 50 years (as of 1997) also edited Marek
Kanievska's "Another Country" (BAFTA nomination), Roland Joffe's
"City of Joy," Jim Sheridan's "In the Name of the Father"
(Oscar® nomination) and Ridley Scott's "White Squall."
VINCENT PATERSON is a highly regarded choreographer and director
for the stage and screen and has been an important creative force in the
careers of both Madonna and Michael Jackson. He directed and choreographed
Madonna's "Blonde Ambition" tour and her documentary "Truth
or Dare," Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour and also conceived,
choreographed and co-directed the innovative "Smooth Criminal"
number in Jackson's film "Moonwalker."
Paterson was nominated for a Tony Award for his choreography of Hal Prince's
musical adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" on Broadway,
and his talents have been reflected in the videos of such musical vanguards
as Van Halen, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and David Lee Roth.
His film choreography includes Mike Nichols' "The Birdcage," Steven
Spielberg's "Hook" and Sydney Pollack's "Havana." Paterson
both directed and choreographed the TNT special "In Search of Dr. Seuss"
which received seven Emmy nomination, including Best Choreography, and five
ACE Award nominations, including Best Director.
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